Healthy Eating Couponing

[lizardlipz]

Hello all,

I have a question. I eat healthy. I'm talking mainly fruits and veggies and legumes. There is no couponing for these items as far as I know.
If there is, where?

We eat mainly fresh organic items not prepackaged and processed foods. We eat this way by choice but definately don't have the cash flow to be able to eat this way without having to sacrifice other parts of our strict budget.

I am wondering if there is a way to still save money and not have to succumb to the mainstream coupons out there that are (from what I see) for only processed foods.

PLEASE HELP!

[Poirot]

You could phone,email and write these companies and ask for coupons.

[lizardlipz]

for fresh produce? They do that? Cool!

[Shinelight2011]

There are the coupons out for money off on fresh fruits on the cereal boxes..Im so loving the 2lbs bananas coupon!! I'm looking for fruit and veggie coupons mostly as well, my family is vegan and ALOT of coupons are meat and dairy but I really can't complain for cereal,frozen vegetables,almond milk,hygiene products,pullups and wipes Price matching is def my new fav thing to do to save on produce!!

[reallyloveyourstuff]

2lbs of bananas costs less than the cereal I'd never eat though, so for me that's a waste. Bananas are so cheap and always on sale somewhere. I did see a coupon for fresh salad on a box of cereal though. Again though with the price of the cereals and the price of the salads I'm not sure how much of a deal that actually is. Superstore sells their salad mixes super cheap. In fact I watched a woman buy over a kg of spinach for $5 one day. My mouth hit the floor. Coupons for organic foods and healthy foods seem to be few and far between. So I would suggest saving money on everything else and trying to buy the things you like when they're on a store sale. I personally won't live without Kashi Go Lean or Nature's Path Optimum and I've not seen coupons for either as of yet.

[Poirot]

for fresh produce? They do that? Cool!

Can't guarantee you will get coupons but it doesn't hurt to ask.

[kazm-l]

2lbs of bananas costs less than the cereal I'd never eat though, so for me that's a waste. Bananas are so cheap and always on sale somewhere. I did see a coupon for fresh salad on a box of cereal though. Again though with the price of the cereals and the price of the salads I'm not sure how much of a deal that actually is. Superstore sells their salad mixes super cheap. In fact I watched a woman buy over a kg of spinach for $5 one day. My mouth hit the floor. Coupons for organic foods and healthy foods seem to be few and far between. So I would suggest saving money on everything else and trying to buy the things you like when they're on a store sale. I personally won't live without Kashi Go Lean or Nature's Path Optimum and I've not seen coupons for either as of yet.

There are coupons for Kashi good on bars and cereal and although i haven't seen any recently for Nature'S Path, i have seen some before(think late last year, early this year).
I do not recall whats in the Healthy Shopper coupon booklet as i haven't found any yet but this usually has some decent Healthy coupons.Although no fresh stuff

[lizardlipz]

....

[Shwa Girl]

Can't guarantee you will get coupons but it doesn't hurt to ask.

If I recall correctly, a recent Extreme Couponing episode has one of the couponer's writing to a company and got a coupon for bananas. Was it Amy or Missy Amy?
So, it can be done, I guess.

[Shwa Girl]

I did a healthy shop at RCSS today. Probably not as healthy as you, but I am trying.

I took advantage of their buy $250, get at $25 gift card.
I bought fruits and veggies, fish (oops), and a lot of the Blue Menu items. I bought the BM quinoa and bulgar frozen stuff, the BM soups, BM granola, BM cereals, Natural Value dairy (oops) and NV almond milk, and NV natural cleaning products.

[abbasgirl]

You're right. There aren't a lot of traditional coupons for healthy foods. I like the cereal box coupons, but I haven't bought any cereal. I just get them out of the recycling room in my apartment building. The Healthy Shopper site also has coupons available for health foods: http://www.thehealthyshopper.ca/
It's best to use other strategies to bring down the price of healthy groceries. One of my favourite ways to save on produce (and I realize that not everyone would be comfortable with this) is to buy it from the reduced rack. In my area, I find that Farm Boy and a little independent store on the corner have the best reduced produce. It's still in good shape and is priced really cheap.
I also try to make a little extra money here and there by collecting wine bottles from the recycling room and doing online surveys. I put it towards groceries so that, although it isn't a coupon, it is money that I wouldn't otherwise have that doesn't come out of my paycheck. The same goes for airmiles and credit card rewards. And, like Shwa Girl said, there are always special promos for making large purchases at grocery stores.
Check the health food stores in your area to see if any of them have frequent buyer rewards programs. Also, get on their email lists so that you'll know about special promotions and customer appreciation days. If you have a Bulk Barn in your area, they have some organic items and a lot of other healthy items. They often have $3 off $10 purchase coupons.
Also, keep checking the group buy offers for your city in the "Daily Deals" section on this site. They are mostly for beauty treatments, restaurants and leisure activities. But every once in awhile they do have something really practical from local stores.

[lekate]

Since I shop at a Metro, I make sure to use my AM, and get bonus coupons on produce (they send for things I don't buy too though ). But I think your best bet is taking advantage of store promotions and points things.

I find vegetarian and vegan cooking to be cheap anyways, beans and tofu are much cheaper than meats.

[Shinelight2011]

"I find vegetarian and vegan cooking to be cheap anyways, beans and tofu are much cheaper than meats." lekate , I agree..especially if you buy beans in bulk..eating vegan is super cheap for me since I learned to cook..it used to cost SO MUCH it was painful when I'd try and buy vegetarian packaged products Like 4.99 for dairy free waffles for a 4pack now I can make a huge batch fresh for way less than that! And burgers are so easy to make and you can make so many different ways(beans,lentils,vegetables,mushrooms,nutrella soy) and even freeze to eat later I used to pay 8.99 a box I really can't believe it! Honestly I don't find kashi cereals to be anymore healthy than general mills lol they are made by kelloggs and seem just to cost more..the only healthy cereal I really seen out there they sell at Metro & RCSS it's almost raw!! It's called Good For You, it's a product of Sweden and tastes delicious!!!<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[Shinelight2011]

abassgirl Bulk Barn is my spot!!

[ypperin]

Trade with other's for the fresh fruit/berries/salad coupons You don't have to buy the cereal, you just trade the coupons you aren't going to use anyway for those coupons

Also, if you go to superstore, and you have a prescription, they give superbucks (catalina coupons) and of course you get those on gas to if you purchase their gas. These can be used towards fruits and veggies (goodness knows I do).

HTH