One of the ways to really cut your grocery spending, is to stock up on items when the price is either FREE or rock bottom. This can be hard to fathom when you are first starting out in the coupon game, because you feel very overwhelmed. The easiest way to get started is to make yourself a list of about five things that you use on a regular basis. This is besides your fresh fruit, vegetables and milk. After you start getting better at couponing, you can add more to your list. Here’s an example of what a beginning list would be for me:
Oatmeal
Cereal
Canned Veggies
Evaporated Milk
Pasta
So for the next few weeks, I would look at the sales that run on those items. I would also hunt down any coupons that are available for those items. One great resource I use to hunt down coupons is the Hot Coupon World Coupon Database. Just type in the name of the product you are looking for and it will give you a list of available coupons.
My stock up price is always lower than my buy price. There are times when the deal is good enough that I would buy a few of an item if I needed it. For example, I would buy oatmeal if it was under $1 for a bin of oats. However, if a bin of oatmeal is free or even .25 cents after coupons, then I would stock up. Stocking up would entail me getting several months worth or more of an item. Allow me to break this down for you all with some current examples:
Quaker Oats are .50 cents at Walgreens this week (1/10-1/16) after the in-ad coupon and this $1/1 printable HERE. .50 cents is a good price, and I would probably buy several bins if I was getting low in my stockpile. If I had Register Rewards from other deals, then I could lower my out of pocket even more buy paying for the oatmeal with my Register Rewards. However, Quaker Oats are free after the $1/1 printable at SuperFresh and Giant Eagle this week as well. I do not have either of those stores in my area, but I would be stocking up on oats at those stores if I had them. A .50 cent difference may not seem like much at the moment, but in the long run it is the key to maximizing your savings on grocery shopping. See more deals on oatmeal this week HERE.
Quick Facts for Stocking Up:
1. Go where the best deal is. Don’t be store loyal or brand loyal.
2. Watch your local sales, and start to become familiar with the sales (all sales are on a cycle).
3. Match coupons with those sales to maximize your savings.
4. Only stock up a lot when an item is FREE or a rock bottom price. There are many items that never end up free with coupons, so you need to figure out what rock bottom is for a particular item.
5. Once you get into a rhythm of only stocking up at rock bottom prices, then you are only buying sale items each week along with regular weekly purchases of dairy and produce.
For more information on stockpiling items and couponing, check out Stockpiling 101 and Coupon Basics for Newbies.
For all of you coupon regulars, what are some items that you stock up on a lot? What is your rock bottom price for stocking up?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
What do you use all your Evaporated Milk in?
Hi Maria! I use it in a lot of recipes that call for milk. If you dilute it a little you can basically use it in any recipe that calls for milk. macaroni and cheese, gravy, cheeseburger pie, and you can even poor it over cereal for breakfast in the morning. I like having it on hand for the times i don’t have milk in the fridge.
I use evaporated milk as the milk for my mashed potatoes all the time. They taste so much better that way. Very rich and creamy. The same for my gravy. It’s a staple product in our cabinets.
We stock Evap Milk, too! My husband uses it in his morning coffee.
I agree with PP that it is great to have on hand when you are low on milk or out of milk!
Some of my other Stock Up Prices:
Rice Mixes (ala Caroline Rice) free-5c
Canned Beans-15c
Organic Canned Tomatoes 30c-50c (depending on the size of the can)
Pasta Sauce free-10c
Whole Grain Pasta free-10c
If anyone uses ziploc bags there is an awesome opportunity for stock up right now. At my local meijer they are 2/$4 and there were peelies for B2G1F, and then there is the rebate offer for $5 back in rebate when you get 3 products. You can use it 3 times!
I’ve been couponing about a month and I’m surprised about the deals that are there!
Athena´s last blog ..Grocery Deals this Week
My husband and I both like Hamburger Helper (and the chicken and tuna kind as well), but it is normally much more expensive than it’s worth, sometimes up to 1.50 per box. Once every couple months, though, my local Meijer makes them part of its 10 for 10 and 11th item Free sale. The last two times that sale has run, there has also been a coupon for 75 cents off three, which doubles to a dollar. When I buy 12 boxes and use four coupons, that’s only about 58 cents a box, which is usually cheaper than it would be if I tried to make the dish from scratch at home.
If I can get bread flour on sale, I stock up on that for my bread machine. Buying yeast in bulk and stocking up on flour makes for very inexpensive homemade bread that tastes like a luxury! Frozen veggies often go on very good sale as well. If I can get a box or bag for fifty cents or less, I’ll buy a few.
Even though we are stationed overseas, I have found some real bargains for stocking up! Cereal at $1 a box, Oatmeal for 35cents, Toliet Bowl Cleaner for 50 cents, and Clorox Wipes for 49 cents. These are a few of my favorite things!