Guru-izing the Groceries

Last night I went to a seminar held by The Frontier's famous Grocery Guru. Admittedly, I did it more for a reason to leave the insanity that has become my house (how a smallish toddler can wreak complete havoc on every room in under 24 hours is beyond me), but it was definitely interesting and engaging.

He has a system for utilizing two sets of Sunday circular coupons in the local daily papers (sidenote: anyone else wondering how long The Frontier can sustain two daily papers when cities like Denver are going to only one?) that combined with advanced planning, saves an average family of four 70% on their grocery bill.

I already shop only twice a month, plan my meals around sales, plan my meals for two weeks and only buy certain things (cereal, paper towels, toilet paper, shrimp, canned goods, etc.) on sale, so my grocery budget buys amazing things for not much money.

But I'm not a coupon shopper. Never have been. Typically can't remember where I left my car keys, let alone whatever coupons I might happen to get my paws on. I also have a firm aversion to looking through ads unless I'm in the market for something, because while I hate shopping, I always seem compelled to visit "the biggest sale of the century" and find something I really didn't need but absolutely must have. Which is why I only look through the grocery ads the day I plan my grocery list. On the off weeks, they head straight into the recycling bin, lest I be tempted by Jumbo Gulf Shrimp selling at $5/pound.

I challenged the guru's claim that this system works for everyone, regardless of how you eat. Because, let's face it, we don't exactly eat "normally." I'm extraordinarly particular (picky?) about brands, quality and value. I typically won't buy meat that hasn't been packaged in-store, I won't buy dairy with rBGH, and I buy soy sauce in half-gallon containers. The last two spices on my "must replenish" list were tumeric and garam masala. Not exactly the generic soup in a can and premade cookie dough he spoke of in the demo.

However, he said it could be done for organic eaters, make-it-from-scratchers, healthy eaters, junk-food eaters, etc. So, I'm giving it a try. I've been dying to take the newspaper again since we've been here, but in reality I only read it on Sundays. Fortunately, the twin dailies here offer online subscriptions (pdf of the paper edition) M-Sa and a hard copy (with the coupons) on Sundays.

I'm giving it a month. We'll see what happens. If I don't save more than the $12 newspaper subscription on my grocery bill, I'll cancel one of the papers (again - who needs two daily newspapers when the only difference is one doesn't run alcohol ads or ads for R-rated movies?) and go back to my old way.

In the meantime, I'm praying that Unilever runs coupons for Dove Body Wash, because I'm trying to stock up and it is the only body wash Woodstock and I can tolerate - at a whopping $6/bottle.