Monday, August 11, 2008

But what do you EAT?

This question has been posed to me a few times since I've started couponing. When I boast about my great savings and how much I am bringing home, people often think it is just pure junk. Convenience, packaged food and snacks are often cheap, cheap, cheap. And the coupons issued in the Sunday papers are mostly for junky stuff. We do eat pretty healthy, but we just can't afford to eat ONLY pure/organic/healthful stuff. But I also don't want to fill our bodies with the cheap stuff (read: junk). So, what is more important.....eating healthy or saving money?

The answer (for my family anyway) is............BOTH! :)

If my focus is JUST on saving money, we eat too much junk. If my focus is JUST on eating healthy, I go over budget.

The solution is a good balance of healthy, pure foods, with a little bit of the sugary, fattening, delicious crap thrown in!

We eat lean meat (manager's special/bulk sales), tons of fresh produce, low fat dairy products, lots of water and milk, plenty of healthy snacks. We also eat unnaturally orange mac n' cheese a few times a month, chocolate every once in awhile, and last week we had ice cream for breakfast. (<----That's the cool part about being a grown up!)

So in my cupboards you will find a box of whole wheat pasta sitting next to a package of Keebler cookies.

But...it works. It really works for us. We're all happy with the fact that I can buy a whole cart full of groceries for $50. And The Hubs and I are using awesome products we've never used before. Name brand razors and shave gels, fancy shampoos and soaps. And our rears are wiped with the finest of TP. All purchased lovingly with a handful of coupons, a little planning, and just a few dollars.

4 comments:

Kristi said...

I totally feel ya J! Even us, eating no carbs or sugars, save money on tons of items!

Great post, coupon queen!

Anonymous said...

I agree. I think I save the majority on toiletries, cleaners and other household things. Plus, we eat a lot of cereal, but you can get healthy cereal w/ coupons. And granola bars, juice, yogurt, etc. I don't understand why some people think that it's all processed stuff. I actually think that very little of what I buy is "bad" and those things we just eat in moderation.
And to be honest, I get sick of hearing those comments. Just bc some people haven't figured out the system they assume that the rest of us eat crap all the time.

Anonymous said...

You're doing a great job Mama! :) Sure there a loads of junky coupons...but there are others as well. My kids don't eat crap 3 meals a day, 7 days a week! Besides if I save so much on toiletries, etc then I have that much more to spend on healthy food! :)

Mary Ellen said...

Hey Jules, it's Mary Ellen! I love couponing and have managed to find the right balance of healthy for our family while still getting great savings. I think people would be surprised at the growing number of coupons available for organic products and other healthy foods. And saving on the toiletries definitely does open up the budget for other things.

Great job on the savings!