Save Dat Money: Tips and Tricks for the Grocery Store
I like to be able to go out and have a good time and not be concerned about how much money I have in my bank account. Last minute brewery day? I'm there (Terrapin please!). Want to go see a concert in an hour at the Georgia Theater? Sure, I can afford it. 2 am Insomnia cookies? Let's go! I am able to do this by managing how much I spend at the grocery store each week. Right now I am saving money to be able to take a trip to New Orleans at the end of October for GA/FL weekend. Since a lot of students travel on that weekend too and probably need to save money as well, I have decided to share some tips and tricks on how to reduce your college grocery budget right here in Athens that you may not have heard before, that I follow pretty consistently.
Most of these tips have to do with Kroger, so if you don't shop there, sorry.(not sorry)
A lot of students claim the reason for the hefty total at the bottom of their receipts is due to their choice to eat only organic foods. Well, enter with an open mind because a lot of the food I purchase is organic and half the price! So here we go...
Coupons:
So I do not know why this is the case, but I never hear any of my college friends talk about using coupons. I use them all the time! Did you know you can pre-load your Kroger card with coupons before you go shopping through your phone or computer? If you register your Kroger card online and create an account than you have access to all of the digital store and manufacturer coupons that Kroger has to offer. Click "load to card" and your ready to go! Bonus: sitting down and finding coupons before going out to shop will help you figure out what you are going to buy before you arrive, reducing impulse buying. For those of you who are resisting because you like organic foods, I bought four boxes of Annie's organic mac and cheese for a total of $2.50 this week using a digital coupon and a manufacturers coupon with a 10 for 10 sale; this normally would have cost over $7 for four boxes.
Clearance:
Okay so this is probably my favorite part about Kroger. Most stores that think their products are about to expire or think that a box for granola bars got dinged and is now too ugly to sell, throw the products away! (I'm lookin at you Publix) There are some instances where they simply have too much and dispose of the food to make room. I hate food waste and so should the stores because they lose out on the profits. Well instead of throwing the food away Kroger marks it down! They will reduce the price of anything. An over stock in tomatoes can win you a bag of 6 tomatoes for only $0.99 (these were also organic tomatoes). One week I even got 4 avocados for a total of $0.99. My favorite purchase to get is the discounted croissants that did not sell the day before. And coming back around to those granola bars, I got two name brand boxes for $1.50 each just because they were dinged up; these normally go for almost $4. Also, you can usually use your digital coupons on the clearance prices. Now with this strategy you can also get discounted meat, but usually you need to be prepared to either cook and eat it right away or freeze it as soon as you get home and defrost as needed.
Timing:
These are my go-to money savers at the grocery store, however it usually requires more time to be invested than if you were to just show up and buy everything full price with no coupons. The best time to come to Kroger prepared with your digital coupons is anywhere between 12 pm and 2 pm on a weekday. Why you ask? Because this is usually right after they rotate the inventory, meaning they just pulled those two day old tomatoes off of the produce shelf to make room for the new tomatoes, same for bread and meat. All of the food they just pulled off gets a new price tag and is placed in its respective clearance bin. That means if you arrive right after the rotation, you get to snag the best clearance items before they get picked over. Also, there are usually not that many people shopping at this time of day so you can actually look for the right product that matches your coupon without feeling rushed or "in-the-way" of other shoppers. My personal method is to go around to the different clearance sections and see what is marked down first and then build my menu for the next week or so based off of that.
So with all of that being typed out, I sound like the crazy coupon ladies from the old TLC series. However, I know that every time I feel goofy calculating how to save an extra $0.50 on something in the middle of Kroger, I am $0.50 closer to being able to afford a random lunch date with my friends or being able to afford that extra Bloody Mary on Bourbon street in New Orleans next month.
What are your favorite ways to save some money?
Most of these tips have to do with Kroger, so if you don't shop there, sorry.(not sorry)
A lot of students claim the reason for the hefty total at the bottom of their receipts is due to their choice to eat only organic foods. Well, enter with an open mind because a lot of the food I purchase is organic and half the price! So here we go...
Coupons:
So I do not know why this is the case, but I never hear any of my college friends talk about using coupons. I use them all the time! Did you know you can pre-load your Kroger card with coupons before you go shopping through your phone or computer? If you register your Kroger card online and create an account than you have access to all of the digital store and manufacturer coupons that Kroger has to offer. Click "load to card" and your ready to go! Bonus: sitting down and finding coupons before going out to shop will help you figure out what you are going to buy before you arrive, reducing impulse buying. For those of you who are resisting because you like organic foods, I bought four boxes of Annie's organic mac and cheese for a total of $2.50 this week using a digital coupon and a manufacturers coupon with a 10 for 10 sale; this normally would have cost over $7 for four boxes.
