Category Archives: Grocery Savings

Tips for using coupons and finding deals.

Feb 29 2012

Saving a Few Dollars on Gasoline

Save Mart Fuel Rewards cardGas prices. Ugh. It’s one thing we can all complain about, no matter your political affiliation. And there’s not much we can do about it.  We’re kind of at the mercy of the gas companies.

But here is something easy that you can do, if you live in California near a Save Mart or Lucky grocery store.  You can get a fuel rewards card.  It doesn’t cost anything.  You just swipe it each time you shop and your spending is recorded.

Here’s how it works:

  • Pick up a Save Mart Rewards Card at participating Save Mart locations.
  • Carry your Rewards card and scan it every time you check out at the store. For every $50 you spend in qualified purchases at Save Mart or Lucky, you’ll earn 5¢ per gallon.
  • Redeem Fuel Rewards at participating Shell or other fuel stations.
  • Insert your Save Mart Rewards Card at the pump.
  • Select your form of payment and fuel grade.
  • Watch the price drop – dispense up to a maximum of 20 gallons of fuel per purchase.

I’ve been doing this for several months, and I usually save $0.20 to $0.30 per gallon.  It’s an easy way to save on gas since I shop there anyway.  For full details see the Fuel Rewards section of their site.

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Oct 20 2011

10 Ways to Save on Food Costs

Seems like everyone is feeling the crunch of this recession.  If you are trying to rein in your budget, food expenses is a good place to start.  For me, it’s one of our largest monthly espenses, but by making a few easy cuts you  can save a lot.

Here are some ideas for saving:

1. Make it at home. By brown-bagging you can save loads every week versus eating out.  This goes for your lunch during the workday, that $4 coffee in the afternoon, and fast food. This is a great strategy for trimming your budget and your waistline.

2. No packaged foods. I know, you are busy.  But you’ll be surprised how quickly you can throw together a stir fry or pasta dish at home.  If you are really in a pinch, make a sandwich. Things like pancake mix and muffin mix are unnecessary and filled with questionable processed ingredients.  Go for quick scratch recipes like scones for breakfast.

3. Reduce your caffeine intake. I started making our morning coffee with three scoops of grounds instead of four. It makes a can of coffee last much longer, and the lighter flavor doesn’t bother me. Skip the cases of soda, or reduce intake to one a day.

4. Determine which foods you purchase are necessities, and which are just wants. Sure a steak is nice, but you can by with cheaper cuts of meat and make stews, soups, roasts and the like.
5. Use your slow cooker. A slow cooker allows you to take those cheaper cuts of meat and cook them low and slow. Most recipes require very little prep.  If you can’t get up any earlier in the morning, prep in the evening, put the crock in the fridge and set it up to cook in the morning before leaving for work. Soups are nutritious and easy.

6. Stock up and save on meats. Watch the weekly ads and look for discounts on meat in the store.  Purchase large family packs when the meat is on sale.  When you get home, divide the meats into smaller portions, wrap and place in the freezer.  For example, a large package of ground beef might be 3 lbs or more. Divide into one pound portions and freeze.  Don’t forget to write the date on the package so you know how long it’s been in there.  It works for chicken breasts too.  I like to buy two very large packages when on sale and repackage into small (3 breasts) freezer bags to use later.

7. Buy in bulk, when practical. You can go for bagged potatoes, onions, apples and oranges.  These might be smaller or less perfect, but a big savings at the register.  Other bulk items to consider are flour, sugar, salt, pasta and canned vegetables–staples with a long shelf life. Get to know the prices and buy when they are on sale, typically every three to four months.

8. Only buy food at the grocery store. That sounds obvious, but I mean that you should purchase toiletries, paper products, cleaning supplies and pet food at the super center.  Target, Wal-Mart or Costco are better options for those items.

9. Plan ahead. By looking at the weekly ads and your store’s online sales you can determine what’s on sale and plan meals accordingly.  Plan meals based on which meats and vegetables are on sale.

10. Use coupons. Don’r roll your eyes. Coupons actually can save you money…if you know how to use them correctly.  Which is a better deal? 1. Buy the name brand at $3.50 and use a $.50 off manufacturer coupon? or 2. Buy the store brand at $2.85?  Use online services like CouponMom.com or the Krazy Coupon Lady.  Both are free and allow you to match up store sales with manufacturer coupons and store coupons.  By using that $0.50 off coupon and a store coupon for $0.50 off you now get the name brand product for $2.50.  Coupons can be found in the weekend paper or print them online at sites like Coupons.com and SmartSource.com. You can find store coupons in grocery store weekly ads and the store’s webpage.  Target, one of my favorite places to shop has printable coupons on their website. They are “restocked” on Sundays, so check early in the week to get the best ones.

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Jul 24 2011

Fresh Produce Now at Target

The Target stores in our area (Central Coast of California) have all been replacing their garden section with an expanded grocery section including fresh produce and meats.  I for one, am excited to see this change.  I love some of the deals I can find at Target, especially on their clearance item.  I’m very curious to see how their new grocery prices compare to my usual stores, Safeway and Save Mart.

