Grocery Coupon Guide

Please post each day with your daily menu and shopping and challenges place. This will be fascinating!

I can’t wait for you to continue!!

Jeffrey,

do you just plan your daily meals with what coupons you have and what is on sale?

@gingerbell Basically, I plan my meals on whatever I have, and whatever I have is what I can get on sale or have great coupon deals for. If there are money making coupon scenarios, then I have a bit more freedom choosing what to buy. Then there are staples that I need (milk, eggs, cereal, ect) which I try to get on sale or with coupons, but isn’t always possible.

This is great! I can’t wait to see how this month goes.

You are a genius just like Thrifty Mom! I follow her blog for thrifty deals and often miss out because I don’t have as much coupons as she does.

http://www.athriftymom.com

Do you ever, or will you eat out? Grab lunch with a friend or dinner out with family? How will you account for this?
I’m fascinated by your challenge and I’m just being curious!

[...] missed reading them these past few weeks!  For now though I’ll leave you with this link, Eating Well on $1/day.  I’m seriously impressed at how this guy managed to eat for so [...]

I could live on $1 a day if I ate 2 times a day which is a great way to loose weight. I would have to eat the same thing everyday though.

My breakfast would be cheap cereal with powered milk and my dinner would be 2 packs of ramen noodles @ 25 cents for each pack.

So my breakfast would cost 50 cents and my dinner is 50 cents.

join ihop’s facebook page and sign up for their ‘revolution’ and get a free meal today to treat youself after the dr visit.

Peanut butter and bananas is actually not that strange. While it is not something that I have tried before, it is something I have heard of. I have however had peanut butter plus marshmallow cream and bananas on toast that was delicious.

I was very interested in this challenge until I read this:
“Blinkie coupon actually makes the Philadelphia Cream Cheese minis a $0.06 money maker for each one you buy since it is for $0.55 cents off and with the current promotion, each one is $0.49 if you buy in groups of five.”

So he actually made 6 cents for every cream cheese mini. While technically this works,
a) I’m sure the manufacture will fix this coupon error very quickly
b) Not everyone has a store that pays you to buy food.

He then goes on with:
“I had $1.00 off 1 box coupons for the Wheat This and Fig Newtons and free bags of Ghirardelli chocolates that I had received from an online contest. ”

Online contest? How does that help anyone reading your article unless we can all win coupons from online contests?

And that was just day 1 so I’d say the experiment is a bust, you can’t eat on $1 a day, or at least he was unable to demonstrate that it’s possible without winning online contests or coupons that pay you more than the cost of the food.

@ iamjames

I think you need to reread I couldn’t keep the chocolates because not everyone could get them (my sister happily ate them). There was no manufacturer error. This is a common practice and there are often deals like this that make money at any of the major Supermarkets (there is one this week — it’s all part of the game) and it is how I have been able to donate over $10,000 worth of food to food banks over the last few months for a few hundred dollars: http://www.pennyexperiment.com — While there are a lot of things to legitimately find flaws with this challenge (and I would never recommend anyone try this), those two you gave aren’t relevant in my opinion.

Wow, I’m definitely impressed. Since I prefer to eat mostly primal I don’t think I can get my food budget that low but it still is inspiring.

Will you marry me?

@Kat

lol — if I had known this challenge would bring about responses like that, I would have been a lot more excited to do it from the beginning

I get the point of this “exercise” but if body composition is of any consideration, I think the true cost of this diet is quite high. I see lots of carbs and not a lot of protein. I see you called it “fairly healthy.” Well, by the typical obese american, maybe in some weird part of the universe, this is healthy. But from someone that knows real nutrition, like followers of the Precision Nutrition system, this diet is way below less than ideal. The only person this can consider this eating well is someone that only has $1 a day for food in the first place…

[...] have no intention of eating on $1 a day like this fellow did, but it is an interesting proposition. Categories: Budget items Tags: food Comments (0) [...]

Please have the pages linked, at the end of each page link to the next or at least to go back to the list of all page-links.

Not having that makes it much more difficult to read through the pages one to the next and keep track of what you have read in the long list of pages of your days.

It’s a great education. I had little idea these things exist. I’m reading it not only to see how you did it but how much sugar you could not avoid. (eg day one you bought instant oatmeal – and sugared is the only kind I’ve seen. (ie not healthy)

Good journalism. Good work.

@beachgirl-CA — all pages linked at the end of the post to the next post and the beginning page.

Why does the number of computers matter? What can you do with 4 computers that you can’t do with 2 in this context?

@tpi

The way that the online coupon companies limit the number of coupons is by computer. You can usually only print 2 coupons per computer. That means that the more computers you have access to, the more coupons that you are able to print.

