Meal planning around coupons/sales?

[kitan]

Hi, I'm a newlywed learning to coupon. I'm having real problems making meal plans around coupons/store sales. I was quite literally raised on fast food and TV dinners (gross, I know) so I don't know much about cooking and I don't know many recipes.

I found a great site that makes meal plans for grocery store sales but it only covers stores in North Carolina (http://www.coupon-kitchen.com/).

Do you have any recommendations or resources to help me learn to meal plan according to coupons and grocery sales?

Thank you so much!

[hipchic10]

I too, have been looking for websites/blogs for recipes that can be made from Kroger deals...

[jglass]

What I usually do is look at what meat and fresh veggies are on sale, especially veggies since I usually have a variety of meat in the freezer, and plan around that. Like if cauliflower is on sale I'll plan to make cauliflower soup. Or if anaheim peppers are on sale I'll do chili rellenos. I like a lot of people have stockpiles built up and they kind of shop out of their storage and just shop when there is a killer deal.

Hopefully someone has a link to a site that does menu idea for you, I would love to use that too. Sometimes it's hard looking through the ads and trying to come up with ideas.

[amy_ks]

I really like allrecipes.com. So if there is something that I'm interested in trying, I do a search for recipes with that ingredient. I read the comments and then add it to my recipe box to try.

Once you develop a set of recipes you like you will become a better judge of what recipes will suit your family. I think it is definitely a process. I know this website is a great resource as well. So if you have a type of meat or ingredient you want to try, you could post a question here.

[t33]

I haven't used this, but have heard of others who have and like it. http://dealstomeals.com/ It is $4.95/month, but you can try it out for 2 weeks for free.

[lodderd]

If you stocked up on the BC Mac 'n Cheese at the Smith's/Fry's/Kroger sale a couple of weeks ago, you might like this one. I tried it for the first time last night, and the kids were actually FIGHTING over it! It was really good.


Surprisingly Easy Tuna Casserole

1 pkg mac 'n cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tuna
8 oz frozen peas

Make mac & cheese as directed on package. Combine with remaining ingredients in a casserole or baking dish. Bake at 325 for 45 min. Serves 4-6


The Cream of Mushroom soup is on the stock-up sale at Smith's this week.

HTH someone