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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:06 am Subject: Coupon Sharing and grocery information

Can we start a forum or a topic that has to do with grocery budgeting? Or is there one out there? I have just started the coupon thing and I love saving money with them. I would like to know if anyone else has any suggestions out there on how to deal with the rising cost of groceries.

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:17 am Subject:

Keep using your coupons, but generic instead of name brands. Most generic are just as good as the name brands. There are a few things that I do not buy generic, but for the most part, I usually buy generic. Watch the sale ads. Some places have double coupons and I know out here, there is a place that a couple of times a year will offer triple coupons. Another thing you can do, is get with someone and shop the buy one, get one free....and then just split the cost of the one that is not free. Just a few ideas here

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:12 pm Subject:

do coupons work on generic items? I thought they were only for items listed.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:13 am Subject:

Unless you get a coupon for generics, they won't work, but if you do have one for brand names, just watch the sales and also watch for when stores have double or triple coupons and use them at that time. It all comes down to really watching sales and comparing prices.

Exam. generic (store brand) canned corn..$0.50

Brand name canned corn $0.75

Sale price: Buy one get on free (2 for price of 1)

coupon ~ Buy 3 (name brand) save $0.35

On this you can buy 4 cans of name brand corn for $1.50, (4 cans of store brand would be $2).

You are already saving $0.50 before the coupon. Now use your coupon and save another $0.35, for a total savings of $0.85

Now if the store offers double coupons, you would save $1.20, meaning you got your corn for $0.30.

If the store offers triple coupons, you got your corn for free. It is just a matter of planning, comparing and checking everything out.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:15 am Subject:

This is just an example of what could happen. Like I said, we have a store here that a few times a year offer triple coupons and I have known people to buy a couple of hundreds of dollars worth of groceries and paid pennies on the dollar or have left not paid anything for things they bought.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:36 am Subject:

Can of name-brand canned corn [Del Monte] at our local Hannaford: $.79

Can of store-brand canned corn at our local Aldi: $.35

Here's the kicker: Both brands are canned in the exact same cannery. This was verified by the codes printed on the cans. The only differences are the label and the price.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:14 am Subject:

I had forgotten about Aldis....just remember your own bags when you go there. LOL

We were need to find one in our area. Use to go there all the time when we lived in KS.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:17 am Subject:

Amen to that! About 15 years ago, (oh, they have great raspberry jam) I brought home some stuff in the cardboard displays they had food in. They must have had roaches, because after that, we got roaches. We never had roaches before. Once we got rid of the roaches, we haven't seen one since.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:41 am Subject:

Exactly....As with any place like Aldis, just make sure you look things over real well. 99% of the time, things are ok, but once in a while.... The items there are usually items that cannot be sold in the store due to possibly some dented cans, etc. I know some flea markets have things like this too, but just be sure to look things over well. My husband and I have gotten some pretty good stuff at both places. There are also those places that sell bread and stuff like that at a discount. We use to go to those places too and very seldom get anything that was bad. WE usually buy bread in quantity and put it in the freezer anyway, same with cookies and stuff like that.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 3:29 pm Subject:

This is a great idea!! And one we can certainly use right now. I'm wondering if we could move this to the Extra Income thread or perhaps it could stand on its own? What do you think?

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:31 pm Subject:

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:38 pm Subject:

We don't have Aldi's close enough to me (nearest one is over 80 miles away) to make it worth the trip, unless I was traveling there for something else.

The store I miss the most from when I lived in another state was one called Sharp Shopper. Short-dated, slightly damaged or salvage goods at incredible prices. I have no problem buying short-dated hard cheese and freezing it, or yogurt (gets eaten immediately at our house anyway), etc. You could get some incredible deals. Obviously, you wanted to stay away from items in their freezer section that were past their 'use by' date, simply because you don't know exactly when it was frozen - could have already been bad when it got frozen and you wouldn't know until you thawed it and tried to use it.

They had cereals, canned goods, etc. I never got anything that had gone bad.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:43 pm Subject:

Thanks for the store locator!!! I know where 2 of those stores are at and they are about 20 miles from us.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:04 pm Subject:

Glad I could help. Smile

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:43 pm Subject:

Aldis is known as one of the best food stores around. They have great food at great prices and are getting better at all that they do. I can go into an Aldis and spend lets say $100.00 and get 4 or 5 bags of food and go to Jewels, Domminicks, Meijers, or any other "name-brand" store and get half of that and it is almost all of the same stuff, just packaged differntly. I work at a food packaging plant, I know.

Thanks,
Luke

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:46 am Subject:

I love to go to Aldis! Sine it is a little ways from my house and with gas prices, i make a trip about every 2-3 weeks.

The same way with my coupon store. I save up the coupons and make a trip over there when I have enough in savings that will make the trip worthwhile.

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