If your grocery store doubles coupons up to a $1.00 (like mine), then using coupons saves money—hands down!. The trick is to hold your coupons and wait until the grocery store has the item on sale. Typically this is 2 -4 weeks after the coupon was issued in the Sunday paper. Yes, there are a lot of coupons for processed foods. I don’t even bother clipping those. But, there are definitely healthy foods that can be purchased with coupons. Below is a list of what I purchased this week:

Nature’s Valley Granola Cereal (14 oz): $0.50
Caprelli Extra Virgin Olive Oil (25.5 oz): $3.99
2 x Newman’s Own Spaghetti Sauce (28 oz): $1.00
4 x Kraft Cheddar Cheese ( 8 oz) $1.00
4 x Juicy Juice (64 oz): $1.00
2 x Bumble Bee Pouch Tuna (3 oz): free
Quaker Oatmeal Breakfast Bars: free
Fruity Cheerios: free
Dreamfield’s High Fiber Pasta: free
Fantastik Spray Cleaner: free
Scott Toilet Tissue 4-Pack: free
Kleenex Anti Viral Tissue: free

The Quaker Breakfast Bars are an item I wouldn’t typically pay for, but for free I’m sure they’ll get happily consumed on some hike or as a snack during a car trip. The Fruity Cheerios also aren’t something I’d typically pay for, but also won’t pass up for free! The coupons for both of these items were $1 off / 1 item. Knowing that it’s possible these items could go on sale for $2, I clipped the coupons understanding that I would only use it if the item was at this price ($2) since it would be free after doubling. I held on for them for about 1 month, and then, viola! They were offered at the right price!

One of my preferred brands of spaghetti sauce is Francesco Rinaldi. The store often runs 10/ $10 sales on Francesco Rinaldi, so the Newman’s Own at $1 / jar isn’t a great find. Still, it’s nice to mix up the brands, especially for other high quality brands like Newman’s Own. Newman’s Own also has a Vodka sauce which Francesco Rinaldi doesn’t (at least in the 10 / $10 deals).

I had planned to buy the Aldi version of Juicy Juice and cheese since I’ll be near the Aldi again this week, but with a coupon, the grocery store is still cheaper (Aldi Juicy Juice is $1.89 and 8 oz of cheddar is $1.39).