The Great SNACK Attack

When I take a look at my grocery receipt, I see that meal prep is very organized.  I take full advantage of sale items, add coupons, and split up bulk buys for future meals.  It's the easy part of shopping!  It's the snacking that takes some work.

Kids are big time snackers.  They snack at home.  They snack after school.  They snack in the car, and at events.  Here are a few tips to help out with snack savings.

1.  Buy the larger bag.  You can purchase more for less per serving.  Buy the larger portion, and split it in half.  Pretzels, chips, nuts, and dried fruit can be placed in smaller cups or bags. Put half in the kids snack area for this week and half for next week.

2.  Always ask for coupons from your kids favorite brands.  Emails to their favorite snack are good, and phone calls are even better.  Simply ask for a coupon, most companies will provide you an automatic discount.

3.  Do the cutting yourself!  When you cut up your own produce and cheese blocks.  Kids need healthy snacks, and cutting it yourself will save some money.

4.  Cut items in half!  My husband has laughed for years when he goes to the freezer and finds ice cream sandwiches cut in half.  Stretch the portions of each snack food.

5.  Bake your own muffins, brownies, and cookies.  Even if you have to buy the frozen or fridge items and bake them yourself.  You can save a considerable amount when you bake yourself.  Store mixes in the freezer to extend the shelf life.


6.  Bananas.  There's a reason people buy Milk, bread and bananas when a storm hits.  They are nutritious and super cheap.  Kids can grab a cheap snack that doesn't require refrigeration and lasts until next week.


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All internet coupon print limits are subjective. At the time of this email coupons were available for print. If the daily or weekly print limit has been reached, the coupon will be automatically pulled from the websites. You can try to print again tomorrow. All coupons listed are not available in our stores. We list them so you can order or find them to save you money. Check with clipping services, trade boards, or ebay to find coupons not in your store. It is our intent to help you find as many savings opportunities as possible. Enjoy!

5 Steps to Big Coupon Savings

An average family of 4 can save big money if they use coupons.  Most coupons are worth $.75, and most families buy on average 80 items a week.  It's important for shoppers to try to get a coupon for most of the items in their grocery cart. Here are some tips on how to maximize savings by getting and strategically using more coupons. 

1.  Make a plan!  You will need a plan to really stack up your savings.  Look at last week's receipt.  Are there items on there you plan to buy again this week? Are there brands you can swap that have a coupon?  How about generics?  Use the weekly ad to look and see if any particular brand is on sale. Does that brand issue coupons, and if so where are they? Use coupon databases like Hot Coupon World to see if there is a coupon for that brand that is valid for today's date, and where it's issued.  Is it a digital coupon, newspaper, or in store type? 

2.  Know all the savings tools you can use in your area.  Digital coupons are available from County Market.  You can also get Sunday newspaper inserts delivered from your local paper.  There are online printable coupons from regular sources and brands. Search for favorite items, then contact the manufacturer to find out all the sources where they offer coupons. 

3.  Build your coupon stash.  A coupon stash is an assortment of coupons you gather that you can use at any point in time.  These should always include the free Penny Pincher coupons issued by County Market.  Your newspaper coupons, free coupons from neighbors and friends, workplace newspaper coupons, and coupons you pick up in restaurants. Double up on coupons you really like.  Don't buy one newspaper insert with your favorite brand, but go ahead and pick up two or three. 

4.  Make a coupon match.  It's the rule of couponing!  When you see a sale price, and a store offers a discount, match that sale price up with a manufacturer's discount via a coupon.  This gives you savings from two different places. These savings area "Matched" weekly.  This is how families can really save big money on groceries. 

5.  Get to know the coupon policy.  It's written so that both the user and the store know and understand how the discounts work.  There is no limit on the number of coupons you can use at County Market.  The computers can scan up to 999 in one transaction, and so far no one has come close to that many coupons in one check out.  If County Market allows that type of deep and unlimited savings, familiarize yourself with the policy and start saving big money!

For more money saving tips:

Come visit at County Market Coupon News on Facebook

Visit County Market Coupon News Cookin w Coupons's profile on Pinterest

All internet coupon print limits are subjective. At the time of this email coupons were available for print. If the daily or weekly print limit has been reached, the coupon will be automatically pulled from the websites. You can try to print again tomorrow. All coupons listed are not available in our stores. We list them so you can order or find them to save you money. Check with clipping services, trade boards, or ebay to find coupons not in your store. It is our intent to help you find as many savings opportunities as possible. Enjoy!

Budget Meals and Coupons

Once you save money on your grocery items, it's time to think about how you can save additional money by conserving foods, and cooking efficiently.  Relax!  I'm not talking about more work, or additional time!  Budget cooking tips can help you to stretch your groceries in the same amount of time you are already spending with meal prep.

It's a fact, cooking at home saves hundreds of dollars over dining out.  Taking your lunch, packing a snack, and grabbing a drink from the fridge before heading out the door are those saving tips that most people know about.

Less obvious money savers include these 8 tips:

1.  Add inexpensive ingredients to make your batch or meal larger.  Freeze the extras or save a complete lunch for later.  For example, add cabbage to stews or soups.  It's super cheap, filling and keeps in your fridge for weeks.  Great stretching ingredients include:  Cabbage, carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, rice, noodles, beans, lentils, and oats.

2.  Consider using dried foods.  Dried mushrooms have a very long shelf life, and can add quick instant flavor to inexpensive foods like rice, pasta, or beans.

3.  Learn to cook meats SLOW so you can can make even the cheapest cut of meat taste wonderful.

4.  Can you use half?  Can you fix half of a seasoning packet?  Or just half of a batch of muffins or brownies?  How about half the package of meat?  Can you cut those pieces in half or only fix three of the four chicken breasts?  There are many times I can use half of a taco seasoning packet instead of a full packet.

5.  Do you ever watch tv shows that show family dinners in the 50's?  One thing they did well, was keep meals simple.  Three items on the plate, and many of the sides were super inexpensive options.  Things like applesauce, peas, or Mac and cheese.  Limit the number of items prepared for dinner.

6.  Use refrigerator containers to corral your foods.  Don't allow foods to be pushed to the back and not used before they expire. Pull a bin out, flip it around periodically.  My kids only eat foods on the top two shelves.  So be sure to pull up foods from the bottom to the top shelves so you don't end up throwing away some of your groceries.

7.  Adopt a night for leftovers or "Fend for yourself" night. We have this weekly where we eat what we have!  Instead of fixing a whole new meal, we pull out all the leftovers and eat em up.  I allow the kids to fix what they personally like.

8.  Not all saving ideas are about having or fixing less, you can also practice using food substitutions. Food Substitutions 

For more money saving ideas visit these pages:
Come visit at County Market Coupon News on Facebook

Visit County Market Coupon News Cookin w Coupons's profile on Pinterest

All internet coupon print limits are subjective. At the time of this email coupons were available for print. If the daily or weekly print limit has been reached, the coupon will be automatically pulled from the websites. You can try to print again tomorrow. All coupons listed are not available in our stores. We list them so you can order or find them to save you money. Check with clipping services, trade boards, or ebay to find coupons not in your store. It is our intent to help you find as many savings opportunities as possible. Enjoy!