The Bath and Body Works Canada Semi Annual Sale continues this week with select Signature Collection body care now at 3 for $10! Complete the survey at the bottom of your previous receipt for your code to save an additional $10 on a $30 purchase. If you don’t have a receipt check out their Facebook page for additional coupons.

Click here for the most comprehensive list of coupon and flyer match ups across Canada!

You know how it is, you get home, you are tired and still have housework to do and order a pizza or Chinese or you start making your favourite recipe only to find you are missing a key ingredient. Meal planning can save you both time a money.

Personally, I am not into one day cooking, but it works for lots of SmartCanucks members. We do use leftovers from dinner for lunches the next day to save on cooking a second time or buying additional food.

Meal planning can help you save in several ways

• You buy less at expensive prices
• You waste less
• You eat out / eat convenience foods less (healthier too!)
• You spend less time deciding what to cook

How to plan your meals

First, see what food items you have. If you already have chicken in the freezer, why pay more for it this week, wait for it to go on sale. Make a list to see what you have and think about what meals/recipes match them and what other items you will need to make those meals.

Then it is time to get out those flyers. See what is cheap this week. If pork tenderloins or packs of ground chicken are on sale – plan your meals around those and buy extras to freeze for weeks when meat is expensive. SmartCanucks makes this easy with our weekly ‘Produce & Grocery Staples Deals’ thread)

Make a list of meals with the ingredients beside them. I keep my favourite recipes on index cards and just pull out 6 for the week (we always factor in going out or getting a pizza). If I know it will be a busy week, I include something like frozen pizza depending on what is on sale that week. It is just the two of us, so when I cook, I cook for 6 – we eat that night, have a lunch portion for the fridge and another dinner portion for the freezer. If we eat out one night, we can use those dinner portions for lunches.

Write (or print) your meal plan. How often have you been on your way home and realised that you forgot to take something out of the freezer. Having a copy on your fridge will remind you to get that meal ready.

Write out your shopping list. I price match many of my groceries at Walmart, FreshCo or No Frills rather than going store to store. That way I can get the best deals without spending too much time to save the extra money. We will be covering price-matching in a future blog.

Go Shopping. Stick to your list but have another meal in your head in case something is not in stock or if there is a store special for a great deal.

It is a good idea to research budget recipes before planning, some good sites to start with are:

AllRecipes – Simply Recipes – Canadian Living – Eating Well – SkinnyTaste

There are lots of different meal planners online, but feel free to use mine here pdf

This blog is part of our New to SmartCanucks series, click here to read more blog posts in the series

Pepsi/Tostitos has a mail in rebate for a coupon booklet of $20 in coupons when you spend $20 on selected products.

Purchase any combination of the following products for a total of $20 or more (before taxes) at participating retailers across Canada:

• Lay’s* potato chips, (180g – 420g/any flavour)
• Doritos* tortilla chips, (180g – 420g/any flavour)
• Tostitos* tortilla chips, (180g – 420g/any flavour)
• Ruffles* potato chips, (180g – 420g/any flavour)
• Tostitos* or Ruffles* salsa/dips (394mL – 645mL/425g – 432g/any flavour/variety),
• Pepsi*, Mountain Dew*, Mug*, 7UP*, Dr Pepper**, Crush**, Schweppes** soft drinks, Brisk® beverages, Gatorade* and G2* beverages (any size/variety/flavour).

Download your rebate form for a coupon booklet here

The Canadian Tire flyer for the upcoming week shows the three piece Anchor measuring cup set on sale for $6.99. Watch for a $10 coupon booklet inside containing the following coupons:

Save $0.75 off Keebler ready crust
Save $0.75 off black diamond cheese
Save $0.75 off lactantia butter
Save $0.75 off conrad foods roasted potato seasoning mix
Save $0.50 reynolds stay brite baking cups
Save $2 off finish quantum
Save $1 off sponge towel ultra 6
Save $8 off canadian living

Click here to view the Canadian Tire flyer.

Shoppers Drug Mart have added lots of bonus point offers, mostly for skincare or beauty.  They are valid January 5th – 18th unless specified.

