How Do I Coupon ?Save Money While Buying Healthy for You, Your Family, and the Planet!

Hello All! So this new format will have the picks that are best for a healthier lifestyle. Many popular companies that are having sales might not be on here for a few reasons: they are meat producers, they test on animals, or they have terrible environmental records. So, the list will be selective and cater to that. This format will have all of the local grocery store listings for the Tucson area, however, they do often overlap with what is on sale in Phoenix and the White Mountains.

03/24 – 03/31:

Sprouts:

Don’t forget Double Ad Wednesdays! Ads from the previous week and current week are combined so you can get all the deals from both weeks Also, check out their website because they often have unadvertised Website Deals you can use in the store. Check out their website as well for meat and seafood deals as I will not post them here. On the occasion, when there is Organic meats on sale, I will post those.

Produce:

Organic and regular Braeburn Apples: .88/lb!

Strawberries: 1 lb. for $1.25!

Red Bell Peppers: .88 each!

Navel Oranges: .49/lb.!

D’Anjou or Bosc Pears: .88/lb.! (**Often the organic pears are the same price or .99/lb.!)

Minneola Tangelos: .88/lb.

Bunched Spinach: .88/lb.!

Idaho Russet Potatoes: .88 for a 5# bag!!

***Don’t automatically assume Organic Produce is out of your price range. Check it out and you might be surprised. I always get organic apples for .99/lb. or less, a 1# bag of carrots for .88, and pears in the same price range. Leaf lettuce is not too pricey either. It is always better to buy organic since it is not sprayed with pesticides, is often local, and the workers are generally treated better as well. And I swear, it just tastes sooo much better!! Must be the smaller crops but it is always better tasting! ***

Dairy:

Hot Pepper Jack Cheese: $1.99/lb.!! If you go tomorrow (Wednesday) the mild cheddar cheese is still on sale for $1.99!

Chino Valley Organic Eggs W/ Omega-3: $3.49 each.

Mountain High Yoghurt: $2.00 for 32 oz.

Bakery:

Sprouts Organic Breads: $2.50 each!

Grocery:

Clif, Luna, and Mojo Bars: $1.00 each! (Use your Mambo Sprouts coupon and it should make them .50 each! If you have not signed up for Mambo Sprouts coupons, go HERE!)

Wolfgang Puck Organic Canned Soups: $2.00 ea.

Westbrae Organic Canned Beans (asstd. varieties): $1.25 ea.

Nature’s Path Optimum Organic Cereal: $2.99 each!

Rising Moon Organic Skillet Meals: $4.99 each!

 

Sunflower:

Don’t forget Double Ad Wednesdays! Ads from the previous week and current week are combined so you can get all the deals from both weeks  Check out their website as well for meat and seafood deals as I will not post them here. On the occasion, when there are Organic meats on sale, I will post them.

Produce:

Organic Bunched  Beets or Carrots: $1.50 each!

Organic English Peas: $1.99/lb.!

Organic Green Cabbage: .88/lb.!

Organic Strawberries, 8 oz., : $2.99!

Organic Red or Green Leaf Lettuce: $1.50 each (fyi: this is usually cheaper at Sprouts at their non-sale price)

Organic Fresh Leeks: $1.99/lb.!

Organic Russet Potatoes: .88/lb.!

Blackberries: .99/ 5.6 oz.

Blueberries: $2.99/4.4 oz.

Strawberries: 2.99/1 lb.

Braeburn or Jonagold Apples: .88/lb.

Hass Avocados Organic or regular: .88 each!!

Romain or Iceburg Lettuce: .88 each!

Navel oranges: .50/lb.!

Red Potatoes: 2#/$1.00!

Yams: .99/lb.!

Grocery:

Balance Nutrition Bars: .89 each!

Organic Canned Veggies: $1.69 each!

Organic Gravies: $1.50 each!

Pacific Organic Broth: $2.50 each!

Dairy & Frozen:

Earth Balance Buttery Spread (vegan and no hydrogenated oils- pretty tasty!): $2.99 each!

ZenSoy Organic Soy Pudding: $1.99/4-pack!

Misc.:

Seventh Generation Feminine Hygiene products: 20% off!! Go HERE, sign up, and print $1.00 off coupons!

Amy’s Pizza, asstd. varieties, 13 -14 oz., $5.99!

Boulder Canyon Kettle Chips, Asstd. varieties, 10 oz., $2.99 each

Organic Avocados: $1.00 each!

Organic Mini Peeled carrots, 1 lb. package: $1.79 each!

 

Cal-Organic Mini Peeled Yellow Carrots, 1 lb. bag: $1.00 each!!

Red Bell Peppers: $1.00 each!

Broccoli or Cauliflower, .88 each!

Celery, .88 each!

Cucumbers, English:  $1.00 each!

Oranges – Cara Cara Pink or Minneola Tangelos, : $1.00/lb.

Pears – Red or Green D’Anjou : $1.00/lb.

