Hey Good Lookin'! Watcha Slow Cookin'?

     We have already established that couponing is a great way to save money. We use coupons to stock up on basic pantry staples. But what do you do when you can't (or don't want to) survive off of soup, rice and pasta? What do you do to save on meat, poultry and veggies? Meal Plan!!
     Meal planning in our house goes a little bit beyond planning out food for the week. Meal planning is food for the MONTH. Like couponing, you have to go at this with a plan. So let's get started!!

1. Take a look at your freezer. No, go ahead. I'll wait. How much room do you have?

• This is pretty important. You can't make twenty freezer meals if you only have room for ten. Seriously, pretty simple.
• Our (tiny) freezer is dedicated to holding freezer meals, and very little else. We have some ice cream in there right now (got it free), and French Toast because that is all my son wants for breakfast. I'm not arguing with a two year old at 6:15 in the morning. He always wins. There are a few bags of frozen veggies stashed on the door which i use to compliment our slow cooker meals. And that is all.
  
• If you have a bigger freezer, or even a freezer chest, I am jealous, and you are lucky. You can double the recipes, add different recipes, or even keep things besides freezer meals stashed away. Vodka doesn't freeze... I'm just saying. 

      

2. How do you want to cook your meals?

• I am going to focus on slow cooker meals. I leave my house at 6:45 every morning, and don't get back until 5:30. I am not interested in doing anything more than boiling a pot of water for a side dish. So, we use the slow cooker. If you are interested this is the one I use. It is the Hamilton Beach Set and Forget. I got it at Kohl's for next to nothing using Kohl's Cash. 
  

• To make Clean up a little easier, we use Slow Cooker Liners. Don't buy the fancy pants ones at Bed Bath and Beyond. These work just fine, and you can get them at the grocery store. 
  

3. Grab your circular. It's time to do some pricing!

• When I plan out our meals I try to base it on sale prices. You need to have a little flexibility. For example, some of the recipes for this meal plan called for a combination of chicken breasts and chicken thighs. However, chicken breast packages were buy one, get one free. Chicken thighs were full price. So, chicken thighs were out, chicken breasts were in.
• Keep it basic. This is not the time to get fancy. That isn't to say boring, but they key to being able to do this right and cheap is to stick with a few key ingredients, and use sauces and seasonings to change things up.

4. Enough with the lists. Let's go right to the recipes!!! (I'll explain as I go, and stick in some notes, facts, helpful hints along the way)

 Recipes:
     These recipes will feed a family of 4-6. We are a family of 2 adults and 1 toddler. I like to make big meals, because then leftovers get used for lunches.

1. BBQ Chicken

• 1lb Chicken breast (Boneless and Skinless. Seriously do not put skin on chicken in a crock pot. It is disgusting and gelatinous.)
• 1lb Chicken thighs (Skinless (see above) with or without bone, I prefer boneless)
• 1 Bottle BBQ sauce (18oz ish)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (light/dark whatever you got)
• 3 Tblsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• 3 Tblsp Worcestershire Sauce (no, really don't skimp on this)

    Throw it all together into a Gallon Size Ziploc (or whatever brand) freezer bag.
     Freeze it. (Not sure if I needed to tell you that, but let's play it safe.)
     Time to cook? Pull it out of the freezer, run it under hot water until it loosens from bag (like 20   
     seconds) and toss it into the slow cooker.
    Cook on low for 5 hours.
    Serve over rice, or noodles or shred it and put it on a bun.
    Throw some veggies on the plate, and you have a nice meal.
  
2. & 3. Garlic Honey Chicken (this is popular here so I double)

• 1lb Chicken breast
• 1lb Chicken Thigh
• 3 cloves of garlic (I buy the squeeze garlic. It is about a million cloves of garlic all minced up and in a handy squeezy jar. Love it.)
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2/3 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup honey

     Throw it all together into a Gallon size Ziploc Freezer bag.
     Freeze it.
     Time to cook? Run under water, toss in Slow cooker.
     Cook on Low for 5 hours.
     Serve with Rice and Brocolli.

4. Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

• 1lb Chicken Breast
• 1lb Chicken thigh
• 16 oz jar alfredo sauce
• 1 lb frozen brocolli
• 1 large green pepper (big rough chunks, if you dice it it will turn to nasty mush)
• 1/2 cup bacon (turkey or pig, your call. Cook it up before you put it in the bag.)

     Throw it all together.
     Freeze it.
     Pull out of freezer, toss in slow cooker.
     Cook on Low for 5 hours.
     (starting to see a theme yet?)
     Serve with pasta. Cause, ya know, alfredo. 

     
5. Sausage Peppers, Onions and Potatoes

• 2 lbs Sausage (turkey, chicken, pig, whatever)
• 1 Large onion thick cut (again, small cuts will be mush. I do nice big wedges)
• 2 Peppers thick cut
• 1 lb Red potato thick chunks, skin on
• 12 oz Tomatoe Sauce (optional, if not then I would add 1 cup of beef, chicken or veggie stock)

     Throw it all together.
     Freeze it.
     Pull out of freezer. Throw in Slow Cooker.
     Cook on Low for 5 hours.
     Serve with pasta or some nice thick italian bread.
     *Before serving, I like to pull the sausage out, cut in 1/2 lengthwise and stick under the broiler for
      a few minutes. They get all crispy and caramelized. Sooooo good.

6. Smothered Pork Chops 

• 2 lbs Pork Chops (Boneless thick cut center) If it is really fatty, trim some away.
• 1 Large Onion (thick cut)
• 1 Cup Chicken broth
• 1 Can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 Tblsp Apple cider vinegar
• 6 pieces of bacon 

     Throw it all together.     Freeze it.
     Pull out of freezer. Throw in Slow Cooker.
     Cook on Low for 5 hours.
     Serve with pasta or rice.
     Add a veggie.

7. Pot Roast with Veggies

• 3 lb roast
• 1 lb red potatoes (thick chunks)
• 1/2 lb baby carrots (just toss em in)
• 1 Envelope brown gravy mix
• 1 Envelope zesty italian dressing mix
• 1 Envelope ranch dressing mix

     Throw it all together.
     Freeze it.
     Defrost 24 hours before cooking.
     Dump everything in the slow cooker.
     Add 1 cup of water.
     Cook on low for 6 hours.
     Serve with hot biscuits.

Before we go onto the next couple of recipes, I need to make a note. The next two recipes call for steak meat. You can use any beef you want, they sell meat already cut in nice strips, you can use stew meat (it can be tough sometimes, whatever you want. This time around, I bought an extra roast, and butchered it myself. It was by far the cheapest cut of beef they had that week. Flexibility people. Flexibility.

8. Steak Fajitas

• 1.5 lb Steak, cut in strips
• 1 Large Onion, thick cut
• 2 Green Peppers, thick cut
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 envelope taco seasoning ( make my own: cumin, paprika, garlic salt, sugar and chili powder)

     Throw it all together.
     Freeze it.
     Defrost 24 hours before cooking.
     Dump it in the slow cooker.
     Low for 5 hours.
     Serve with whatever fajita fixins you like.


9 & 10. Pepper Steak (another popular one, so again, I double)

• 1.5 lb Steak, cut in strips
• 3 green peppers, thick cut
• 1 onion, thick cut
• 8oz tomato sauce
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

     Throw it all together.
     Freeze it.
     Defrost 24 hours before cooking.
     Dump it in the slow cooker.
     Low for 5 hours.
     Serve with Rice.

11 & 12. Meatloaf (This is actually an oven meal. I just cant do crock pot meatloaf. It turns grey.)

