Saturday, May 30, 2009

Cheap Healthy Meals

I was asked by one of my regular readers yesterday how to make cheap healthy meals using coupons?

You see, my reader had gotten really good at buying groceries with coupons for next to nothing and loved the price. When she looked at all of the packaged and processed food stacking up in her pantry she found that her diet was not as healthy as it could have been and wondered what she could do to maximize the nutrition in her newly overhauled frugal grocery shopping efforts.

I can see the problem, and will admit that processed stuff is generally the most heavily promoted, yet decidedly not the most nutritious diet you could be eating.

Here is how to solve the problem:

1. Buy meat (if you eat it) fresh and cook by grilling, broiling, or roasting on a rack. You will lower your salt consumption, and avoid the chemicals and additives of prepared meats. Incidentally, buying fresh meat on sale is almost always the cheapest price ounce for ounce unless there is a really exceptional coupon offer around.

2. Buy fresh produce somewhere other than the grocery store. Fresh fruit stands, farmers markets, u-pick farms and dollar stores that carry produce are usually a better deal anyway.

3. Buy bakery items either at the dollar store or local bakery outlet. Just Google "Orowheat bakery outlet" and your location to find the nearest outlet store.

4. Use coupons for healthier versions of prepared foods. Look for lower salt, sugar and fat options on the grocery store shelves.

5. Watch the waste. Get used to putting the last little bit in the freezer to avoid spoilage. Waste can escalate your food bills by as much as 20% every month.

With a little attention to detail, you can easily combine frugal grocery shopping with eating an extremely healthy diet. The two can and do go together, it just takes knowing where to get the lowest prices on the healthiest food options. Using supermarket coupons plays a large role in the process of learning to make cheap healthy meals while grocery shopping cheap.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Organic Grocery Coupons

It is no secret that organic foods are both healthy and pricey without organic food coupons.

If you ever thought that skipping the organic foods might make your budget a litte easier to stomach, I urge you to watch this hillarious video and give organic foods a little more thought.



Need discounts on organic foods? Check here for organic food coupons.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Grocery Coupons Offer a Source of Free Food

Can you really use grocery coupons to get food for free on a regular basis? I had someone email me that question just a few days ago. Like so many others, both she and her spouse have both been laid off from their jobs of 10 years at the same time and are desperate for some answers on how to reduce grocery spending.

The short answer is yes, free food and products are the norm when using grocery coupons both on a regular basis and extensively. Some weeks are better than other when it comes to available free food items, but you can usually find several or more per week. Not to mention several others that you can get for just pennies.

To maximize the savings when you find a freebie for the week you will need to be willing to stockpile free product. I don’t mean one item or two… think 10, 20 or 30 free items when you have the opportunity.

Who cares if you will be eating peanut butter forever if every jar you open for the next year was a freebie? If you are broke, free is the best price you can hope for. Even if you are not broke, I’ll take free any day.

What You Will Need

1. Time. Time to clip coupons, sort through the sales fliers and make multiple trips to the store in order to stockpile this much product. Most stores only allow 3 like coupons, so you’ll need to make several trips to get this much product. I usually go through the self check out once, and the regular check out once per day.

2. Coupons, lots of like coupons. Get these by printing from an online coupon site, extra Sunday papers or using a coupon clipping service. 1 coupon for every item you wish to purchase. Having enough coupons are critical.

3. Access to a Double Coupon Store. Double coupon stores make getting a good deal or freebie a lot easier.

4. Patience. It does take patience to be willing to shop more than once a week. I factor in the cost of gas and my time to be sure that I’m getting a good return for both. If the sales are really good on a certain week, I’m always willing to make an extra trip or two, or three.

5. Storage Space. Store canned goods in a cool and dry place. I also use a sharpie to write the date purchased on the labels. It makes rotation and spotting really old items easier in the long run.

Is stockpiling free food a viable strategy? I do it all the time and it saves a small fortune on food. I tend to work in items I have more of into our menus naturally I have been doing this so long.

You can save many thousands of dollars a year if you use multiple like grocery coupons to help you find free food.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Grocery Coupons Online- the Real Places to Find the Best

Have you ever wondered where all the really good grocery coupons online can be found? You know, the high face value, save a lot at once coupons?

There are really only a few places to look and get these money savers.

