I won’t even call it inflation- the crazy greediness of these companies is making the prices in the grocery store pretty high. The bill adds up quickly at the register so if you fell off the coupon bandwagon or never hopped on- you may be feeling a bigger pinch than usual at the grocery store. Looking for ways to cut the grocery bill right now?  Here are some tips to help you start seeing the difference at the register today.

 

Go Cherry Picking.

Being a fair weather friend is never right- but a fair sale shopper? YES!   Each week different stores have different things on sale. Sticking to just ONE store means you are passing up savings on everything on sale at the other stores. I “cherry pick” the best deals at each store and buy the items I need where they are the cheapest.

I shop at 3 stores each week: Harris Teeter, Publix and Food Lion. With gas prices so high I don’t recommend doing that UNLESS all 3 stores are together. Thankfully in Clayton, NC all 3 stores are right there and I can shop at all of them within just a few miles of each other.  If that’s not the case in your area, check out the sales at all the stores in your area and just chose the one with the most items on your list on sale.

Grab the Loss Leaders.

Each week the grocery stores are going to price 1-2 items at a pretty big discount to get you in THEIR doors and hopefully you will then spend 90% of your paycheck at their store on all the impulse buys they scatter throughout the store.  If you can walk the store strongly and avoid all these impulse purchases- going in to the store for JUST the loss leaders.

Loss leaders are often meat or produce but could be anything.   Don’t let a single loss leader pull you in to buying EVERYTHING at that store though. You need to be able to look at the big picture- are MOST things you need or want on sale at that store or does it make a better final price to skip that loss leader and shop elsewhere.

Drop the Brand Loyalty.

If you ONLY use a certain brand…you’re paying a premium for that.  Tide fans? That stuff has gotten even MORE expensive and they don’t even give us paper coupons anymore.  Try Persil. They are generous with their coupons and it’s cheaper with sales and coupons usually.  Only use one brand of mayo? If one is on sale and we have a coupon on a different brand – you could save money and maybe find a new favorite.

Most stores have a quality guarantee on their store brands so it’s a risk free trial to try switching over.  Plus many times these store brands are actually manufactured by national brands- just different packaging and price.

 

Plan dinner around what’s on sale.

I remember growing up that my mom would sit with the sales flyer and circle things and make meal plans off what was on sale.  Long time couponers and stockpilers have created their own grocery stores at home- but if you are just getting into this style of shopping- you can save a TON of money using what is on special. Keep in mind that many items that are on sale are NOT in the sales flyer. These are “unadvertised sales”

 

Here is an example of a meal based on sales for 6/8- 6/14/2022. Items with a * are on sale but NOT in the Harris Teeter flyer.

Harris Teeter Tortillas – BOGO = $0.84
93% Lean Ground Beef, $4.99/lb
Old El Paso Refried Beans $1.50
Shredded Kraft Cheese BOGO = $2.34 plus $0.25/1 iBotta rebate
*Harris Teeter Sour Cream, 16 oz $1.79
*Knorr Mexican Rice $1.25

Total: $12.71 (should make 4+ servings)

Want to make it even cheaper? 80% lean ground beef is $2.99/lb at Food Lion.

 

Mexican Pizza Recipe

Use YOUR rewards card.

Sure it’s easier to just type in your mom’s telephone number at the register but get your own card and reap the rewards. Digital coupons and targeted offers can really cut the grocery bill. And they are easy to take advantage of – just click & load.

If you are like me and have a keyless car- you won’t even need to take your keychain out of your purse- all the store apps store their loyalty card AND you can even load their offers on the go.

Shop Quick Sale items

Two of my favorite things to find marked down in the grocery store are meat and produce.  I wanted to share some of my favorite tips about taking advantage of these deals and making sure that they stay a good deal!

• Most meats/produce are marked down because they are coming up on the end of their best buy date.   That means that the store won’t be able to sell it anymore but it doesn’t mean that it’s bad.  But look carefully, anything that is moldy or smells bad- pass on that ‘deal’.
  • Either use the food or preserve it right away.
  • Fresh produce and meat can be prepared and frozen.  I slice onions and peppers and place them in a freezer bag for short term storage or use my Food Saver for long term storage.
  • Zucchini, Squash, Carrots- I blanch and place in freezer bags or food saver bags as well.
  • Fresh fruits can be frozen (place a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight).  Place in freezer bags for future smoothies.
  • Meat can be marinated and frozen with freezer bags or food saver bags.
  • Another option would be to cook the meat and make a dish with it and then freeze the prepared dish.  When you need a quick dinner – pop it in the oven or slow cooker. I love to use Dollar Store aluminum pans for these dinners!
  • Dehydrating fruit is a favorite in my house too! Food Dehydrators are easy to use and not expensive!  You can do it in the oven too but I’ve found the dehydrator to work much better!
•  Be sure check the non-clearance items around.  I’ve seen roasts marked down as clearance but the fresh (new) meat right next to it was cheaper per pound on sale.  The clearance price was based off the previous sale price and the new sale price was actually lower than the clearance off the regular price!
• Know what’s a good price.  Clearance isn’t always a deal.  $1.99/lb for chicken is my top price so if it’s marked down to $3.50/lb I’m still not going to buy it.  Don’t let the clearance tag fake a deal.

