To start I first I check my pantry stock items and freezer and see what I have to work with.  Then I check my grocery store’s weekly flyer via email to see what meat/seafood/poultry is on sale.  For a typical week of menu planning it looks something like this: out of the 7 days one night is seafood, two nights are chicken, another night a lean meat, then one night vegetarian/pasta, and one night ground turkey/chicken and one of my favs – one night a dough based dinner – pizza, Stromboli, or calzone.

So after looking at my panty and freezer then seeing what meat/seafood/poultry is on sale then I can plan what recipes to make for the seven nights.  Sometimes I can think of things off the top of my head – but most times I need a little inspiration from my recipe collection.  I have two binders in my kitchen, one for savory recipes the other for sweet recipes.

Inside my savory recipes I have a separate section for meals I make during the holidays and not the rest of the year.  You can be as detailed as you want by even separating them out further – meats, chicken, pasta recipes etc.

The binders are also great for when my family and friends email me recipes – I print them off, three whole punch them, and in they go!

Also for inspiration I keep all my good cookbooks close by in the kitchen – the ones that actually have recipes in them that I will use.  I have been fortunate enough that every year for Christmas my mother has given me a cookbook – last year she even got me an autographed Ina Garten one!  One of my favorite ones she got me is the “How to Cook Anything” by Mark Bitman – as the name describes it really does have it all!

So keeping in mind what grocery items are on sale, I look through recipes and cookbooks and find seven dinners to make, check the ingredient list then check my panty and see what else I’ll need to make the recipes.  Sounds easy enough – it IS!

Then if you want to take it one step further prepare your coupons!  I will admit it does take work to do couponing, but it is worth it especially if your grocery store does doubling up to .99 cents – that $.75 cent coupon just became a $1.50 and those can add up quickly to save you a lot of money!  Never mind the excitement about the Triple Coupon times!  All my friends get so excited – like we are getting ready for a big party – then brag about our big savings!

My goal right now my goal is to save $40 to $50 a week between the store sales and using coupons.  It’s the best feeling to save that much!  And by using coupons it does not mean to use them on items you wouldn’t normally buy anyways.  As you get more advanced you can time the use of your coupons to go along with the sale of an item and even be able to get it for free!  The last two weeks between my grocery stores sales and my coupons I have saved $70 and $89! 

The easiest way to get coupons is from the Sunday Paper.  If you don’t get the paper – maybe a neighbor does and they toss those coupons out – ask them to give them to you!  Another source I love is coupson.com and smartsource.com after downloading quick software you are connected to tons of free coupons for grocery items, household and health & beauty.  Another trend that is popping up is purchasing coupons online through a clipping service– I haven’t tried that yet, but if you really like to stock up and you see a great sale in the weekly flyer you could buy coupons online and stock up for low prices!

Up until recently I use to flip through my coupons on a Triple coupon week and see a coupon that says Do Not Double or Triple and then I would think, well I don’t really need that right now and don’t want to use it, since I didn’t think it would triple.  That was until I learned about the magic number 5!  On a coupon that says Do Not Double or Triple look down at the Bar Code – then look all the way over to the left – do you see a 5?  Well it’s up to your grocery store if they want to double or tipple that coupon.  My grocery store (Harris Teeter) does and maybe yours does too!  If you don’t want to ask someone there if they do double those ones – just try it one day – and look at the receipt and see if it got doubled!

For club warehouse shopping not only do they send out their own coupon books they will also take coupons from the Sunday paper and coupons.com type ones.  Be sure to check online to find online coupon sites and blogs about couponing – there are tons of free coupons and resources out there! 

I feel great Domestic Success when I walk out of the grocery store reviewing my receipt and look down to see how much I have saved that week – free money you can’ beat it!

-Wendy

Helping you achieve your Domestic success!