Strawberries or Blackberries, 4.4-16oz.: $2.50 ea

Tomatoes, Roma: .88/lb.

Nestle Toll House Morsels, 10-12oz., $1.88 each. Use Nestle Toll House Morsels any $1/2 (5-31-10) RP-3/21. Final Price: $1.38 each!

Silk Soymilk, asstd. varieties, 64 oz., : $2.99 each. Use: Silk Soymilk or Silk Pure Almond Almondmilk Half Gallon $1/1 (5-31-10) SS-2/21. Final Price: $1.99 each!

Kettle Brand Potato Chips, asstd. flavors, 5 oz., $1.66 ea. Use Kettle Brand Potato Chips 5 oz or larger $1/1 (4-17-10) SS-3/7. Final Price: .66 each!!

Pure Protien Bars, 1.76 oz., asstd. varieties, $1.00 each!

Imagine Rice Dream Beverage. asstd flavors, 32 oz., : $1.99 each

There is a Buy 8, Save $4.00 Promo going on at Fry’s:

Buy 8 Annie’s Homegrown Mac & Cheese = .49 each!! (smokin’ deal!) .99 on sale.

Ronzoni Healthy Harvest or Smart Taste Pasta, asstd varieties, 12-16 oz.,: .79 each WYB8!! Sale price: $1.29 each (fyi: Cheaper at Walmart)

Yuban Coffee (Not sure if the Organic is on sale but if it is, it is a smokin’ deal), 31.5-34.5 oz., selected varieties, $5.49 WYB8. Use: Yuban, any 10.5 oz. or larger $1/2 (5-31-10) SS-3/21. FP: $4.99 each!! Sale Price: $5.99 each.

 Hershey’s Pieces, Selected varieties, 10-10.5 oz.: $2.00 each. Use: Hersheys Pieces Candy, 10 oz. or larger bag $1/1 (4-17-10) SS-1/31. FP: $1.00 each!! Sale price: $2.50 each.

*** I will post more deals as I get the ads ***

Since I am now personally buying more organic products, I thought it would be good to share links to coupons for these sustainable companies. Here is a list of some great organic companies who offer valuable printable coupons and coupon booklets you can receive in the mail. Like most companies, you will need to register but it will be worth it because you will be getting some great money saving coupons!

Mambo Sprouts  — I just received my coupon booklet in the mail and it has quite a few coupons with some that I will likely use.

Seventh Generation– Once you sign up you can print coupons for a variety of their products. I love their dish soap and after

coupon you can get it at Target for around $1.49/bottle. Pretty good!

Kashi – Join the Kashi community and you can receive free samples and coupons!

Organic Valley – This link is great! $1.00 off coupons for a variety of Organic Valley products!

Earth’s Best– This is a great company. They offer valuable coupons and I hear their diapers rock (Thanx C for the tip!)

Horizon – Sign up to get coupons for their dairy products.

Here are some few tips on how you can get coupons for organic foods and products. These tips can easily apply to finding any coupon not just organic ones:

1. Contact the manufacturer directly. If you like a company and/or its product, don’t be afraid to say so! Call them, email them or send them snail mail. Always leave your contact info and chances are you will get coupons sent to you. What company doesn’t like a sincere compliment of their product?

2. Just ask. Seriously. I love Method products however I never see coupons for their products. I wrote Method and told them I loved their products and if they could please send me some coupons. I received 10 in the mail! It never hurts to ask!

3. Check out your local health food stores such as Sprouts, Sunflower, and Whole Foods, etc. Often at the front of the store they have store magazines with coupons in them for various products within the store. Grab a couple and see what you can save!

4. Before going to the grocery store, check out their website to see if there are any special deals and/or printable coupons on their website. Here are links to: Sprouts , Sunflower, and Whole Foods.

5. Keep an eye out for “peelies” on the products you like on the store shelves and the “blinkies” where you can pull coupons and use them on the products advertised. **Just a note: If your store doubles coupons, you will more than likely not be able to double any “blinkie” coupons. Bummer, I know!

One of the three major keys to saving money at the grocery store is coupons. The more coupons you have, the more you save. If you have multiple coupons of the same one you can really make a difference in your spending and stock. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, Downy softener was on sale for $2.99. If you had the $3/1 coupon you would get it for free. Now think about if you had multiples of that same coupon…you could stock up on fabric softener for free!

So, how do you get multiples of the same coupon? There are a few ways to do this. Obvious and first one is to get the Sunday paper which has coupons most Sundays of the year. Some couponers subscribe and get several duplicate papers delivered every Sunday. In Tucson, there are a couple of options to choose from. You can get the local paper and/or you can get the Phoenix paper delivered as well. The bonus to getting the Phoenix paper is that there are often more coupons available and at a higher value. One positive to living in a big city, huh? Often I am irritated because a coupon is advertised through various sites and after pilfering my ads I find I do not have it because I do not get the Phoenix paper. I digress . Anyways, getting the multiples of the Sunday paper is a great way to get more coupons whether it is the local paper or the one from a bigger city nearby.

