Five Ways To Save Money On Groceries

I like to keep money around for a rainy day and one of the ways I do that is by saving money on purchases such as groceries. This all started a few years ago when I was trying to build up my rainy day fund and was trying to cut back on expenses.

By doing some research I found that I could save a couple of hundred a year on groceries if I did it right. And I guess I did do it right because I did save a few hundred a year for a few years. Here's how I did it.

(This post includes affiliate links. Should you make a purchase I  may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.) 

1. Sales

This is probably the easiest way to save though on its own it's probably not going to save you the most money. You can find out about grocery sales by

• Downloading apps for your local grocery stores
• Going old school and looking through the circulars you receive in the mail
• Follow bloggers like Southern Savers who post the best grocery sales

When I look for sales I'm not looking for sales that are for a percentage off. I'm looking for serious sales buy 1 get 1 or buy 2 get 3. I've typically seen these types of sales for boxed or frozen items. You rarely see them for produce or dairy products.

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2. Coupons

Like sales, coupons on their own aren't always a huge money saver. The best ways to save money with coupons are to combine the coupons with a sale and/or take advantage of the stores double or triple coupon policy.

In today's digital age there are several options for getting coupons several that don't require clipping them out like mom or grandma used to do. My favorite coupon site and app are:

Coupons.com

You can have coupons uploaded to your grocery store card (if your store is on the list). Or you can opt to print and cut them out. 

Ibotta

This is an app where you select your grocery store and then the products you'd like to save on and they are added to a list in the app. Once you've bought the products you scan the UPC for the products and scan the receipt. Within a day or sometimes less the savings amount is added to your account. You can cash out once you've amassed $10.

The great thing about this is you have the option to save on generic/store brand products or brand name products. Signing up is easy and you could earn $10 when using my referral link or code 77pwa. The downside here is stores aren't able to double the coupons for you.

Checkout 51

This works similarly to Ibotta. After downloading the app and creating an account you go through and select the offers you want. There are offers for groceries, beauty, health, home supplies and more.

After you make a purchase you scan your receipt and the UPC of the product if needed. After a day or so you'll get a notification if the scan was approved and the cash back will be credited to your account. You can cash out after you hit $20.

3. Sale and coupon stacking

This is the biggest money saver and how I have saved a couple of hundred on groceries a year. Here's how this works. Say the grocery store has a buy 1 get 1 free sale which basically means I get two for the price of one. Well, I have two coupons for that product and use both, getting even more off!

Here's an example from one of my trips:
Buy 1 cereal, get 1 free = $3.50
Use one $0.50 coupon that's doubled
Use one $0.50 coupon that's doubled
Final cost $1.50 for 2 boxes of cereal ($2.50 if coupons aren't doubled)

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4. Discount grocery stores

While I use sales and coupons regularly I do a lot of grocery shopping at discount stores like Aldi and Walmart. I've found that at discount stores I can save quite a bit on produce, frozen foods, and boxed items.

5. Buy store brands

If couponing isn't your thing then buying store or generic brands could be the way to go. I've found that many times the generic brand is just as good or better than the brand name product. Plus, the generic brand can save you several dollars per product which can add up over time.

Here's a good example. Tostitos at Walmart cost $3.98. The Walmart Great Value store brand costs $1.98. That's a $2 savings for a bag of chips! If you buy multiple store brand products imagine how much you can save during one shopping trip.

How do you save money on groceries?