s/o coupons for non-processed foods?

[neeleymartin]

i was intrigued by the post about getting started clipping coupons. how many of you have success with coupons for non-processed foods? seems like most coupons are for the junk that we try not to eat.

i work full time and wonder if the hunt for the "good" coupons is really worth it. help me think this through.

fwiw, we only buy foods with no hfcs and buy mostly organic fruits and veggies pending availability. tia

[daisymommy]

Off the top of my head, Organic Valley and Stoneyfield have printable coupons on their website for all their dairy & eggs.

But yeah, you won't find any for produce, meat, the basics. It's mostly going to be for processed food, but you can find alot of healthier choice & organic coupons out there.

[let73]

I follow this is on Facebook and she also has a website:
http://organicdeals.blogspot.com/

[sadie427]

I'll be watching this thread as I'm in the same boat. I don't generally do coupons much, other than coupons I find in the store, or a local coupon book that has coupons for Whole Foods and a local natural grocery. There are sometimes Organic Valley, Stoneyfield etc coupons, but it doesn't get the price down below the store brand organic or Trader Joe's price. I just went to Costco in search of some bargains I was comfortable with (I'm not comfortable w/ Costco brand meat, etc.) and got some organic chickens, local canned salmon and organic OJ at a pretty good price. I'm not sure that coupons are the answer if you are trying to eat organic/local/less processed/less hormones etc. Other things like bulk foods, produce stands, TJ's, occasional Costco etc are probably more helpful.

[cdlamis]

I pick up the Whole Foods coupon book (found near the front of the store) and use them at other stores (TJ's or Fry's/Kroger) that accept competitor's coupons. The WF coupons says "At WF only" but other stores will accept. The book has coupons for stuff like Stonyfield Farms yogurt and yogurt tubes, Cascadian Farms, etc.

[Karenn]

seems like most coupons are for the junk that we try not to eat.



That's why those serious couponing programs never worked for our family. I just didn't need 10 boxes of betty crocker cake mix, even if they were all free.

[daisymommy]

I should have clarified in my coupon post in the other thread, that I am no longer using the mega-couponing system that I used to. I was saving a bundle, and was paying something like $0.50 for a box of cereal, all sorts of free things, etc. It got to be addicting to get the good deals. But yeah, my panty cupboards were overflowing with all sorts of processed food, and I was tired of it. I had to get back to my organic roots, LOL!

So now, I don't use very many coupons anymore. I shop sales, use a coupon when I can, try to make more frugal meals, and that's the best I can do. But it's worth it for our health to spend more.

[baymom]

I pick up the Whole Foods coupon book (found near the front of the store) and use them at other stores (TJ's or Fry's/Kroger) that accept competitor's coupons. The WF coupons says "At WF only" but other stores will accept. The book has coupons for stuff like Stonyfield Farms yogurt and yogurt tubes, Cascadian Farms, etc.

TJ's accepts coupons?

[kijip]

There are a few things but yeah, mega couponing not work for eating mostly or all non processed foods. I don't even find the coupon books at wf or pcc ( our local co op which sells much the same stuff as wf) all that helpful outside of the milk ones. I don't buy things like frozen dinners and such often. I went all uber coupon the time I decided to be a sahm for like 4 minutes and we still had those cake mixes like 4 years later before I tossed them. Not a deal.

The good news is that fresh, real food can be made much cheaper through buying in bulk and on sale. We do a mix of Costco, pcc, cash and carry, grocery outlet and do pretty well. We manage a lot of organic, all minimal processed foods for comparable or less than families on the processed American diet.

[cdlamis]

TJ's accepts coupons?

Yes, they accept manufacturer's coupons but my TJ's cashier said they would also accept the Whole Foods coupon (like the Stonyfield yogurt one). I didn't have the coupon with me that day to test this though.

[sadie427]

Katie, do you (or anyone else) have some Costco favorites? We finally re-joined (were members years ago) and I did find organic chicken to be a pretty good deal, and they had some natural sausages, "Dave's killer bread" and some cheese, but I wasn't overwhelmed. The organic orange juice was a good deal but it didn't taste good!

[KrisM]

I don't consider everything premade or non-organic to be junk. I try to avoid HFCS. We do eat crackers and bread here and I don't make my own bread.

Eggland's Best
Skippy Natural Peanut butter
Aunt Millie's HFCS-free bread
Quaker Oats
Wheat Thins are HFCS-free
In the summer there are often buy X get $2 off produce coupons
Laura's Beef
Sugar
Spices

[kijip]

Katie, do you (or anyone else) have some Costco favorites? We finally re-joined (were members years ago) and I did find organic chicken to be a pretty good deal, and they had some natural sausages, "Dave's killer bread" and some cheese, but I wasn't overwhelmed. The organic orange juice was a good deal but it didn't taste good!

Main Costco food things for us:

Organic eggs when the chickens are not laying much!
Organic salad greens
Quaker oatmeal in the huge box (not organic)
Maple syrup
Organic sugar
wild Salmon burgers
Juice- sometimes hanson boxes, odwallas, sometimes v8
Organic hamburger for chili etc
The organic chicken
The huge things of smoked salmon for super cheap
The fish counter when the salmon season opens up
Crab meat
Some produce, but they do not have a lot of produce organic
Squirrely whole grain bread (made w/o flour)' soooo good and sooo cheap at Costco relative to pcc or wf or qfc.
We do sometimes use the cream cheese and cheese sticks there which while not organic are a great deal.

