[desertpenguin]

i have stumbled upon The Grocery Game but i don't quite get it, even after looking at their FAQ etc. do you have to purchase a newspaper to get the coupons they're talking about to do this, or is it something that you print out? is it of any value to people who eat whole foods/tf? i feel like a dunce for asking, but if it is something that i can actually make use of, then it seems like it would be a great help for us to make ends meet.

 

[staceychev]

I didn't find it helpful at all. It's mostly for things that are not necessarily whole foods or TF, things like ketchup, canned goods, boxed stuff, cereal. It's also for things like personal care items: toothpaste, Advil, shampoo. We buy mostly whole foods: meats, organic dairy, veggies, and natural personal care. There just wasn't enough to justify for us.

Oh, and to answer your first question: Yes, you need to get newspaper coupons. It's basically a system that watches the different types of sales, doubling/tripling of coupons, whatever and tells you when not to buy, when to just buy what you need, and when to stock the pantry, based on the price with sales, coupons, etc.

 

[desertpenguin]

tyvm stacey. sounds like it wouldn't be of much help to us then. oh well, too bad!

 

[staceychev]

Yeah, I was disappointed too! Getting all my groceries for $15 sounded pretty darn awesome.

 

[kriket]

I read about the woman who runs this site a while back. It strikes me as the kind of thing bored housewives who are trying to live above their means do. They make you pay $10 for 8 weeks per store ($5 each additional) and they tell you the deals at your local grocery stores.

Just shop at cheaper stores, buy off brands, etc. I guess if your 'embarrassed' to eat Aldi brand food this would be a good program to enroll in.

 

[desertpenguin]

i dunno. i haven't read anything about the woman who owns it, but store brands usually don't have coupons and such, and sometimes with those coupons you can get brand name for cheaper than store brand. there are some things that i purchase whatever brand is cheapest but there are a lot of things that i don't purchase the cheapest either because of quality or ingredients. for example, i have tried a couple of gf brands of pasta but so far tinkyada has been by far the best and most like regular gluten containing pasta (it doesn't fall apart as easily) but it isn't the cheapest.

it would be nice to save money on the groceries so i could go to the thrift store and buy some "new" shirts because since i had ds2, my chest is bigger and it would be lovely to have some shirts that fit correctly.

(i know you weren't saying that i'm trying to live beyond my means, i was just speculating.

)

 

[JTA Mom]

I think it's a waste of money because you can do the same thing for free! lol

There are coupons for natural brands, you just have to look for them. As for the myths (aka no natural foods, name brands more $$$, etc), it's all addressed in the whole long sticky about couponing in the F&F sub-forum. Here it is. It goes through all the basics of couponing & how to do it effectively. I wrote the big sections of it, but there are also lots of other posters who added really good info too--basically it's a good all things couponing pit stop.

HTH!

Ami