Smart shoppers know that the key to saving the most on groceries is to plan their shopping trip before they set foot in the store. Using the store’s weekly sales circular to plan meals with the best bargains (rather than planning the week’s meals and buying the ingredients regardless of price) is a standard practice for most strategic grocery shoppers. Some of us actually pull our store’s sales circular out of the newspaper before reading a single page of the paper. My husband finds it disturbing that I can quote the best chicken price available any week, but have no idea who was playing in the Super Bowl. I like to think of grocery shopping as my sport!

Most stores either mail their weekly ad to homes one day a week or have their weekly ad inserted in the newspaper the day their prices change. Shoppers who do not get the paper every day can pick an ad up at their store at the beginning of their shopping trip. However, they would probably miss a few good savings opportunities.

The Internet has added an entirely new dimension to grocery shopping. With a few clicks on the computer you can get all the information you need about your stores’ weekly bargains. Grocery shoppers now have access to more pricing information than ever thanks to their stores’ Web sites.

As recently as five years ago, only a few stores had their weekly sales circulars posted online. Today, it’s rare if a store did not have their ads posted. Additionally, sites like www.shoplocal.com list multiple grocery stores’ ads online. The site enables shoppers to easily search multiple store ads for the lowest prices on their favorite items. Rather than having to search through individual store ads to see which one offered the lowest price on chicken, Shoplocal.com visitors simply enter the term “chicken” into the site’s search tool to get a list of all available chicken prices across some stores in the same zip code.

To make Strategic Shopping even more interesting, some stores are now posting the upcoming week’s specials. Both of my grocery stores post their weekly ad one day before prices change (keeping the current ad on the site as well). This extra information has been very helpful in my grocery planning because I can decide whether it makes more sense for me to shop that day or later in the week based on upcoming sales. I can also avoid stocking up on an item when a similar brand will be at a much lower sale price in the future ad period.

I didn’t realize the stores had their ads posted early until I noticed it on their Web sites. Many stores do not promote the availability of their early ads. If you haven’t checked your stores’ Web sites before, they are worth a visit. Some stores like Pathmark and Giant Eagle have e-mailable newsletters you can subscribe to.

Other stores, like ShopRite in the Northeast and Kroger in the Southeast, post their ads one day before the sales begin. Other stores have varying effective sale dates for different cities, even though the sale items are almost identical. For example, Publix has stores across the Southeast and most stores’ prices, including mine, change on Thursday. However, the Publix store in Winder, Ga., changes prices on Wednesdays, so I look at that ad before finalizing my Publix shopping list when I shop on Wednesdays. This sneak peek helps me take advantage of the current week’s bargains and avoid buying my second-choice brand of ice cream when my favorite brand is due to go on sale the next day!

Stephanie Nelson shares her savings tips as a regular contributor on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” You can find more of her savings tips in her book  “The Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom” and on her website at www.couponmom.com. She can be reached at shoppingmom@unitedmedia.com.