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I tend to agree with Mavoureen - you have to cherry pick the sales. You can't expect the things that were a good deal months ago to still be a good deal. You have to match your coupons to the things that are on sale now.
Sure some things normal price may be cheaper at Wal-mart or even Giant, but if you match your coupons and stock up on the frees, and then weigh the convenience of the store's location, it's a better deal for me to cherry pick the sales. I got frosting for 2 cents, free worceshestire sauce, free noodles, 15 cent or free spices, 50 cent yogurts, etc... And my shoppers is about a mile from my house. The closest Wal-Mart with a decent supply of groceries is a 20-minute highway drive. And aside from Kotex pads and steamers, I've never found these kinds of prices there.
Wal-mart does occasionally have decent prices on stuff, but it's not worth the drive for me to figure out what prices are decent. I tried it last year when the store opened, and it was a pain - had to carry a cooler with ice in the van so my frozen stuff didn't defrost in the summer heat before I could get it home.
The mac and cheese single serve are 77 cents at Target, cheaper than Shoppers $1 - but if Shopper's has $1 doublers, then my coupon is worth more there. I don't need the mac and cheese now, so I'm not using the coupon at either place just yet. If I have to use it without a doubler, it'll be at Target, but if it's doubled, it'll be Shoppers.
Think of it as a game. And be careful with Wal-marts low prices - they creap up over time. They sucked me in last year with lunch meat prices that were about 75 cents cheaper than anything at my local grocery stores. Then over time, they creaped up to about $1 more. I was only going there once a month, and keeping a price book, so it was really obvious. Now I shop the sales and I've saved hundreds a month doing it.
You need to find a system that works for you. And my system may not, but it's all good, we each have different preferences.
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