Photograph Credit: Flickr (Grungezombie)
In an effort to feed my family nutritious meals on an $80 a week budget, I have a system to help me accomplish this goal. This system may be too complicated for you. No problem! Find a system that works for you!
Though you may use this same process, please do not feel like you must force this square peg (my process) into your round board (your life). Remember, this is just one option that works for me right now.
In Creating your Grocery List – Part 1 [1] last week, I shared a detailed overview of my process for menu planning and started explaining my grocery shopping process.
Thus far, I have identified needed items from the pad of paper on my refrigerator and my supply areas: pantry, refrigerator, and freezers. With this list in hand, I am now ready to select sale items for Part 2 of my process which involves 6 steps. In keeping it manageable, I will share the first 2 steps this week. Hang in there . . . I’m going to take this slowly.
Step 1: Consult a helpful web site
Since I live in a southeastern state in the United States, I consult www.southernsavers.com [2]. Jenny Martin has a fabulous web site for southern grocery stores and drugstores. Jenny’s link is on the right sidebar of my home page. You can easily access her web site for grocery store and drugstore deals from Using Time Wisely.
If you do not live in a southeastern state, but you are in the United States, then you can access THE GATHERING at www.becentsable.net [3]. Chrissy has identified web sites in your state that list local grocery store and drugstore deals. You can find THE GATHERING by clicking on Becentsable’s link on my right sidebar under Time Saving Resources. This link on Using Time Wisely will take you directly to THE GATHERING to locate your state and your favorite local stores.
For those of you outside the United States, you might want to use a search engine (i.e., SwagBucks [4], Google, etc.) with the name of your local grocery store and deals (e.g., MYSTORE deals).
Step 2: Locate your grocery store’s weekly sales ad
Hopefully, finding this information will be easy. Most shopping web sites list the weekly sales ad by the dates of the sale. For this week, I would look for dates August 24 – 30, 2011 (for Wednesday to Tuesday sale days) or August 21-27 (for Monday to Saturday sale days).
I also look for sites that list available coupons for the sale items. This information helps you know where to find a coupon for that item.
Once you locate your favorite web site and find the location of your store’s deals (every web site is different), you will know where to begin next week. These two steps will take seconds once you find what works for you.
Working to find the best web sites for your grocery store deals will be time well spent. I went through two other sites before finding my favorite. Next week, I will continue creating my grocery list by concentrating on the items in the sales ad for steps 3 and 4. Hoping this series is beneficial to you!
Question: For your favorite grocery store, what are their sale days (Monday to Saturday)? To add your answer, please click Leave your Comment.