Fantastically Frugal: Grocery Store Secrets part 1

Everyone must eat. It is as simple as that. I have a love-hate relationship with the grocery store. I know we must eat, and I need to buy the food. But it is at this point that the power struggle begins. For most families food is the second largest bill, next to their mortgage or rent. We spend a lot of money on food. So…why the power struggle? I do not want to give the grocery store any more money than I have to.

I worked in a grocery store for almost ten years so that has something to do with this love-hate relationship as well. That experience gave me many insights into this industry that I am going to pass on to you. Groceries are big business as I have said. Grocery stores spend tons of money figuring out ways to get you to spend more of yours. Everything from the music that is played while you shop, to the layout of the store, is designed to capture more of your hard earned dollars. Your job as the shopper for your family is to hold on to as much money as you can, while acquiring as much food as you need. It sounds easy enough, but as I said before the stores are betting against you.

Why else would we go in for milk, and leave with six bags of groceries? Jillian and I are going to spend the next few columns trying to give you some tools to regain some power in this struggle.

The first thing you need to do is to go in with a plan. I really mean it. Not just a list, but a plan. The sale ads are where you begin. If you get the print newspaper the ads should come to you each week in the Wednesday paper. If you are like us and get your news online, they should arrive in your mailbox.

Jillian and I do freezer cooking together. This means we plan together, and shop together. It makes a mundane task a lot more fun, and much more productive. We sit down with the sale ads, coffee and our list and plan what we are going to buy based on the ads.

Grocery stores have items called loss leaders. They are usually found on the front page of the sale ads. These are sale items that the prices are so low that the store is actually losing money or sometimes breaking even. Why would the store lose money on groceries? Simple. The other six bags of groceries. The stores know that once you are in the store, you will most certainly be buying other items. If they have done their jobs well, enough of your dollars will fly out of your wallets to make up the difference.

Loss leaders are your friend if you learn the game. Think of it as a game. Cheat the grocery store before they cheat you. Ok, so they are not really cheating you. We all need to make money right? True enough. But, I would like to keep more of my money thank you very much.

So, sale ads, go in with a plan, and shop the loss leaders. Next get out of the habit of shopping at one store. We have several stores we frequent. Unless you are way out in the country there are options. We shop the loss leaders at all the stores. This does not mean we shop all the stores all the time. In fact we try to only shop twice a month. I really don’t like grocery shopping so I try to have shopping days and only go when the ads are the best.

Loss leaders are mainly meat and produce. The meat prices for many people in this economy have been out of reach. It seems lately the stores are responding. At least in our area I have seen meat prices as low as I can remember. Pork loin for $1.69 a lb, whole chickens for $0.69 a lb, chicken leg quarters for $0.67 a lb are just a few of the great deals we have picked up in the last few weeks.

In the next installment we will discuss more sale ads secrets, grocery store layout (there is method to their madness), coupons and price books.

Until Friday,
Brandy and Jillian