9 Smart Ways to Find Grocery Coupons

You can save big by taking the time to collect coupons — with or without scissors

Cameron Huddleston,

AARP

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En español

Published March 17, 2026

a collection of coupons including a hand holding a smartphone with a digital coupon

AARP (Getty Images 3)

Key takeaways

Store apps offer easy savings. Loyalty programs unlock digital coupons that apply automatically.
It still pays to clip paper coupons. Check free community newspapers for grocery store coupons.
Stack discounts. Using apps, websites and paper coupons together can cut costs further.

Most Saturdays, I start my day with a cup of coffee while scrolling through my supermarket’s mobile app to find coupons for my weekly grocery shopping trip. It’s a habit I picked up from my mom, who regularly clipped coupons from our local newspaper.

I’m grateful for that early life lesson, which has helped me keep down the cost of feeding my family of five, especially with grocery prices rising. In 2025, I saved a whopping $1,242.80 by taking advantage of coupons and deals offered through my supermarket’s app and loyalty program.

I’m far from alone. Recently, couponing has seen a resurgence, especially among older adults, as higher prices drive shoppers to seek discounts, according to a 2025 survey by coupon codes website SociableLabs. Nearly 60 percent of boomers reported using coupons or discount codes to save money amid stubborn inflation, the poll found.

Clipping newspaper coupons by hand — and getting your fingers covered in ink, as my mom did — can still be a great way to score savings at the supermarket, but it’s not the only strategy you should have in your tool kit. Here are nine ways to find grocery coupons to combat rising food prices.

Sign up for your supermarket’s loyalty program

Joining loyalty programs opens the doors to personalized offers and discounts, including access to coupons in the store’s mobile app. You typically need a loyalty account to “clip” those digital coupons, says Kristin McGrath, senior editor at the Krazy Coupon Lady, a coupon and deals website.

Both boomers and Gen Xers are more likely to use digital coupons than print coupons, according to Inmar Intelligence, a company that provides coupon and loyalty program platforms for retailers. If you have yet to embrace them, start by downloading your grocery store’s app. (Many supermarkets, including Albertsons, Giant, Kroger, Safeway and ShopRite, offer them.)

“That is going to unlock the entire world of coupons at that store,” including manufacturer and store coupons, McGrath says.

Most loyalty programs are free to join, and you can usually sign up in the store or online. The drawback: “You are opting into a certain amount of tracking and collection of some of your personal data,” McGrath says. (Read your supermarket’s data sharing policy for more information.)

Generally, once you set up an account, you can clip coupons in the app by clicking on them. When you swipe your loyalty card or enter the phone number associated with your account at checkout, the discounts will be applied automatically.

Using your grocery store’s app makes it easy to find coupons and sales, says Andrea Woroch, a consumer savings adviser in Bakersfield, California. Plus, you don’t have to worry about accidentally leaving them at home, she says.

Search your store’s website

If you’re not comfortable using an app, your grocery store might offer the option to clip digital coupons from its website when you log into your account online. Any coupons you select will be automatically applied when you use your loyalty card at checkout in the store.

If you shop online for curbside pickup or grocery delivery, make sure you click any coupons for items in your cart so the discounts are applied. With most supermarket websites, you don’t have to search separately for coupons — they typically appear alongside any items that are available for purchase.

Use coupon websites and browser extensions

Websites such as Coupons.com, the Krazy Coupon Lady and Lozo offer printable manufacturers’ coupons. With Coupons.com, you can opt to receive coupons by text message as scannable QR codes. The Krazy Coupon Lady has an app you can use to save digital coupons that can be scanned at checkout. With Lozo, you can enter your grocery list and receive emails with links to coupons for listed items, or you can simply browse the site to look for coupons from brands you like.

Trae Bodge, a shopping strategist at TrueTrae.com, recommends installing a browser extension such as CouponCabin Sidekick, PayPal Honey or ShopBack. These alert you when coupons are available for items you’re buying. The extensions also indicate when cash-back offers are available from brands or online grocery stores where you’re shopping.

Hunt for paper coupons in the store

Keep your eyes peeled as you shop. “The most common way to get paper coupons is to go into the grocery store,” McGrath says.

Look for coupons attached to shelves or directly on products. You might also find coupons in weekly flyers near the entrance or in dispensers throughout the store.

Scan product barcodes

Forget to clip digital coupons before shopping? You may not be out of luck. Many supermarket apps let you scan items using your smartphone to see if coupons are available, McGrath says. She often does this when shopping for milk to see which brand is offering the best discount.

Some supermarkets place QR codes by items that you can scan with the store app to claim coupons. If you have trouble scanning QR codes or barcodes, ask a store associate for help, Woroch suggests.

Check your mailbox and inbox

Many grocery stores require you to provide your mailing address and email address when you create a loyalty account. With this information, the store can send coupons directly to you. “Don’t ignore those circulars you receive in your mailbox,” Bodge says.

Every month, the grocery store where I shop mails me a packet of coupons for items that I regularly buy. Often, they include a $20 coupon for a purchase of $200 or more.

To prevent coupon emails from your supermarket going into your spam or junk folder, add the store’s email address to your contact list.

Review receipts

Get in the habit of checking your grocery receipts. You might find coupons printed on them or spot costly errors like coupons scanned incorrectly at checkout. Woroch says she recently found a coupon for $10 off a $75 purchase on her receipt from Sprouts Farmers Market.

In addition, some grocery stores offer Catalina coupons — typically, long, narrow coupons that can be used to get money off a specific product on your next purchase. They’re generated at the register after you make a purchase if you buy qualifying items. The cashier will hand them to you, but don’t overlook them if you use self-checkout — they often print from a separate machine than the one that prints your grocery receipt.

Reach out to your favorite brands

Visit the websites of the brands you typically buy at the supermarket to see if they offer pathways to coupons, such as signing up for email alerts or joining their rewards programs.

If you don’t see those kinds of offers online, send the company an email to request coupons, McGrath says. She recommends mentioning that you love the company’s products before asking whether it offers coupons to loyal customers.

McGrath says she received nearly $200 worth of coupons throughout all her shopping in 2025 by reaching out to brands directly. “If you have time, it can be worth it,” she says.

Don’t forget to look in your Sunday newspaper

Thick grocery coupon inserts, once commonplace in the Sunday edition of newspapers, aren’t as prevalent now, but McGrath says some papers still include them.

If you’re not a subscriber, you might still be able to get your hands on coupon inserts. Ask the managers of local gas stations and convenience stores if they can save the Sunday edition for you — at least the coupon pages. While newspaper carriers typically collect issues that don’t sell, they often take back only the front section, not the entire paper, McGrath says.

You can also check free community newspapers for grocery store coupons.

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Cameron Huddleston is an award-winning personal finance journalist and author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances. Her work has appeared in Kiplinger.com, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Forbes Advisor, Chicago Tribune, Business Insider and many more online and print publications.