• Receive 5000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points with the purchase of Vichy ProEven BB Cream (ends Jan 11).
• 15% off + 1500 Shoppers Optimum Points® on the purchase of a Revlon Photoready BB Cream® Skin Perfector.
• Receive 5000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any product from the b.right! Radiant Skincare by Benefit collection.
• Receive 10X the Shoppers Optimum Points®* when you purchase $75 or more on any Estée Lauder skincare.
• Receive 8000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any Lise Watier Age Control Supreme skincare product.
• Receive 20X the Shoppers Optimum Points®* when you purchase any participating NeoStrata Anti-Aging Stem Cell product.
• Receive 20,000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any Biotherm Blue Therapy product.
• Receive 10X the Shoppers Optimum Points®* when you purchase any Clinique Repairwear product.
• Get 8000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any 2 participating Prevage® products.
• Receive 8000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* with the purchase of any 2 Shiseido Bio-Performance Super Corrective Serum (50mL), Bio-Performance Advanced Super Revitalizing Cream (75mL) or Advanced Super Restoring Cream (75mL) products.
• Receive 10x the Shoppers Optimum Points®** when you purchase any StriVectin product.
• Receive 3000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any 2 participating Etival products.

These offers are valid Jan 5th – 25th

• Get 1500 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any 3 participating Aveeno® products.
• Get 10x the Shoppers Optimum Points®* when you purchase any participating Jergens Moisturizer 480mL.
• Get 10x the Shoppers Optimum Points®* when you purchase any participating NIVEA Body Lotion.
• Get 1000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any participating Olay Regenerist product.
• Get 1000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any (2) participating Vaseline products.
• Get 10x the Shoppers Optimum Points®* when you purchase any NIP + FAB products.
• Get 3000 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you buy any 2 participating Soap & Glory products.
• Get 500 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any 2 Balea face, hand or body products.
• Get 1500 Shoppers Optimum Bonus Points®* when you purchase any 3 participating TYLENOL®, LISTERINE®, or JOHNSON’S® products (valid now-Jan 25th)

and saving the best til last, there is a VIB printable coupon for 8000 bonus points when you spend $40 or more on baby products valid until January 31st.

View our list of deals on produce, meat and grocery staples in the flyers for the week of January 3-10 here

Quick! Sign up to get your free 8 use bottle of Method Laundry Detergent. Get started by liking them on Facebook here.

If you do not currently get airmiles offers sent to you by email, sign up before the end of February to get a bonus of 50 Airmiles – worth $5 if you redeem them as cash in stores.  This offer is not available to those already receiving Airmiles’ emails.

Click here to sign up for emails from Airmiles

Not really a deal but I know many of you have been looking for gluten free products.

Some of these have been available in select Loblaws banner stores for a while but they are rolling them out to more stores.  Check your local Loblaws store (Loblaws, Superstore, RCSS, Fortinos etc) to find a wider selection of PC Brand gluten free products including white sliced bread, cookies, muffins, brownies and cake loafs.

The pricing shown above is for my local Fortinos store.

Shop online at The Body Shop to save $11 on select body Butter, only $8 for a limited time.  They also have many items on clearance and shipping is free when you spend $50 or more (saving of $5, usually you need to spend $75 to get free shipping)

Click here to shop online at The Body Shop

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I used to go to the same grocery store weekly, with roughly the same list yet my bill really varied. We bought the same brands because we were used to them, we picked up whatever looked interesting. Typical shoppers. Now I cringe when I am behind someone with a cart full of items knowing they can save so much more.

Everyone knows the usual rules for not overspending when shopping; shop alone, with a list and never on an empty stomach, but there is so much more to saving on groceries.

Look at the price per unit and per weight. Two similar items can be priced similarly, say a box of granola bars for $1.99 but one may have 6 while the other has 8 in the box. The bars in the box of 8 may be slightly smaller, but you will likely only eat one anyway. Save the calories and the money.

