By Mike DuBose
Food is one of the largest family expenses. Rising food prices and busy schedules while providing economical meals are challenging In our earlier article, we examined the four largest South Carolina food chains (Kroger, Food Lion, Publix, and Walmart). We compared onsite prices using 21 of the most popular brands and products sold by grocery stores in a carefully controlled experiment. Walmart proved to be the most economical (up to 24 percent savings).
Now, let’s focus on food-buying strategies to find the best deals and freshest products.
Design Weekly Menus: While they seem tedious, planned meals serve as buying-roadmaps and help prevent impulsive buys. Studies document families who project their meals ahead spend fewer dollars and experience less waste. However, rather than developing your menus and then seeking products, reverse strategy—project future meals around advertised deals.
Identify Discounts: Download a great app www.flipp.com to select your grocery and other local retailers. Then, view online weekly, promotional flyers, and specials versus visiting stores for hard copies. To maximize savings, shop at multiple sites. Average families buy groceries twice a week, so make grocery-runs in a “single-planned-day” to save on automobile expenses and time.
Maximize Savings With Apps, Loyalty Programs, and Digital/Paper Coupons: By enrolling in retailers’ loyalty memberships, you’ll receive frequent coupons and alerts such as “Buy-One-Get-One-Free” specials and free products.
Examine Pantries and Refrigerators Before Shopping: You’ll likely find expiring “Use-By” items and left-overs to go on the table and not trashed, while avoiding duplicate purchases. Research shows families waste 30 percent of foods they buy
Shop On Wednesdays: There are fewer shoppers in the stores, especially early morning. Publix has 5 percent senior discounts and new ads, or clearance items are launched by vendors on this day so you might take advantage of both expiring and new sales. Look for price markdowns which become available 1-2 days before “Sale-By” dates, especially 9 am or evenings in meat sections. Remember “Sale-By-Dates” appear earlier than “Consume-By-Dates.” Many stores re-stock shelves on Tuesdays and Fridays, so Wednesdays have abundant, fresher products.
Create Your Grocery Item Chart: While shopping, document and learn prices for best discounts. Carefully buy the lowest cost-per-unit savings since five-pound bags of sugar are now four-pounds Manufacturers cleverly create products to appear like the ones you have previously bought, but only smaller at higher prices We found larger Honey Nut Cheerios Cereal 18oz. boxes were $1 cheaper at Walmart than identical 15oz. ones sold by competitors Since Cheerios comes in 12-21 ounces, pricing, box sizes, and appearances are deceptive
Avoid shopping hungry Seeing and smelling all that delicious stuff can unconsciously load up grocery carts
Create Grocery Lists and Stick to Them: They reduce impulsive buying. Organize your items by category, like meats, to hasten trips but be alert for unannounced sales.
Buy Generics and Store Brands: They’re lower-priced (sometimes produced in same name-brand factories) with similar quality, saving families about $1,000 annually.
Document Store Sales Cycles: Grocery chains place the same items on sale every 6–8-weeks, so document calendars when lowest-priced items are advertised and buy enough to last until next promotions.
Prep Meals at Home: Cooking in batches, using slow cookers, rotating, and mixing leftovers, and serving meatless meals can significantly reduce costs. Limited dining out also saves money, but having fun and laughing with friends is cheaper than seeing a psychiatrist
Choose Nutritious, Low-Cost Foods: Eggs, beans, frozen vegetables, rice, potatoes, and seasonal fruit offer great, low-cost nutrition.
Avoid Taking Children Grocery Shopping They’ll distract your saving focus and want everything they see
Track Grocery Spending: Budgeting and documenting purchases reduce grocery expenses 10–25 percent. Charge everything on two percent Cash-Back credit cards to review monthly expenses while obtaining refunds. Based on spending over several months, create a family budget that will guide how much to spend.
Carefully Buy Organic Products: They’re more expensive and often aren’t organic, unless USDA seals are displayed, since “Organic” has many meanings. Vigorously rinse fruits and vegetables with water to remove bacteria, dirt, and pesticides. Using detergents isn’t proven to be any more effective than H2O. Wash your hands with soap before and afterwards.
Seek Clearance Sections: Often, they have surprises. Remember, the highest-priced items are placed at shelf-eye-levels.
Use Artificial Intelligence: Expert Shopper Eddie Spencer, who provided tips for our article, suggested, “Make detailed food lists, plug them into AI like chatgpt.com or Grok.com and ask, ‘Where to find best discounts in city/state for my food-list.’ ”
Shop in Bulk: Extensively used purchases on sale save money if you have storage space. Meat is extremely expensive so watch for sales. Purchasing an inexpensive, frost-free freezer with a 5-year warranty is useful when great deals surface (Meats, vegetables, bread, some fruits).
Visit Local Farmers’ Markets: They generally run April-October and offer great deals with the freshest fruits and vegetables. To find them, Google, “Farmers’ Markets (City/State).” Lowest discounts are retrieved at end of the day.
Take Advantage of Fuel Savings: Retailers like Kroger and Sam’s Club offer discounts. Cosco provides members with top-rated Tier-One gas at lowest prices.
Monitor Receipts: Mistakes occur during checkouts so resolve problems before leaving stores. Consumer Reports documented pricing isn’t always updated in checkout systems.
The Bottom Line: Saving on groceries doesn’t demand sacrifice or losing your mind—it requires strategy. With thoughtful planning and smart shopping, families of four can reduce food spending by $3,000 annually. Play food-shopping like fun games and you’ll save a bunch For a detailed version of this article, visit www.mikedubose.com/groceries. Bon appétit.
E-mail Mike at [email protected]. He voluntarily authors articles for 5 newspapers to fulfill his purpose “Creating opportunities to improve lives.” Visit his nonprofit website www.mikedubose.com and register to receive his monthly articles or Daily Thoughts plus free access to his books, including “The Art of Building Great Businesses.” The website includes more than 100 published articles he has written on business, travel, and personal topics, in addition to health research with Surb Guram, MD, Allison Cashman, MD, and David Hurst, DMV.
