- 1). All it takes is a pen, paper, local grocery store ad, and about 15 minutes of your time. When you prepare it makes all the difference in the world.
- 2). Find out what your families favorite meals are. Ones that they could eat about every week. Keep in mind meals like Spaghetti, soups, and other non-meat meals are very budget friendly.
- 3). Sit down and make a menu for the next 4-8 weeks. Make note of what you have at hand already for meals or to add to a meal in cabinets or freezer. You probably have a couple meals to throw together already that you hadn't even thought about. Remember be creative, but not unappealing to your family.
- 4). At the store read labels, price per ounce, and brands. A lot of things you can by off brand. Lets get real here, it is all about packaging and eye appeal. Price per ounce, here is the kicker, you need to watch this. We all hate going to the store and dealing with tons of people. Marketing people target people just like you. "Looks good, name brand, has to be good." NOT! Just alone watching price per ounce will save you lots of money.
- 5). Coupons, coupons, coupons. I can't stress it enough. And your thinking time. Well 5 minutes a night/Sunday will save you money. Even $5 is lunch out or a movie rental. $5 a month is $60 dollars a year. That is just in coupons at the least.
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