•  2 lb ground beef
• 1/2 onion diced
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1Tblsp garlic powder
• 2 Tblsp Worcestershire sauce

     Mix it all together and stick in freezer bag.
     Smush it in the freezer bag into a flat layer. (This makes it easier to stack in the freezer, and will
      help it thaw faster when ready to cook.)
     Defrost 24 hours before cooking.
     Time to cook? Dump onto cooking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form into a loaf shape.    
     Squirt a little ketchup on top.
     Cook for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. (Check and cook longer if necessary)

 Meatloaf Variations
    Some easy changes to make a totally different meatloaf!
~Mexican Meatloaf - mix in 1 cup shredded cheddar, one envelope taco seasoning, and switch out 
     ketchup with tacos sauce.
~Cowboy meatloaf - Mix in BBQ sauce instead of ketchup, mix in some crumbled bacon.
~Italian Meatloaf - Mix in 1 cup shredded mozzarella, use marinara instead of ketchup.
~Sweet Pig Heart Attack Loaf - After you have formed the meatloaf, wrap the whole thing in 
    overlapping strips of bacon. Brush the whole thing with a mixture of brown sugar and melted 
    butter. Baste while cooking with the butter brown sugar mixture. Cook on 350 for 30-45 minutes. 
    (This should seriously be a once every six months treat. It is delicious and indulgent and all things
    amazing.


*Get actual FREEZER bags. Don't skimp and just get a storage bag. Your meal will taste like freezer, and your freezer will smell like all of these flavors. All around gross.
*Easiest way to cook bacon - Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Lay out the bacon in a single layer. Place tray (or trays, I won't judge) of bacon in COLD oven. Turn oven to 400 degrees, and cook for 15-20 minutes. Check it at 15 minutes, and every 1-2 minutes after. For the love of bacon, set a timer. No one wants burnt bacon. Take out pans (be careful, you will have very hot liquid grease in the pan) and set to cool.
*When it comes time to prepare, I like to do each bag seperately. It takes a little bit more time, But I find that when I try to do it in an assembly line, I inevitably mix stuff up, or leave stuff out.
*You should definitely label all your bags with Meal name, Date prepared, and cooking instructions (ie add water, High or Low, how long, does it need to defrost) BEFORE you put in the ingredients. 


Here is my Dinner schedule:

Monday- Leftovers(every Monday and Friday is leftover night)
Tuesday- Steak Fajitas (1)
Wed- Meatloaf (2)
Thursday- Pizza night! (we get Zio's. They have an awesome $7 large cheese pizza deal)
Friday- Leftovers
Saturday- Garlic Honey Chicken (3)
Sunday- Eat out. ( we make it a point to eat out once a week. It's not fancy, and we feel it is good for      my son to have continual experience eating at restaurants.)

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday- Smothered Pork Chops (4)
Wed - Pepper Steak (5)
Thursday - Pizza Night
Friday-  Leftovers
Saturday - BBQ Chicken (6)
Sunday - Eat out

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Meatloaf (7)
Wed - Chicken/Broccoli Alfredo (8)
Thurs- Pizza
Fri- Leftovers
Saturday - Honey Garlic Chicken (9)
Sun- Eat Out

Mon- Leftovers
Tues- Sausage,Peppers, Onion, Potatoes (10)
Wed- Pepper Steak (11)
Thurs- Pizza
Fri- Leftovers
Sat- Pot Roast (12)
Sun- Eat Out

So there you go - 7 days a week. 1 Dinner Out, 1 Pizza Night In, 2 nights of leftovers, and three nights of cooking. Leftovers don't need to be eaten the same way the second time around. For example, Leftover BBQ chicken, can become thin crust BBQ chicken pizza. Take some leftover tortillas from fajita night, layer on shredded bbq chicken, leftover shredded cheddar (from fajita night) and some fresh diced tomato (probably also leftover from fajita night) and bake in oven until bubbly brown and crispy. Get creative!

So if you have any questions, let me know. I think it is pretty straight forward. These are my tried and true recipes that we just love in our house. Oh and this shopping trip cost somewhere around $150. That may sound like a lot, but seriously there is like 20 plus pounds of meat/chicken, etc! And this has my dinners for a MONTH covered!!!!

Thanks!!!!!

Your first super deal!

So I'm just going to jump right in with an awesome deal that I scored this week. There is going to be a lot of terminology here, and I would definitely qualify this as advanced. Read through, and then let me know if you need anything clarified.

