Coupons Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

(cross-posted from La Marguerite blog)

With less money to spend every month, many Americans are turning to coupons to stretch their food budget. Last weekend, I decided to join the ranks, and sat down at my kitchen table, armed with scissors and the two inserts from our Sunday paper. And started clipping away.

I decided to separate the coupons into three piles:

1) Coupons that passed the test of my health conscious, green filter, and the only ones I may possibly use:

* Minute Maid Juices, Lipton Teas, Stash Tea, EarthGrains Whole Wheat Bread, Tabasco -- not a hundred percent sure about the EarthGrains Bread, I tried to check the ingredients online, without success

2) The suspicious pile, coupons for products that won't kill you, but that come with health/nutrition problems attached, to various degrees. Red flags such as too much salt, too much sugar, too much fat, GMO baggage, unnecessary packaging, radiation, pesticides, excessive processing, toxic leakage from plastic linings, added chemicals, grains stripped away from their wholeness, empty calories, fried potatoes, too much red meat:

* Progresso Chicken Broth, Green Giant Frozen Vegetables, Star Olive Oil, Vinegar, and Olives, Mrs. Dash Seasoning Blend, Spice Islands Spices, Quaker Oatmeal, Fresh Express Pre-cut Salad, Del Monte Canned Fruit and Vegetables, Ragu Pasta Sauce, Skippy Peanut Butter, College Inn Broths and Stocks, Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice, Lawry's Seasonings, Newman's Dressings, Swiss Miss Cocoa, Bisquick Pancake Mix, Best Foods Mayonnaise, Pillsbury Dinner Rolls and Biscuits, Daisy Sour Cream, PoppyCock Nuts, Pam Spray, True North Nuts, Lipton Dinners, Kraft Salad Dressings, CountryCrock Cinnamon Apples, International House of Pancakes, Black Angus Steak House, Bakers Square Dinners, Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes, Jell-O, Planters Nuts, C&H Sugar, Tyson Fully Cooked Bacon, Fiber One Toaster Pastries, Betty Crocker Cookie Mix, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, Lee Kum Kee Sauces, Hillshire Farm Cocktail Links

3) The obviously junky bunch:

* Betty Crocker Frosting, Cool-Whip, Big G Kid Cereals, Chuck E Cheese Pizza and Coca Cola Drinks, White Castle Microwavable Burgers, Reddi Whip, Entenmann's Doughnuts, Hershey's Chocolates, Kozy Schack Desserts, M&Ms

If I had any lingering doubts about the intentions of the food industry as a whole, this little exercise put them to rest. Coupons were not created with the interest of consumers in mind. Rather they are yet another marketing tactic from consumer packaged goods manufacturers to push their highly processed foods, regardless of their actual health benefit or lack thereof.

I say, let us not fall into the coupon trap, and seek instead, other, smarter ways to save, that won't hurt our health.

Comments

[grabacode]

It's up to each of us which coupons we use? Sales might be food industry intentions, and motivating us with money off coupons. Coupons aren't a trap, it just depends which ones you use.

[Bobbi112947]

Very true, I agree. Also, hold onto the coupons until just before they expire,why, because the week the coupon is in the paper the super markets raise the prices of that item..no kidding. My local Key Food seems to be the only place that does not do this. Progresso (Classics) soups were buy one get one free, and they were actually scanning off the 2.59 a can at the check out I had a coupon for 1.00 off on two. Pathmark will make the same offer on the same Classics,but one can will scan 2.79 and the system will deduct 2.19 as the "free" can. Like I said, they're the same "Classics" as Key Food, so why take off only 2.19 if it's buy one get one free? All the Classics are the same price,2.59. All the Traditionals are the same price at 2.79, you can't mix them because the scanner won't deduct anything. So only clip what you actually use,and stay away from the poision the food mfgs want you to eat, it WILL kill you.