Ok I’m impressed and here’s why:

When I first saw the title of your article, I was like “This guy has to live somewhere in the Mid-West where groceries are totally cheap.” I’m thinking, there is no way I could pull this off living in the South Bay Area (Sunnyvale) where the cost of living is ridiculously high and groceries are way more expensive. So I start looking at the pics of your receipts for and indicator of location. 408 area code…well damn.  You’re in Santa Clara county too. Seriously dude, I’m really impressed. If you can pull this off in Santa Clara county, you can pull it off anywhere in the country.

[...] This is part of a continuing challenge to eat well while spending an average of only $1 a day on food. You can find the beginning and the rules of this challenge here [...]

Well done! I would suggest that you don’t tie your “winning” or “losing” to your sister’s opinion since she has a history of changing the rules on you at the very end. Why don’t you either let your readers decide, or don’t make it about “winning” or “losing.” Just make it about showing that it can be done.

Love your blog. Been poor, couldn’t cook, so I taught myself. Here’s an easy soup that is cheep and will last you at least a week:

Taco Soup
1 large onion diced
1 large green bell pepper diced
1 roll of ground turkey (yes a roll, I buy 93/7 fat at Wal-Mart for about $2.50, but you can get 85/15 fat cheeper)
1 can of black beans or equivalent cooked (do not drain)
1 can of spicy chili beans (do not drain)
1 can of corn (I use no salt added, do not drain)
1 can of diced tomatos (do not drain)
1-2 cups of water or chicken stock
1 package of taco seasoning
1 tbl oil
Add oil to large pot and cook turkey with onion and bell pepper until veggies are soft and turkey is cooked. Add all of the remaining ingredients and cook for 1/2 hour. Garnish with grated chedder cheese and eat with chips. Enjoy.

Here’s how to make rice tastier: use chicken boullion cubes in the water.

I’ve read a lot of the blog entries in your 30 day food experiment with interest.

But after thinking over how much I spend on groceries for the basic things that you use for breakfast/lunch/dinner, I find that the trouble you are going to with coupons and what not is a little bit ridiculous.

Ridiculous because for a family of 3, I spend about $40 per week (about $6 per day for 3 people or $2 per day for 1 person) on groceries without doing any of the above.

Thing is we “cook” all our food (breakfast, lunch and dinner and perhaps that we are vegetarian helps). We don’t shop at Safeway and such though — we shop at ethnic grocers — the Chinese/Korean/Indian groceries (SF-Bay Area). Here the fresh veggies are cheap, seasonal fruits are cheap too and a 10 pound bag of rice or a 10 pound bag of wheat flour to make tortilla’s or bread help keep the costs down.

So you don’t really have to work too hard to get healthy meals cheap — if you are prepared to try and “cook” more of your food from basic ingredients. It takes time though.

This is totally AWESOME…and so are YOU! Great job! And thank YOU for sharing this experience with us! xoxoxo

[...] the cost of groceries and fast food chains. However, there is a site that boasts of a man that can eat well on $1 a day. In fact after the first month he extended his challenge and is into it with slightly modified [...]

[...] Anyway, here’s the blog: BLOG. [...]

I’ve not read all the comments, I’m lazy that way. But over at the Hillbilly Housewife site, she has shopping list and menu to feed a family of 4 for about $75 a month. OTOH, she includes …. recipes. Including making your own bread.

But she does assume that you have to buy salt, pepper, all other spices, etc.

You don’t need to use more than one computer. Just clear out your browser’s cookies if you want repeat coupons. The concern you stated (“I have access to more [than 2 computers] which would make this challenge much easier”) is irrelevant and silly.

@Sam,

You obviously not tried to do this yourself

I just found this cookbook that might help you out (it’s a pdf): http://thestonesoup.com/blog/images/free_stonesoup_ecookbook.pdf
All recipes are 5 ingredients and take about 10 minutes, according to the intro.

No update for 2 days? I hope everything is ok!

When you get a chance could you do a catalina guide? I have heard of them… but I haven’t seen one in a very long time. Are they random? I thought it was a coupon for the next purchase of the item you just got. Are there stores that don’t do them at all?

@ami

Yes, I am working on it (need more hours in the day). They can be for different things. For example, Safeway has one this week when you buy 4 kellogg’s products you get free milk on your next purchase. Most are a dollar amount off anything on your next purchase. I will try and have that up this week.

[...] as this one: Eating Well on $1 a Day–this guy is still going (on day 57) and is using a ridiculous amount of coupons at three [...]

This whole experiment is excellent and inspiring and uplifting. All the best.