Weis has a fantastic offer this week. You get an instant $5 off a $25 Campbell's purchase. Your first tip, Weis always uses the original shelf price, not the sale or after coupon price. So here is what I bought:

 Now, let's add on some coupons. Weis doubles all manufacturer's coupons, up to $1.00. That means that if a coupon is for .25 off, it doubles to .50 off. A coupon for .75 off, doubles to 1.50 off. A coupon for $1.00 off stays one dollar. Get it? Good!

Now let's talk Catalinas. Catalinas (CAT) are coupons that print out at the register. They are not typically random, you usually have to purchase an item to trigger one to print. Catalinas are good for your next purchase. Sometimes they are coupons for other items. Sometimes they are $ amount coupons, good towards any purchase.

     This Week, Weis has a few Catalina offers.Let's focus on the one that matches my purchase. The offer is: Buy 2 Campbell's Go Soups and get $1.50 CAT  to use on a future purchase. Buy 3 or more, and get $2.00 CAT. Let's stop right here for a second, and do a little math. If I buy two, I get $1.50 back, or essentially .75 cents per soup. If I buy three or more I get $2.00 back, or essentially .67 cents per soup. Right there is something you need to be able to do. Most people would buy the three, thinking they were getting more money back, when really you are getting less. The same exact offer is being offered on Campbell's Kettle Style Soups.
I bought 2 of each, so I earned a total of $3 in CAT. Now, some people like to take that $3 and look at it as a further discount on this shopping trip. I don't. I can't use it now, it doesn't lessen the actual amount of money I am handing the cashier right now. So therefore it is just a bonus, that will help a future purchase look better.

So, let's make this shopping trip even better. Do you know those three lovely coupons that come in the mailed circular? They all are for completely free products. All you have to do is make a $25 purchase. Did you know that the $25 is based off the shelf price also? NOT off of the sales price! So that means, that the same $25.29 worth of soup is good for getting my three free items! So let's add those on beow, and see what that does for my percentages...

 On this transaction, I actually had a $1.50 CAT from last week, so I actually only paid $2.87.

I am going to touch on another term here called Rolling Catalinas. This shopping trip was done making five seperate purchases. I did this for a few reasons. 

1. The $5 instant Campbell's savings was limited to one per transaction.
2. I was able to take the $3 in CAT I earned on this transaction, and put them on the next transaction. In that transaction I earned more CAT and applied those to the next transaction, and so on. (Rolling Catalina)
3. I was able to print out multiple sets of the three free items coupons from an email that was sent to me by Weis. (Remember what I said about signing up for EVERYTHING that a store offers...)

So there you have it. A step by step breakdown, with lovely little charts.

You can not realistically do this without a list. It is just not a good idea to even try it. 

Oh and I went back over my receipts, found some mistakes that were made on Weis' end, and dashed back to the store and got $15 cash back. So my actual grand total was $393.45 worth of groceries for $62.69. That is an 85% savings. Always go back over your receipts.

Nice savings! Now show me how!!

I am just going to dive right in here. Again, this is how I do it. Find another couponer, and I am sure they do it differently.

1) What are the tools that I need to coupon successfully?

