Couponing and Real Food

So, the other day, while in the grocery store, there was a stand there with a guy trying to get people to sign up for subscriptions to the newspaper. While I was waiting in line to check out, he tried to sell a subscription to another lady who was walking by with little ones. He told her about the many coupons to save money in the paper every Sunday. Her reply was,

“There aren’t any coupons for healthy foods, so no, thanks.”

Her reply is not entirely true.

Naturally, the bulk of the coupons in the Sunday paper (we get 3 papers a week just for coupons) are for junk food or boxed crap-o-la. But, just because I get a coupon for it doesn’t mean I have to buy or eat it.

Other coupons are more useful, and help lower our overall budget, making it possible for me to include more fresh foods into our budget. These coupons include coupons for:

• toiletries (this one is huge): toothpaste, shampoo, deo, bath stuff, lotion, soaps, female products
• broth/stock in a can: sure making it fresh is best, and many times I do, but canned all natural chicken stock is great to have on hand
• Boxed whole grains such as my favorite brand of Quinoa
• Healthier Condiments: not all condiments are free of poisons such as High Fructose Corn Syrup, but the ones that are tend to be pricier than the ones that aren’t. Thank God for coupons for those, right? So far only Meijer seems to “get it” that we don’t want unhealthy toxins in our store brand condiments.
• Coffee: I’m fussy about my coffee. I’m thankful for coffee coupons.Good quality coffee helped me to break free from the bad habit of adding sugar and cream to my coffee. If it’s good coffee, I can happily drink it black…and that’s saying something given that I’ve drank it with cream and sugar for nearly 35 years!
• My favorite brand of 90% dark chocolate, which has less grams of sugar than the average packet of “healthy” flavored oatmeal.They really need to put coupons for that in the paper every week.
• The convenience meals (soups, etc.) my husband likes to take to work…though I’ve gotten him to take healthier homemade stuff more often lately.

I spent around $60 for a year’s worth of 3 Sunday papers a week…3 subscriptions of Sunday only. In return, just this past year, I’ve gotten:

• at least 30 packs of maxi pads for free with doubled coupons plus sales (that’s a savings of about $150)
• a years supply of toothpaste for free with doubled coupons plus sales (cha-ching)
• I regularly pay under $1 for high quality shampoo and conditioners thanks to coupons plus sales
• I get many condiments either free or dirt cheap thanks to coupons plus sales
• Around the holidays, I stocked up on about 30 cartons of all natural chicken stock thanks to my coupons plus coupons I mooched off of others others gave me.

Even when you are eating healthier, coupons can save you big money. Though healthier foods certainly do cost more generally, by saving more money in other areas of your budget, you can free up more money for those free, healthy foods we should be eating.