Grocery Coupon Guide

Quick question: How many coupons do you have of each item you buy?! And where do you keep them?? Do you take them with you everywhere? I’m a little new but I have quite a bi of coupons (not a whole lot of one item though) and have them in an accordian style binder. Suggestions?

According to the rules of this challenge, I am only allowed to use the coupons out of 2 newspaper inserts each week (since that is something that anyone with a bit of creativity could manage). So of the Deli Creations, I can only use two of them for this challenge and need to donate the rest to the food bank.

I usually have 30+ inserts for each week, but I have to actively go out and get them. I stop buy a few local coffee shops and pick up the ones that people leave behind. I also take a walk on recycling day and collect ones being thrown out. I do this because I buy a lot of food banks for http://www.pennyexperiment.com (another one of my challenge projects).

I do not carry a binder with me and I do not cut out coupons to sort before hand. Too much time and trouble for me. I leave all the coupons in the inserts and only cut them out when I know I will buy something. This probably won’t work well for most people.

Ok another question (sorry!!) How do you keep track of what you have then if you have that many? I’ve been at this for like a month and have put every coupon I have in a word spreadsheet. It’s time consuming though. Just curious about what’s your method?

I don’t

I have no idea what coupons I have. Since I don’t buy by brand or what I want, I don’t need to know. I buy only what is on deep discount so I just wait until advertising inserts come out. I then use a coupon search engine to see if I can match any of the good deals with a coupon that is in one of the old paper inserts.

Then I am always on the lookout for coupons that give discounts on milk, produce and meat since these are harder to find. That is pretty much my only strategy.

If you are planning meals on your pantry contents, you can do this, but id you are planning meals and then looking for ingredients, you can’t.

It has been inspiring to read about your progress. You are quite the bargain shopper!

If you decide to continue, I would love to see you chart your hours spent gathering/ clipping coupons and shopping. I think it would be interesting to see how much an hour you would have to get paid at a job to make forgoing coupons worth it.

@Jennifer — I don’t spend much time clipping coupons because I do not clip and sort coupons. There is no way I could ever survive if I had to do that because of how much time it would take. I have a shelf where I simply pile all of the Sunday inserts (I date them so they are easy to find) and then only cut out coupons that make for great deals when the grocery store inserts come out.

I do spend about an hour on Saturday (drug stores) and an hour on Tuesday (grocery stores) going over the new circulars for the next week bargains to match deals with coupons.

I do spend more time in the grocery stores looking for coupons there. I definitely do not go in, get my stuff and get out like I used to.

There is definitely a time commitment involved, but I don’t think it is as much as people might imagine.

What is the coupon search engine that you use? It might not work for me since I’m on the East Coast, but I’d like to try.
ps-I love PB and B sandwiches. It’s a true southern staple. I’ve been eating them all my life.

I am actually putting together a coupon search engine right now, but it doesn’t have the search function working yet (it should be within a week or so): http://www.savingadvice.com/tools/coupons/ What will be really great about it is that if you find coupons at your local grocery store, you will be able to add them to the database so the more that input, the better the resource will become. Right now I have to search several data bases which is kind of a pain.

Congratulations! You did it!
Now, let’s go get some pizza.

~Conna

It would be interesting if you kept going. My 2 cents if you do:
- You’ve proven that you can get enough staples to survive on less than $1 per day, so if I were continuing the challenge I’d use the last $4 to obtain some spices. You already have salt & pepper, but if you got an Italian seasoning blend, some garlic and onion powder, some chili powder and/or cumin, and some curry powder and or Chinese 5-spice, you could really have some diversity in your cooking for the next month.
- I think you’ve done pretty well nutrition-wise, but you’d want to make sure you got some more variety in your fruits and veggies. I especially notice the lack of green leafies, such as spinach and broccoli, and dark antioxidant-rich berries. Frozen is nearly as good as fresh in terms of nutrients, so maybe you could look for deals on that…
- Your sister’s main complaint has been that “no one would eat” the food you’ve come up with. I actually think it doesn’t sound that bad, but here’s a possible solution: Most people aren’t so desperate that they only have $30 per month for groceries. I bet it would be almost as challenging for people to get by on $1.25 or $1.50 per day. What if you upped the amount slightly, to show people that yeah, you can more than just subsist on $1 per day, but you can eat really, really well on $1.50? $45 per month is still far less than most people spend on food…

So if you do not clip your coupons or keep them with you how do you take advantage of the deals likt the deli creation? Do you scope out the discount sections, then go home to look for a coupon, and then go back to the store again?

@Jenelle

I learn from experience The first time I had to go back. There are certain items that you learn often get discounted and I keep those coupons in the glove compartment of the car (like the deli creations). There really aren’t many of these as most items on clearance shelves are marked at 50% off and that is often higher than can be found at other times. So far I have only had to go back once for a deal like that (although I did have to go back a second time to take back the ice cream on the last day as well)

I just found this site today so I’m reading it all at once…linked thru Daily Dish. Anyhoo, if you do continue I’ve a recipe for a pie that is no-cook and made with Jello, yogurt, cool whip & pre-made crust. You can make it so cheaply, and based on how you’re eating..it would last a long time. It takes about 5 minutes to make & you’re done.

I can often combine offers to get a bottle of BBQ sauce for near free at the grocery store or, at the most, for 89cents. I find having BBQ sauce helps add perky variety to a budget cooking menu. If anything, you could make cheap, easy sloppy joes (brown the meat, stir in BBQ, put on bread) every now and then. And, now that you can broil, you’ll find that brushing a light coating of BBQ over some kinds vegetables before roasting them under the broiler makes for yumminess!

oh, and I love that you’re getting more creative in your ‘plating’ of the food ‘ala food network’ cool.