• Rewards card. You can not get good deals with out a customer loyalty card. CAN NOT. They are free, and take about three minutes to sign up for. If you don't have time to do that step, just leave now.
• Store circular. Every store in the area mails these out. The mailed circulars almost always have coupons in them that are not available in the circular you can get in store. If the store you shop at doesn't mail you a circular, contact them. Trust me, they will be more than happy to add you to their mailing list. "And would you also like to sign up for our email list? How about our monthly emagazine? We also have a wonderful semi annual newsletter..." The answer is always yes. Any time a store wants to send you stuff, you say yes. A little fluff mail here and there will be rewarded with bonus coupons that aren't available any other way.
• A computer with internet access and a printer. I do not buy the Sunday paper for the coupon inserts. Ever. Do I sometimes miss deals that can only be achieved with Sunday Newspaper coupons? Yep. But not often. And certainly not often enough to buy the newspaper. Instead, I opt to print out my coupons from the internet. 95% of my coupons come from www.coupons.com . The other 5% come from the actual websites and facebook pages of product companies. 
• Facebook. No. Seriously. Would your kids eat Eggo Waffles three times a day? Does your husband refuse to use anything but a Mach5 razor? Well, get on facebook, find the page and like it. Companies are always offering coupons for their products. When one becomes available, snag it and print it. You can use it right away, or hold on to it to see if it comes up for sale in the future. It's a fun game. "Can I stack this coupon with a sale price, before it expires?" Don't judge my definition of fun. 
• Time. Yep. Pretty obvious. Couponing to this level takes time. In the begining, it takes lots of time. But remember to think of your savings in the terms of real money, and you will see that you are in fact being paid for your time. If I spend three hours doing this, and save $210, then I actually earned $70/hour of coupon work. 
• An open mind, and a good attitude. I have nothing clever to say about this. Keep positive about the whole situation, because when the cashier is amazed and begging you for secrets, you will feel like all this work is worth it. 

2) Get a little organized.

• Realizing big savings consistently, means that you will have to sometimes buy 10 of one item. This trip alone, I bought 12 boxes of oatmeal, 12 boxes of rice, 5 bottles of juice, and 68 cans/containers of soup. These items were available at ridiculous prices, and when I added my coupon savings to them, I got them for very cheap, or free! Do you have someplace to keep 68 cans of soup? If not, start looking. 
• But, can't I just buy 4 cans of soup? Yep. But instead of saving 85%, expect to only see 33%. It all has to do with how deals are stacked. And I promise I will explain to you exactly what I mean. 
• Don't just organize your pantry/kitchen/storage shelves. You need to organize your buying patterns. This shopping trip was all about pantry stock up. Non-perishables, and foods with long shelf lives. This trip alone will provide 120 breakfasts (12 boxes of oatmeal with 10 servings each box), 90 quick heat and eat lunches, and 24 dinner side dishes. 3 weeks ago was freezer meal day. I bought potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, onions, peppers, chicken, pork, beef, and ground hamburger in bulk portions. I spent $150 and three hours prepping, packaging and freezing 20 crockpot dinners. The bonus, each crockpot meal is actually big enough to get 4 adult sized portions, and two kid sized portions. So my 20 dinners turned into 40 dinners, for $150. Why did I take that little detour about freezer meal day? Because on freezer meal shopping day, I used almost no coupons. All of my savings were from sale prices on the items I was buying. I really try my hardest to only buy meat once a month. Doing that allows me to buy in bulk, and get the club pack discount. 

Let me simplify that a little with some solid numbers. Our grocery budget is $150 per week. so essentially $600 per month. Groceries include food, hygeine products, laundry products, disposable diapers (only for daycare, we cloth diaper at home), and paper products. So let's look at how we handled the last four weeks.

1. Pantry Stock Up + weekly staples: $150 budget, $75 spent. (extra $75 left over)
2. Paper products and diaper stock up + weekly staples: $150 budget, $60 spent. ($85 left over)
3. Laundry, hygeine products + weekly staples: $150 budget, $60 spent. ($85 left over)
4. Meat and Produce + weekly staples: $150 budget, $150 spent. ($0 left over)

Weekly staples in our family are 1 gallon of Whole cow's milk, 1/2 gallon almond or coconut milk (whichever I can get a coupon for), 5 bananas, 16 gogurts, 3lbs grapes, 5 apples, 1 box french toast bites, one box frozen waffles. 


Weeks 1,2 and 3 I came in under budget. Yay for me. Week four, I used every penny of my budget. But that is why I do the crazy stock ups on other things. It gives me the wiggle room. Overall, I am $245 under my monthly budget! If I can do that every single month, that is almost $3,000 in savings for the year! That is a pretty spectacular vacation right there! If you use coupons on the products that you CAN use coupons on, it won't matter even if you pay full price for the things that just don't have coupons (like organic produce)!