**TIP: Here in Tucson on the NW side you can go to the Dollar Tree and get the Sunday paper for $1.00! I know some fellow couponers who do this especially when there are high value or popular coupons in that week’s paper. How cool is that?! You can stock up there if you want and  pay only $1.00 per paper (as opposed to $1.50). Check out the Dollar Tree near you to see if they offer this as I am not sure if every store does.

Another tip is to always check your local library and your local community paper. We get a community paper delivered every week called the Northwest Explorer and there are coupon inserts in it. How great is that?! I don’t have to pay for them and it is basically money in my pocket. Check to see if yours does too. Also, check your local library. The same paper is delivered to the library and you could pick up a couple copies there gratis!

Here are a couple of printable coupon sites. You can generally print two of each coupon and then you have to wait until it resets:

Coupons.com

RedPlum

Make sure to sign up for grocery cards. Not only will you get the sales the stores offer, there are two great sites that you use your grocery card number and you load coupons onto them to use:

Shortcuts.com

Cellfire.com

The sites above are great. They are easy to sign up to and once you register your card you can load savings with a click of your mouse . I hate clipping coupons so this is a nice bonus – Love it!

I am running on little sleep so I will try and post more as I remember. I will get the best deals up for the week soon too!

So this blog is new and I have not had a chance to explain coupons as well as I need to for the average person and newbie to drastically slashing your grocery budget. So, today I will post deals for one grocery store here in Arizona and explain as I go!

You will want to save your coupons from the Sunday paper. The best system is to NOT clip every coupon. Rather, as you get the inserts take a look on the side of the insert. It will give you the coupon source and the date. For example, Red Plum 11/01/09. Write this on the front of the insert. It will be easier for you to find what you need this way as opposed to constantly clipping coupons (which is time consuming and annoying!). Below in my list you will see the coupon you need for the item that is on sale. Along with the type of coupon you need will be an abbreviation and a date. This abbreviation will tell you which insert and which date to pull. For example, RP 11/15 (this means Red Plum 11/15). Make sense?

Get used to using printable coupons. Some stores do not accept these so make sure to check the stores’ policies and abide by them. The online printable coupons will save you so much money! Keep in mind that most online legitimate coupons will only let you print twice before they reset again. Do not be a tool and photocopy the coupon to get more. That is cheating and stealing. Just sayin’.

Today I went to Bashas’ and spent $11.32 for $48.82 worth of groceries! The key is to buy items that you need, that are on sale, and that you have a coupon for. That trifecta will earn you saved money and great deals on groceries. Stock up on items when they are cheap or free so even if you do not need them now you will have them later. There have been many times where I have bought an item and paid full price on impulse or at the last moment because I did not have a food supply in place.

Below is the list of free or super cheap at Bashas’ this week with sale items and coupons. These are the deals of the week for Bashas’:

Skippy Peanut Butter 15 – 16.3 oz.  $1.58 – Use Skippy Peanut Butter Products, any 15 oz. or larger .50/1 (exp. 1-10-10) RP 11/15. Final Price: .58 cents each!

Challenge Butter 16 oz. $1.99, Limit 4 – Challenge Dairy Product, any, .55/1 (exp. 09-30-2010) from HERE . Make sure to print it twice! Final Price: .99 cents each!

Milk Bashas’ 1 Gallon $1.58

Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta 12-14.5 oz., .88- Use Ronzoni Smart Taste, any two (2) boxes, $1/2 (12-31-2009) GroupA . Make sure to print it twice! Also go HERE, register and get 2 more printable coupons! Final Price: .38 cents each!!

Crystal Farms Cheese Chunks or Shreds, 8 oz. – $1.99- Use Crystal Farms Cheese chunks or shreds 8 oz $1/1 (12-27-09) The coupon is in the monthly ad for Bashas’. You can find the ad when you walk in the store right next to or below the weekly ads. Since it is a 1 per coupon and 1 per visit limit, snag extra copies of the monthly ad so you can take advantage of this great offer more than once. Final Price : .99 cents each!

Shamrock Farms Milk or Shamrockers, 12 oz., $1.00 – Use Shamrock Farms Products any .50/2 @ Group C . Make sure to print it twice! Also use Shamrock Farms Products any .50/2 (1-13-10) RP-11/15. Final Price: .50 cents each!

Idahoan Potatoes 4 to 4.1 oz, $1.00 each- Use Idahoan product, any 4 oz or larger, .40/1 (12-8-2009) GroupB-11/8 Make sure to print it twice! Final Price: FREE!!!

So, today I bought 3 Skippy, 6 Ronzoni Pastas, 3 Challenge Butters, 4 containers of Shamrock chocolate milk, and cooking oil (not on sale ::sigh::) for $11.32! Easily a $37 dollar savings! Just by using coupons, catching sales, and only buying what I will use can save me a ton!

I will post more deals for other stores as I go.