Big Meals Not Deep Pockets

In honor of Black Friday, I thought it would be a good time to do my shopping for good deals blog.

Cooking and eating are some of my favorite things to do.  I especially love cooking for others and sharing in the company of eating great food. As a started to explore my culinary pallete I realized quickly how expensive food can get if you aren't careful and watch for sales.  Here are some tips to making big meals out of not so deep pockets.

I love couponing and getting great deals,  but I am cogniscent that there is an element of time that needs to be factored in to getting the lowest possible price on an item.  This isn't super couponing but everyday tips to get what you love while realizing that monetarily speaking, creative tasks might not be your budget priority.

My biggest piece of advice is to know your prices.  You might swing by the dollar tree and see coffee for a dollar and think that is a fantastic deal, but without knowing your prices and what the typical price per ounce is might not be as great as you hoped it to be. Here are some good ways to better acqauint yourself with standard cost per items. And if you ever make it to the gameshows supermarket sweep or price is right you are ready to win some big prizes!!!

1. Sales Ads- Sales ads, when looking at them each week, takes less than 10 minutes to glance at. You can start seeing a pattern on the things that go on sale regularly and what standard prices are for the things you normally buy.   
    

•  About once a month avocados and mangos are about 10 for $10, standard price here in North Florida is usually about 1.25-1.50 when  not on sale ( I use these alot, especially for my sushi recipes). 
• Towards the Fall/Winter, soup will begin to go on sale for 10/$10 and typically around this time soup coupons will start coming out again.  I usually hold onto these coupons for these specials to get a quick/easy meal when I dont feel like cooking, or when I was on the go a lot, soup at hand was a great way to eat healthy and faster than stopping through a drive-thru.
• I will often plan my meals around when produce is on sale as I love fresh produce and this is the main thing I shop for when grocery shopping.

2. For general grocery merchandise (canned food, crackers, cookies, pretty much anything in the center aisles of the store), I often only buy when there is a sale AND I have a coupon.  Unless there is a last minute need for a particular ingredient, you can almost always find a coupon for these products that wont expire for months, and at some point will always have it go on sale.  Just be patient and check often.  It takes less than a second to go down the aisle or again check your local sales ad to compare with your coupons. 

• Some find it easy to prepare their shopping trip prior, I am not that person, but if it is helpful and you have the time.  While creating your shopping list, place your coupons beside you, look at the ads and what you need and place coupons with this so you don't forget.  I always place the coupon with the merchandise in the cart so that I dont get distracted and forget at check out.

3.  Organize your Coupons- I have a coupon purse for all of my coupons organized by category.  Fruits/Vegetables, Snacks, Dairy, Meat, Frozen Food, Baked Goods, Health/Beauty, Homegoods, Pets
Then whenever I add new coupons or when I am searching for a coupon at the store I go through and take out what has expired. This makes it so much easier to remember what you have and what you want to use.  For things that are important to me. I often keep a running reminder that I have a coupon and to look for it to go on sale.  MorningStar farm brand is one of my favorite frozen foods, but can be a bit pricey.  They will have sales pretty regularly and if you time it right will have dollar coupons on their products at the same time.  Great opportunity to stock up and save.

4. While at the grocery, keep in mind what you are paying each week for your favorite things.  Often I will go to bargain stores and find the same brands for 70% less than the grocery store.  Although everything in a bargain store will not be less than grocery stores and can often be more.  Knowing your prices on what you typically pay for canned goods, cereal, meal kits, etc. can save you alot and rarely go bad.  This is also true of Walgreens and CVS,  they always have grocery on sale each week.  Some is over priced for convenience but often there are one or two staple items that are a dollar less there and many times have a coupon you can use to reduce the cost even more than buying it at the grocery.

Hopefully this helps you in your meal planning and deal grabbing.  I have been doing this for so long I am having to really dig, as it is just second nature to me.  When planning for parties and menus I often will check to see what is on sale and then decide this will be a great time to make something as all my main ingredients are at a good price.  Sushi is a great example of this.  like I said earlier in this post.  You can often get mangoes and avocados for a dollar a piece, cucubers are almost always around .79- $1.29. Crab meat is typically on sale every week somewhere for $2.50.  In Virginia, not as much here in Florida, you can find Tuna on sale for 4.99lb, and it is sashimi grade and delicious (Learn how to buy tuna to ensure it is something you want to serve raw!).  I can typically make a sushi dinner party for 6-8, with tons of rolls left over for under $20 bucks!  Go to a sushi restaurant, I can easily spend $50 for just 2 people.

Happy Shopping ALL!!!!