So stop for a moment, and figure out these four things:

1. What is your weekly budget? (not sure? well what do you spend on average now?)
2. What is your monthly budget? (just multiply your weekly times 4)
3. What are your weekly staples? 
4. WIll you be grouping your purchases? (pantry one week, paper products another week, etc)

So we have organized our pantry, we have organized our buying patterns, now let's organize our shopping list.
     I use a spreadsheet on excel. I find it is the easiest way for me. I can add items, move items, and delete items quickly. The computer will do all the math for me, so I don't have to think about that. I said you can just handwrite out a list if you like, but really I don't recommend it. When you are trying to keep track of 170 items, a handwritten list is not your friend. Some aspects of couponing are "delicate" for lack of a better term. If you forget one item, or grab one extra item, it can cost you tens of dollars, if not more.
Here is a template for my spreadsheet layout. You should be able to save it to your excel and edit it, or just print it out. Or just copy it. It's nothing fancy, but you can see what I keep track of.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OvVx-gCVmia1elJT_gqCBlEqEC95-4yW8EUM32grxuE/edit#gid=629254266

3) Okay, let's get started!
I have said it a million times before. There are a million and one coupon sites out there. When i am planning my shopping trip, I always start at the same place.
 http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com
This is by far the best site. They do all the coupon match ups for you.

You can look at specific store deals.
http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/store-deals

You can search their coupon database to find a specific coupon. http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/lrwc-coupon-database

They have a great dicitionary of couponing terms.
 http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/2009/05/what-in-the-world-are-they-talking-about.html

Click on one of those links. Go to the website and look around for a few hours, and then come back to see me. Let's think of this as homework. Come back to me with questions, and post on the group page. This will be a great chance to get a dialogue going.

Watcha get?!?!

 Hey all, just a quick rundown of what I got. I will post a video so you can hear me ramble and babble about my haul. Just went back through my receipts real quick, and a couple of discounts actually did not ring up on  a few purchases, so I will have to go back to Weis at some point to get those taken care of.

So all together, I purchased $393.45 worth of groceries. I spent a total of $77.69, an 80% savings!! (After I get things corrected, that number will come down to $67.69, an 83% savings!)

My experience today brings up an excellent topic though: The anti couponer.
     I had a wonderful woman in line behind me. I warned her that I would take loads of time, as I was a crazy coupon lady, and offered to let her in front of me. She declined and instead stayed to watch. I'll admit it, I would have done the same. At some point we were joined by a more skeptical woman, who at the end of all my purchases said, "Yeah. But how much did you spend!" She wasn't asking, she was accusing. I held up my receipts and proudly told her that I had just purchased $400 worth of groceries, for $75!! I could see the questions going in her head. How much time does that take? That can't be worth it! How crazy is this girl? I've had people ask me point blank, and I bring it all full circle back to my earlier principle of seeing coupons as money. I saved $325! Do you hear me? $325!! Was that worth two hours of my life? Damn skippy! $325!!! That is worth three hours of my life! $325!!!!
      Okay, I'm better now. So basically, don't mind the rude stares, sideways looks, or nasty comments. You will be on the receiving end of them at least once. But until the people throwing nasty looks your way start paying your grocery bill, you embrace the crazy coupon lady in you!

 

So that's a quick look at what I got. I have to run to get my son from school, but when I get back, I will do a break down of how I got things for cheap, free, and how I was actually paid for some of it! 

Just a reminder, this trip was about pantry stock up. We didn't need produce, or butcher meats. Things like bananas, grapes, milk and gogurt (all of which you didn't see) are purchased every week, regardless of price or if there is a coupon available. So, no. We do not live on soup and Uncle Ben's rice. But we could if we had to. =-)

Oh, and all the ice cream will be going to my son's school for an ice cream social. I look like a super cool parent, and I don't spend a dime doing it. Woot! Woot!

I am blogging about coupons... Dear God I am "A Mom"...

