Get Free Groceries Every Week
By Stephanie Nelson, The Coupon Mom
With the price of groceries climbing, it’s more important than ever to become a Strategic Shopper. You can get free groceries every week when you use sales, coupons, and the free grocery deals lists at couponmom.com each week. The site lists deals at regional grocery store chains as well as national stores like Target, Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid. By using Strategic Shopping tricks, you will be able to get free grocery items, personal care products, cleaning products, and many items for 80% off or more.
As I’ve said before, strategic shopping is not about changing the way you eat, it is about changing the way you buy the food that you like. Take these steps to cut your spending:
- Be flexible regarding store and brand choices. You may want to go to more than one store in a week if they are convenient, picking the best sales at each store. When it comes to specific brands, give new brands a try when they are practically free with a coupon. Get the store brand if it is the least expensive option.
- Study the store’s sales circular and use online resources like couponmom.com to find the best sales.
- Plan your meals and shopping list around what is on sale at stores.
- Stock up on your common items when they are at their rock-bottom prices. By getting a few weeks’ supply of an item, you will have enough on hand until the next sale. Getting in the cycle of stocking up in this way will get you out of the cycle of paying full price for anything.
- Know multiple sources of coupons, including printable coupons from www.coolsavings.com. Match coupons with sale items. Watch for coupon displays in the store, pay attention to your register receipt coupons, buy multiple copies of the Sunday newspaper to have more than one coupon circular, and even email the customer service contact at manufacturers’ websites to request coupons for their products. Be sure to compliment their products and include your address. They may send you free coupons as a courtesy. Having more coupons will enable you to stock up on your common items when they are at rock-bottom prices.
6. Check your receipts for accuracy. Accidental overcharges are common and can add up to a hundreds of dollars over the course of a year. On a recent trip I had $6.19 in overcharges on my receipt, which was 15% of the total amount. You will probably have to go to the Customer Service counter to get the refund. To save time, watch the prices as they ring up at the register so you can question an incorrect price immediately before the transaction is completed.
I was recently challenged to demonstrate my Strategic Shopping system in another city as part of a contest with another expert shopper. Although I live in Atlanta, by using grocery store websites and my site’s lists of best deals for that city’s stores at couponmom.com. I knew I could plan the shopping trip easily. I use the same strategies to plan my shopping at the grocery store two miles from my home every week.
The challenge was to see who could buy the most food to feed a family of five a balanced, healthy diet for a week with $100. The point was not to see how many items I could buy with coupons, but to see if my Strategic Shopping system was practical to feed the average family. I knew it was, but I had to prove it. By using the strategies listed here, I was able to buy $300 worth of healthy food for $100. By having multiple coupons, I was able to buy enough food for one week as well as stock up on many items for future weeks.
Stephanie Nelson shares her savings tips as a regular contributor on ABCNews.com. You can find more of her savings tips from her website at www.couponmom.com