Do you need the Grocery Game?

I often have people tell me they don’t have time for cutting coupons. Neither do I, that is why I use the grocery game. I honestly spend probably at most 30 minutes per week doing it all, Menu Planning, Making a Grocery List, Clipping Coupons, and the whole bit. I actually shop usually once a week, but I often take a week off if we are doing great on fresh produce and we just eat from the stockpile/freezer. Or if I just don’t feel like it because sometimes I just want to skip a week, and if I usually grocery game, I can totally afford to do that whenever we are out of town, or just too busy to shop.
The other thing common misconception is that using coupons/doing the Grocery Game means you have a pantry full of icky preservative filled processed food and doesn’t allow you to eat very healthy.
This is not true in my case. I try to feed my family mostly whole, organic foods/homemade items probably 90% of the time. I make homemade yogurt, bread, jam, granola bars, crackers, graham crackers, chicken broth, soups, etc. We definitely compromise sometimes, yes, sometimes, I too buy goldfish crackers 🙂 but, I don’t worry about those days because I think we eat well the rest of the time.
If you have a similar mindset and do lots whole/homemade foods in your household, this is why you need the grocery game.
1. Toothpaste (I have not paid for toothpaste in years. And yes you can be Brand Exclusive, we are still using Dr. Ellie’s mouth system and so we only use Crest.
2. other toiletries band aids, lotions, shampoo, etc.
3. Paper goods. TP, paper towels, aluminum foil, etc.
4. pantry staples, salt, olive oil,
5. canned goods. I use lots of canned tomatoes, broth when I run out of homemade, and canned beans when I don’t have time to soak and cook from dry.
6. pasta. Do you make homemade pasta? Me neither. I do like getting it for free though which I often do on the Grocery game. I also never pay over $0.99 for a package when I do buy it.
7. frozen veggies. Heck, in the dead of winter, I am always excited to use up these. Apparently they are just as good as fresh or better…either way, frozen = cheap/healthy in my book.
8. I can’t think of anything else right now, but if you just think of that as the start, you can ignore all the amazing sales on pop tarts, granola bars, cereal, chips, and canned, processed, preservative filled stuff.
I say this with no judgement to anyone in all groups. I too enjoy oreos.