3 months ago
SACRAMENTO, CA- It may not feel like it but food prices are actually down. If prices just hold where they are, throwing a Thanksgiving dinner this year could costs 10 percent less than last.
Still monthly grocery bills are costing a typical family of four about $700 a month. But, the old-school way of cutting food costs has become popular once again.
For Lee Yeung clipping coupons has saved her an incredible amount of money. Yeung cut her monthly food bill by half. Just since February, she has saved $1500. But clipping coupons, she'll have none of it. Instead, she does what she calls price matching.
"Save all of the inserts from Sunday. Look through them when you first get them on Sunday and pick out any high value coupons like the 3 dollar off Snuggle coupon. Save them and wait until the store circular comes out and then do the coupon matches," said Yeung.
Here's how the play works. Make your grocery list - this is key, so that you don't fall into trap of buying things you don't need. Then collect your Sunday coupons, don't clip just save each week's whole section. Search for online coupons for items on your list. Check your mail for the weekly store circulars, pick them up from the store if you have to. Now do your cross checking- grocery list, circular, then coupons. You'll likely end up with items that are free.
"For free!. Especially from the drugstores like Rite Aid and sometimes CVS has something like that," exclaimed Yeung. She claimed drugstores can have amazing deals on groceries. It's how she got Chex-Mix free, cereal for a buck a box and brand name peanut butter for 30 cents. In fact, she recently went on a shopping trip and walked out of the store with $183 worth of items for less than $80.
"Just from the drugstore I can already say that I've saved over $500."
Yeung says coupons for dairy, produce and meat are hard to find and use. Hit your regular stores for the dairy and meats and farmers markets for produce. She said www.bountynsavings.com has more shopping tips and specializes in coupons and deals in the Sacramento region.
by Dana Howard dhoward@news10.net
News10/KXTV
