by Silva Payne

Created on: March 28, 2009   Last Updated: April 07, 2010

Shoppers have become used to supplementing their weekly grocery bill with coupons. Unfortunately, as the credit crunch continues to bite, those coupons are becomming harder to find. The ability to find real food bargains without using grocery coupons is a worthy skill to master. The coupons that are available now give smaller and smaller discounts on things less people want to buy. To get the best deals on groceries without using coupons, we all need to become savvy shoppers, and following these few tips will help.

Meal planning is crucial. Food that sits in the refrigerator for a week and is then thrown away because it has spoiled really should have been left on the supermarket shelf. It may look pretty, but do you really need some expensive bags of washed salad greens in the middle of March when you know you will be eating soups and stews? Buying too many extra food items and then throwing them away is a waste of money.

Meal planning doesn't have to be a strict regime like a diet plan; it simply means having 3 or 4 basic meals in your head as you walk round the store. You can pick up the ingredients for these meals in one go and then decide later in which order you are going to prepare them. By using basic foods like ground beef, chicken, pasta and rice, you can add different flavoured sauces and seasonings to create a variety of meals without your family saying "not that again!". Aim to buy less processed foods; not only are they more expensive, they also contain high levels of sodium and fats. Making food from scratch may take a little more time, but the effort is worth it.

Buying in bulk is a good way to stretch your budget, but only on items that will keep for longer than a couple of weeks, unless you are prepared to freeze or preserve the food in some way. Canned and dried goods are perfect for bulk buying. It can seem more expensive at first to lay out more money than would cover a couple of day's groceries. However, if you keep a store cupboard full of cans and packets, then in just a short while you will only need to purchase meat, fish, dairy and other perishables ion a weekly basis. Fewer trips to the store will also save you money on fuel for your vehicle.

Alternatively, you can shop more often. If you drive past your grocery store every night on your way home from work or school, take a few minutes to stop every couple of days. This means you can buy only things that you need for the next couple of days, and helps avoid impulse buys. Psychologically,

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