How to Shop the “Expensive” Grocery Stores for Less
How Shopping at “Expensive” Grocery Stores Can Lead to Huge Savings on Groceries
If buying groceries consumes a large portion of your household budget, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. If you do it the right way, you can shop the more expensive grocery stores and get your favorite brands while spending less money than you would pay for generic items at some “discount” grocery chains.
You Get What You Pay For
When families on a tight budget shop for groceries, they often choose discount stores such as Aldi. They do this because these types of stores usually offer very affordable prices and less-expensive brands. The problem is that the quality is not always the best and some of the buys aren’t really as great as they first seem. For instance, you can buy 100-percent quality juice at a higher-end grocery store for $3.00 a bottle, while the discount store only charges 98 cents for their juice. The problem is that the less-expensive juice is actually only 10-percent juice and the rest is basically sugar water. When you consider the detriment to your family’s health, the cheaper product doesn’t seem like the best idea, does it? Fortunately, there is a better way to buy the brands you want without having too pay prices that make you cringe.Combining Coupons with Weekly Sales
If you shop at higher-priced stores such as Albertson’s (which also owns Lucky’s and Jewel), you can still end up with a lower grocery bill after you get done loading up your shopping cart with all your favorite groceries. The key to huge savings at this type of grocery store is to use coupons in conjunction with the weekly sales items. For example, Jewel recently had Mr. Salty’s 6-Pack Handi-Snack pretzels and cheese on sale for $1 each. Normally, this snack item costs $2.59. While that deal alone is great, if you add in the 45-cent coupon that was in the paper a few weeks ago, you actually get the $2.59 product for 55 cents. You can’t get that price at a discount grocer and you don’t have to hassle with bringing your own grocery bags and bagging your own purchase.
Take a look at the sales circulars every week for a few supermarkets in your area. Identify the sale items each week and match them up with your manufacturer’s coupons. Also clip any coupons in the flyer that will give you additional savings. Sometimes higher-priced grocery stores will give $5 off a $50 purchase or some similar deal.
Even though their regular grocery prices are higher than the discount stores, don’t shy away from the so-called “higher-priced” grocery stores. Clip your coupons and head to the grocery store you have always wanted to shop at. You will be surprised at how many groceries you will come home with while staying within your grocery budget.