I’ve been a dedicated coupon shopper since January, so I’m very curious to see how Target’s grocery items compare to where I usually shop.  It certainly will be more convenient than Safeway, as the nearest one is about 25 minutes away.  The Safeway does have very nice produce and a wide selection of items, which makes it a good store. I also have a Save Mart close by (10 minutes) but it’s a small store and doesn’t have a lot of selection.  I’m hoping the vegetables and meats are of good quality. I’m most interested in how often I’ll be able to find really good stock up prices by stacking Target coupons and manufacturer coupons.  One thing that will be different is that Target runs its circulars on a Sunday-Saturday schedule, unlike most stores here, which run Wednesday to Tuesday.

There are several couponing sites available for matching up coupons for Target with their sale items.  Some that I have used are CouponMom.com, The Krazy Coupon Lady and I recently found Totally Target which is specifically about Target’s sales.  It’s Sunday night, so I think I’ll check out the sites and see what kind of deals are happening this week.  I have to go there tomorrow anyway to pick up my prescription, so maybe I can snag some other things too!

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Jul 22 2011

Frugal Friday EXTRA: Deals at Savemart

I found a few great deals at Save Mart today.  Even though I had the kids with me I was able to get everything on my list and make it home just in time for a severe headache to set in.  Oh well, at least I got the shopping done and now I can just relax.

Here are a few of the bargains I found:

  • Taylor Farms Salad.  My store had it for $2.89, with a Buy One, Get One Free sale.  That was a pretty good price to start with at $1.45 per bag. But then I saw that the bags had “peelies” (couponer lingo for coupons attached to the package).  The peelie was for $1 off any bag.  So I bought four bags of salad for a grand total of $1.70.  That’s $0.43 per bag.  Score!  I only bought four because that’s all we can use before it starts to turn bad.
  • Coors Light. They are running a sale on bottles. I got a case of 20 for $12, less than what an 18 pack of cans was selling for.  Paul is the only one who drinks beer in our house, so that purchase will last us quite a while.
  • Nabisco Snack Sacks. These are little cookies and crackers in a zip pouch.  They were on sale for $1 each.  I got six since that is a stock-up price to me.  That will last us about four months.
  • Comfort Coop Eggs. These ethically minded eggs were a good buy today.  They were marked $2.19 per dozen.  The standard eggs were $1.78 per dozen on sale.  But I had a $0.55 off coupon for the Comfort Coop brand, bringing them down to $1.64 a dozen.  I like this brand because in my experience, the eggs have been fresher – nice clear whites and dark yellow yolks.  It’s a good example of how the higher quality or name brand product can be less than the store’s generic product when you use coupons.

I’m sure there were a few other good deals that I forgot to mention.  My head is still splitting so I must go.  Happy shopping everybody!


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Jun 14 2011

Extreme Couponing Show Hurting Shoppers

Article first published as:
 Is Extreme Couponing Hurting the Average Coupon User? on Blogcritics.

TLC’s new Extreme Couponing show first premiered as a special in January 2011. It caught my eye late one night as I was flipping around for something to watch. I was fascinated by what I saw – people purchasing hundreds of dollars’ worth of groceries for next to nothing. How did they do it? Coupons!

As the show became a regular series (Wednesday nights at 9 pm) a pattern appeared in the people who were able to get these terrific deals. They lived in places where stores offer double coupons; they bought huge quantities of the items and had massive stockpiles of food, toiletries, and household goods. They got many items for free, and even made money “overage” as they call it when coupons added up to more than the purchase price.

If you watch the show more than once, you will begin to pick up on a few things. These people have large number of duplicate coupons for the items they are buying. How do they get so many? It would be very expensive to purchase enough copies of the Sunday paper to get 20 copies of the inserts. Some get the extra inserts from friends and neighbors, some go dumpster diving at the local newspaper office, and some use a coupon clipping service to order the coupons they want.

The other thing I noticed was the amount of time spent by these couponers to plan their shopping trips. Many are stay-at-home moms who are spending 30 or more hours a week in planning, clipping and scouring the internet for deals. This is a full-time job for them, and for many it’s an obsession.

As I began learning more about this method of couponing I found numerous websites dedicated to matching store sales and current coupons. Some are paid sites like The Grocery Game but there are also free sites such as The Krazy Coupon Lady and CouponMom.com. I’ve used all three that I mention here at different times and it does help to lower my grocery bills. However, I live in California and there are no stores in this state offering double coupons. The best I have been able to do is about a 50% savings. That’s not bad, but it’s nowhere near the 95%+ the people on the show are getting.

Overall I think the show has had a negative impact on coupon users. The show gives the impression that anybody can get these huge savings if they try. In the message boards of various couponing sites people are irritated with the show. Many say it’s nothing more than “organized hoarding”. I’d have to agree based on some of the people featured in the show. They have more food than a family could eat before it expires. Yes, some of these people donate a large amount of food to local food banks, but by clearing the store shelves of great deals they are hurting struggling families who just want to get a couple of items at a great price.

Stores are getting wise to this extreme couponing phenomenon. When a customer redeems a manufacturer coupon the store is reimbursed from the manufacturer. But stores that allow double coupons are footing the bill for the amount that is doubled. In April, Kroger chains in the Houston, Texas are stopped doubling and tripling coupons. Other stores have begun to limit the number of doublers used, or the number of like coupons used per transaction. Wal-Mart has also revised its coupon policy to be more specific about what the store will and will not accept. They now require manager approval for more than 40 coupons in one transaction or over $50 in coupons in one transaction. It seems that rising food prices and extreme couponing may mean fewer deals to be had by regular folks.

 

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