An Example of How Futile Savings Efforts Are Using Coupons vs. Cost Per Unit

Using my health food store as an example (because it's still too dangerous to drive out and find prices), I found a non-organic, regular plain old long grain brown rice bag. This bag was 32 oz. priced at $4.22--does that sound about right for regular grocery stores?

LG Brown Rice--32 oz. @ $4.22, or $2.11/lb.

I compared this to a bulk buy of long grain brown rice (again, no organics)--this larger bag was 40 lbs. for 32.25.

Bulk LG Brown Rice--40 lbs. @ 32.25, or .81/lb.

You can immediately see two things:
1. the cost per unit saved us $1.30/lb.
2. the savings from just two pounds of the bulk rice would pay for one smaller bag of rice, with money left over.

$2.11/lb. - .81/lb. = $1.30/lb.savings.

The original 2 lb. bag of rice costs $2.11/lb., and the $1.30/lb. savings (from buying bulk) X 2 = $2.60, which covers the cost of the original bag of rice completely + change left over. Not only did you get that first 2 lbs. of rice for free, but the next 38 lbs. are at rock-bottom prices, and who knows where the next "rock-bottom price" will climb to?

That extra savings ($2.60 - $2.11) comes to about the amount of a coupon (.49) for smaller grocery store-sized bags, so you've covered the savings of the coupon AND the cost of the grocery store rice just in one purchase!

You can almost assuredly do better with small-bag rice prices in a grocery store than my example here, but bulk prices (wherever you get them) will always do one (or more) better compared to smaller, individual-size prices, no matter how many coupons and sales you stack, and here's why:

The benefit of buying 40 lbs. of rice at once? Not only is it cheaper per pound, but you will have bought enough rice to last for months, as opposed to the 2 lb. rice bag user, who's going to have to return to the store 20 times to get the same amount of rice you just bought. If she's got coupons, can she really be sure she's going to have coupons to cover all 20 shopping trips? If she miraculously does, can she get the rice for .81/lb. like we did buying bulk without coupons?

Remember, inflation always creeps in. Buying stuff with TODAY'S dollars is always cheaper than waiting for that bargain that never arrives until the economy makes a spectacular comeback.

Now comes the longevity of your buy: rice is served at 1/2 cup (cooked) at a time, which means it swells to 2-3X the dry measure. That 2 lb. bag will make (minimum) 8 servings of cooked rice, while the 40 lb. bag will cook up to make (minimum) 160 servings, all of which will freeze, and dry rice will keep for months (maybe even a year), if it's kept away from heat and bugs.

That's 160 servings of rice you won't have to track down at some supermarket before tracking down a coupon for it! Now, apply this principle to ALL your food purchases...

Don't have space for 40 lbs. of rice? Then order smaller bulk bags (they come in 25 lbs. too), buy multiple smaller bags with coupons, get friends/relatives to split the larger bag with you, start a co-op, or find the room to store it (the stranger the better--how about under the bed?)

Not only have you saved money on food, but you've saved time and gas money as well, which is going to be important in the year ahead.

UPDATE: Remember my jail break from the spice trade and Mickey C not too long ago? Well, guess what showed up in my junk mail pile today? Yup, a coupon for .75 off any one Mickey C spice or herb. In my original story, I showed you how I saved $20.00/oz. just by shopping for spices in the international aisle, and now you have another example of coupon futility. What's saving a mere .75 when I saved $20.00/oz. without it?

The original bay leaf bottle was priced at $2.76, and the cello pouches in the international food aisle were priced at .69 each (and two pouches equaled the bottle's content weight), making a savings of well over the .75 that the coupon would've offered me!

$2.76 (bottle price) - $1.38 (price of two pouches) = $1.38 (price savings)

For the price of one bottle, I have 4 cello pouches of bay leaves.


$2.76 (bottle price) - .75 (coupon) = $2.01 (new price of bottle)

$2.01 (new price) - $1.38 (price of two pouches) = .63 (money left over)

That .63 left over could've almost bought me a third pouch of bay leaves instead of a discounted bottle that I would've had to return to the store to replace later on, and there might not be another coupon available later on.

If you noticed, you would actually lose a pouch in the discount--notice the underlines. This is a prime example of how coupons can actually TAKE AWAY savings from you if you have something to compare it to!