Tips for grocery shopping
17 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Budgeting
The grocery store is there to make as much money as possible. And good merchandisers are arranging things to trick you into spending more than you should. They aren’t evil. They have their challenges in covering shrink (what’s lost from theft, breakage and expiration). They’re trying to cover that and still make a profit. Here are some terms that will help you in shopping.
Loss leaders – These are items that are placed in the ad with a shockingly low price. There are only a few in each ad. These items are like 18 ct eggs for 1.88 or shank ham for 0.79 a lb. The store actually loses money on these items. They figure that you will come in and buy other things that will end up covering their loss. If you don’t buy other things, you are what is known as a cherry-picker. Buy as many loss leaders as possible when you see them. Eggs last well past their expiration date. Meat, cheese and butter can be frozen. Canned goods have a long shelf life. Take advantage of these opportunities.
Grocery schedules – Things go on sale often in a predictable fashion. Here is a great post about this from Prudent Homemaker. Right now, we are in January. Everyone has their New Year’s Resolutions which often includes better health or losing weight. Chicken breasts are a great buy this month. Most you can figure out like eggs at Easter, bbq sauce in the summer, turkey at Thanksgiving and ham at Christmas. Stock up for as long as possible.
Look high and low – How many times do you have to go to the grocery store with kids and in a hurry to get home and get supper on the table? It’s easiest to grab what is at eye level while you’re trying to keep a toddler from grabbing something else off the shelf, one kid from running to the next aisle and the other from blocking the other half of the aisle while he’s lost in a daydream. Usually the lowest prices are on the top and bottom shelf. You’ll see this with beans and rice. The best deal is usually at the bottom.
Be wary of displays – Sometimes a loss leader will be put on an end cap but most of the time, you can walk down the aisle and find a different brand or different size that is cheaper. This is where a price book comes in handy. I have mine in my planner that I carry in my purse. I list an item, the unit size (lb, oz or item) and the price per unit for Sam’s, Walmart, Amazon, Dollar General, Kroger and our discount grocery store, Frugal Pantry. This way, I can look at the wall of values and automatically know if that truly is the best deal I can get on that particular item without having to check on the aisle.
Price per unit – Since I’ve been tracking this, I’ve been quite surprised that not everything that I thought was a good deal really was. I’ve seen that while Sam’s can cause you to waste a lot of money if you go in without a plan, their prices on spices, oats, baking powder, corn meal, etc cannot be beat. But The Frugal Pantry has better deals on rice, sugar and powdered milk. It pays to keep track.
Store brands – Some people have an aversion to store brands, but many have very little, if any, difference with the national brand. Actually, some national brands take their label off the machine, put the private label on and put the exact same product in the store brand container. I know this from my husband’s work in the business. But again, pay attention to price per unit and coupon policy. Sometimes, matching an awesome sale with a great coupon and/or coupon policy will get you the national brand for cheaper than the store brand.
Coupons – Sign up for any coupons that you can get in the mail. I get coupons from Kroger and usually get 1-2 FREE coupons every month or so. Find a great ad-matching coupon blog that posts links to coupons that you can print on things you need. I’ve stopped buying papers and spending all the time organizing coupons. I was barely covering the costs of the papers and with my busy schedule, it isn’t worth my time to save a couple of bucks. But you can still run across some good deals so don’t write off coupons completely.
