Store brand vs couponing

[brobrosmom]

I buy a lot of the Great Value brand from Wal-Mart as I find it to be cheaper than the name brands even with coupons. And on most things I find Great Value to be just as good.

Does anyone else find this to be true? Or is couponing a better way to save money?

 

[Jenny3]

It really depends on the item; for example, my store usually has Cheerios on sale for 2 for $5; I stack this with a $1 off coupon (or a $.50 or $.75 off, which they double) and can sometimes even use a store-printed coupon (the catalinas that print out at checkout) for $1.50 off 3. That brings each box down to $1 or less, which is cheaper than their store brand.

 

[marmalade]

There is always something on sale at my store that works out to be cheaper than the name brand with a coupon, and it's not necessarily the store brand. I am not brand specific with food and I will buy whatever is more affordable.

Coupons (at least in my area) have been horrible and not worth my time and effort to clip because I know I can get similar product for cheaper without a coupon.

 

[java]

Coupons have been weak lately. If you print online some of those are good but really am I saving much if I am wasting ink to print your color coupon? I buy whatever is cheapest. Sometimes it's the store brand- other it's a coupon plus sale brand item. I use a website that matches coupons to the sale flyer for my store to see what is worth it and what isn't

 

[pigletto]

It really depends on the item and the coupons available. However, for me I have found that on a weekly basis it is just way easier to go for the store brand on the items we like. Our grocery store has a store brand that in many instances is much better than any name brands. I find I just end up with more consistent savings shop after shop and I don't have to waste time hunting for coupons, matching them to sales, hoping the right size is in stock etc.

I couponed quite a bit a few years ago but found it a chore and frustrating most of the time. Combining store brands with waiting for sales for menu planning is working way way better for us.

 

[dhardawa]

I find that it depends both on when generic is as good or better and when coupons get you the better deal. There are a lot of Great Value items that I buy both for the value and quality. Corn flakes is the first thing that comes to my mind. Theirs are thicker and much better (in my opinion) than Kellogs, plus they're about half the price. When it comes to canned soup, no one can touch Campbells.

There are also a lot of times when I have a coupon that makes the name brand cheaper than the generic. For example, when Pop Tarts go on sale 3 for $5 and I have $1 off three. That is cheaper than the Great Value ones and, also, Pop Tarts are something where I find the name brand is way better anyway.

Now, the idea that generic is just as good in many cases holds true for Wal Mart and Target. I think Target generics are even better than Wal Mart generics. Meijer, on the other hand... Blech. Their generics are horrible. I've never purchased a generic item from them that was even edible. The one that stands out was graham crackers. Really? How bad can you mess up graham crackers? Well, they did it. They tasted like eating paper.

As for milk, I'll buy generic anywhere because my friend's dad works at the dairy and has told us that it all comes from the same large vat of milk and there are hoses filling jugs of Deans, Great Value, etc. Granted, the milk jugs are different and how they are stored can change flavor, but I've never noticed a difference.

 

[DawnM]

I no longer coupon.

I got into it for a while and was really gung ho. I then had 2 shelves of food none of us would touch.

I gave a good deal of it away during the last food drive, but some of it I am planning to toss (outdated or non-food items) when I start purging this weekend.

I now do about 90% of my food shopping at Costco. I buy quite a few Kirkland brand items because they are quality items and we like them.

However, we no longer buy canned goods (bpa) and we only get some boxed cereals. We don't buy a lot of shelf life foods overall anymore.

I can't say I do things cheaper, but it is less time and hassle and it is stuff that we will EAT.

 

[Southernmiss]

I buy a lot of the Great Value brand from Wal-Mart as I find it to be cheaper than the name brands even with coupons. And on most things I find Great Value to be just as good.

Does anyone else find this to be true? Or is couponing a better way to save money?

I am in South Mississippi and this is the way I shop. Coupons are just not that good in my area. There are a few products that I will use a coupon for, but most of the time I buy Great Value. I had a $245 Walmart grocery trip this week and had about $5 in coupons.

I look at the sales papers for other grocery stores, but most often, especially recently, Walmart is still cheaper. I do not buy their meats. I can get those cheaper at Sams Club.

 

[jessrose18]

Yes! A lot of times I will bring my coupons only to find that Target brand is still much cheaper....I have never used a market pantry or up&up product that I didnt like either. I find my coupons go the farthest on hair dye, razors, and of course when stuff is already on sale. Otherwise it seems store brand is the better deal.

and of course Kirkland from Costco is awesome!

 

[mrodgers]

Walmart never has stuff on sale, thus the generic is always cheaper than name brand is with a coupon. If we would go to the grocery store where stuff is on sale, the rest of the groceries would be $75 more for the week. To go to both the grocery store to get the sale/coupon stuff only and go to Walmart for everything else, it would be $30 extra in gas.