Wow. I just ran onto this blog (via Mental Floss). This is AMAZING! I’m always trying to figure out how to use coupons to my advantage, and don;t bother with them because the coupons are generally for products I won’t use. Now I see how to use them to my advantage! I’m bookmarking this page. Thank you for all your insights!!

Congratulations and thank you for the insightful means of eating healthy within a budget.

I can share with you the insight I have for the stores not allowing “more then one computer” as you call it:

It is not the number of Computers that is the limiting factor, but the number of internet connections. The stores track the shopper by IP address, or Internet Protocol address. Each internet connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) usually only has one IP address, no matter how many computers are on a persons internal (home) network. Clear the cache in the browser will not help this.

Some ISP’s will change the customers IP address everyday. Some ISPs will track a computers MAC address (Media Access Control Address which is attributed to a computers network adapter from the manufacturer) and continually assign the computer the same IP address. This is usually done as a matter of convenience for most people, however, maybe not this crowd.

Without insight into the process of the internet and the ISP, only your ISP can dictate when your IP address will change. There are ways around this, BUT it can be quite technical.

Either way, this is why multiple computers are required, from multiple locations, or multiple internet connections.

This is also done for ticket retailers for concerts and such, so keep this in mind when waiting in queue for the next Pink Fold concert!

Just an FYI.

Dice

@Dice

It is not IP address – as I have said, please try before commenting. I use 4 different computers with the exact same IP address and it will allow me to print on each computer, but not more than 2.

This is pretty awesome, I wish the grocery stores in my country offered 1/10th the amount of coupons/savings that are mentioned here. Sadly they dont.

Did he died?

[...] Tags: budget, catalina, coupon, money, saving, shopping I started reading a blog written by a guy Eating Well on $1 a Day. He’s done an amazing job staying on budget while eating 3 meals a day, including fruits [...]

[...] the last month, I’ve been reading Jeffrey Strain’s account of eating on $1 a day for 100 days. It’s an amazing experiment largely floated by coupons. While I’m not as crafty as [...]

[...] night I lost spinning time because I got sucked into this website where a guy decided he could eat well for a month on $1 a day. He used store deals and coupons. I was floored. I had no idea this could even be done. Yes, [...]

[...] The Beginning ::: Major Coupon Disaster [...]

I think you’re very resourceful but I don’t think that eating the apricots that the squirrel had his claws on is a good idea. From the photos, the apricots had some cuts in them too. Who knows what kind of germs the squirrel could be carrying. Just my 2 cents.

[...] on the Grocery Coupon Guide this guy named Jeffrey is documenting his quest to Eating Well On $1 A Day. Born out of a casual conversation about food and coupons with his sister, he accepted a challenge [...]

Catalina question: I have been couponing
for a couple of years now but RARELY get Catalinas other than the drugstore extra bucks. Are they advertised somewhere
or do you just get lucky?

@AB

There is no master list that the Catalina Company puts out. If your store is good, they will list Catalina deals with the price tag on the shelves. Unfortunately, a lot of stores don’t bother doing this. I do have a list for Safeway of the Catalina deals I know about there (which reminds me I need to update), but not for other stores yet.

[...] discoveries about saving money in the last few days thanks to a blog based on a challenge called Eating Well On $1 A Day by a man named [...]

I understand that you were doing this project with the focus being coupon clipping, and it’s a great idea! But I take issue with the “no growing your own” component of it. Perhaps you could try another bet, but growing your own food on a dollar a day.

Too many people don’t realize that with a small plot of land, you can grow much of your own food at a fraction of the cost. $6.00/lb spring mix? A seed packet costs cents. A tomato plant will set you back $1, and will produce many pounds of fresh, local tomatoes–way better and cheaper than the grocery store ones!

For all you commenters looking for a cheap way to get the best food, try a backyard (or even container on your fire escape!) garden and get all the vegetables you want!

[...] stores. A couple of people have pointed me towards a US experiment which involved one man living on $31 for a whole month. That sounds impressive, but it relied on using a massive supply of discount coupons in a way that [...]

Jeffrey,
I noticed while reading that you may NOT purchase coupons but can someone send you a RAOK with an envelope containing them??

Jeffrey,

Just a thought to add…

I think what you are trying to do, and accomplishing (very successfully IMO)deserves a pat on the back!!

Everyday we hear about people either starving, spending WAY too much money on the family grocery bill, wasting WAY too much food in general, so on and so forth and what you are doing is NOT starving, NOT spending an obscene amount on food and definately NOT wasting anything!

I am a big coupon user and in fact have two home businesses: a coupon clipping service through my email based customer list and my boyfried and I also obtain items for very cheap and resell them at our local flea market. We are always on a limited budget and without coupons would find it very difficult to get by.