Clearance:
Okay so this is probably my favorite part about Kroger. Most stores that think their products are about to expire or think that a box for granola bars got dinged and is now too ugly to sell, throw the products away! (I'm lookin at you Publix) There are some instances where they simply have too much and dispose of the food to make room. I hate food waste and so should the stores because they lose out on the profits. Well instead of throwing the food away Kroger marks it down! They will reduce the price of anything. An over stock in tomatoes can win you a bag of 6 tomatoes for only $0.99 (these were also organic tomatoes). One week I even got 4 avocados for a total of $0.99. My favorite purchase to get is the discounted croissants that did not sell the day before. And coming back around to those granola bars, I got two name brand boxes for $1.50 each just because they were dinged up; these normally go for almost $4. Also, you can usually use your digital coupons on the clearance prices. Now with this strategy you can also get discounted meat, but usually you need to be prepared to either cook and eat it right away or freeze it as soon as you get home and defrost as needed.
Timing:
These are my go-to money savers at the grocery store, however it usually requires more time to be invested than if you were to just show up and buy everything full price with no coupons. The best time to come to Kroger prepared with your digital coupons is anywhere between 12 pm and 2 pm on a weekday. Why you ask? Because this is usually right after they rotate the inventory, meaning they just pulled those two day old tomatoes off of the produce shelf to make room for the new tomatoes, same for bread and meat. All of the food they just pulled off gets a new price tag and is placed in its respective clearance bin. That means if you arrive right after the rotation, you get to snag the best clearance items before they get picked over. Also, there are usually not that many people shopping at this time of day so you can actually look for the right product that matches your coupon without feeling rushed or "in-the-way" of other shoppers. My personal method is to go around to the different clearance sections and see what is marked down first and then build my menu for the next week or so based off of that.
So with all of that being typed out, I sound like the crazy coupon ladies from the old TLC series. However, I know that every time I feel goofy calculating how to save an extra $0.50 on something in the middle of Kroger, I am $0.50 closer to being able to afford a random lunch date with my friends or being able to afford that extra Bloody Mary on Bourbon street in New Orleans next month.
What are your favorite ways to save some money?
Seems like groceries are always such a major expense in college. I never think about ways to reduce this but instead just accept the fact that I have to pay for them. Especially never thought about couponing since when I think about that I imagine cutting pieces out of magazines. Now with technology, digital coupons are easily accessible on your phone. Also never thought about how timing could affect discounts. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteThis is so smart, I literally never knew you could pre-load coupons onto your Kroger card! I'm definitely going to try using that more often because I feel like I never go out of my way to bring coupons so having them right there on my phone would definitely help. Also I loved how interactive you are with your blog, keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your post - I just got back from a trip to Kroger actually! Being a college student, we are always looking for ways to save money. I have always known about the Kroger points and have collected them since Freshman year but never have taken advantage of it - I will definitely use your advice! I really liked the friendly tone you kept throughout your post and your relevance to your audience - keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other comments! I love shopping at Kroger because everything is discounted! As a college student it is helpful to know how to save money and where is the best place to do that. I have a Kroger Plus card but I never knew you could preload coupons on it! I just brought the little coupon book full of papers to see what I can buy there! I personally have to buy rather expensive foods because I am lactose-intolerant and gluten-intolerant, so my diet has to be very specific. I appreciate the post, it is very helpful!
ReplyDeleteWow, such an awesome and insightful post! I am literally always complaining about how my groceries suck up all my money. I am also a big Kroger shopper and I did not know that you could pre-upload coupons onto your phone, that is such a great digital aspect that Kroger is incorporating. Next time, before I make that daunting grocery list I will be sure to upload some coupons. Thanks so much for sharing your tips!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else! I love your ideas! I never knew you could pre load digital coupons onto your Kroger card, I always just use the app to check my rewards points before getting gas. I am definitely going to go and look on there before going shopping this week, and I am also going to try to go to the store between those hours and look at their clearance items. I think it's a great way for Kroger to have a bigger digital presence while also trying to help people save money.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I love how casual you are throughout your post! These tips are amazing, I never knew that you could load coupons onto your Kroger card before you go shopping! That is so awesome! Being a college student, I definitely need to save as much money as I possibly can. Thanks for the great tips!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great post and it's so smart! Every time I go to Kroger I just throw things in the cart and then get to checkout and have racked up a huge bill, but I didn't realize grocery shopping didn't have to be so expensive. I never knew you could preload coupons to your Kroger card, but that makes it so much easier to use them. Thanks for sharing these tips, me and my wallet will definitely be happier after my next grocery trip!
ReplyDelete