I'm fairly new to couponing and haven't shopped at the commissary regularly in years. (I used to shop there every month when we lived in an area with 4 commissaries within 30 minutes.) We are now 45 minutes from the commissary and I haven't started regularly shopping there so I could use everyone's input.

Are there some items that are always a great deal at the commissary (ie. always cheaper than the local grocery stores)? Do you only buy certain things there and hit the non-military stores for other things? Any other suggestions or words of wisdom?

TIA!

Some items that have been free or getting overage w/ cpns recently are the KY jelly ($3/1 q over $1 in overage), the splenda quick packs (75/1 q 25c overage), Excedrin trial size ($2/1 q overage, not sure how much) the Ortega taco seasoning ($1/2 5c or so overage), the bush's grillin beans ($1/1 free), and the muir glen 14oz diced tomatoes ($1/1 free). I always buy meat @ the commissary - it's always cheaper, even if it's on sale off base, and especially if it's on sale or frozen/reduced @ the commissary. Shredded cheese/dairy products are another big saver for the commissary - Kraft cheese goes on sale every so often for $2.50 per lb. which is cheap. Yo Plus yogurt 4 pack is currently $1.49 w/ a $1/1 cpn.(49c) A gallon of skim milk was recently just over $2 @ Scott AFB vs over $3 off base. Regular price of bread is about the same as my bakery outlet store. In general, I have found that regular commissary prices are roughly the same as sale prices off base, and sale prices at the commissary are much lower - although a few times a month I can sometimes get a REALLY good sale off base that will beat the commissary. Hope that helps some!

my aunt got the goodlife cat food for 2.87 so with the $3 q she got .13 overage..

when i actually lived on base, i was able to go to the comm. anytime, but now i live an hour away from it and the one i can go to now isnt so big (its not an active base) so i dont find some of the newer stuff... BUT meat, milk, lean cuisine frozen entrees, those kinds of things are always cheaper there. Plus they have there own MILITARY STORE coupons, so you can use them there as well. Plus the caselot sales are really awesome <3

If you hit a sale and have a coupon at the commissary you can get cereal for around a buck a box....and you'll pay 2 to 3 times that off post, even when there is a sale going on.

I generally buy my toiletries off post because I can get good prices and earn ECBs/RR's at CVS or Walgreens.

check out the May commissary deals thread- people are always adding what they find when they shop.