s/o saving $ on groceries thread: question about coupons

[ScoutTN]

Okay, I loved that thread and found encouragement there. We too need to cut our budget.

 

So I spent some time reading several of the couponing sites. My question is this:If we already shop/eat simply, no prepared or processed foods, how do coupons save me a significant amount of $ on food?

 

I saw only two or three things on three sites that were food items that I buy or need. Everything else was non-food or processed quick-food or loaded with sugar.

 

I totally get how it can be great for toiletries or household supplies. I am going to connect in on the CVS deals for sure!

 

But food? We buy most of our food on the outside edges of the store. And pasta, dried beans etc. we buy store brand. And there rarely if ever coupons for things we use tons of like vinegar, whole grains or legumes, fresh produce or olive oil. We shop at Aldi first then fill in the holes with Walmart, Kroger or Costco.

 

Farmer's markets here are more $ than grocery. We have a garden and split a CSA share with extended family. We don't have an extra freezer (or a garage/room to put it in!) so can't buy meat in bulk.

 

Am I just missing something?

[fairfarmhand]

I shop much the same as you do. I still struggle with using coupons since there are mostly products for processed food that the manufacturers make coupons for.

 

So I don't coupon alot.

 

I still watch out though because every now and then there will be coupons on a few items that I use (cookig oil, flour, cheese) but largely, I haven't been successful on grocery coupons.

 

I do find plenty on paper goods, hygiene items and toiletries.

[easygoer]

I found the same thing. Speaking for myself, getting too much into couponing led me to buy stuff I was bettr off without. There was danger for me in buying things that were great deals without asking 'should I be buying this to begin with?' I don't mean buying things I wasn't going to use, as much as buying things like cereal and snacks that I could do better with alternatives.

 

I do best with shopping the loss leader meats/poultry and freezing stuff ahead of time. If I get out ahead of myself like this, I can do really well paying very little for proteins (I got $30 of free pork loin yesterday for example in a BOGO sale.)

 

ETA: I have only an apartment-sized freezer, but I can get a month's worth of dinners in there pretty easily if I pack everything in bags or plastic wrap.

[kwickimom]

The deals you will find will be farther and few between, but there are even coupons for organics.

At one time I was PAID to buy fruit snacks because of 2 promotions running at once at my Kroger. If we didnt eat fruit snacks I could have donated them and used my "earned" money for milk or whatever food we did eat. I have gotten free brown rice and ww pasta. There are coupons out there for meat and veggies, they are just harder to find. You can save on condiments,yogurt, oils, sugar and flour also.

 

You wont always find great deals every week, but when you do find them they are worth it. I would try and watch 12 weeks worth of sale cycles and see what you think.

 

Kroger is my favorite store and I save more there than I do at Aldi. Find out what day they do manager markdowns. Mine is friday mornings. I get TONS of meat and produce for half the price. I usually buy organic fruits/veggies/ yogurt for cheaper than house brands. They are usually going out of date so i shop weekly. This alone saves me TONS.

[Dobela]

MamboSprouts has organic coupons. More sites are starting to carry them as well. If you have a brand you prefer, sign up for their emails and they will often send coupons. Silk, Horizons, and others regularly offer me coupons by email.

 

You won't necessarily find great coupons for fresh foods. A year or so ago I was reading an article about coupons in general. It stated that if you count coupons in the weekly newspaper fliers, only about 1/4 or 1/3 are for foods of any type. The other 3/4 or 2/3 are household, personal, and pet care items. If you are looking to save large amounts on food, it likely won't happen. When I was religiously cutting coupons, participating in coupons trains, and so on, food is not where I saved money. However, with careful coupon use and sites like couponmom or Southern Savers, you can match coupons to sales and get personal care items for a small fraction of the cost.

 

When I was regularly couponing I was able to get most of our shampoos and cleaning supplies for nearly free. That in itself made a nice dent in our budget.

