People who are focused on eating a minimally processed, real food diet often pay a high price at the grocery store checkout counter. Some of the basic ingredients for a real food diet are much more expensive than their heavily processed counterparts, and a full cart at Whole Foods or Earth Fare can easily cost over $200.

While the majority of coupons are for highly processed food, there are still ways to significantly cut grocery bills. If you’re interested in trying your hand at couponing, here are some basic rules of thumb to get you started.

Couponing for Real Food

1. Get coupons for the things you want. You can get coupons from several sources, including the Sunday newspaper, the internet, coupon booklets sent home in the mail, store coupon booklets, product packaging, peelies (peel-off coupons found on the product as it sits on the store shelf), and blinkies (the little machines sticking out from the shelving in the grocery store aisle). If you can get several versions of the same coupon, this will allow you to stock up when you see a good deal.
2. Save your coupon inserts. An item often goes on sale at stores a few weeks after its coupon runs in the newspaper inserts (e.g. Smart Source, Red Plum, and P&G). I save my inserts for several months until the coupons expire, and I only cut out the coupons that I absolutely plan to use. If I see a coupon that I might want to use, I typically leave it in the insert until I see that it’s on sale somewhere, and then I cut it out.
3. Match coupons with sale items. When you get a good coupon, it’s tempting to use it right away. However, if you give it a few weeks you may find that item on sale, which will get you an even better deal.
4. Check coupon blogs and match-ups. There are thousands of blogs dedicated to coupons and grocery deals. I like to check store-specific blogs like Totally Target and Iheartcvs before going shopping. On these sites, you’ll find listings of what’s on sale at various stores and what coupons are available to use with these sale items. If I have time before I go shopping, I consult a coupon match-up on one of these blogs to see if there are coupons available for some of the things on my shopping list. I can often print out or cut out a few extra coupons that I wasn’t aware of and save more money on my shopping trip.
5. Organize your coupons. One way to organize your coupons is to keep them in baseball card holders in a three-ring binder. You can quickly flip through the binder to see what you have. You can organize the coupons according to category and go through the binder periodically to purge the expired coupons.
6. Familiarize yourself with your stores’ coupon policies. Coupon policies vary quite a bit from store to store, so take the time to find out how coupons can be used at the stores where you shop. Some grocery stores will double coupons up to 99 cents, and this can make for some great deals. Many stores will allow you to “stack” a store coupon on top of a manufacturer’s coupon for the same item, which can double the savings. Local chains like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid are all great places to get free and cheap grocery and household items, but their coupon policies all differ.
7. Don’t buy junk just because you can get a good deal on it. This probably goes without saying, but it can be very tempting to buy something just because it’s a great deal even though you don’t need it. If you’re trying to focus on a healthy diet, there are many great bargains out there that you’ll want to avoid. Stay focused on the fact that you want to save money on high-quality items, and this will help guide you through the many shopping decisions that you face every day.

Is couponing for real food part of your shopping routine? I’d love to hear how you find healthy food bargains, so please share your ideas in the comments.