Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Food savings

To get back to my original plan of talking about how we save money on everyday purchases... tomorrow is a great day to buy your groceries at Rainbow. Wednesday's are double coupon days! Here are the basic rules for rainbow double days:
1. The coupon must be worth $1.00 or less (doubled $2.00 or less)
2. The first 5 coupons you give the cashier will be the doubled ones
3. Store coupons and manufacturer coupons can both be doubled
4. If the coupon says "do not double" it will not double
5. If you print them from the internet they must be in black and white and have a bar code. (the whole coupon has to be there)
6. The shelf price of the total items must be $25.00 or more
 7. Buy one get one or try this free coupons are not able to be doubled. 

So here is my strategy:
1. I go threw my coupons and see if any of them expire this week.
2. I go threw the rainbow ad and see if there as any on sale products I can match up with coupons for free or nearly free items.
3. Next I make envelopes. I pick 5 coupons to be doubled for that envelope and I write them on the outside of the envelope and then I list a few other things some I have small coupons for or things that might be on sale but the goal is to make the RETAIL / SHELF price equal $25.00. I make 5-10 envelopes worth of shopping lists.
4. When I go shopping I go in and out as many times as I have envelopes.
5. Lastly don't forget to search the internet for coupons on any items you many need for the week.

Right now Rainbow is also running double coupons on Saturday and this week they are doubling 10 coupons on Wednesday.

The first couple of times it takes some time to get into the swing of things but once you get it you will be amazed at how much you can save on your food budget by using double coupons at Rainbow.

My other money saver is shopping at Aldi's. Aldi's is especially great for produce but it is a very different shopping experience. The very first thing is you need a quarter (not .25 cents) to get a cart. But don't worry you will get it back. You also have to buy your shopping bags so I suggest bringing your own. You might not know the brand names at Aldi because they are all Canadian brands or privately labeled to keep the cost down. I highly suggest trying many of their foods and taking advantage of the ready to eat cheap produce. 

Share your coupon, Aldi or food saving success story!

Happy shopping... and cheap eating!

ETA: rainbow has changed the rule about your total of your bill. Now that they are doing 10 double coupons your total AFTER coupons has to be $25.00. So if you get down checking out and you haven't hit your $25.00 grab a gift card and add it to you order then use it on your next envelope/ order.

1 comment:

  1. I saw the info for Pick 'n Save having the double 10 coupons today too!! I just got back... I spent $30 as a few items I needed weren't on sale.

    I got 2 tooth brushes for $0.50, a free bottle off body wash, 2 Snickers bars for $0.58 and a bottle of salad dressing for $0.35. I used a few other coupons to get $2 off deoderant & snack items. Of the items I had coupons for, I paid $6.30 out of pocket!!

    We love Aldi's. It is the main grocery store over in Europe. I know I have seen some brand name items there (Pringles, Campbells soups, 100 calerie snack packs) but not on a regular basis. When we donate food to our church for the food pantry we always go to Aldi's because you can get so much more food for your money.

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