Buy in bulk (when not using coupons). Things like lentils, rice, pasta and spices are often cheaper when bought in bulk if you do not have a coupon. Bulk Barn often offers coupons for $3 off when you spend $10 or more. Buy some containers to store them and save on these items.

Spend now to save later. If you have been trying to save on your groceries for a while, you know that some weeks, the deals are just awful.  Stock up on pantry items or foods that can be frozen when they are cheap.  For example, Metro recently sold extra lean ground chicken for $2.49/lb (reg $3.99/lb on sale).  We went several times and grabbed 4 and stocked our freezer with 12 packs of roughly 1lb each).  Just before Christmas, FreshCo offered pricematching of Grade A turkeys for utility turkeys. I pricematched Food Basics at $0.77/lb for a 12lb turkey, it was under $10 and will make many meals to come.

Buy in season or frozen. Fruit and vegetables are obviously much cheaper (and fresher) when bought in season. If you still want those summer berries, buy frozen. Meats can be high in sodium when frozen, opt for fresh if you are watching the sodium intake.

Do your own food prep. A stir-fry vegetable kit may seem cheaper when you compare it to buying each of the items separately, but you often only need less than half of those items so can use them for multiple meals. Boneless/skinless meats are much pricier than their boned counterparts, a whole chicken can be much cheaper than buying breasts and legs.

Don’t be brand loyal. Whether it is because you have a coupon or because a certain brand is on sale – you can save a lot by buying different brands. I have tried many brands because of a discount that I likely would not have bought before joining SmartCanucks but I now love and buy regularly. Don’t be afraid to try store brands for those items that do not have coupons, they are often made by the major manufactures anyway.

Meatless Mondays (or any day). Swap out meat for a cheaper protein such as lentils or beans – you will save money and your body will thank you for it.

Check the discount racks. Get to know your store staff and find out when they mark down produce and meat. In some stores (especially the more expensive chains) they mark down meat that is much fresher than other stores so you need to do some investigating to find the best stores. Just by shopping at the right time, you can save 30% on meats and produce. Either cook or freeze them when you get home. This really does depend on the store, comparing my local stores one marks down produce that looks fresher than the full priced produce in another, one very rarely has any mark downs other than breads and another the meat needs to be slimy and green before they would consider marking it down.

Meal Planning. Plan your meals based on sales. I will cover this more in-depth later but you can save a lot of money by planning what you are going to eat so you are not buying last minute items at a convenience store or using items meant for another meal.

Couponing. As I mentioned earlier, couponing is not for everyone but if someone gave you $20 gift card to a grocery store, you would use it, no? Why not let the manufacturers pay for your products. Some couponers will even trade gift cards for coupons, so you can get free produce for giving away those coupons you don’t need.    You may think that there are no coupons for healthy items, but there are.  Last year I got free fruit and yogurt from cheap cereal, produce from $1 ziplocs etc  I will cover this more in-depth too.

Loyalty Programs. Is your store offering bonus points on an item you buy often? Do they have a bonus event when you spend a certain amount.  Usually you can use coupons to reduce this amount.  Do you have a high value coupon that they are offering bonus points on? Use those bonus points to buy the produce and meat.

Each week, we do the work for you – check here for the best lists of deals on meat, produce & grocery staples, coupon matchups and baby deals.

This blog is part of our New to SmartCanucks series, click here to read more blog posts in the series

Almond Fresh posted that they will be holding a giveaway on facebook tomorrow at 11 a.m (Eastern).  Like them now to save time when the giveaway starts.

Click here to like Almond Fresh on Facebook

This weekend January 5th & 6th, get 8000 bonus Optimum points when you spend $50 or more at Shoppers Drug Mart in Atlantic provinces.  The rest of Canada gets two movie tickets when you spend $75

Monday to Friday, you get a $10 Shoppers Drug Mart gift card when you spend $50 or more

Hopefully there are some good deals in the flyer.

Sign up to get your free sample of VPlenish Vitamin Boost, the world’s first taste free daily vitamin. It dissolves clear in any hot or cold food or beverage. Click here to order yours while quantities last.