Recessionista Tip: Plan Weekly Menu Around Supermarket Sales
I don’t have to tell you that food prices have been on the rise right? I’d be preaching to the choir so rather than go into a long diatribe about my grocery bill, I thought it best to discuss how to plan your menu around weekly supermarket sales.
First, when planning your menus around supermarket sale, you should consider menu planning and keeping your pantry stocked with basic kitchen pantry items. Both save you valuable time and money in this area.
Menu Planning
Menu planning allows you to plan your menu for the week, every two weeks, month or for some ambitious gals I know the season and even the year. This enables you to plan ahead for your grocery list and saves you from multiple trips to the supermarket. This way you shop ahead, prepare the meats perhaps the night before and catch certain recipe items on sale before you’re due to make a certain meal.
Here’s what my old menu looks like:
Shopping list of staple ingredients for a well-stocked kitchen.
Baking
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Brown sugar
Condensed Milk
Corn meal
Corn starch
Evaporated Milk
Vanilla
White Sugar
Yeast
Herbs & Spices
Black pepper
Chicken bouillon cubes
Cilantro
Cinnamon
Crushed garlic
Garlic powder
Green seasoning (found in the international aisle of grocery store)
Nutmeg
Oregano
Onion powder
Sea salt
Seasoned Chicken Breader by House Autry
Oils, Stocks, Condiments
Mayonaise
Beef stock
Chicken broth
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Red wine
Soy sauce
Tomato sauce
Vegetable oil
Vinegar
White wine
Worcestershire sauce
Miscellaneous
Cream of mushroom/celery/chicken soup (canned)
Pasta
Rice/Couscous
Menu Planning Around Supermarket Sales
Tips:
- Plan your menu, preferably for a month or so ahead, this way when you see sale items you can buy them before a meal is due or even switch it out to prepare it early if a perishable item is on sale such as bell peppers.
- Check for sales online, then check your menu to see which recipes call for a particular sale item. I recommend keeping your menu on your computer and printing them weekly due to changes you may make due to changing weekly sale items.
- Consider adding one pot meals to the mix, as this is another time saver. Here are a few from iVillage.com:
Chicken Provencale
• Cuban Chicken and Yellow Rice
• Emerilized Tuna Casserole
• Louisiana Gumbo
• Pot Roast and Winter Vegetables
• Yummy Vegetarian Pot Pie
• Hearty Minestrone with Pesto
• Greek Chicken with Onions, Oregano, Olives and Feta
• Strata with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes and Herbs
•Tuscan White Beans with Sausage and Sage
When planning your menu, consider the basics, meat + starch + vegetables = Balanced meal
Meats: Chicken, beef, turkey, fish and meatkind or tofu for our vegetarian readers.
Starches: Rice, Potato, Sweet Potato, Pasta, Yams, Dinner Rolls/Bread etc
Vegetables: Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli, Bell Peppers, Green Beans, Sweet Peas, Squash, Pumpkin etc
Tonight’s Dinner Menu: Southwest Chicken with Potato Salad, Cranberry Sauce and Salad
Looking at this week’s sale circular, I chose Shoppers as they have the best deals hands down in our area. The main items to shop for are chicken, potatoes, sweet peas, salad and eggs since I already have the Southwest Chipotle Spice from Mrs Dash which is a must have staple in our house. Other items like salt, pepper, mayonnaise, mixed veggies and cranberry sauce are staples as well. This is a meal that get’s recycled at least once a week so I buy what I can to last through 2-3 recipes
Here are this week’s ingredients that happened to be in the Shopper’s sale circular:
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Voila!
Southwest Chipotle Chicken with Potato Salad with Cranberry Sauce with salad on the side:
This is just an example of one meal planned via the supermarket sale, think of how many more meals and snacks you can plan all while saving money.
Question: Are you using supermarket sales to plan your weekly menu? Do you find it useful? If not, tell us why in the comments. What other food saving tips can you share with us?
[...] Cooking at home is not as economical as it used to be, but you can work around that by planning your menu around supermarket sales. [...]
Great ideas in this post. Thanks.
Here are Top Ten Tips for Nutritious Shopping in a Recession
I find it much more frugal NOT to plan your menus in advance. I go to the grocery store every night, buy what’s on sale and looks fresh, and then get home and make a meal out of it.
Laura’s last blog post..My feet only hurt because I kicked so much ass!
That may work for you LAura but that’s added time and gas=$$ for me. Sales happen once a week and what’s on sale today will be there tomorrow. So I dont see the point in wasting gas each night when I can just plan my meals for the week, make one trip for everything on sale.
Saves time and money.
Living in NYC, I don’t have a car, and I’m lucky enough to have a grocery store on the same block, so gas/time isn’t a huge factor. For me, the big benefit is that while sales go on all week long, some days the food is fresher than others. Red bell peppers have been on sale for two weeks now, but some days they’re gross and other days they’re perfectly crisp and firm! It’s all about whatever works in your situation
Laura’s last blog post..My feet only hurt because I kicked so much ass!
[...] Girls Just Wanna Have Funds suggests planning your meals around supermarket sales. [...]
[...] Girls Just Wanna Have Funds suggests planning your meals around supermarket sales. [...]
I couldnt imagine going to the grocery every day to pick up dinner, gas or no gas issue. That would just be a nightmare for me. I go once a week, on Monday, after we plan our menu over the weekend… and thats plenty for me.
~Y’s last blog post..Sweet to Spooky Halloween Fun
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