How to Plan Monthly Food Shopping

Planning groceries for the month will reduce your food expenses.

Planning monthly food shopping is a great way to get organized and save money at the same time. With a little organization, you can cut your grocery bill in half. Being able to view everything on paper will help you create a menu within a budget. Planning meals according to what is on sale will reduce your monthly grocery bill significantly. By checking your pantry before you leave the house, you will reduce unnecessary purchases.

Instructions

1. Before you can plan monthly food shopping, you need to know what you need. Sit down with a monthly calendar and plan a menu. Be sure to include breakfast, lunch, dinner, beverages and snacks. Plan for date nights, leftover meals, play dates, entertaining and special food for school and work.

2. Gather recipes for each meal on the menu and create a list of everything you need. Compare this master shopping list with what is in your pantry. As an item is found, cross it off the list. Once finished, a shopping list for your monthly menu will be complete.

3. Now that you know what you plan to purchase, organize your coupons to save money. Sort through your coupons to find items on the shopping list. Go online and print coupons you can use. Visit company websites and look for printable coupons for the foods on your list.

4. Compare your shopping list to grocery store sales fliers. Future fliers can be found online at sites like Hot Coupon World. Write sale dates and the store name next to each item. Create a new list for each store by date. When finished, the shopping list should be divided by store and date of the sale.

5. Compare the sale dates to the monthly menu. Check to be sure items can be purchased on sale for the week they are on the menu. Adjust the menu so that sales can be taken advantage of.

Tips & Warnings

• Create a folder for all of the recipes needed for the month, so they will be easy to find. Separate coupons into envelopes according to the week they will be used. Dedicate a small space to keep everything together, so it can be picked up on the way to the store.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Printablecalendars: Printable calendar templates
• coupons: printable coupons
• smartsource: printable coupons
• hotcouponworld: store deals