[Melanie]

That's why those serious couponing programs never worked for our family. I just didn't need 10 boxes of betty crocker cake mix, even if they were all free.

Same here. I've seen some of those threads on board where people take pictures of all they got for so little and it's almost always all crap.


I follow this is on Facebook and she also has a website:
http://organicdeals.blogspot.com/
THANK YOU! This is exactly what I needed!

[sadie427]

Thanks, Katie! "Squirrely" is the brand of bread? I will have to try that. I know they have good deals on salmon, when in season. Will have to try the wild salmon burgers. We get a dairy delivery and have a CSA so probably won't buy milk, eggs or veggies but will try some of your other suggestions.

[catsnkid]

I don't do organic, but try to eat healthy. There are lots of yogurt coupons out now. Some milks. I did well with beech nut and earth best coupons before . There are sometimes cheese, hummus and perdue coupons out there. I also eat a lot of diet meals.. You can also do well with non food items.

[daisymommy]

Costco sells both Tilamook and Kerrygold cheese which is grass fed, no antibiotics or hormones, and no pesticides sprayed on the grass. They just aren't certified organic.

I don't buy the milk there though, because it's ultra pasteurized.

They do sell organic jelly and PB though. Love the jelly, not a fan of the PB.

[kijip]

Thanks, Katie! "Squirrely" is the brand of bread? I will have to try that. I know they have good deals on salmon, when in season. Will have to try the wild salmon burgers. We get a dairy delivery and have a CSA so probably won't buy milk, eggs or veggies but will try some of your other suggestions.

It is Silver Hills brand I think. The organic peanut butter is a good deal as are the nuts and some dried fruits.

We do a c/a as well but I end up needing to supplement produce here and there, especially bananas and the like.

[kijip]

They do sell organic jelly and PB though. Love the jelly, not a fan of the PB.

There is something odd about the Costco organic peanut butter. Guess I am not the only one who dislikes it. We get Adams instead.

[sadie427]

I'll try the jelly, the nuts and some more cheeses. Thanks everyone.

[Uno-Mom]

Thanks for bringing this up. I started the original coupon thread and, yeah, that was my impression when I followed the links. I hadn't really thought it through but only noticed that most coupons aren't for the kind of stuff we purchase.

I'm not all that concerned about buying organic, we more try to go local. For things like dairy, produce and baked goods. The arguments for local vs organic make better sense to me, but that's just my random opinion. Luckily our local guys rock! (We live in granola town, USA.) Local for us includes Tillamook, Dave's Killer Bread, Bob's Red Mill... Ok, hungry now.

I think I'll get good use out of the links people gave me but I'm realizing that going totally coupon CRAZY wouldn't benefit our diets hugely. We tend to eat better and save more when we buy less processed stuff.

Still, we don't always live up to our standards and it's good to have some quick and easy back-up stuff hidden (perhaps shamefully,) in the cupboard. And then there's the non-edibles like paper goods and cleaning supplies.

[niccig]

Yes, they accept manufacturer's coupons but my TJ's cashier said they would also accept the Whole Foods coupon (like the Stonyfield yogurt one). I didn't have the coupon with me that day to test this though.


Wow...Thanks. I'm going to get stonyfield farm coupons for the yogurt tubes. DS has just started wanting these in his lunch box. At home he still eats greek yoghurt with honey, but school it's tubes like other kids.

I don't coupon much. A friend does and she always tries to get me into it, but when she rattles off what she buys, I don't buy that. I'm also picky about certain brands eg. which toothpaste, shampoo I'll buy..I just look for sales. I actually think menu planning would save me more money than coupons, so I don't waste any food, use leftovers etc.

[randomkid]

I actually think menu planning would save me more money than coupons, so I don't waste any food, use leftovers etc.

:yeahthat: I found we were throwing out too much food, so I started menu planning more often. I am not good about it every week, but I am much better than I was before. I also don't buy as much food, so we HAVE to eat leftovers. The other thing I did was decrease the number of visits to the store each week. I now make one trip to the grocery store and one trip to the produce market each week. If I run low on something, I will make a quick stop during the week, but it is usually only for a few items.

I do use coupons, but mostly for household goods - laundry detergent, deodorant, razors/blades, etc. I think it is worth it for these types of things because I usually stack coupons and often get things for very little and even free. I only buy what I know we need and will use. Currently, DH has about 8 sticks of deodorant, so I will not get more until he starts to run low. That's how I save time with couponing. I don't do it unless I need the items. I was being very regular with it, but found that the coupons were always for the same things, so I stopped spending so much time on it. Now, if we start to run a little low on something, I start watching the coupons and clip only what we need.

[klwa]

YMMV, but there was an article in the paper this weekend about this very issue. Said to write to the companies & say "We lvoe your product, blah, blah, blah, but we'd be MORE likely to buy it more often if we had coupons for it." That most companies, even those who don't have mass market coupons will send coupons when approached.

[neeleymartin]

thanks for all the great replies. they are mostly what i expected. i wish good quality food was less expensive. thanks.