Coupons, Part II: Grocery

I should have prefaced the last post by letting you all know that I do not have this all figured out. My coupon/grocery strategies are forever changing alongside of our lives, location, eating habits, and amount of free time.

Our current location has proved that reality as I still don't know where I'm going to land in my grocery shopping. If you ask (most) anyone in this town where they shop for groceries they will answer "Wal Mart." I just recoiled a little writing that. I do not like Wal Mart... I definitely do not like grocery shopping there.

I really like Kroger. I really, really like Publix. I love Earth Fare. I had all of these in Auburn. I have a Kroger 30 minutes away here. Publix and Earth Fare are four very long hours away.

But, Enough with my personal problems.

Before I start cutting out my coupons and planning out my grocery trip, I have think about our food philosophy. Do you have a food philosophy? Ours, as I said before, is still evolving. My college best, nutritionist/blogger/NYC nanny Becca {her blog here}, let me borrow Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food (ummm... I still have the book, Becca. Sorry!!). My reading of that book started a conversation in our house about what we eat. I loved it and the main take-away I had was to shop the peripheral of the super market and never go down the center aisles unless you absolutely have to. So right now my evolving food philosophy is something like: buy mostly "real" food (produce, meat, fish, dairy); must buy organic: milk, eggs; try to afford to buy organic: meat, fish, produce. I rarely buy convenient sweets (sometimes ice cream, chocolate chips, gum). Only buy red meat on rare occasions.

See, I told you it was vague. All of the above may have been better as a whole separate post, but I feel like it's important in couponing. I am a firm believer that you shouldn't buy something just because it is on sale. Our food philosophy governs what we eat and not the coupons. Have a plan before you start to cut!

Okay, now I'll try to do more bullet points.

• I organize my cut coupons in baseball card holders in a binder. I tried to lay out the coupons as they would be walking through an average grocery store. If you want a list of all my different categories, let me know and I might have the time to type them up someday. :)
• When I was able to shop at Publix and Kroger, I would go to {Southern Savers} on Sunday night and look at her listings to see which store had better sales going on for things that we normally buy. 
• After I chose one store I would sit down with my coupon book and a piece of paper. Jenny lists out each item that is at its rock-bottom price and lists coupons that have been in past inserts along with coupons that are printable. As I found items that we use, I looked through my binder and pulled any corresponding coupons or I printed out coupons she provided links for. I wrote them down on my grocery list and stuck it with my coupons.
• I then looked at my list and thought through meals I could make using these on sale items and then made the rest of my list as needed. 

Here are some things to note....

• A lot of grocery stores double coupons up to .50... thus, a .50 coupon becomes 1.00 off. Also, Publix will take a store coupon and stack it on a manufacturer coupon... hence why you can get things for free there. Check out your store's coupon policy (available at the customer service desk).
• Many couponers buy a lot of papers so they can buy multiple items and stock up on things when they are at their lowest prices. I think this is a great thing to do if you are stocking on things you normally use and have the space for it. I saw an episode of Extreme Couponers where a mom was stocking things in her children's room. Sad. I don't have the room to stock a lot...  I stock up on pasta (I get this for free... a lot), cereal, and canned tomatoes. That's about it for groceries.
• I would recommend bringing your coupons to the store with you (which is why I like to use the binder)... it never fails that when I don't bring it I remember a coupon I had for something I end up buying that I didn't plan for.
• It takes about 4-5 weeks of building up your coupons to really feel like you have enough to make it worth it. Hang in there. 
• I don't really know how much I save using coupons because I have a fixed budget that I, for the most part, meet every month. I know that couponing has allowed me to have more in my budget to splurge on more produce and more organic items that I wouldn't have the budget for otherwise after buying other things we need. So, in my case, it has allowed our family to eat healthier.

My sweet friend, Stacy Leigh, mentioned in her comment that they are moving towards only no processed foods and have a very restrictive diet. Is it worth it for her to spend time couponing? I'm really not sure... but to those of you like her, I would suggest (if you do any shopping at a commercial, even organic, grocery store) to watch the sales at your store. All stores have about a six-week rotation of when items are at their rock bottom price. There's even a coupon site for Organics {here}.

And... even if coupons don't work out for you in the grocery department (I don't think every family needs to coupon, by the way), you might think about it for your household items... which will be my next post! It might not come until next Tuesday... so hang tight. In the meantime, buy a Sunday paper, check out Southern Savers and check out your grocery store's coupon policy!