Besides, we can not find any coupons for anything but junk and cereal. With the cereal, it is cheaper to buy the large box at Walmart than it is to buy the itty bitty boxes that are on sale at the grocery store 4 for $10 and usually $1.00 off 2 or 3 boxes (double coupons up to $0.99, so that is how they get away with not doubling.) Why buy 4 boxes of 10 ounce cereal for $8 after sale and coupon when you can buy two 24 ounce boxes of the same cereal for $3.89 each?

 

[littlebit0863]

I'll go along and say it depends on the item, the sale, and the store. Sometimes coupons are better, sometimes they are not. I don't buy something I will never use just because I have a coupon. But sometimes I do stock up. For example: recently I had a coupon, 75 cents off 3 hamburger helpers. They were on sale at Kroger for $1. I bought 3, and then received a catalina (checkout) coupon for $1 my next hb meat purchase. I then went back two more times (Kroger is about 10 steps away from my workplace), and used my other 2 coupons, total 9 boxes of hb helper for about 75 cents a box, plus I got $3 total off hamburger meat. So my next trip I got hamburger meat for free. I could have bought "kitchen helper" but it would have cost me $1.19 a box and no free hamburger meat. However, now HB is back to regular price of $1.59 so if for some reason I wanted to buy 3 boxes it would cost $4.02, and the store brand would cost $3.57. And you don't really know you get a catalina coupon until you get it, unfortunately. (Unless someone has a way to know.)

Sorry if that seems confusing, but you really just have to pay attention to sales.

 

[pigletto]

Walmart never has stuff on sale, thus the generic is always cheaper than name brand is with a coupon. If we would go to the grocery store where stuff is on sale, the rest of the groceries would be $75 more for the week. To go to both the grocery store to get the sale/coupon stuff only and go to Walmart for everything else, it would be $30 extra in gas.

Besides, we can not find any coupons for anything but junk and cereal. With the cereal, it is cheaper to buy the large box at Walmart than it is to buy the itty bitty boxes that are on sale at the grocery store 4 for $10 and usually $1.00 off 2 or 3 boxes (double coupons up to $0.99, so that is how they get away with not doubling.) Why buy 4 boxes of 10 ounce cereal for $8 after sale and coupon when you can buy two 24 ounce boxes of the same cereal for $3.89 each?

Here Walmart has stuff on sale all the time. But the sale items and the store brand are all that is worth it. Nearly everything else is more expensive than the grocery store. I am guessing because they are 24 hours and pay a premium to be open and staffed all the time. The quality on their produce is often pitiful. So I'll go for the loss leaders and things like the Great Value instant Oatmeal and cereal, but I take a pass on just about everything else.

 

[Tinetine]

I used to coupon quite a bit, but ended up with a lot of items I really would not have have bought without the coupon. And I never really founds savings on the basics, like vegetables, meat and milk.
Now I go to Sam's Club, I often get better deals than I did when matching coupons and sales . I only have to go to 1 store, and am never faced with empty shelves.

 

[shalom]

Does anyone else find this to be true? Or is couponing a better way to save money?

I think it really depends on where you live. When we lived in Denver couponing got us some great deals, and there were places that would double and (for a while) triple coupons, but we've found they generally aren't worth doing here. There are a couple of things where I prefer the brand name and we'll grab coupons for those, but generally we just go with the cheapest unless we don't like the cheapest brand.

We follow sales, though -- I check the flyers online or pick them up in order to compare them, but we just started vacationing a few years back, and I quickly discovered that hubby has the regular and sale prices for milk and other prices memorized for at least four different grocery stores and a drugstore. "Oh, these guys are cheaper than x when their milk is on sale, but more expensive than y's sales, and...."

 

[MrsPete]

I then had 2 shelves of food none of us would touch.

Yeah, coupon if you want to own 50 bottles of mustard for pennies.
Shop store brands if you want a variety of foods.

Actually, the best tips I can give to save money on groceries are 1) cut back on your beverages. Most add little to no nutrition to your diet and account for a large part of your bill. 2) search out non-grocery store sources for food. For example, I just bought a HUGE box of canning tomatoes -- about the size of a laundry basket -- at the farmer's market for $10. I'll be canning homemade spaghetti sauce soon. I'll get another box in a week or two because we also need salsa.

 

[mom2_3girls]

I get the best deal using coupons. My local grocery store doubles coupons every Wednesday and Saturday...I get most of my cereals (General Mills, Chex Mix, Kelloggs for under 1.00) I don't spend more than a $1.00 on granola bars (Nature Valley) and fruit snacks. I usually get pasta for free too. A few weeks ago I got cheese (kraft) for .99 cents a pack...oh, and most yogurts like Activia end up either being free or .50 cents.

I get all my produce and some meats at Aldi. My dad always buys a cow and we buy steaks, hamburger and roasts from him.

I work had at couponing though! Some weeks its overwhelming, but it saves us so much money in the long run.

 

[disney fan4]

I find that most of the time off brand is still cheaper than coupons. I buy a lot of target brand and great value. But there are certain great value foods that I will not buy. Daisy or any other name brand sour cream has 2 or 3 ingredients in it, great value has 5-10 and I could not pronounce half of them. Same thing with frosting and some others. All those preservatives cannot be good for you.