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8 Ways to Find Grocery Coupons

From newspapers to the Internet, coupons can help cut your food bill

spinner image A supermarket cashier is pointing a handheld scanner at a mobile device in a customer's outstretched hand
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Coupons have come a long way since the days when clipping them from newspapers was the only option. Today there are several ways to save money on groceries whether you're tech savvy or prefer a scissor. That’s particularly important now with inflation running at a 40-year high and food prices up 11.9 percent year-over-year. With millions of older adults struggling to put food on the table, coupons have become invaluable and finding them is easier than you think. Here’s how.   

1. Newspaper coupons

Newspaper coupons come as an insert in newspapers published weekly and on Sunday. The Sunday newspaper tends to have the most coupons, comprised of both manufacturer and national store coupons. The week day papers usually have deals from local supermarkets. 

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How to score them: Newspaper coupons can be found in national and local newspapers and sometimes in newsletters and shoppers distributed for free within the community. 

2. Catalina coupons

Catalina coupons are typically colorful, long, narrow coupons that can be used to get money off a specific product or your next purchase.  They can be store specific or issued by the manufacturer. 

How to score them: Catalina coupons print out in store from a separate machine once you complete your purchase. These are not the ones that print out at the end of your receipt. ​

3. Manufacturer coupons

Issued by the manufacturer, they give you money off a specific product. There are typically limits on how many manufacturer coupons you can use on an item. Usually, it's one manufacturer coupon per product.  

How to score them: There’s several ways to find manufacturer coupons including newspapers, newsletters, websites that aggregate different manufacturer coupons, through the brand’s website, and at the grocery store. 

4. Grocery store coupons 

These are issued by the grocery store, giving customers a percentage discount on the entire bill or money off specific items.

How to score them: Grocery store coupons can be either clipped from newspapers, newsletters or in weekly ads and found inside the stores. They can also be printed from the store’s website or downloaded from the grocery store’s app.

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5. Printable coupons 

Comprised of manufacturer and store coupons, printable coupons are ones you find on the Internet and print out to redeem. They require you to have access to a computer, printer and the Internet. If you don’t have that at home, you can get access at the local library or ask a friend or family member for help. 

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How to score them: Printable coupons can be found at the manufacturer's website, and through online searchable databases. There are several aggregators on the Internet that let you search for specific brands’ coupons.  Popular ones include coupons.com, Lozo and The Krazy Coupon Lady.

6. Grocery coupon apps 

Grocery coupon apps let you search for online coupons and download them directly into the app on your mobile phone. Instead of bringing a stack of coupons to check out, the cashier will scan your phone to get each coupon code. These apps house all the different coupons making it easy to save. For this to work you need a mobile phone and Internet access. Some of the apps will give you cash back on your purchases. 

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How to score them: There are several mobile apps that let you find and store grocery store coupons including Ibotta, checkout51 and SnipSnap. A search on the App store if you have an iPhone or in the Google Play store if you have an Android device should yield you several to choose from.  

7. Online coupon aggregators 

Shopping & Groceries

Coupons for Local Stores

Save on clothing, gifts, beauty and other everyday shopping needs

See more Shopping & Groceries offers >

Couponing is made easier with online aggregators that do all the work for you. These websites find all the manufacture and store coupons and put them in one place. You can search by product or store, download and print the coupon or add it to your mobile phone. Most of the leading coupon aggregators run both a website and mobile app. 

How to score them:  A quick google search for grocery store coupons will yield a lot of results including CouponCabin, Capital One Shopping and Slickdeals

8. Online coupon codes 

These are coupon codes you enter at checkout when shopping online. They are usually issued by the brand or store you are shopping at. The popular discounts include money off, a percentage discount or free shipping. ​

How to score them: There are several ways to find coupon codes online including searching on Google, the brand or store’s website, social media and coupon sites such as RetailMeNot and PayPal Honey

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