by Helium01

Created on: March 28, 2009   Last Updated: October 22, 2009

How often have you left the grocery store shaking your head in disbelief at the bill from the cash register? Does it always seem like you spent a small fortune and yet still have nothing to eat at home? If so, you are in need of some money-saving tips to help lower your grocery bill. Below are some suggestions to help you do just that.

1. Every week, go online or read your newspaper and see what your grocery store has on sale that week.

2. Plan a menu for the entire week, including the main dish, side dishes and dessert, trying to incorporate items that are on sale, like the meats, vegetables, bread, dessert, etc. If you eat more than just dinner at home, then write a menu for every meal each day.

3. Try to plan one or two meals that will have enough left over for another night, such as a pot roast, lasagna, or barbecued chicken. When trying to stay on a budget, there isn't room to be picky about having the same thing Thursday night that you had on Monday.

4. Try to be sure there are at least one or two simple meals planned, such as pre-packaged frozen meals, if they happen to be on sale or if you have a coupon. By having a few simple meals, when you come home really tired and don't feel like cooking because everything will require too much effort, you won't blow your budget by eating out or ordering takeout. Just pop the frozen pizza in the oven and presto!

5. On Sundays, cut all the coupons for items you use from the newspaper supplements. Keep your coupons in a box, separated into categories such as "food", "non-food" and "pet supplies".

6. After making up the menu, go through your coupons for anything that might happen to also be on sale at the grocery store for your meals.

7. For the non-food household items you need, try to make choices from what's on sale and what you have coupons for. Grocery stores frequently will have buy one/get one free deals. If it's something that you use, try to stock up as much as the week's budget allows.

8. Make a list with everything that you need so that you don't have to go back to the store more than once a week. Every visit typically results in one or two "impulse" items that you don't really need.

9. Stick religiously to your list, unless you see something that you really forgot or an unadvertised store special on something that you can fit in, perhaps as a substitute for one of your meal items.

10. If certain products are less expensive at big box stores such as Wal-Mart, consider shopping there for those items. Otherwise,

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