[ecj98]

There are definitely still some coupons that you can use. Ones that I've used recently that come to mind were for whole grain pasta (made it cheaper than the store brand), vinegar (got it for free), frozen vegetables (no salt or sauce), olive oil, oatmeal, 100% whole wheat bread, etc. You just have to keep your eyes open for the good coupons.

[Jen in PA]

I don't think you are missing anything, I think it's just a reality that most coupons for food are for processed food. I used to do a lot more couponing, but have pretty much let it slide. I make almost everything from scratch or buy local products, so it was really more effort than it was worth. If I see a coupon for something I think I might end up getting for free, I will clip it, and then I donate that free item when a food drive comes around.

[Luckymama]

Some coupons only come out once or twice a year---for example, Ronzoni or Barilla wholegrain or wholewheat pastas. I procure as many coupons as I can, knowing that all of the stores in my area will have pasta on sale during the next month. If I'm extra lucky, I can get rainchecks for out-of-stock items. Last year I "bought" 100 boxes of wholewheat pasta. If I had only gotten 10 boxes, then gone looking for coupons after a few months, I would have been out of luck.

 

Other coupons are released quarterly---Daisy sour cream for example (I don't have one in the fridge but the ingredients are something like cream and salt). I procure as many coupons as I need to purchase the products to get me to the next quarter.

 

My storage shelves in the basement are not like a regular pantry. I have 20 bags of brown rice, 6 gallons of canola oil, 20 1b boxes of brown sugar, etc. I buy as much as I can for as little as I can, every single time I shop. Some weeks I spend $50 after coupons, other weeks I spend $5. Some weeks I come home with 10 bags of groceries from my 4 different stores, other weeks just one bag.

 

The trick is to buy what you use, when the price is what you wish to pay.

 

This takes a lot of work and a lot of time when you get started. You need to track the sales cycles by reading the store ads and checking the shelves for unadvertised specials when you go shopping. I used to keep a written price book but now, after 17 years, I've got the prices in my head :)

 

My older daughter has a soy allergy and a MSG sensitivity. We hardly buy any processed foods. I buy some organic, some local, and some just regular commercial foods. I spend $300/month on groceries for our family of five.

[RoughCollie]

I also make sure that the price with the coupon is the cheapest prices I can buy the item for -- many, many times I have calculated that the price less coupon is *more than* the full price of a similar item.

[cjzimmer1]

I used to coupon as well but I don't much anymore as we have moved to more natural food as well. Where I really save is by buying in bulk. For instance the kids eat oatmeal at least 6 mornings a week. Grocery store generic costs about 90 cents a pound (prices are a few years old) and name brand is more like $1.50 a pound. Even combing awesome sales and doubling coupons, I have NEVER been able to get it as low as the bulk price I pay now, which is only 40 cents a pound (but I have to buy 50 pounds at a time). We get very few coupons of any type in our newspaper. over 50 percent of the ads are for mail order clothes, dishes, collectibles etc. My parents live about an hour away but are grouped into a different sales area for coupon distribution. They have tons of coupons-easily 4x every week that we have. The funny part is I live in our states capital and they live in a small town.

 

So if people are unwilling or unable to buy or store huge quantities of food, then they may do better with couponing but I certainly don't. Since I make all my own condiments (ketchups, bbq sauce, salad dressings etc) as well as yogurts, all bread products, and most anything else I figure out how to make, can and freeze as much food myself as possible(home-grown or bought in bushel or larger quantities), clean with only baking soda and vinegar, and use only baking soda and vinegar for hair products, there isn't much left in the coupon world for me. But my lifestyle choices are not mainstream choices, I think those who are more mainstream also benefit more from things like coupons.

 

I think bulk buying and eating whatever you have on hand are much better savers than coupons.

[ScoutTN]

Thanks y'all! Your input is very helpful!

Good to know I'm not the only mom working hard to be thrifty and a wise steward! I am budgeting with renewed zeal and shopping more diligently.

 

This is a good month for us b/c DH gets paid every other Fri and there are five Fridays in October. So I put $$ for Christmas into savings today and that is a nice feeling.