Stockpiling takes time, especially when you’re a new coupon shopper trying to build a stockpile. Even though you’ll be getting a few great coupon deals each week, you’ll still be shopping for your list of needed items, so you’re not going to notice much of a difference in your grocery bill for the first several weeks.

Once you’re maintaining a stockpile rather than building from scratch, you’ll find your shopping trips become much shorter and noticeably less expensive each week.

My shopping list each week consists primarily of fresh produce, milk, and just the best coupon deals for the week. I stock up on meat for our freezer when it’s at the lowest prices (like boneless chicken breasts for $1.69/lb). I don’t keep a running list of items that we need, because we rarely run out of items; they’ve been purchased ahead of time at super low prices.

A coupon match-up list can be a mile long, but there are usually only a few deals that are truly stockpile worthy. Consider my shopping list for Chief below – I chose just two coupon items from the entire weekly ad. On a really good sale week, I might have as many as 10 or 12 stockpile items in my cart. Then there are some weeks when I just buy a few fresh items and don’t use any coupons at all.

Here’s my shopping plan for this week (NOTE: It’s not my intention to provide a list of everything I’m buying this week, just the notable items that best help to illustrate the stockpiling process):

Chief (completed)

Newspapers (for coupons): 2 Toledo Blade @ $2.00 each, 2 Northwest Signal @ 50 cents each. I really wanted the Pepsi Moments to Save coupon insert, which is why I bought The Blade. In retrospect, the Moments to Save insert really wasn’t that great. I probably should have just bought 4 Northwest Signals instead.

Produce: Broccoli Crowns – $.97/lb, Celery Bunch – $.97 each

Wolf Chili 15 oz – 3 for $4.00 ($1.33 each)

• $0.40/1 Wolf Brand Chili, exp. 3/4/12 (SS 01/22/12)
• FINAL COST – $.53 EACH
• I had 2 coupons, bought 2 cans = $1.06 total OOP
• We don’t typically eat canned chili, but it makes a great chili cheese dip appetizer melted with cream cheese or Velveeta. Having these ingredients on hand makes planning easy and keeps the cost down when we’re entertaining in our home or if I need to make a potluck dish to take somewhere (quick, easy, and eveyone loves it!).

Knorr Rice or Pasta Sides – $1.00

• $0.50/2 Knorr Rice and Pasta Sides, exp. 2/26/12 (RP 01/29/12)
• FINAL COST – $.50 EACH
• I had just 1 coupon, bought 2 packages = $1.00 total OOP
• I had purchased 8 packages of these earlier in the month; I just happened to stumble across an additional coupon in our church coupon swap box so I bought 2 more packages.

Time spent in store: about 30 minutes. This should have been a 15 minute trip, but my kids were with me and weren’t exactly on their best behavior.

See ALL Chief and Rays coupon match-ups

Rite Aid (planned)

Right Guard APDO or Body Wash (Total Defense 5 shown in ad) – $2.99

• $3 off TWO Total Defense® 5 Anti-Perspirant, Deodorant, OR Body Wash printable
• FINAL COST – $1.49 EACH WYB 2
• I have (2) coupons, will buy 2 deodorant AND 2 body wash = $5.96 total OOP
• +UP $1/1 (limit 4) = $4.00 to use next time

Pantene Shampoo, Conditioner, and Stylers – 2 for $7.00

• $3/2 Pantene Product, exp. 3/31/12 (SS 02/26/12)
• FINAL COST – 2 FOR $4.00
• I have (4) coupons, but will use only (2) coupons to buy 4 hairsprays since the +UP limit (I don’t go through that much hairspray, so these will last awhile) = $8.00 total OOP
• +UP $2/2 (limit 2) = $4.00 to use next time

Planters Peanuts 10-16 oz – B1G1 FREE

• $1.50/2 Planters Peanuts, exp. 4/30/12 (SS 01/29/12 R)
• I have (5) coupons, so I can buy up to (10) jars of peanuts. We don’t need that many. I’ll check the expiration dates and prices in store and then decide how many to buy (if any at all).

Order total = $13.96 OOP plus cost of peanuts TBD

I have $20.50 in +UP Rewards from last week to apply to this week’s shopping trip. They don’t expire for another week, so if I have some left over it’s okay. FYI, that’s an unusually high value for me; I would normally only have between $5 to $10 in +UPs from a previous week’s shopping trip (my Rite Aid receipt from last week was just over $13, in case you were wondering how much I had to spend in order to earn that $20.50).

I’ll apply those to this shopping trip and will likely pay nothing except sales tax this week at Rite Aid. And I’ll get $8.00 back in +UPs to use next time. Woohoo!

Estimated time spent in store: 20 minutes

See ALL Rite Aid Easy Deals

Kroger (planned)

PRODUCE: Asparagus – $.99/lb, Broccoli – $1.50/bunch, Tomatoes on the vine – $.88/lb, Strawberries 16 oz – $1.25

BREAD: I always check the bread aisle for Manager’s Specials. I’ve found bread marked down 50% to 75% off the shelf price with still several days left until the last sale date. If I can get a loaf of bread or package of buns for 50 cents and they’re not stale, I’ll buy several to put in the freezer.

General Mills Cereal 11.25-17 oz (Golden Grahams, Honey Nut Cheerios shown, others likely included but I won’t know until I’m in the store) – $2.29

• $0.50/1 Honey Nut Cheerios printable (no longer available)
• FINAL COST – $1.29 EACH
• I have 2 coupons, will buy 2 boxes = $2.58 total OOP
• There are several other GM cereal coupons available right now; I’ll have them on hand in the store and price check for other varieties included in this sale.

The sale at Kroger this week pretty much stinks. The only reason I’ll make this trip is because we’re really low on cereal and there’s a Kroger store just a few miles from my house.

Estimated time spent in store: 15 minutes

See ALL Kroger Deals

At the end of this week I’ll have added to my stockpile for about $6.00 to $7.00 out of pocket:

• 2 cans chili
• 2 packages rice & sauce
• 2 men’s deodorant
• 2 men’s body wash
• 4 bottles hairspray
• 2 boxes of cereal (or more)
• hopefully a couple loaves of bread or buns
• and maybe a few jars of peanuts?

Great deals, but just a few items. Next week I’ll get a few more… patience is the key!