In June I posted “Family Meal Planning: Who” and then in the begining of Aug I followed up with “Family Meal Planning: What”.  This is the third and final posts from the article and it focuses on when you should buy your food.

When

There are a lot of things to remember when shopping for a family but there are three things I think of right away.  I would love any of your ideas on what you think is most important to consider just leave it as a comment.

1. Never go shopping hungry.  I think we all know what happens when you do this so I won’t elaborate except to say dont ever buy chinese food from a grocery store deli at 9 pm.

2. Buy fruits and vegetables that are in season.  I talked about this a little in my what post but your family will eat healthier and you will save money if you follow this simple rule.

3.  Shop the sales.  I firmly believe in stocking up on cereal when you can get it for $1 a box.  I am not a coupon cutter, although I wish I was, but sales can really cut your grocery bill if you stock up when things are on sale and make them last.  The article talked about the difference between brand name, generic, and store brand items and I thought it was interesting enough to share.  “Many people are hesitant about buying store brands or generic brands, unsure whether to compromise on quality. There IS a marked difference between store brands and generics. Store brands are A grade goods which are produced and packaged at the same places as national brand goods, but under a different label. Generic goods are usually B grade goods which cannot pass the quality standards of the A grade. This doesn’t mean they are bad, however.”

When I read this my first thought was of my husband almost going on strike when I bought Duo’s instead of Oreo’s.  I have always been a bargin shopper but I think buying some name brand and some things to save money. You just have to decide when the value is in the monetary over the quality of the product. My husband is a chain Dr Pepper drinker. So I arranged a Dr Pepper tasting, I had 6 brands and he and his friends tried to identify which product was which brand and pick their favorites. Each chose differently but only one picked the Dr Pepper brand and my husbands favorite was an off brand.  I proved to him that the taste difference isn’t worth the price difference but he still won’t let me switch.