How to Get Free Food with Coupons at Walmart

Can you buy $24.90 of items for $0.76 using coupons? I did that very thing just last week. Okay, that's not exactly free but it's about as cheap as they come! And the best thing is these kinds of deals are not an anomaly. I regularly buy over $100 of groceries for less than $10. I get terrific deals with coupons and save scads and scads of money. Want to know how you can do it at Walmart?

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• coupons
• computer
• internet access
• printer (optional)

1. Collect coupons. No way around it. Coupons are your ticket for free food. The best source for them is the newspaper coupon inserts. Collect these from friends and others in your community, from recycle bins and hotel lobbies. Use your computer to print them off the internet. Get them any way you can, the more the better. You want multiple copies of the same coupon. You can also email companies and request coupons. And you can buy them for pennies as well. Keep them all well-organized in a way that makes sense to you. And keep them until they expire. They can be left uncut until you need them. Be sure that you understand the terms used. (Read "How to Understand Coupon Lingo to Get the Most Free Groceries" - see resources below.)

2. 
    

   Keep your finger on the pulse of the internet coupon groups such as HotCouponWorld (my favorite), AFullCup and SlickDeals. Check into their Walmart forums every few days to see what good deals others have found. Also, since Walmart will match any advertised sale price in other local stores. keep your eye on sales at in the other forums for your local stores.

3. 
    

   Good deals come in three varieties at Walmart. The first good deal comes in the form of a Walmart's "Everyday Low Price" variety. Walmart does actually have low prices on a great many things. Some high value coupons cover the entire purchase price of some regularly priced items at Walmart. Kraft Live Active Cereal, Johnson's Buddies bar soap, KY Jelly, Zone Nutrition Bars, Kotex Pantiliners, Frito-Lay chips single serve bags, Zantac Maximum Strength have all been free or less than $0.05ea with coupon in the last three months. These are the easiest kind of good deal to take advantage of because the price of the item is constant. All you have to do is make sure you can get into Walmart to redeem it before it expires (and hope they have it in stock).
   
   Secondly, Walmart sometimes does "price rollbacks" - Walmart's term for a sale. At which stores these rollbacks occur and how long they last vary widely. So the price always bears checking before buying. Don't assume that just because you read that they're on sale in one store that they will be the same price at another.
   
   Thirdly, Walmart matches the advertised sale prices of other local stores. If Dove Shampoo is advertised as $1.99 at your local drugstore, you can bring that ad into Walmart and get that same price for the shampoo provided it is exactly the same brand and size. Read my article, "How to Price Match at Walmart to Save the Most Money!", for further details on this approach.

4. 
    

   Once you have found a potential great deal, gather your coupons and zoom on over to Walmart. Coupons are considered a form of payment so simply hand them over when it is time to pay.
   
   When there is a good deal, that's the time to stock up! Get enough for at least several months time. If your pantry won't hold it all, store it in a box under your bed or behind the couch or in the basement. Be creative!

Tips & Warnings

• Keep a copy of Walmart's coupon policy with you when you are redeeming coupons. Sometimes cashiers and even managers don't know their own corporate policy on accepting coupons. You will be able to educate them!
• If you have a coupon that is good for more than the price of the item and they balk just suggest that adjusting the coupon value down to the cost of the item, i.e. adjust a $5 Zantac coupon down to $3.98 which is our local price.
• If you accumulate more groceries than you need, donate it to a charity such as a food pantry or homeless shelter.
• If you have more than 40 coupons to redeem, ask to speak to a manager for prior approval.
• Be certain that you meet the terms of each coupon and that the coupon has not expired.
• As you acquire coupons cut out all the coupons in each source that match or exceed Walmart's "Everyday Low Price" for that item and store them in an envelope in your purse or vehicle. That way every time you drop into Walmart unexpectedly you can redeem them without further planning.
• Print a copy of Walmart's Coupon Policy (see resources below) and keep it with your coupons so that you can educate your cashier and/or manager when necessary.
• Be aware that not all cashiers or even managers understand coupon lingo and/or their corporate policies on coupons.

Resources

• Hot Coupon World
• Slick Deals
• A Full Cup
• Walmart's Official Coupon Policy
• How to Understand Coupon Lingo to Get the Most Free Groceries
• How to Get Free Groceries with Coupons
• How to Utilize Coupons to Get Free Groceries Part 1: Finding the Right Store
• How to Utilize Coupons to Get Free Food Part 2: Efficiently Use and Keep Coupons
• How to Price Match at Walmart to Save the Most Money!

[designed2design]

on 9/3/2009 Check out this site I found that gives you free visa cards for grocery shopping as you normally do. I have been doing it for 4 months now and have received $100 in visa cards that I can use any where. www.getfreevisacards.com

[nicoyle]

on 7/6/2009 Wonderful information and great ways of saving money especially how economy is going now.

[FrazzledNanny]

on 4/29/2009 Thanks for the article on free food with coupons at Walmart. 5*

[amberdusk]

on 4/26/2009 Wonderful article, quite eye-opening! I'm trying to find ways to save money and this one is a keeper.

[x4mom]

on 4/16/2009 Great ideas. Check out my article on how to start a coupon club, and have fun with your friends while saving tons of money! http://www.ehow.com/members/x4mom-articles.html