Does your grocery store require the checker to circle and tell you the amount you saved each shopping trip? The store where we do most our food shopping does and when the checker said “you saved over $96 today” the lady behind us gasped. She was audibly surprised we could save nearly an equal amount to what we spent.
It’s not unusual for us; in fact the following week I saved the same amount as spent. There are five ways we routinely save on food.
Coupons
We use both store and manufacturer coupons gathered from a variety of sources. The grocery store sends out coupons in booklets and weekly ads. Manufacturer coupons are found online, in magazines, postal mail and the newspaper.
Reward/Club Card
Join the frequent shopper program offered at stores you frequent. Many sale prices are only good in conjunction with the program card. My store sends checks quarterly based on the number of points accumulated the past three months. We routinely get $10-12.
I also load coupons directly onto the program card on the store website at at coupon websites such as Shortcuts.com.
Promotions
By taking advantage of special promotions such as buy 1 get one free or other iterations (buy 3, get 3 free) the grocery bill is cut more. Especially when combining with a coupon. I used to be able to use coupons for each of the items but recently my coupon for the “free” item was rejected which was understandable.
Markdowns
Last week in the markdown table I found cans of yams marked down over 50%. They weren’t damaged or about to expire. The item isn’t in high demand this time of year so they wanted to clear some out.
Other markdowns you may find include perishables close to expiration (meat, produce, dairy or bakery items). We have been known to buy any of these.
Discontinued items or products with packaging changes can also be found at greatly reduced prices sometimes.
Entertainment Book
The only reason I buy an Entertainment book each year is for grocery store discount of $5 off with a purchase of $75 or more (it can be anywhere close to that amount and they’ll take it). The savings pays for the book each year and the rest of the coupons in there are gravy.
How do you save money at the grocery store? If you don’t have the rest of the line gasping get started on saving by using these tips.
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We have had similar reactions in the grocery store. At the local Shopper’s doing triple coupon time we had a group give us high fives after we paid twenty something dollars for a hundred dollars worth of groceries.
Another way that we save is if a grocery has a pharmacy, they often offer store gift cards for new or transferred prescriptions. We use the store card which is often more than our deductible to reduce the initial impact of the grocery bill.
.-= Converting Me By Spendthrift´s last blog ..TGIF: Too Tired Edition =-.
Converting, I would be gasping at your savings. Very impressive!
Good idea to use the gift cards for new prescriptions. I get recurring prescriptions filled via mail to reduce copay amount so did not think about this option.
I shop at Ralphs as well and use their rewards program. I like that every 3 months they send us a rewards “check” or coupon along with coupons towards general categories in their store. We also use manufacturer coupons. It’s nice to see how much we saved at the bottom of our receipt.
.-= Little House´s last blog ..Amazing Home Makeovers =-.
Little House,
In our neck of the woods (or palm trees) I think I save the most at Ralph’s week in and week out. I still shop the specials at competing grocery stores occasionally.
Those are great tips. We also go to warehouse stores like costco to buy certain things like Kirkland dog food and cat food – it’s great pet food that’s so much less expensive than other places.
.-= Random Thoughts of a Jersey Mom´s last blog ..Getting Money Back!!! =-.
Jersey Mom, that’s where we buy our dog’s food as well. Can’t beat the price AND quality with coupons or specials at the regular grocery store.
Thanks for bringing that up.
I like it! You can also take advantage of store-brand labels for items that you know are of equal or superior quality to their name-brand counterparts! Sometimes the store-brand labels just can’t compete – like with their Ritz cracker knock-offs. But that is not always the case!
Best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
.-= Len Penzo´s last blog ..Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News & Opinions #37 =-.
Good point Len. I should remember this from your taste test results!
I once had a couple behind me in line roll their eyes and groan when they saw my stack of coupons. When they watched me pay $30.00 for $130.00 worth of groceries their jaws dropped. The wife turned to the husband and said “We need to start using coupons!”
Good job converting that couple. I bet it made you feel good as well after their rude behavior.
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