Coupon Shopping for a Diabetic

My husband struggles with diabetes.  He is a Type 2 diabetic, diagnosed about 5 years ago.  It's been a tough transition.  Him and I both love food.  We laugh about how we even build our vacations around the best places in the country to eat!  Mexican, BBQ, Italian, we like it all.  In addition to food, we both love dessert.  There's nothing like a great pastry, cupcake or cookie!!!  So needless to say, changing eating habits and switching out the things you love for the things you need, can be difficult.

Eventhough, he is the only diabetic in the family, it affects us all.  We have all had to make changes in our eating habits, which is not necessarily a bad thing - its really what we should have been doing all along.  And as a result, I have had to change the way I grocery/coupon shop.

He needs to eat lean meats, lots of veggies & fruit and less caffeinated drinks and carbs.  So I find myself using less coupons for processed foods and sweets and using my coupons for things like condiments, snacks for the kids, some canned foods, frozen veggies and fruits, paper goods, cleaning supplies and personal health & beauty items.

Every Wednesday, I price match produce.  I make a list of all of the produce sales and do as much price matching at Walmart as I can.  I make him a lot of fresh veggie juices in our juicer, so veggies don't last very long in our house.  If I need additional veggies throughout the week I will usually go to Food City where the prices always seem low.

I also price match meat.  I look for the best deals on meats and price match as much as I can at Walmart or go to each store (depending on the store's quality of meat) and purchase the meat.  Just last Friday, Safeway had a deal for Jennie O ground turkey...only $5 for 3 lbs!  This was a great price.  Turkey is a great meat alternative for him, so I went to Walmart and price matched and got 15 pounds for only $15...just $1 a pound!  I buy a lot of chicken breast and the great thing is I can price match that to a low price almost every week.

While I do pass up some great coupon deals just because they aren't good for his diet, I am still saving lots and lots of money on the things that we need/use.  I guess the biggest difference is I don't just buy something because I have a coupon for it, I think about the diet he needs to be on first and I shop accordingly.

Sometimes people tend to think a "healthy or special diet" is much more expensive.  But whether you are a diabetic or have another illness that requires a "healthy or special diet"  there is a way to utilize coupons & price matching to save lot of money!!!