[jalyn]

The salt content on processed foods, canned meats is a tragedy.....no wonder the increase in high blood pressure, and increase in angioplasty surgeries. The new food groups today seem to be salt, sugar and fat.

[susiesorority]

Well, yeah. It's easy to profit on processed crap. You can't slap a coupon on local produce.

[RightWingMarine]

if your complaint is that the products you want don't have coupons, why is that the fault of the producers of food you don't want? You could write to the prodcures of these foods and tell them you would buy more if they just offered an occasional discount. Perhaps these products that you want the discount on sell well enough that they don't feel the need to offer a discount and so many people are eating healthish food already that producers of non-healthy food do need to offer a coupon.

In the end if you don't like the idea of buying some food you feel is unhealthy don't buy it, the coupon shouldn't impact your decision.

[turtle88]

100% agree that coupons are a marketing tactic for food manufacturers and sellers. They entice you to purchase items that you would not normally consume, but that may not always be a bad thing.

I recently clipped several coupons from a local Whole Foods Market newsletter and got a discount on two healthy items I regularly purchase (ie. greek yogurt and air popped potato chips). Plus, a few healthy treats that I would not normally splurge on (ie. Oregon Chai Tea, a can of spicy peanuts and pita chips)

I think my total savings was around six dollars, but once I am in the door at Whole Foods I always spend more than planned. I think the trick is to have the discipline to stick to your grocery list / food plan - coupons or not.

I have seen a trend toward green coupons with school fundraising books like EcoMetro Guide and Fundraising Green and coupon pages on website like Pristine Planet. They are great way to get discounts on more human and planet healthy items, as long as you can resist fancy deli counters and other lovely displays.

[Shrinath]

Trés bien, Mme. Manteau-Rao! A very well researched. I have about six products that I use regularly which fall in the suspicious pile. One that screams out is Skippy peanut butter, Country Crock and Quaker.

Thankfully I buy fresh produce. Mostly greens. I have turned a vegetarian, though I used to loved a nice juicy steak. Having been privy to your tweets ( I follow you on twitter) I know that you have been busy collecting data on coupons. Here is my grouse. We, as a society, have gone too ridiculously dependent on super-market food. Imagine, a company making a cereal for say $6.00 has a budget of over several million for their advertising campaign. Why are we shy to purchase for farmer's market?? And how many actually eat that much greens? We have become just too lazy to cook. We want quick solutions. Fast food. If not take out!!! If I see another cardboard carton with weird chinese script I am going to barf. I have stopped eating anywhere except at Subway as a special treat (rare).

I know that after a grueling day at work, one is hardly enthusiastic about cooking. However, the alternate is just too horrible to contemplate. For me, cooking is relaxing. Even thereupatic! And yes, it will save money. One just needs to try it out. Cheerio.

p.s.: My apologies if comment was not too relevant.

[neoprimordial]

It's rare that I find coupons for the foods I buy. Mostly it's on-the-spot coupons that I get (the coupon is attached to the product or in a display nearby). For the most part I don't need any coupons to encourage me to buy what I buy. I think they're best use is in introducing a product to someone, but since so much of what's out there are not good values nutritionally and/or cost-wise, they tend not to serve any real purpose for me (and I'm also good at forgetting to bring them to the supermarket anyway). Give me a sale instead of coupons anytime.

[JScott]

I agree. And just to see what 'flopped' food products that had coupons to get you to buy it-go to any Big Lots, 99cent Only or similar store, you'll see the flops end up there.

[susiesorority]

Ha, that's true. Another part of this discussion is how coupons and such are tied into school fund raising at the grocery store. Those little tags that help "support your school" when you purchase? Sounds great, if you don't mind feeding your kid frozen/processed every night.

[StephanieInCA]

My coupon rule: Only clip coupons for things that are *already* in my kitchen. That way I can be certain I'm just saving on things I buy anyway and am not being duped into buying/eating crap I don't need.