Welcome! Ready for the crazy hodge podge of my life?
I am starting this blog mainly to help a bunch of awesome ladies learn how to coupon. Yes, I know. There are a million and one different coupon sites out there. Well this one is geared to helping the local mamas of the area. Specific deals to watch in our area, and the hidden deals waiting to be found. So without further ado, are you ready ladies?

These are my tips and tricks. They work for my family, but might not be the best for your family. Need help? Send me a message. We can brainstorm together. Found a good deal? Send me a message. I'll be your best friend... ;-)

1) Pick ONE store, and stick with it. Sort of...

     We do 90% of our grocery shopping at Weis. They have a great customer loyalty program. We are actually gold level members. What do we get for that? Extra coupons! Wahoo!! Better yet, these coupons are specifically geared to items that we actually use. We do not bounce from store to store following the sales. I am not a professional couponer, nor do I want to be. I am a mom who has a tight budget for food. Every dollar in gas that I spend trekking from store to store is a dollar that comes out of my grocery budget. Not going to happen. 

     But, you said sort of...? Well I think there are some exceptions, and we make them on rare occasions. Some items just make more sense to buy in bulk. Paper towels, toilet paper and other paper products are good examples. We have a Costco (which I admittedly still call Price Club, don't judge), Sam's Club, and a BJ's within reasonable distances. Did you know you can still use coupons at wholesale clubs? And sometimes you can use more than one at a time on the same item. More on that in another post. (Baby steps ladies.)

     Another time to make an exception? Freebies. Finding items for cheap? Awesome! Finding items for FREE? I hear angels singing from above. I will make a side trip to pick these deals up. By side trip I mean CVS, Walgreens, Stop and Shop and Shop Rite. Wegman's, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are not side trips to me. They are often journeys into the center of hell for me. (Ask me how I really feel...)

2) Look at coupons for what they really are: Money!!

     When it comes time to pay the clerk at the grocery store, do you want to hand them your credit card, or those lovely little green slips of paper from your wallet? Or do you want to hand them pieces of paper that you lovingly (sometimes begrudgingly) snipped from the newspaper? Trust me, it is the latter. Whether you pay with coupons, or with a debit card, it is all your hard earned money! 

     My most recent shopping trip that spurred this blog post is an awesome example. I will be purchasing $361.66 worth of groceries. I will only hand them $37.79 worth of actual United States Tender. The balance of my bill? Not smuggled out in my bra and breeches! I am going to hand over a lovely envelope full of coupons with a total value of $323.69!

     Along the same line of seeing coupons as money, is how does that account for the time this takes. It took me two hours to organize my shopping list, peruse the circular and Weis website, cut, print and bundle (just wait) my coupons. I can hear you through the interwebs already. "Two hours?! I don't have two seconds to pee in private. My time is very valuable!" If you look at couponing as just another part time job, I got paid $161.45 per hour ($323.69/2hours). Yep, I can make time for that!

3) In the words of the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want..."

     As much as I would love to find a coupon for 95% off steak, chicken or organic fruit, it isn't going to happen. Yes, you can actually find good coupons for produce and butcher products. You can find coupons for organics and non-gmo also. Just be prepared to not see huge savings (under 50% in my experience, though I am glad to be proven wrong.) But just think of them as a Pegacorn (that's a Unicorn and a Pegasus all wrapped in one, so yeah, pretty rare). Instead, couponing on pantry staples, like soup, cereal, bread, rice, frozen and canned veggies, etc. leaves me the wiggle room in my budget to purchase produce and meat, without blowing my budget out of the water. That being said, you can find great sale prices on produce and meat. And when you do, buy a little extra. 

     You may not be able to get your exact brand either. Sometimes I compromise, sometimes I don't. Dry pasta? Weis brand, Barilla, Ronzoni, doesn't matter. All tastes the same with butter or spaghetti sauce on it.  Yogurt? Nope. No compromise. Sorry. My kid eats one brand, one flavor and There. Is. No. Compromise!! No. Seriously. His head will turn in a complete circle if you even think about it. So don't be afraid to switch it up and try a different brand if you can find a good deal, unless you don't wanna. (No foot stomp necessary.)

