I’ve heard about all these people who manage to have neglible food bills by shopping with coupons, and there on the front of my CC Times it tells me I could save more than $200 with coupons.  My history with coupons isn’t great; if I manage to cut them out, they generally spend their days decorating the refrigerator or deteriorating at the bottom of my purse.  But hey, $200!  I’ll take a look.

In order to save that $200, I’d have to spend far more money on products I would never in a million years use.  It is interesting just to look at marketing trends.  Big trend: personal care items marketed to men.  Apparently, men don’t feel comfortable using any old skin lotion.  It needs to be dark blue or black, and say MEN in all caps.

And then, of course, there is the food.  They don’t offer coupons for genuinely healthy stuff, like bananas or lettuce.  No, it’s all heavily processed “convenience food.”

But what made me running to the computer with disgust was the ad for microwave popcorn.  Great!  We eat microwave popcorn!  A coupon for that is great!  But the ad shows M&Ms being sprinkled on it, with the ad copy “Lighter. Fluffier. Sweeter.”  Above that, it says “Kid favorites for less ConAgra Foods Food you love.”

So popcorn isn’t enough of a treat anymore.  You have to put M&Ms on it?

In return for bombarding myself with ads for foods and products I don’t need, I may get a few cents off on something I probably don’t want.  When it comes to the food, I don’t need more food triggers in my life.

I think I’ll go back to chucking the coupons unread.