I saw this tip on a blog and I think it can be a brilliant way to save money on food. Since there'll always be something that's on sale at any given time, planning your meals thusly would allow you to take advantage of the deals as they come and you'll be saving a lot of money in the process. Has anyone ever tried this?
I do this but only for a small portion of my planning since I find it difficult to build the entire plan around what's available, especially if what is on sale is something I'm a little tired of right now. I like going in with a plan and if there are a few items I think is a good purchase then I will maybe substitute it for a dish or two and save myself a few dollars. If I don't have a plan initially I just end up buying things I don't end up using or miss a few items I should have bought, but that's mostly due to my lack of experience with planning a menu.
Sometimes I do! I will always make sure to search for price when I go to the supermarkets, but not the cheaper product, but the products that are great but have a good sale going on. As such, I will buy what have a good price at the moment and plan meals accordingly. I love searching around the supermarket for good prices. My boyfriend always says I am really good at it.
I thought this was common sense! That's why people look at specials in advance and then can plan their meals and buying. I have always done that and housewives have been doing it for years. I do read the weekly mailers so you know what to buy and when. My local Lidl does weekend offers and we can see them two weeks in advance so I know what to buy and when.
Oh, wow, being able to see the sales two weeks in advance would certainly be nice. We don't have that here, but I do check the weekly ads. That's kind of the idea, like you said. Knowing what's going to be on sale definitely helps with planning the menu and of course, with saving as much money as possible while doing so. Of course, there are times when you just have a craving for something special, and it might not be when that item is on sale. The good news is that you can save enough money on the other stuff to not feel bad about a little splurge to satisfy a craving here and there.
The best option is to plan and save then spend spontaneous. I tend to just purchase what I want which cost me more money than it's worth. I know my aunt would spend under $10 and all the items she should cost more than $30. The coupons and sales make the cost extremely low.
My wife and I work so much and at such strange hours that we tend not to plan meals in advance anyway, so yes, to an extent we look at what's on sale, consider how we might use the product in the future, and then make the buy. Typically we go for everything that's on sale rather than just buying what we'd like to eat most. There's always an abundance of stuff on sale at pretty much every store we visit so it's not difficult to concoct meals we like without much forethought.
Much as I think this is a great tip for shaving a bit extra off the grocery shopping - I think it may well be very dependent on where you live as to whether you could take advantage of it. In fact - although I would welcome the opportunity of being able to shop like this - it unfortunately isn't possible where I live - as the only way to make any kind of savings here - is to plan meals according to seasonal price fluctuations and to make cost effective decisions whilst in the process of shopping - for the simple reason - that none of our grocery stores ever offer discounts, have special offers or deals of any kind.
No, I don't plan my meals according to what is on sale. I usually have a meal in mind when I go shopping, and will organize my shopping around that. If there is a sale, then I may consider it. But I will only consider it if it is a much better deal than what I had already had planned, and feeds more mouth, which does happen on occasion. Other than that, it doesn't effect me.
That's more or less inevitable, if I see promotions and I buy them I need to spend what I've bought. Just recently I bought a lot of cod fish in promotion and I made quite a few meals from it, so a plan is necessary.
I don't do this, but there are certain sites that can help you plan you meals based on what is on sale. I don't remember the names of the sites currently, but you put in your location and they will use data based on your stores and what is on sale. I think it works when it comes to saving money.
I do like to know what is on sale and if it is an item that we can have several meals from, I like to cook once and eat often. Sometimes I will purchase an item just because it is on sale and something that my family will eat if it is not given to them too often.
Yes this is how I plan my weekly meals. Every Friday I look at the flyers and see what meats are one sale. I use the protein that is on sale as my inspiration for whatever meals I'm planning. I find you can save a lot of money doing it this way. I will shop at 4 different stores to get all the sale items. I like going to Costco for the basics like milk and bread. I have friends who will shop only at 1 store but carry the flyers with her so that the 1 store will price match for her.
Yes, to some extent. But I find it hard to plan too far ahead, since I never really know what's marked down until I get to the store, so I'm kind of doing it on the fly. I never read the flyers, they go straight in the trash, lol. But even if I did, and saw some things on sale, who's to say they will even still be available by the time I get there. Also the sales listed in the flyers may not be as good of a bargain as the individual items marked down for a quick sale. That's where you can really save some money. If they're knocking off several bucks of a pack of steaks because they are nearing their sell by date, I will grab those. But when items such as roasts are on sale, there are a ton of things you can do with those for recipes, such as grinding them into burgers, slicing them thin into steaks, or slow roasting them whole. I will also try to cook them with basic neutral seasonings, so I can use the meat in a variety of recipes over the next few days.
It's not really planning for the sale but more of vice versa. When I am in the supermarket, there is usually the pack of sliced vegetables like broccoli, potatoes, etc. I'm talking of the mixed vegetables in a pack that is usually for vegetable stew or what we call chop suey, a Chinese dish. I sometimes buy that and surprise myself when I reach home, hahahaaa. Most often, it would be an invention of a dish that is somehow edible, just not sure if palatable.
Yep, pretty much what I said in the post above Corzhens, once we got the opportunity with the sales we need to organize our life according to what we have, so I personally try to find recipes that allow me to use what I've bought.
No I haven't really tried that because I don't know how to cook, so I'm stuck with buying canned goods or cooked food. However, that is a good idea to be able to save money. I know goods that are near their expiration date are often sold at low prices.
I always check the current prices at the grocery stores in my area before planning the weekly shop. I like to know that I'm getting the best price and will often visit 2-3 stores in order to take advantage of their weekly offers.
Absolutely! Why wouldn't you? If you see Chicken on sale for a great price, why wouldn't you go ahead and buy it and make chicken based meals for your food in the near future? It's tough to sometimes plan ahead, but there's no reason anyone should pass up on saving money.
