Coupons - Henderson,NV

Trader Joe's is so reasonable and most of their stuff is really good and good for you. At $300 a week I have to think you are buying juice in boxes, too many snacky things in their own little package and not enough fresh veggies and fruit. When my kids were lttle, I would make a menu for the week then make my grocery list from that using coupons whenever possible. I also had a discount thing on my key ring for the grocery store. I always bought juice in the big bottles, cut up fresh veggies ahead so they were available for a quick snack, made apples or bananas fun with peanut butter. Frozen peas in a cup was favorite snack...crunchy, pretty and portable...not messy. No POP! Water or juice. To this day my kids all prefer water (they are 31, 28 and 26) Snacky foods that have alot of carbs make you hungry and they really don't have any good food value. Be mindful of portion size so you either don't have any leftovers or you have enough leftovers for hubby's lunch or yours for the next day. All the best to you!

I love coupons. It is a little time consuming, but once you get a system down is worth the effort. Check out couponmom.com This is a FREE website that list the grocery store ads, tells you what coupons to use and how much the savings is and you can print coupons direct from the computer.
If you can go to a store that doubles coupons, it is a big help. Most stores have weekend sales so be sure to take advantage and use the grocery ad coupons in conjunction with manufacturers coupons. Ask for a rain check if an item is out of stock. Visiting company websites can genrate coupons too. Once you watch the ads for a month or so you can see what a good deal is. I ususally go first thing Sunday morning-no kids in tow! Not having the kids along always saves $$.
When meat is on sale, stock up, divide into what you would need for each meal so you can just pull it out of the freezer. make double batches so you have leftovers for lunch or another dinner. I cook up ground beef for spaghetti, tacos, etc. If you have a Henry's nearby, go on Wednesday as this is double ad day-the new and old prices are used.
I like to clip divide my coupons by catergory. However, my friend just keeps the whole pack of coupons, labels the front with the date. couponmom website tells by date which coupon pack it is in and she snips as needed.
There are some things I have switched to generic on, like medicines-if you are not sensitive it is so much cheaper than name brand. If an item is not on sale, we go without and makes the item more of a special treat-like the $1 poptarts I got today! Trader Joes and Walmart are cheaper for snack foods. You can't beat the Joe Joe's at TJ's for 2.99 and they taste so much better than Oreos.
make a list and stick to it!
After a while it is fun to see how much you can save. Today at vons aI saved more $$ than I spent-woohoo!
Oh-for bread I go to the Orowheat/Entemanns outlet or Hostess outlet. You can get so much bread for so little. My last trip there I got 36 items for $38! My freezer is always full of bread and I only have to go every couple of months.

Plan your menu for the week around the items on sale at the various stores. I usually compare the weekly circulars from the various stores and buy from whichever store is cheapest. To be honest, Albertsons is very rarely on that cheap list. Maybe Nevada is different than Colorado though.

Buy store brands where you can. A surprising amount of money can be saved this way. You will have to try and see what you like/don't like. I have found Wal-Mart store brand breads, and refrigerated/frozen rolls are not very good for example - they use too cheap of flour. Yet store brand butter, milk, yogurt etc. generally tastes the same and is half the cost.

Also, some produce (onions, green peppers etc.) you can buy when they go on sale, chop and freeze for use in recipes later. Don't buy pre-chopped frozen as it is way more expensive.

Lastly, and most importantly, eat before you go shopping! A full stomach will reduce impulse buys and save you a ton of cash.

Hi M.,

I use a coupon management website - www.thegrocerygame.com

There is a small fee ($10/8 weeks on your first store, $5/8 wks on additional stores), but for less than $2 a week (I use 2 "lists") it is totally worth it for me. The "List" tells you when an item is at its "rock bottom price" and tells you which coupons to use. Saves me a TON particularly on things like cereal and pantry items. Additionally,I regularly am able to get namebrand dishwashing detergent, toothpaste, hairproducts, etc. for FREE! It saves me even more since now I hardy ever go into Target (we nickname it the $50 store around here), so I'm way less likely to end up with "extras" in my shopping cart.

Also, planning meals is a great strategy that someone else mentioned here. I plan a couple weeks out, mostly "shopping" from my pantry and freezer with the items that I've gotten on sale.

Please send me a message if you'd like more detailed info. Oh, and it takes about 30-45 minutes each week for me to select items on my list and clip the coupons for that given week...I'm faster now than when I first started. :)

Good luck!

R. G.

Hi M.,

I shop Fresh and Easy and regular stores. I learned years ago to stock up on a good price and store it in the cabinets if it is something non perishable. Fresh and Easy has a lot of .98 cent sales and I grab them up! In other supermarkets I use coupons along with the store coupons. As well, it is my understanding Walmart will accept anyones sale price. You will need to verify that.

If the food is fresh, I freeze when possible.

C.

I personally think that most coupons don't really save you that much money. I find that buying things on sale or generic is typically more cost-effective and a lot less hassle. That being said, I'd say plan your meals according to what is on sale at the grocery store that week. Grocery stores usually send their circulars out a couple days before the sales start. Stock up on non-perishable items when they're on discount.

Depending on how much time you want to devote to this, it might not be a bad idea to keep track of what items are costing you the most. Can you switch to less expensive brands/alternatives of whatever it is? If you find yourself throwing things out that have gone bad, can you buy less? Even if a per-unit cost is low, it's still more expensive to buy too much of something that you won't use.

Also I read somewhere that grocery stores often put items on deep discount on Tuesdays, the day before the new ad cycle begins, to make way for the next week's specials. I don't know if that's true for every store, but it might be worth a shot if you're looking for tips.

Shop around the edges of the grocery store and like the other mothers said... plan out your meals. I have 3 people in my family and i spend about $75 a week in groceries.