How to read through a Grocery Ad and Deals to Meals

Okay, so I realize I may be weird because I LOVE looking through grocery ads (well, possibly it’s my love of food storage that makes me weird….anyway…again…that is for a different post). I know going through ads can be VERY confusing and hard to do. So, I made a quick tutorial video with some great tips and a GREAT solution for having someone else do all the work for you! (Just to give you a hint, if you haven’t checked out Deals to Meals-you should! For about a dollar a week they compare all the prices-even Costco, Sams Club, and Wal-mart! They also tell which are the best stock up items and how long those items will store for. If you don’t want to come up with your own menus, they also develop menus around what is on sale. I’m telling you it doesn’t get better than this!…

The Grocery Ads Quick Tips

This can sometimes be the hardest part with so many ads to go through and so little time-so let me break it down for you…

1. If you’re short on time only look at the front and last page of each ad-this is where they place the BEST sale items (so if you’re wondering if it’s a good price-most likely, these prices are the best they have to offer). A lot of times the middle pages are full of regular priced items that they are hoping you’ll think are on sale since it’s listed in their ad.
2. Keep an ongoing list in your kitchen of what you need to buy-this will make it easy for you to know the MUST items on your list with out having to jog your memory which will save you on those last minute trips to the store because you forgot something.
3. After you know what is on sale make your menu around those items-so if broccoli is on sale, it may be the perfect time to make Beef and Broccoli or Chicken Divan, if ground beef is on sale it may just be the perfect time to have Sloppy Joes…you get the idea. This will not only help you decide what to make that week but will also save you money.
4. Categorize your list-organize it by what you are getting at each store and then group the items together (i.e. all the frozen foods together, etc.)
5. Look for coupons– You don’t have to do this but if you are into couponing there are a lot of online resources to help you (www.couponmom.com, www.coupontom.com or www.theobsessiveshopper.net) I usually do a quick run through to see if there are any online coupons I can print.
6. Use Deals to Meals-Let someone else do the hard work for you! See what the best prices are around town (even compared to Wal-mart, Costco, and Sams Club) and get menu plans around what is on sale for about a dollar a week!