I tend to cook from scratch because we don’t eat hydrogenated oils or MSG, and we avoid HFCS like the plague. Are there coupons for meat, milk, sugar, flour, oats, etc? I’ve looked in the Sunday papers, but all the coupons tend to be for processed or prepared foods.
Absolutely for milk. Getting free meat can be tricky but it can be done. Note that I got a FREE 24 lb. turkey for Christmas. Earlier this year I had a deal where I was getting free meat one week. I tended to get porterhouse steaks. One time I actually bought a 6-pack of beer and two porterhouse steaks. However, I miscalculated on my coupons. I thought it was merely free but as I turned to go I heard the cashier say, "Sir! Please come back!"
"Uh-oh!" I thought. Trouble.
However, the cashier told me, "We owe you $2.05." And then she handed me the cash.
When I got home I told my wife from Venezuela: "Don't ever say a bad word about this country. Where else in the world can you pick up a six-pack of beer and two porterhouse steaks at the supermarket and they PAY you $2.05?"
However, I tried to avoid that situation. I prefer to pay them something no matter how little.
Yes, some of those coupons can be found. Just not every week, there are coupon “seasons”. You also need to look in stores for tear pad coupons or on product coupons.
The whole point of extreme couponing is to use a LOT of coupons to stockpile items you use. I mainly got free shampoo/toothpaste/toothbrushes, but after 2 years the stockpile is nearly gone. When you get toiletries for free (or they pay you to take them), it eases the food budget.
I occasionally shop at an overstock grocery that features frozen, portioned food service meat entrees of superb quality. Not free, but reasonable. However, if you buy $10 worth of groceries, they throw in a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk (this is doubled if you buy $20 worth of groceries). They are always ones that are about to reach their best-by dates.
There are just the two of us and these would spoil if I simply put them in the fridge. So, I portion them out and freeze them. With the milk, I put 8oz in a quart ziplock, remove all the excess air and double bag for security. The packages are small enough to fit in odd spaces in the freezer. They defrost at 30% power in the microwave in a few minutes and are usually just enough for any recipe. I repackage the bread in 4 slice packages. This is just enough for my husband’s lunch and I just take them out and put them in his small cooler in the mornings.
Otherwise, I find most coupons are for things I don’t normally use. We are very particular about shampoo and body wash and laundry detergent and our preferences never seem to be included in coupons.
We stockpile by taking advantage of markdowns on things we use all the time. We have maxxed out our available storage space and it takes discipline to use items by the best-by dates and then replenish stores. I also shop places like Aldi’s and routinely buy basic items, such as broth, flour, sugar, butter and coffee for much less (half or 2/3rds off) than even Walmart and of as good or better quality. Meat can be purchased on manager’s specials and frozen immediately.
I watched the show and was impressed, but wondered how they were going to use all that pasta sauce, for example, before it went bad.
Our revolving credit debt is small, house/land is paid for and car will be paid off in May. as sson as it is, the usual car payment will go into savings each month toward whenever we need to replace the vehicle. We manage to save each week and even after an accident that put my husband out of work for 7 weeks and incurred some medical bills (insurance deductible), we are now, 5 weeks later, nearly back on track, financially. We ate out of storage for those 7 weeks and had paper products, plastic bags/aluminum foil and detergent on hand as well. I replenished slowly over the past 5 weeks and am now in rotation mode.
Are there coupons for meat, milk, sugar, flour, oats, etc? I’ve looked in the Sunday papers, but all the coupons tend to be for processed or prepared foods.