Letter Re: Expanding the Family Larder with Coupon Shopping

Dear Jim,
I’m a mom, and new to your site, but I’ve long been thinking that my instinct for planning should ramp up to a new level of preparedness to keep my family safe. Like many of your readers I’ve long felt an increased sense of alarm at the state of our world on numerous levels.

And, as many of your readers – preparing within the parameters of my normal household budget along with the current financial challenges makes preparation challenging! … in short – I don’t have lots of spare cash around to go around buying pallets of food “just in case”…

I really feel convicted that as a Christian mom who has learned a better way to shop – it’s my duty to educate your readers about rethinking their normal shopping to a more frugal and economic shopping style that will allow them to create and build a food stockpile for their possible future needs. If more people are prepared, then as a community we will be able to hold each other up.

So – let’s talk coupon shopping.

As I said – I’m a mom – a normal mom, married with two kids. But food is expensive and most people think. I can’t go in the store and just buy 40 boxes of pasta to put on a shelf –that would be crazy. I need to buy my normal groceries! But I did just that, this week – and for free! Coupon shopping has evolved into such a crazy science that there are tons of web sites dedicated just to that.

People generally think it’s great if they buy something on sale. Or if they get an item with a coupon. But what people need to realize is that they need to buy something on sale with a coupon when it hits the rock-bottom sale price. If you live in an area where coupons double, you need to use your 75 cent coupon when an item hits $1.50 so it ends up being free.

I have not spent a cent on toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant or nearly any other “health and beauty” item in the three years I’ve been couponing. If the only thing that enabled me besides the ability to stockpile for myself and donate to my friends and food pantries abundantly. It enables me to not spend money on those items, [and hence] to shift it to food spending. The pasta I bought today for free.: It was on sale for $1, with a coupon for $1/2 that was part of a special dollar doubling deal at my local grocery store.

I normally buy 10-15 newspapers and have delis that hold me their unsold papers and have no qualms about dumpster diving for more.

The end result of this is that I don’t spend more than 50 cents on a box of cereal and get a great portion of my food needs for free. Of course there is still produce and meat so it’s a work in progress.

I want your readership to realize that with savvy coupon shopping within their own shopping environment, they can start to build a stockpile. It’s imperative that they do so.

To start couponing, do a Google search on “coupon shopping”. Find out if your local grocery store offers any coupon cards, doubling, or tripling. Be prepared to do some Internet research on the big coupon sites. Invest in at least 10-15 papers if you have a family of four (or find a free source for newspaper coupon inserts such as a recycling center) Keep at it. Coupon savings sometimes take four weeks for the coupons you get today to come into play as a maximum savings item. This takes time, but saving money and being prepared and taking care of your family is the only motivation you should need. Regards, – Ida

JWR Replies: Thanks for those suggestions. I encourage SurvivalBlog readers to bookmark and regularly visit some of the major Internet coupon web sites, such as as and RetailMeNot.com, Mommy Saves Big, and Wow Printable Coupons.