March 29, 2024

10 GROCERY SHOPPING HACKS That Will Save You Money!



Published May 15, 2023, 9:20 a.m. by Liam Bradley


In today's economy, every penny counts and that is especially true when it comes to groceries. The average family spends $150 per week on groceries, which can really add up over time!

There are a few simple things you can do to save money on your grocery bill without having to skimp on quality or quantity. Here are 10 grocery shopping hacks that will help you save big:

1. Make a list - and stick to it!

One of the easiest ways to save money at the grocery store is to make a list of what you need before you go shopping. This will help you avoid impulse buys and stick to your budget.

2. Shop the sales

Many grocery stores have weekly sales flyers that feature special deals on certain items. Plan your menu around what is on sale to save money.

3. Compare prices

Don't assume that the first store you go to is always the cheapest. Take the time to compare prices at different stores before you buy.

4. Use coupons

If you use coupons, be sure to pair them with sales to get the best deals. You can often find coupons in the Sunday paper or online.

5. Buy in bulk

If you have the storage space, buying in bulk can save you money in the long run. Non-perishable items like paper towels, toilet paper, and laundry detergent are often cheaper when bought in larger quantities.

6. Buy generic brands

In many cases, generic brands are just as good as the name brand products but cost less. Give them a try and see if you can save some money.

7. Skip the pre-cut produce

Pre-cut fruits and vegetables are often more expensive than buying them whole. Save money by cutting them yourself.

8. Bring your own bags

Many stores offer discounts for customers who bring their own reusable bags. This is a great way to save money and help the environment.

9. Avoid processed foods

Processed foods are often more expensive than simple, whole foods. Save money by cooking meals from scratch using fresh ingredients.

10. Shop around for deals

There are many ways to save money on groceries if you shop around for deals. Check out discount grocery stores, online grocery delivery services, and even grocery store loyalty programs for additional savings.

You may also like to read about:



- These are 10 grocery shopping hacks

guaranteed to save you money each and every time

you visit your favorite store.

Hack number one, nowhere to look.

When you approach a grocery store shelf,

how do you generally stand?

You look at eye level,

and with most of the world's population right-handed,

we do this movement.

And stores know we're going to do that,

so they place the items

that have the highest profit for the retailer

at eye level, front-end center.

And some of these items have markups

that work to the store's advantage.

So my advice, look up, look to the side,

look down for less expensive options.

You can see right here for the case of this pasta sauce,

at eye level, it's much more expensive,

but as I pan down or we move our gaze downward,

the prices drop.

This is also the case with wine, fruit snacks,

and countless other items.

Grocery stores also use that front-end center trick

to incentivize you to buy bulk size items

which aren't always the lowest price.

As you can see right here,

for the case of this bulk size popular peanut butter brand,

the big size is not always the best value.

If you look down on the lower part of the shelf,

you'll see a more normal size peanut butter

which might actually be in budget for you,

and the one that most people intended to buy

in the first place.

This was the case at multiple grocery stores I visited.

Hack number two,

you can often break meat or fish packages at the counter.

If you see meat packages or fish from a grocery store,

and you only need four burgers instead of eight,

and they're sold by the pound

and not from a third-party brand,

bring the package over to the respective counter.

The butcher or whoever handles the seafood

if you're doing this with fish,

will often repackage and reprice the item for you

so you're not stuck buying a bunch of items

you don't actually need.

If your local grocery store refuses to do this,

you can just buy the meat in bulk and freeze it.

Did you know you can also negotiate?

If an item is about to expire

or has just passed its sell-by date,

the customer service desk

is often willing to negotiate a better price.

As an example, I found this ground beef package

which was expiring on the same date

I shot the video, May 18th.

So I went to the associate in the meat department,

and I asked if she could cut me a break on the price.

She gladly took out her machine

and gave me a price that was 20% lower.

The whole exchange took less than a minute out of my day

and I saved money.

Hack number three, know the best day of the week

to shop for groceries,

and that's often Wednesday.

For whatever reason,

most grocery stores release their circulars on Wednesday,

and are restocked by this date with plenty of promotions.

You can also ask an employee from your local grocery store

when they normally stock for the week.

Usually, on whatever day that is

is when they also clear out older inventory

and put a lot of items on sale for 50% off

to try to get rid of it.

