Coupons and grocery budgeting

Just like everyone else, we have been hit hard with the rise in grocery prices.  I asked my dear friend and neighbor to help me revamp my budget a bit.  She gave me quite a few tips on how to save on my grocery bill with coupons.  At first glance I was giddy with how much I could save.  Even just a simple Google search sent me to articles where housewives everywhere can got their families groceries for less than $100 per month, and how I too can ‘get a years worth of toilet paper for free!’.  Yay!  Sign me up for free stuff!

But as I looked at the coupons that I could get, reality hit.  Couponing is work for those of us who are picky about what we buy and where we buy it.

Not one to give up easily, I started with the things I did buy that coupons were plentiful for.  Granola bars, yogurt, crackers, and other assorted ‘fast foods’ in my house were on sale all over town from every brand you can imagine.

Even with the crazy deals I was getting I asked myself these questions before each purchase: 

• Is this food mostly whole foods?
• Is this food free of hormones and pesticides? 
• Does this food to come from a source that I trust?

I am 100% willing to pay for my food priorities. Even with coupons my food budget is going to be higher than the average and I am completely ok with it staying that way.... So on a search I went. A search for organic, whole foods coupons. What did I find?  Very (very) little.  I have discovered that coupon companies rarely put out coupons for foods that I would buy normally, and I also did my best to remember the top rules in couponing –

1. “If you wouldn’t normally buy it, you are not saving money”.  
2. “If you have to drive 10 miles out of your way to get it, you are just spending the money in gas that you would save in groceries”.

I did find some great links to wonderful savings and articles however, and I wanted to share those with you:

The Happy Housewife’s ideas on Extreme Couponing (fabulous!)

Organic Coupons with Money Saving Mom (not many whole foods, but some great deals on here and she updates weekly.)

Organic Valley Coupons

Frugal Living’s page of Organic and Natural coupons

With these ideas in mind, I have spent the last month revamping our whole menu binder.  Coupons help, but the biggest help is planning ahead.  Planning meals means money saved.  It is always easier to make a meal when you have everything on hand.  And when making a meal is easy, eating out (and eating junk) becomes less appealing and less frequent.

To Be Continued…