…Even if you did purchase female products, like my boyfried has many a time for RRs at Walgreens—LOL—remember what you are doing and keeping track of on this blog teaches others and you should be VERY proud and hold your head high

Lorna:)

@Lorna

I wouldn’t be able to use the coupons for this challenge (most people don’t have people sending them coupons), but would be more than happy to put them to use for any deals I can find for Penny Experiment and the food banks.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed this Jeffrey. I found it a few weeks ago, and have been catching up in my spare time (finally done!).

It is very possible to cook ahead, however in the quantities you usually buy it can be difficult. My whole kitchen strategy is an amalgam of my aunt’s frugality (5 kids, plus running a daycare from her home, if she didn’t save at least 80% on a shopping trip she was really mad) and dry goods storage (that woman had a months worth of food at all times, in case the deals weren’t so hot and stocked up when they were) and my grandmother’s lazy cooking.

Gram cooked once a week. She cooked enough for herself and my great-grandmother, plus a little extra, every Sunday, enough for a week or so of hot lunch and dinner entrees. She then froze single servings of everything (she bought a full size stand up freezer for this) to reheat. It doesn’t take long to build a stockpile of meals once you get into the habit. She’d pull out an entree and heat it up, grab a handful of frozen veggies to warm, possibly boil a little fresh pasta or nuke a potato, and didn’t eat the same meal twice in a week unless she really wanted to.

With how you move around, and how variable your cooking successes have been, this may not be a good step for you right now, but I highly recommend you try it once you’ve mastered a few recipes.

My year-round freezer staple is meatballs (Italian, guilty as charged). Nothing beats being able to grab a few for a meatball sandwich.

Hey Jeffery,

Here’s a question are you including the cost of the Sunday paper subscription in your $1 a day calculation?

Carson,

No, because I had the subscription long before I started this challenge and I could easily get by without it – in fact, I have no intention of renewing when the time comes.

i like roast tomato halves (can be roma/plum tomatoes or your regular round ones) as a side dish – on the cut side, do the following:
lightly salt and pepper to taste, a tiny pinch of dried oregano, a small drizzle of olive oil and add parmesan cheese or your grated cheese. roast at 375 degrees until cheese melts and tomato shrinks a bit – sorry, i don’t time it myself.

when adding tomato slices to sandwiches, i like to slice them thin and then add a couple of layers – just tastes better to me this way.

[...] learning some new tricks about how to use coupons from an inspirational blog, I decided to make a round online of all the manufacturers I had not previously contacted. In the [...]

[...] for you to use at the store when you buy your groceries. Read the class inspiring stories like Eating Well on $1 a Day and use this lesson plan on Comparison Grocery Shopping to teach nutritious [...]

Jeffrey
Have been reading and enjoying your diary of your “adventure.”

I haven’t figured out what your job is – but you write very well.

You might want to check this out for your next adventure! Do it quickly though – time is about up

http://www.msichicago.org/matm/details/

Walking is good for the soul. Clears the cobwebs and shakes the blues off. Wish I could do more of it. Sitting by a clear water pond and watching the fish is also very zen calming.

I missed your quote for today. The video that you had was lovely also in one of your past blogs.

I learned to navigate or travel on the computer with some of your little side trips. Click and go on a little trip over the rainbow to other interesting places.

Your smoothies look delicious. We are trying it with blue berries tomorrow.We have got some frozen cherries also so I may try one with those.
It has been a while since I made these but I often froze slices of ripe fruit, put straws or skewers or sticks in and dipped them in melted chocolate and rolled in crushed cereal. Makes good fruit treat that is more healthy than just ice cream treats. Also budget friendly.

I make smoothies for my kids and grand kids with frozen orange juice undiluted, chilled canned pineapple chunks and some of the juice from it, and a lot of powdered milk for strength and bone building. Add some ice cubes to the blender, and pulse till slush and small chips. We taste test, and add a few table spoons of full frozen orange juice, or more juice from chilled pineapple can. If you need it you can add sweetener, but we like it a little tart. Add a little lemon juice fresh if you like. Makes it a good morning or lunch starter.
I used to make it a lot for a friend now lost to cancer. She was in her mid eighties and enjoyed it better than ice cream on a hot summer day.

Make it thick for a spoon and the dish almost becomes like a sorbet.I have frozen it in cups with sticks to make pops for the kids.

We always had to budget our treats and plan ahead. Homemade treats can be made more healthy, less sugar and more control over ingredients.

[...] by baonkobento on August 12, 2010 Tags: fruit, journal, shopping I have been following this blog for some time (since around Day 38). It’s an interesting blog that teaches about couponing [...]

[...] course, I am a coupon novice. But reading Eating Well on $1 A Day really inspired me. If the writer could save that much on food, why not me too? There’s no [...]