Outdoor & Garden Ideas
Grocery Coupons And Food Secrets
How can grocery coupon cost you more than they save? When is whole wheat not really whole wheat? Why are some frozen foods better for you than fresh foods? Should you buy the small or large bananas? Read on for the answers.
Grocery Coupons
Coupons are designed to get you to buy something you weren't planning to buy. If the things you buy with them don't replace more expensive options, you spend even more instead of saving money. To save money with them, then, you should use them for products you regularly buy, or to try new brands that are similar in price to what you already use.
Some stores still offer to double the value of your coupons on given days or for temporary promotions. The key to saving money in these cases is to use as many coupons as you can, and buy the smallest sizes of the product that the coupons allow. This will almost always get you the lowest unit-cost.
For example, if you have a coupon for 50 cents off on dish detergent, and the store is doubling your coupons, you'll get 1 dollar off. If you buy the 38-ounce size, priced at $2.19, it will cost you $1.19, or 3.1 cents per ounce. However, if you buy the 18-ounce size, priced at $1.19, it will cost you only 19 cents! That's just a bit over a penny per ounce, or one third the cost. Sometimes you can even get a 99-cent item for free with a doubled 50 cent coupon.
Other Grocery Store Secrets
Read the labels and you'll see that sugar is showing up in almost everything. Most recently, it has been added to most brands of kidney beans, which used to be packed in just water and salt. Why? For the same reason it is added to peanut butter and many other products that don't need it for taste - it is cheap. Cheaper than the other ingredients, in fact. Due to government subsidies, there is so much cheap sugar that growers need to dump it into as many products as they can.
You will also notice that almost all packaged products have hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil in them. This is the stuff that is used to give mice heart disease when scientists want to study that disease! Fortunately, due to consumer demand, some brands, like Doritos, have stopped using it in some of their products. It is still in well over half of all packaged products, though.
Whole wheat is only whole wheat if it says exactly that. "Wheat flour," "unbleached wheat flour," and "wheat," all just mean some variety of processed white flour. "Wheat" bread is nothing more than white bread with enough whole grain thrown in to color it. "Wheat blend" pasta is yet another trick to make you think you're buying whole wheat.
Frozen fruits and vegetables, when tested against "fresh" fruits and vegetables, usually have more vitamin content. It makes sense. They are flash-frozen shortly after being picked, while the "fresh" foods are in trucks for days, exposed to heat and air. Then they sit at the grocery store for days, then in your refrigerator for days. Buying frozen fruits and veggies, then, can be healthier, and they are even cheaper at times, like when the particular fruit or vegetable isn't in season.
Grocery coupons aren't the only way to save money buying food. Store brands are often substantially cheaper, and guess what? Often they are really the name brands in disguise. Read the label and you may see something like, "Packed for ABC Grocery Stores by Kraft Foods, Inc." In any case, you can try the store brands, and if you can't tell the difference, why pay more?
Finally, what size bananas, eggplant and other fruits or vegetables should you buy? If they are sold by the piece, buy the biggest, to get the most for your money. If they are sold by the pound, buy the smallest. You'll still eat one banana at a time for a snack, right? The small ones might be half the price of the large, saving you money with every snack. When it comes to saving money shopping, there is more to it than grocery coupons.
20 of 39 Review For 3.75m X 2.25m Metal Pergola
Arthur ( 2020-Jun-25 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Easy to assemble and neatly tidies away shoes, including boots, but does not suit our old cottage, it's too modern.
Katherine ( 2020-Sep-05 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Love it! Great color just what I was expecting, easy to assemble.
Deborah ( 2020-Mar-06 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
My daughter mentioned an interest in owning a swing. Purchased this swing for a Christmas present and she loves it.
Anthony ( 2020-Oct-15 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
I love sitting outside on my swing watching the birds, squirrels, people walking by after a long day at work.
Anonymous ( 2020-Nov-15 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
My husband put the bench together yesterday, and we're going to get it into the garden this afternoon. Lock-down has meant we weren't able to get our back garden remodelled, but we know we want this bench, and where it will be going. Meanwhile, we'll just enjoy using it ! I love the soft aqua colour, and the centre section able to be raised for an armrest/ mug stand.
Arthur ( 2020-Feb-27 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Really pleased with purchase. Arrived quickly and well packaged. Low comfortable seating. Light but sturdy. Sits perfectly on our new decking. Have bought second set so really useful to have 4 chairs and 2 tables when we have visitors! Good value for money.
Emma ( 2020-Sep-25 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Easy to assemble and looks good. I was surprised how stable it was when I sat on it as I am 15st
Patti ( 2020-Nov-02 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Exactly what I wanted. I just painted this room a dark color and had an empty space on the wall. I wanted to put something's with texture or three dimensional and something light colored to offset the dark background. I also wanted something a bit more organic soI put fake little plants inside. They look great!
Anoja ( 2020-May-15 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
They were small, but just the right size for my collage wall in the kitchen
Chihung ( 2020-Jan-11 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
We bought this ages ago and have used it a lot. It is now set out on the patio of our new home and we are looking forward to many more days in the garden using it.
Brenda ( 2020-Nov-05 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Really well made. Managed to put it together in my own. Good labelling of different parts makes it is very easy to follow. The very small screws for the back don’t have little holes to plug into- but it is easy to create a little hole for these by tapping the screw with a small hammer to get started! Very neat for keeping outdoor shoes and slippers.
Pamela ( 2020-Jun-01 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Exactly what we needed for all our furniture cushions! Completely waterproof and super sturdy...and it was so easy to put together.
Suzanne Elizabeth ( 2021-Jan-17 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Really lovely set, looks great on our patio and seems very good quality. Delivery service was horrendous though!
Kathryn ( 2020-May-12 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Way smaller then I thought it would be. Barely got the cactus in there as it shows in some of the pictures. Not sure what else you could put in them other than tiny tiny plants. Not worth $40 at all. Very disappointed.
Stina ( 2020-Dec-23 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Very good product , straight forward to assemble with easily identifiable instruction marked on the pieces . Definitely recommend
Carly ( 2020-Oct-14 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Perfect size, very sturdy and bonus that the middle lifts up to make a table. My only complaint is that its color is already fading in the sun. Im going to try waxing it to see if that helps, but overall Im pleased.
Anonymous ( 2021-Jan-09 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
no assembly required, v light chairs and table can be stacked for easy , space saving storage. nice table with glass top, chairs are quite large to sit in and comfortable. however seat cushion do tend to slide around.
Sena ( 2020-Jun-03 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
It looks great on my terrace. Comfortable and easy to assemble.
Arthur ( 2020-Jul-25 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
Good storage box for those outside cushions. The trouble is we keep buying more cushions to fill the box.
Edmea ( 2020-Dec-03 )
VERIFIED BUYER
★★★★★
I have compared prices on this to other places. Great Deal and well made would definitely recommend to others.