How to pay for non-coupon items with coupons!

This was my shopping trip today at Publix

Total before coupons – 55.13

My total after coupons $0.13!!! (+1.34 in tax so I paid $1.44!)

And let me mention that I did not have coupons for the following items:

sweet potatoes - $1.19

Idaho potatoes - $2.50

hotdogs - $2.00

and

cat litter (not pictured) - $2.99 after the coupon I had.

So I had $8.68 worth of groceries that I did not have coupons for, but yet the coupons that I used on the other products paid for these products! 

This is because the coupons that I had for the Steamfresh veggies and Yakisoba noodles made these products not only FREE but gave me overage.  $0.21 overage for each Yakisoba meal and $0.31 overage for each Steamfresh veggie.

Will my family eat all of those Yakisoba meals?  Maybe not, but I know plenty of hungry college students that would love to have them, and I also know that food banks love this type of product. 

So, the next time you think, “My family doesn’t eat food the food that coupons are for.” or “Is couponing really worth it?", think about this.  Does your family eat fresh veggies, potatoes, or anything else for $8.00 that I could have added in this transaction and paid for with my overage?   If your family is trying to eat organically, you could have bought everything above that was free/gave overage and used the $8.00 to pay for organic meat or veggies.

I would love to hear if you use coupons to help buy things that you can’t buy with coupons.  And what do you do with the things that you buy just to get overage, that you don’t use or need?

(Note: not all stores will give overage.  I am blessed with very coupon-friendly Publix stores (for local readers: 138 location or Sigman road location.)  Your store may or may not give overage.  If they only allow you to get the product for FREE that is great too.  It will then help free up more of you grocery budget to buy the things that you need.)