Baby Dumpling's Poppa

Coupon Shopping

In a previous post I talked about saving money at the grocery by purchasing meat in bulk, and not paying the grocery store to grind meat, fat and other things to make hamburger.  Here are some more things that I have done and still do to save money at the grocery.  There are the red coupon dispensers at the grocery store.  I usually take 3 or 4 and save them, then take those same coupons to other stores that are having a sale on those items.  If no one is having a sale and I need it, I go to someplace like Wal-Mart.  Yes Wal-Mart takes manufacturer coupons, so does Walgreens, and most places.  Just because you collect a manufacturer coupon in one store doesn't mean you have to use it that day in that store.  I do this a few times a month and call it coupon hunting.  I take a drive around town stopping at the grocery stores, go in and start looking for those red coupon dispensers.  Sometimes people look at me a little strange when I don't buy anything but if I remembered to bring my conscience with me I'll actually buy something that's on sale.  These collected manufactured coupons are just like the ones you cut out of the Sunday paper, the expiration date is usually a few months away so you can keep them in the folder or coupon organizer.   Once you got the coupons watch for the buy one get one free sales.  These sales are when you really clean up.  There are different types of coupons, cents off when you buy 2 or buy one get one free up to a certain dollar amount as well as cents off when you buy 1.  The trick is to find the sales, when there's a buy 1 get 1 free, use the ones that specifically say save when you buy 2 or you get so much off when you buy 1.  When you have a buy 1 get one free coupon it gets a little tricky, remember you still need to pay the sales tax on non-food items.  But I have gone to the buy 1 get 1 sale and used buy 1 get one free coupon, I had to buy 4 items, but I did manage to convince the cashier that I was in fact buying 2 so I should get my free one.  Sometimes they won't let you but you can always ask them to check with the manager and most of the time you'll get to use the coupon. I've turned a sale in to buy 1 get 3 free.  If there's a really good sale and you are with your spouse, have him or her take a basket and you put stuff in both carts each with the coupon. Sometimes there's a limit on how many you can buy with the store sale and you can't use more than 1 manufacturer coupon per item. With some creative thinking you can actually save anywhere from $10-$50 per grocery shopping. In order to do that you first need to start collecting them, organizing them and look for the sales.  Don't forget to check the expiration date, I use a highlighting pen so I can see it quickly.  Good luck and happy coupon hunting.

Please feel free to leave a comment or 2.  Your participation would be greatly appreciated.

Saving Money on Groceries

There are a lot of ways to save money on grocery shopping.  Many people have many ideas; I decided to post my own ideas for eating healthy and saving a lot of money.

There are 2 things that I purchased that I feel save me a bundle.  First was the small freezer.  The small freezer is about the size of a Dorm fridge.  The second most important purchase I made in my quest to save money and eat well was the Food Saver, or vacuum sealing machine. Shop around and get the best sale price you can.

Let's start with beef, I like beef but I don't like the price so I found a better way to get what I want and save a lot.  New York, T-Bone, Tenderloin, Bottom Round, Top Round are a few.  Most of us can't really afford the Tenderloin, New York, T-Bones, but sometimes you can find a good sale on these if you look for the bulk sales.  London broil and roasts (top or bottom) are good versatile cuts.  You can use these cuts in a variety of dishes and cooking styles, from Beef Stew to Beef stir fry. (I'll post some recipes at a later time).  If you check the price of stew beef you'll notice that it runs around $3.49 per pound, hamburger is about the same and both have large quantities of fat.  Everyone knows that a certain amount of fat gives flavor, but too much will cause your health to go down.  What I do is buy the London broil or roast when they're on sale for $1.99 per pound.  I have a hand grinder that I bought for about $10, I also have an electric that I bought for about $100.  If you’re grinding meat just remember to get it slightly frozen first.  That saves on juice and fat from causing problems and mess.