1. Go straight to the manufacturer site. This can be time consuming, but you can not argue with the savings.

2. Smart Source. These are the same folks that bring you some of the Sunday coupon inserts every week. Smart Source also makes their coupons available for printing online. I use them to get free duplicates on the ones I need extras of.

3. Coupons.com is my favorite. The box directly after this post will lead you to some fantastic deals.

4. Amazon Grocery Coupon Codes. Of all the online grocery saving resources, Amazon has the best clearance sales and promotions. When the have products go on sale they reduce the price, offer free shipping, and then usually offer a huge 40% discount on top of that. Amazon grocery is a best kept secret for saving. Check the Amazon Grocery Specials Page often, you will find something new almost every time you visit.

The reality is that regardless of what kind of grocery coupons online you are looking for online, knowing where to find them quickly and easily will save you a lot of time every week.

Amazon Grocery Coupon Codes Deal Alert: Yummy Savings this Month!

Wow! There are some fantastic savings to be had this month at with Amazon Grocery coupon codes.

A Huge Kraft Products case sale is going on right now. Big savings on cases of Starbucks coffee, cereals, macaroini and cheese and hundreds of tother Kraft products. Free Shipping included too. While you are there have a look at the Kraft 2/$25 Sale list, good deals here as well.

If you are trying to eat healthier, then 50 % off Organic Foods Sale has 153 items currently reduced for savings 0f 50% off or more.

There are still more deals to be found on Grocery Gold Box specials.

Whatever you are looking for, Amazon has better than thier usually good deals in their grocery department this month. The coupon codes and purchase requirements are at the top of the page. Just follow any link to learn more.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Where to Find Grocery Supermarket Coupons

Grocery supermarket coupons are easy to find and quite often free. There are literally thousands of offers available to help you save money everyday.

With new technologies coupon distribution has become a lot less expensive in recent years, allowing food manufacturers to give higher face value coupons to consumers.

Why is this important? The higher the face value the more you will save on your purchase. High face-value coupons make your savings add up faster.

14 Places to Find High Face Value Grocery Coupons

1. In the Sunday Food Inserts. Your Sunday paper is still the best place for clipable grocery coupons. I usually preview the coupons in the paper delivered to my home and then buy an extra (or more) if the coupons are good for the week.

2. The Wednesday Food Section of the Paper. The Wednesday food section has some very high face value coupons and should not be overlooked. Again I preview my paper at home and run to the gas station at the corner if the coupons are good enough to warrant the trip.

3. In Magazines. Food coupons are still regularly printed in magazines, especially women oriented publications and parenting themed periodicals.

4. Snail Mail Coupon Packs. Yes, companies like Val-Pak and Pennysaver still get mailed to your house. You’ll need to dig through the offers, but some food coupons are exceptional.

5. Grocery Shopping Surveys Mailed to Your Home. I get these from time to time and they actually do send you the coupons when you fill out and mail in their surveys. It’s worth the effort, the last bunch I got were worth a dollar or more each.

6. Automatic Shelf Dispensers. Be sure to look for the little red coupon printers on the shelves in front of the products. While you can not double these offers, money back is money back.

7. In the Grocery Store Fliers. The grocery chains have gotten really good lately at putting bonus coupons in their weekly fliers. There are almost always coupons there every week and some are worth the effort to clip and then some.

8. In the Product Packages. Check the inside of boxes for either printed coupons or manufacturer coupons printed on the inside of the boxes.

9. On Product Packages. Look for instant coupons stuck on the products or hung on a neck hanger on bottles.

10. Online. Coupon websites are everywhere and offer printable coupons for groceries and other online stores.

11. Electronic Coupon Websites. These are all the rage right now and certainly make shopping easier. Learn more about electronic grocery coupons.

12. Manufacturer Websites.
Manufacturer sites themselves often offer coupon if you either take their surveys or sign up for their mailing lists. There are literally thousands of offers so be sure to check the maker of your favorite brands.

13. Email. Really, food manufacturers actually do email offers regularly. Don’t miss the opportunity to save.

14. Ebay Coupon Clipping Services. Looking for something special, or just a higher face value offer? Get coupons for really cheap. Seriously, spend pennies and save dollars. Whatever coupons you need, you will be sure to find here.

Get your coupons totally free, or spend a dollar to save ten, supermarket coupons are the way to go to beat the rapid inflation our economy is currently experiencing.