I use www.stretchingabuck.com for matching coupons, etc. I think they are specific for my area, though. But I've found that sometimes the coupons they say don''t exist!!! They will say to look in a certain circular, I pull out that one, and it isn't there. And I've found that, when I get my circular, sometimes they're the same as my mil, and sometimes they're not. (And we live about two miles away, so it's not as if she's in a different area!) And I sometimes have difficulty finding on-line coupons, even those that are suppose to be there.
When I first started using coupons, I did buy a lot of things that I didn't need and I often spent more than I needed to because often the brand with the coupon still cost more than a generic without a coupon. Now days, I am more careful about which coupons I use. I also like to take my daughter with me to the store and use it as a math and life lesson. She does the math to tell me if a coupon is a good deal or not. Another good lesson is to have her figure out if a larger or smaller size is the best deal, when broken down to price per ounce. My best coupon secret is to tell you to take a walk through your pantry. Look at the items you already buy and then write to the manufacturers of those items and tell them how much you like their products. You can find their addresses on the box, or you can send out emails, although I get a better response with snail mail. Be sure to cut out the UPC or if you are sending an email, include the number. Most companies will send you coupons or even vouchers for free products. I wrote to Campbells and got seven one dollar vouchers to be spent on any of their products, including Swanson's Broth. I got 2 coupons for a jar of free Skippy Peanut Butter. If you ever have a bad experience, write the company and tell them what happened. I usually say that I have used their products for years, but this once found the product wasn't up to their usual standards. A couple of months ago I bought a can of refried beans and when I opened it, they were discolored. The company sent me 10 coupons, each for a free can.
I have never seen coupons for meats or dairy products. I do not know if it is the area we live in, but I have yet to see a meat or dairy coupon. While we try to eat healthy, we are not health nuts in the least. Still, I do not buy energy bars, granola bars, cold cereals, etc... Basically, I try to stay away from all pre-packaged foods when doing weekly shopping. I do buy dairy. I would love to find coupons for bulk. For the most part, bulk is still cheaper than packaged but if I could save more money, that would be great.
We get things for specific brands, such as Bob Evans, Jimmy Dean, or Johnsonville sausage. Or hotdogs or bologna (if you want to call that meat, lol!). Or for Land of Lakes butter. But I don't think I've ever seen something for chicken or milk, etc.
In addition to Coupons from the sunday newspaper I use pages like couponbox to get printable coupons or coupons for online ordering. For example i can find a coupon for Pizza almost every week for our family Pizza friday, getting 5$ off Pizza hut, next week its dominos and so on. It's really easy and saves us a lot. I never order food without a coupon.
I have tried couponing semi seriously a couple of different times. It just did not work out for us. I found that my brands seldom have coupons. The products we buy seldom have coupons. The stores I prefer to shop at do not double or triple coupons. I have problems with certain additives in many prepared foods and therefore purchase mostly single ingredient items from the store. I find that such items are seldom the ones with the coupons. With cereals, they tend to have coupons on the more sugared items. Instead, we make up the difference by either buying bulk or buying things when they are buyone geton free. Example, when pasta is a true BOGO, I will stock up on shapes other than spaghetti. I buy spaghetti at Sam's on sale once or twice a year. I buy rice in 50 pound bags, ditto flour, sugar. We buy local mollasas and add it to recipies with white sugar instead of Brown sugar and save alot that way. I buy spinach when it goes on sale 1.00 for the larger can and buy a dozen. I buy tomato products when the large cans are on sale cheap or BOGO also. We use mostly fresh produce, but it is nice to toss meals together on time short nights from cans once a week or so. We have a large pantry. I have room so I get a 4-6 month supply of things when they are cheap. THis way a large percentage of what I buy was on sale half price. We buy beef by the half a cow. I wait until chicken is on sale cheap and get several or more packages at once. I cook with a lot of red bell peppers all year so in the spring and fall when they are super cheap, I buy A LOT, and slice them up and freeze them so I don't pay 4.00 each in winter. I got 60 for .20 each this year. CaCHING. I canned up several dozen jars of apple sauce from free apples. Ditto peaches from cheap peaches.
Vantage, check out Zaycon Foods for your chicken. Heidi, who use to be a member here LONG ago, introduced them to me this summer they have "events" in an area, and you order from them in advance. You buy the chicken in 40 lb. boxes, I think I paid $1.79/lb. It may have gone up to around $2.29 since then. They give you a pick-up date and location. It was very well organized! They do more than chicken. (And if you DO decide you're interested, let me know and I'll send you an official "invitation". You don't need it, but I get a dollar off my next purchase if you end up joining. And the joining is free, btw!) https://www.zayconfoods.com/ (OK, I lied! I looked, and it seems they've not got a chicken event scheduled. I think they had some kind of trouble with their supplier, and they won't be selling their chicken breast until it's worked out! But check them out anyway!)