Watch the Register.

Cashiers today are FAST at scanning and the machines are even faster.  Watching the screen is probably the single most important thing you can do at checkout to avoid being over charged.   The biggest culprit?  Produce that needs a code entered. I once got charged nearly $5 a pound for 99¢ a pound apples because the code was 1 digit off!  Be sure you weigh your produce yourself too! Scales can be WAY off! I once was charged for 10 pounds of apples – but i knew the scale in produce showed it was only 5 pounds.  After checking another register they realized that scale had been damaged- overcharging who knows how many customers.

Be sure that the price you expected based on the ad or the shelf tag is what rings up- many stores have scan guarantee so if they charge you more- you get that item FREE!

Watch that items aren’t accidentally scanned twice and that the sale price you expected shows up.

If you are using coupons- watch that they are scanned and applied (or doubled at stores that double).

Get your Cash Back.

Rebate apps are my FAVORITE. These are not the rebates of the past when you needed to mail in forms- these are activate, buy and redeem.

Here are my top favorite phone apps for saving (or earning) money:

Ibotta: Buy a product, scan your receipt and then see the money placed in your Ibotta account.  Earn $10 and cash it out and have the money placed in a paypal account. You can use coupons in store too!

Checkout51: Buy a product, scan your receipt with the app (you can also use a computer) and then see the money placed into your Checkout51 account.  Save up $20 and cash out! You can use coupons in store on *some* offers. be sure to read the fine print of each offer.

Fetch:  Earn points for purchasing select brands.

Coin Out: Earn a few pennies for each receipt uploaded.

Coupons: A refresh from Coupons.com these are now rebates instead of printables. You can print coupons here.

Use your age to your benefit.

Age has its benefits.  On Thursdays, Harris Teeter offers 5% off to shoppers aged 60+ (great time to take Mom or GrandPa shopping with you!)  Publix offers 5% discount on Wednesdays.  Lowes Foods does not have a published Senior discount. Food Lion does not have a published Senior discount.

Harris Teeter also offers a student discount at select stores near college campuses. These select stores offer 5% student discounts with Student ID.  Ask your store if they participate & if they do register with your VIC card!

Use Coupons

I Love using a good coupon but recently they’ve been harder and harder to come by!  The Sunday Newspaper has been seriously lacking coupons lately (see the upcoming insets here) and even the printable coupons available here have been pretty slim but there are still savings to be found.

Harris Teeter doubles coupons .99 and under everyday and at Publix you can use a Publix store coupon AND a manufacturer coupon on the same item!

The biggest savings will come when you use that coupon when the item is on sale.

 

The next two tips might cost you a little more THIS week but next week will have your bill down even lower.

Do the Math.

Fake sales are the WORST!  Stores often run a sale on one size of a product and with their big tags and “SALE” signs…we think that it makes it the best buy….until we do the math.

For example we often see the 100 count napkins at Harris Teeter on sale for $1.00 but the 500 count is regular price at $2.99.  The 100 count costs $0.01 per napkin but the 500 count is $0.00598 per napkin.

If you are going to buy a package of napkins every few weeks why not get a bigger package that lasts longs for nearly 40% less money?

Stock Up.

Every item is not on sale every week at the grocery store.  Have you ever noticed that generally Pepsi and Coke will trade off being the “better” sale?  And Keebler and Nabisco cookies do the same?  Each week SOME type of peanut butter might be “on sale” but it won’t always be a good price.  When something is SUCH a good price instead of buying just what you need this week and coming back next to pay whatever price they feel like charging- buy a few.

For example, if you can get jars of pasta sauce for 75 cents and you eat pasta once a week it would make sense to buy 4-5 (or more) jars of pasta sauce depending on how large your family is and how much storage space you have.  Then you won’t need to buy the pasta for a month or more and pay $3+ per jar.

This tactic only works if you have a place to store the items and the commitment to keeping track of what you have and expiration dates.