Wednesday, May 21, 2008

You Can Use Coupons and Still Eat Healthy

I’m not sure where coupons got such a bad rap. Some people are appalled if you even mention the word ‘coupon’. One bad reputation coupons got is, ‘You can’t eat healthy using coupons’, and I would like to let you know, you can.

It is true, several coupons are for processed, unhealthy junk foods. However, at the same time, there are just as many coupons for good healthy foods. You just have to know where to look.

More often in the Sunday paper, I have been seeing coupons for fresh produce. Some of the more recent ones I can remember are coupons for Cuties, California mandarin oranges, Sunkist fresh citrus fruit and Driscoll’s, fresh berries. Dole and Fresh Express are always distributing new coupons for bagged salad. In addition, Target places new printable coupons on their site every few weeks and a lot of time there are ones for fresh produce, along with breads, fresh meat and other healthy items.

If your trying to stay away from the red meats but still maintain your protein intake, you can usually find coupons for Tyson fresh chicken in the Sunday coupon inserts. In addition, there are always new coupons for tuna and peanut butter, which is also good for you and high in protein.

I rarely see coupons for milk, which is getting more and more expensive, however there are tons of coupons for yogurt and cheese, which are also both pricey items.

The above is only an example of a few healthy food items for which there are coupons. If your looking to save money without sacrificing your health, start looking in the Sunday coupon inserts. You can find a variety of healthy foods such as whole grain or multi grain breads, Ensure, 100% fruit juice, frozen veggies and much more.

If you like organic foods, you may think there are not a lot of coupons out there for these products. A lot of times these companies are small and don’t invest in a lot of advertising and depend more on word of mouth. That doesn’t make them couponless. More often than not, if you write to your favorite organic foods companies, complementing them on their products and request coupons, they are more than happy to send you coupons in the mail.

Remembering another bad reputation that coupons have is being for name brand pricier items. Make sure you watch your sales flyers and use your coupons when the sales are low. Sales + coupon = cheaper than generic.

Maybe at one time there were a lot of coupons out for processed foods. However, manufactures have to keep up with the demands of the consumer. Now days more consumers want to eat healthy and manufactures know this so they will continue to put out coupons to meet the demands of consumers.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

So very true! As someone who cooks a lot from scratch and shops every week at a local organic market I can say that I've always been able to use loads of coupons on healthy household staples. Mambo Sprouts has a great booklet of coupons that you can get each season at select health food stores, there is another booklet called Healthy Clippings that comes out each season, not to mention the countless printable coupons available through Health E-Savers. You really hit the nail on the head with this post! Great information!

 
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