You can also use a coupon at almost every grocery store.

Instant grocery store coupons are easily accessible

from coupons.com,

which has a huge selection dedicated to grocery store items.

And even the native app for your favorite grocery store

will have many digital coupons ready for you to stack.

There's also the Ibotta app

which handles cash back for groceries,

which is easily another video

which I'm happy to make.

If you want that,

just let me know in the comments.

If coupons aren't your thing,

or you can't be bothered downloading a bunch of apps,

hack number four, Aldi should be your best friend

when it comes to scoring the lowest price.

This video is not sponsored in any way,

but if you watch my channel regularly,

you'll recognize that not only does Aldi

have cheaper meat produce and staple items,

but they actually have fewer items to choose from,

diminishing your chances of an impulse purchase.

As an example, organic bananas are 67 cents at Aldi

and 72 cents at Walmart.

Cabbage, 65 cents at Aldi and 82 cents at Walmart.

And that list goes on.

If you don't have access to an Aldi store nearby,

another great way to stay one step ahead of grocery stores,

which I covered in a prior video,

is to know stores sometimes manipulate unit prices

to their advantage,

and you can play a grocery store at their own game.

Let's use this pack of Albacore tuna as an example.

The tuna in the sealed pack is $1.64,

and contains 2.6 ounces of tuna or 74 grams.

This can of the exact same tuna is 6 cents less per can

at a $1.58 and contains four ounces of tuna,

so you're getting more tuna for less money.

But if you don't have a unit calculator

or you don't stop to do the math,

it's very difficult

when stores shift their units of measurement side by side

from pounds to grams, to fluid ounces.

So sometimes take that extra minute of math,

and understand the biggest package

is not always the cheapest.

I'll have some shocking insight

tied to fruit and veggie purchases for 0.6,

but first, hack number five, dart for the dairy aisle.

Have you ever noticed the dairy section

is at the very back of your grocery store?

That's on purpose.

On almost every shopper's list,

there's at least one dairy item,

and stores know that,

so they stash that item at the back of the store.

While you are on your journey to the back of the store,

stores know you'll make all sorts of other impulse buys,

so I always head straight to the dairy section.

I kind of cover my eyes.

Actually, at one point,

I inadvertently body checked a senior shopper.

Anyhow, we're friends now.

She comes over for dinner,

I clear her driveway every winter,

and I'm more careful when I walk.

Take pictures of your fridge and pantry

before you go grocery shopping

to avoid buying that third jar of something you don't need.

If you struggle with impulse buys

like so many other people,

it might be time to buy your groceries online.

And before you get all riled up over delivery fees

in the comment section,

every major grocery store

will allow you to grocery pickup for free,

protecting your shopping spree

from all that additional marketing

and product placement in the store itself.

For hack number eight,

I have advice that goes against everything

you've ever been told,

but first, for point six,

buy fruits and veggies when they're in season,

otherwise buy them frozen.

And I've linked to a chart below

which tells you what to buy when.

You'll notice on that chart,

cauliflower, as an example,

is in season all year.

Which means pretty much any day is a great time to buy it.

Alternatively, if you look at fresh corn,

it's generally only the best value

between June and October due to its seasonality.

Outside of those months,

you'll likely get a better value

purchasing canned or frozen corn,

as fresh corn will likely be at a higher price.

If you're someone who budgets every month

to buy organic fruit or vegetables,

there are actually some fruits and veggies

where buying organic doesn't make a big difference.

Every year, the EWG publishes a list

of popular fruits and vegetables

that have a low level of pesticide,

which at that point,

there's no major advantage to buying organic.

For hack number seven,

before I get to a credit card show stopper,

always join a grocery store's loyalty program

because you will get a better price 100% of the time,

and access to more discounts

as annoying as a grocery store's spam

email list might be.

Most grocery store cashiers

are also willing to scan a generic store membership card

for you that they have on hand.

You can always tell them you don't live in the area

and you can still unlock most of the discounts.

Now, when it comes to credit cards,

if you wanna slash your annual grocery spending,

the Blue Cash Preferred Amex

gets you 6% cash back on your grocery bills.

The Capital One Saver credit card gets you 3% back

at grocery stores.

And even the Bank of America Cash Reward card

gives you double the points on grocery store purchases.