4) Hoard it like Zombie Apocalypse is on the near horizon.

     I'm about to purchase 48 cans of soup, 16 boxes of oatmeal, 3 bottles of mouthwash and 8 jars of pasta sauce. Why am I doing that? No seriously, can someone tell me why I am doing that?

     Just kidding. I do it because these items are on crazy specials right now. I am actually going to make money on some of these products. They have a long shelf life, and are staples in our house. If I buy 16 boxes of oatmeal, I have breakfast for 16 weeks at a total cost of around $4. A jar of pasta sauce that I am getting for free, paired with a box of dried pasta that cost 25 cents, means that my family of three has dinner for, that's right 25 cents total!! Add a portion of chicken that I bought when it was on sale for $2.49/lb last month (it's been in the freezer in a lovely marinade), and it is now dinner for three for about 69 cents per person. Wanna get crazy? Add in some broccoli that was on sale for 88 cents. Now dinner costs 91 cents per person. So, will it be 4oz pasta with sauce, 4 oz grilled chicken breast and a cup of broccoli for 91 cents, or a 4 piece mcnugget for $1.07?

5) Catalina? That's a salad dressing right?

     You will unfortunately have to learn the lingo. If  for no other reason then to find the better deals. 

I'm just going to go over a few here. The above mentioned million and one couponing sites have covered these a few times over. 

• Catalina - These are coupons that print out at the register. They can be manufacturer's coupons, or store specific. These aren't just randomly printed. You typically have to purchase a specific item/items to trigger these to print. For example, this week at Weis, if you purchase 2 Campbell's Kettle style soups, you will get a Catalina that is good for $1.50 off your next purchase. 
• eCoupons - You don't need to print or cut these bad boys out. They are added directly to your store loyalty card.
• BOGO - Just kidding. We all know what BOGO is. =-)
• Stacking - This is where the big savings come in to play. You can either stack by combining a coupon with a promotion/awesome sale price, or by combining a manufacturer's coupon with a store coupon.

6) Know your store's coupon policy, better than it's employees.
     Seriously. Take the time to read the policy. Every store has it listed on their website. In fact, don't just read it, print out a copy and take it with you. There is nothing worse than having two hours of work get messed up by one wrong move. If something doesn't look right, ask. Be nice, but ask! Be the crazy lady with the envelope of coupons. If you have forgotten that this is money, see #2!



7) Crazy Lady with Coupons is good. Hot Mess with the coupons, not so much.
     You need to be organized. Make a list. Check it twice. Then check it a third time. (Santa's got nothing on you!) I create an excel spreadsheet. Why? I'm a complete nerd. You can do it on a plain piece of paper. I won't judge you... to your face.
  Here is my crazy OCD Excel spreadsheet:

     I can not stress enough, that you don't have to do it this way. It certainly helps though, because then the computer can do all the adding and subtracting for you.


8) Use the Force.. of the internet.
     I have said it twice now. This is the third and final time I will say it. There are a million and one different couponing sites out there. Find the one or two or three you like. Follow them like it is your new job. And it is. See #2.
My two favorites:
http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
Living rich with coupons is where I start out. Every. Single. Time. Almost every store imaginable is there. There are lists, and breakdowns, and links to coupons. You can always go to coupons.com yourself and look for coupons. Be adventurous!


9) Keep your perspective.
Not every trip is going to be a glory of 90% savings. My last three trips have been amazing. The trip before that, I think I saved about 24%. Before I am forced to run in shame, it was meat stock up week. A months worth of sausage, ground beef, chicken, pork and turkey. 40 dinners worth of meat and produce. I try to do this once per month/1.5 months. I prep 20 double meals and package and freeze. These 40 dinners cost $150. That is $3.75 per meal. So while that percentage of savings is low, I still saved by bulk shopping on sale prices. Before you ask, I get all my meal planning and recipes from www.5dollardinners.com


So that is it! A basic start. Shoot me some questions/comments and I will answer as best I can. Thanks!!!