Do you know what you are going to eat for dinner tonight?

How many times a week do you pile the kids in the car to go out to eat?

CHRIS ROSENBLOOM FIT TO EAT Have a question of general interest? E-mail Rosenbloom Related: • More on food and drink • Restaurant reviews and search More Rosenbloom You can work '101 Foods' into your diet  Know your nutrition: A quick quiz for fall  Three to be careful with in healthy diet  Grapefruit, cancer link considered preliminary  Beta carotene powers orange fruits, veggies  Our levels of the 'sunshine' vitamin decrease as we age  'Repair' muscles after long-distance running  Food-drug interaction an important issue  • Chris Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., is a member of the nutrition faculty in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia State University.

How many times a week do you stop at the grocery store on your way home from work to pick up something for dinner?

With the price of gas soaring, one way to save money is to plan your meals and be a smarter shopper. Here are three tips to help you save money, not just at the grocery store, but also on the unnecessary car trips during the week to hunt and gather your meals.

Tip 1: Plan a week's worth of menus and make a grocery list to get all the items needed. Get your family's input for meal ideas and ask the kids if they need to bring snacks to soccer or baseball during the week. After your list is complete, check your pantry, cupboards, refrigerator and freezer to see what is on hand. Is there a package of chicken breasts hidden in the freezer? What about the linguine lurking in the pantry or the half head of cabbage in the refrigerator? Build your meals around what you have, not only to save money, but also so you don't waste money by having to toss perfectly good food.

Tip 2: When you get to the grocery store, the biggest savings may be buying the private-label or store brand instead of the manufacturer brands, says Leah McGrath, registered dietitian for Ingles supermarket.

"Years ago most supermarkets sold generic foods with plain, no frills packaging with simple black lettering. Generic foods were less expensive but consumers considered them low-quality. Today the world of private-label and store brands has changed markedly, with supermarkets featuring attractively packaged private-label items (Laura Lynn at Ingles stores) of comparable quality to the national brands," McGrath says. She recently compared products with the same volume and weight with almost identical nutrition profiles to national brands and found a savings of anywhere from 20 cents to $1.15 per item by buying private-label foods.

Tip 3: Use the Internet to gather extra savings. Visit the Web site of your favorite grocery to uncover values that might not be advertised in the store circular. I visited the Web sites of four stores in the metro area and identified my favorite features to help you save money and eat more healthfully.

• Whole Foods Market at www.wholefoods market.com

Click on Store Specials and check out the Meals for 4 for Under $15 section.

• Ingles at www.ingles

-markets.com

View weekly ad pages and print your own grocery coupons.

• Kroger at www.kroger .com

Click on savings to view weekly specials and try Kitchen Help for weekly recipes.

•Publix at www

Look for green tag sales and "buy one, get one free" specials. Publix's Apron's provides recipes, and you can customize your grocery list to make sure you have all the ingredients needed.