Saving you anywhere from $400 to $1,000 per year

on just groceries.

Other credit cards from Amex and Chase

give you free Walmart Plus grocery delivery,

DoorDash, or Uber grocery delivery memberships for free.

In some cases, with the current crazy cost of gas,

some grocery delivery services

could offset the price of gas

depending on how far you are from a grocery store

or if you live in a city with extreme traffic.

Hack number nine will ensure grocery stores

don't mess with your mind when it comes to the sticker.

But first, hack number eight,

you've always heard the advice,

make a list and stick to it.

And while that old advice worked before inflation,

with the situation we're in,

the new advice,

let the grocery store prices dictate what to buy.

While this advice sometimes comes with an asterisk.

Look at all of the promotions available

inside a grocery store.

What are the manager's specials?

What's in the circular?

What's newly marked down?

What are you seeing that you haven't seen in a while

that's now reduced?

Build your meal plans based on what you find on sale.

Websites like SuperCook will build your meal plans

based on all of the actual deals

you'll find inside a local grocery store.

Cooklist is another great meal planner

where all of the deals this week are tied to poultry,

from chicken tacos, to chicken cacciatore,

chicken bolognese, lasagna,

whatever it is that you are making,

it will not make every night feel like chicken night

in your house,

even if that's mostly what you purchased.

In the bonus section of this video,

I will expose a very popular food item

you almost never wanna buy free.

But first, hack number nine,

don't always pay attention to the expiry date

printed on a package.

Stores are overly conservative

when it comes to expiry dates,

and they want you to buy more

before you've completely enjoyed a product.

Check out the free website, stilltasty.com,

which I've linked to below,

that exposes a more accurate expiry date

for your favorite products.

The FoodKeeper app from the Department of Agriculture

is another free app that helps you optimize freshness

based on how you store your food.

Grocery stores also have a rotating clearance rack.

Most shoppers are aware of clearance racks

from traditional retailers,

but your grocery store often has a clearance rack of shelves

that change their deals once or twice a week.

Ask customer service where the clearance rack is located

on a particular week

as store managers frequently move it around.

Before I get to some crazy bonus grocery shopping secrets

for my next hack,

did you know that some items

hit their all-time lowest price of the year

during a certain month,

making it your best time to stock up?

The month of may, as an example,

is prime time to stock up on Memorial Day focused sale items

like condiments, barbecue charcoal,

chips, paper plates, and sandwich fixings.

The month of August is your best time

to stock up on school lunch items,

pudding cups, single serve juices,

lunchables and crackers.

March is frozen food month,

making frozen meals, and entrees, veggies, and side dishes,

as well as desserts, and juice concentrates

your top buys at their lowest price of the year

in the month of March.

And if you look below,

I'll link to the best items to purchase

for every corresponding month.

And now for the bonus hacks,

including how to never pay double,

which I'll get to in a moment,

but my first bonus hack is tied to some items

you typically buy at the grocery store

that are actually less expensive from a drug store

like CVS or Walgreens.

For example, when I'm shopping for my family,

dairy products, including milk,

are often cheaper at my local Walgreens.

Half a gallon of name brand milk is $2.79 at Walgreens.

At Walmart, it ranges from 2.87 to 3.64,

and at Target, it's $3.49,

making Walgreens the best bet in my area.

The next hack is tied to a little grocery DIY

to avoid you paying double.

Most of us realized that bagged lettuce

is more expensive,

but you might not realize by just how much.

Wash your own lettuce.

Prices are almost double

when you pay for the convenience factor.

A full head of iceberg lettuce at Walmart

is $1.68 for 1.88 pounds.

If you bought a shredded bag of the equivalent,

you'd be paying $3.47 for one pound.

And finally, when it comes to some types of seafood,

don't be fooled by the word fresh.

For example, most fresh shrimp

that you see at grocery stores

is previously frozen for roughly half the cost

by frozen shrimp to begin with,

and don't pay for someone else to defrost it.

I hope you enjoyed my grocery hacks.

Thank you so much for watching.

I love you, bye bye.

Resources:

Similar videos

2CUTURL

Created in 2013, 2CUTURL has been on the forefront of entertainment and breaking news. Our editorial staff delivers high quality articles, video, documentary and live along with multi-platform content.

© 2CUTURL. All Rights Reserved.