Hunting for deals? These simple tips will save you money when at SC grocery stores
There’s no need to pay top dollar for every item at your local supermarket — and you shouldn’t.
Most major chain stores spend tens of millions of dollars each year advertising their sales to help you save a few bucks each time you visit their store. Throughout the year, those savings add up.
Here are some simple ways to save money during your next trip to the store.
Sign up for reward memberships
It can be annoying to have to continuously give your email address to merchants, but there are real benefits to signing up for your nearest grocery stores’ reward programs, even if you aren’t a regular.
Becoming a rewards member is usually the first and easiest step to save at most major grocery store chains and doesn’t require much personal information. Supermarkets like Food Lion, Publix and Kroger all offer customers this option for free and you can sign up online or at the store.
Rest assured, those discount savings seen on tags throughout the store add up quickly.
Online coupons
If you still enjoy clipping coupons the old fashioned way, that’s fine, but it can sometimes be overwhelming and messy.
Once you’re a member of your preferred grocery store, you can sign in to your account prior to shopping and check out some of the in-store deals for the week. This allows you to “clip” or load coupons digitally to your account that will automatically process when you use your membership card at checkout.
These coupons will also apply on top of your existing membership rewards discount prices.
Places like Food Lion also offer options that give money back on your next trip when you purchase a certain amount of select items, such as vegetables, juice and meats. Publix also tracks your previous purchases and will notify you when something you bought is BOGO, or buy one item and get another one free.
Money-conscious shoppers can also consider placing a pick-up order online which offers a similar opportunity to buy only what you need and to shop for the best prices before leaving your home.
Shop traditional
There are also more basic and traditional tricks to shopping smarter when hunting for deals, like not shopping on an empty stomach. Let’s face it, almost everything looks good when you’re hungry! But this leads to impulse buying or stacking up unhealthy, overpriced items or hot-and-ready foods from the deli which are more expensive than basic ingredients you could use to make those same items at home.
Grabbing a smaller cart will also force you to limit your spending. Buying too much food may also result in spoiled fresh items, like vegetables and fruits, within a week or two before you can eat them all.
Because stores have weekly deals, using a smaller cart also allows shoppers to take advantage of existing deals and avoid pricier items that will soon be on sale in the coming weeks.
