Thursday, January 13, 2011

Grocery Coupon Sites: How Good Are They?

By Miranda Laranjo


Most likely you've read or heard about finding grocery coupons online which can be printed out to use at the grocery store. Coupons.com, Smartsource.com and Coolsavings.com are usually the coupon sites magazines such as Woman's Day Magazine recommend to find free online printable coupons. Here are some facts about these three websites that you won't read about in magazines: the same coupons are repeated on all three websites, fewer grocery coupons are available on these websites and more advertisements for websites promising discounts for non-food items are posted as coupons.

The websites have many of the same coupons on their websites. This week I found these coupons on many websites. Fiber One Cereal for 75 cents off, Chex Granola Bars for 60 cents off, Scott extra soft toilet paper 8 pack or larger for 1 dollar off, and Scott Mega or Long Lasting Paper towels 4 pack or larger. Why waste time checking all three websites?

I found coupons for 40 cents off Sleep Pretty earplugs on different websites, I found a coupon for a 1 dollar off a Flex-Tastic toe separator and 3 dollars off any Dexatrim Max Product. How often does a person need a coupon for: earplugs, toe separators, or diet supplements? website had a coupon for 10 dollars off Hasbro's Monopoly Electronic Banking game and 5 dollars off their Pitureka! game.

I found advertisements for these non-food items at different stores: save 15 percent and free shipping. I also found coupons for same products week after week: 2 dollars off a 24 pack of White Cloud bathroom tissue when you visit their website. The White Cloud website allows a limited amount of coupon prints per a person. Western Union was advertising .

I'm not saying you can't find coupons to save money on groceries on these websites. There are a few good grocery coupons to found on these coupon websites just not many. Clipping coupons from the newspaper like our moms did just might be faster and save computer ink and computer paper.

Here are some money saving tips I use to save money on groceries: build a menu around what's on sale at the grocery store, have relatives give me coupons they don't use, buy store brands, shop the farmer's market and check out discount grocery stores like: Save A Lot.

It's really not that hard to build a menu around what's on sale at the grocery store. First check the newspaper or your mailbox for grocery ads. My grocery sends out a circular each week. If chicken and barbeque sauce is on sale, an easy meal to make is barbeque chicken. Just pour sauce over chicken and bake (see a cookbook or cooking website for cooking times). If fresh corn is on sale then that's a one of your side dishes either boil, microwave or grill it (see a cookbook or cooking website for cooking times and directions). Another meal I've made is Jambalaya when the ingredients were on sale. Jambalaya is a spicy Louisiana rice dish with either: sausage, chicken and shrimp added. Kroger had Zatarain's Jambalaya mix and sausage on sale the same week. I also had a coupon for the Jambalaya mix which saved me even more. Don't be afraid to be creative with your menus!

My family gives me coupons from the Sunday paper that they don't need. I also check my own Sunday paper for coupons. Sometimes, I have more than one coupon for the same product that's on sale so I use both coupons and stock up.

The store brand is almost always cheaper than name brand products. Sometimes they are even cheaper than the name brand on sale. One example, I found recently was Rotel tomatoes with green chilies and the Kroger version. Rotel's were on sale for a dollar a can but Kroger's were still cheaper. One exception to this rule is when you have a coupon and the item is on sale. I have a found a coupon for a name brand can save a few cents over a store brand occasionally.

Shopping at the farmer's market can a cheaper alternative for buying produce. It is usually fresher since it doesn't travel as far as grocery produce does and it's picked usually the same day or during the same week it is sold. It helps your budget and helps local farmers as well.

I have found spices for my recipes for a lot less at Save A Lot and Wal-Mart. McCormick spices can run up to three dollars or more a jar for spices. Save A Lot and Wal-Mart sell some spices by off brands for a dollar a shaker. I found marjoram a spice my homemade spaghetti sauce calls for at Super D Drug for 88 cents. The McCormick version was over three dollars a jar.

I hope these tips have helped you save money on groceries and given you few ideas for changing the way you shop for groceries. Good luck and its fun to save money!




About the Author:



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...