With gas prices at an all-time high, American families are being impacted in many areas, including at the grocery store. Here are ten tips to help you save money at the checkout.

The recent escalation in gas prices has had an enormous impact on the American economy. No segment of the market has been spared, but one area that has been particularly hard hit is the nation’s food distribution network. The trucking industry has been forced to pass higher fuel prices on to their customers, and in turn, the consumer must absorb these prices. All of this translates into higher prices on grocery store shelves.

There has never been a better time to sit down and plan a strategy for making the most of your grocery-shopping dollar. Despite high prices, you can save money at the supermarket with some pre-planning and a little extra effort. Here are ten ways that you can work towards saving money at the grocery store.

1. Only Shop Once a Week

If you do nothing else, start working towards limiting your grocery shopping to once a week. Every time you go to the store, you are tempted to impulsively buy items that you really don’t need. Running to the store every day can double or even triple your weekly grocery expenditure. Above everything else, this may be the most significant way that you can save money on your grocery bill. Once a week means just that… once a week! This means no runs to the store during lunchtime and no stopping for a "few things" on the way home from work. The only exception to this rule would be for emergency supplies or perishables such as milk.

2. Set a weekly grocery budget

While this seems fairly obvious, it is surprising how few people actually have a plan for spending their monthly income. Most Americans find themselves living paycheck to paycheck, and coming up short at the end of the month is not unusual. If you don’t know how much money you have to spend, it is easy for expenses to exceed income. Each month, sit down and write up a spending plan. This is actually easier than it sounds. Add up your total net income, and then deduct all of your fixed expenses. These would include rent or mortgage payments, car loans, insurances, gas, utility bills, credit card bills, and other monthly bills that remain constant. Don’t forget to allow a figure for clothing expenses if necessary. Subtract the total of these bills from your total monthly income, and then divide that number by four. The result will be your weekly disposable income.

From that amount, subtract expenses that you expect to incur each week – the little day-to-day expenses such as lunches, haircuts, entertainment, and other sundries. The remaining amount is what you have available for groceries. Of course, this figure will change from week to week, depending on other expenses, but this should give you a good idea as to where you are in relationship to your income. This amount will probably surprise you since all too often; we fritter away our money and wonder what we did with it!

3. Use the Weekly Grocery Ads to Write up a Menu Plan and List

To save money at the grocery store, you need to spend a bit and buy a weekly Sunday newspaper. In most communities, the Sunday paper is full of store ads and manufacturer’s coupons that will help save money at the checkout counter. Use the ads to setup a menu for the coming week.

Study the ads for all the stores in your area, looking at what’s on sale. Try to find one or two stores that have the best deals and stick to shopping at them. You won’t save money driving all over town for one or two items.

Plan several meals around the best sale items. For example, if whole roasting chickens are on sale, plan to serve a chicken dinner one night, and then use the leftovers to prepare chicken fajitas the next night. The chicken can also be used for sandwiches and the bones for soup stock. Look online for interesting recipes using whatever meats you are buying.

Working women often find that preparing meals each evening is impossible. It is tempting to stock up on frozen dinners to use during the week. But these prepared meals are expensive, and the costs add up significantly. If you plan ahead, you can actually prepare a variety of dishes ahead of time and put them in the freezer to be heated up each night. This takes a bit more time, but the cost savings are significant.

4. Do an Inventory

Before you go to the store, take your menu plan and recipes, and check your cupboard and refrigerator to see if you need any of the ingredients. Check spices, dressings, sauces, and other condiments. How many times have you been in the store and not known whether or not you have a certain item at home? Not wanting to take a chance, you buy it, only to discover you already have one or more of this item sitting in your cupboard! Worse yet, you forget to write down a key ingredient for one of the recipes and discover later that you don’t have it. This leads to the temptation to revisit the grocery store, and you can end up spending additional money over your budget.

5. Make a List (and stick to it!)

Never go to the grocery store without a list… ever! You should write down everything that you need to prepare the meals on your plan, including ingredients that you found you were lacking when you did your inventory. Use the ads to estimate your total expenditure so that you won’t exceed your budget. Make a vow not to buy anything that is not on the list. This is difficult the first few times out, but becomes habitual with practice. It also saves you time in that you aren’t running all around the store looking for things that you think you might need.

6. Clip Coupons

Once you have your list, look through your coupons or clip them from the paper. Only clip coupons that are for items that you would normally buy and that are on your list. Having a coupon for something that you really don’t need is often a temptation to buy it. If there are coupons for similar items, check the store ad to see if any of them are on sale. Combining coupons with advertised items is an excellent way to save money.

NOTE: Even with coupons, some store brand items are less expensive than name brands. Before you toss the name brand item into your cart, check the store brand of the same item.

7. Never Shop When You are Hungry

This rule is one that we all have heard before, but it bears repeating. When you are hungry, your will power is diminished and you will be tempted to buy things you really don’t need. Areas of particular danger are the bakery aisle and snack section. The best time to go shopping is in the morning, after having eaten breakfast, or later in the evening, after dinner.

8. Avoid Pre-Packaged or Convenience Food Items

There is no question that we are all busy people, juggling work, home, school, and other activities. But while it is tempting to grab a stack of frozen dinners or an all-in-one boxed meal, these convenience items can destroy your food budget. Preparing food from scratch takes a bit more time, but the savings are well worth the effort. In addition, prepared foods contain more salts, fats and calories than their homemade counterparts.

For the price of one prepared container of mashed potatoes, for example, you could buy ten pounds of raw potatoes that would feed your family for a month. One box of prepared cold salad mix costs as much as two boxes of macaroni that would generate four or five big bowls of pasta salad. It makes no monetary sense to spend more for less!

9. Buy Store Brands

Don’t turn up your nose at store branded items. In many cases, these items are made in the same plants as name brands and simply labeled differently. On items such as canned soups, fruits, vegetables, cereals, and snacks, the savings can be significant. If you are convinced that name brands are better, experiment a bit, buying one can of a store brand item to try it out first. You won’t save money if you stock up on a store brand item and then discover that you really don’t like it.

10. Avoid Convenience Stores

Prices at convenience stores are almost always higher than larger supermarkets. They have to be in order to compete. Their appeal is that they are, well… convenient! It makes no sense to blow a carefully crafted food budget by succumbing to the lure of the corner store. If you don’t go in, you can’t spend any money. As with the shopping once a week rule, however, if an emergency arises, and this is the only store open, you might not have a choice.

There are certainly other ways to save money on groceries besides those listed here. Food clubs and discount stores often offer great savings on bulk items, which are great for large families. But you have to pay to join, and it doesn’t make much sense to pay to join a store when you really don’t need to buy huge quantities of items on a regular basis. Often, with store sales and coupons, you can realize the same types of savings at a regular supermarket.

If you are able to do so, plant a vegetable and herb garden each spring. Fresh vegetables from the garden are a summer treat, and they can be frozen for future use. There is something very rewarding about growing and eating your own produce. Of course, this is not without some cost. Seeds are expensive and the garden must be tended and watered regularly. If you don’t have the time to work in a garden, it is probably not a good idea to spend the money getting it started.

Taking control of your grocery expenditures is rewarding on many levels. By getting out of the habit of impulse buying, you will have more money left over at the end of the week, and that money can be used for fun things such as movies or vacation. Keep track of how much you save using coupons and put that money aside. It adds up quickly and makes the extra effort worthwhile. Try following this plan for a month and you will certainly notice the difference.