You’ve surely noticed that prices on everything are going up and groceries certainly aren’t any different. It’s a challenge to make the old paycheck stretch to fit the new pricing. Maybe you’ve always been aware that your store has sales each week, but now you really need to know how to reap the savings of grocery sales. (Sorry this is a long one…you might just wanna bookmark it for when you need it)
I’ve been there. When my husband was laid off in 2009, I went into self-preservation mode and thankfully found some great coaches to help me get started. But over time of course a lot of sales have changed. Afterall, the stores aren’t offering sales to help YOU save…they’re offering sales to get you in THEIR doors instead of their competitor’s!
Here’s a breakdown of the basic type sales out there as of today (October 2022). Be aware…the way some stores use these sales may differ by their specific store policies. I’ll note the ones I know here.
Frequent buyer cards
They go by a lot of different names, but most stores now have these cards for free. THEY use them to track what you buy and send you deals periodically. As long as it’s free, I have no problem with that.
I like the deals, and if anyone really was looking at what I buy, they’d know I’m not buying everything I need at any one store.They could probably track that I do buy their loss leaders often. I’m voting with my dollars and rewarding the prices I want to pay.
BOGO (Buy One Get One Free)
This is pretty much what it sounds like and if you like particular branded items, this sale is BIG savings. BOGO means your are essentially saving 50%…you can’t do better than that unless someone offers you something totally for FREE!
This one IS affected by store policies though so take note. At Sprouts, you pay full price for the first item and the second item rings up free. That means if you only get one, you still pay full price. You must buy both items to reap the savings.
The same goes for Publix in FL. But here in middle Tennessee, you can buy just one of the BOGO items, and you are charged half price. Maybe it’s a large type laundry detergent and you just don’t have room for a second one. You still get the benefit of the sale. Same for Kroger in Middle TN.
At Kroger this also works for items that are Buy One Get One of Equal or Lesser Value Free. Most of the time this is meats, but if you buy just one, you get it for half of whatever regular price is marked. If that roast is $21, you get it for $10.50.
Recently I’ve seen more Buy 2 Get 1 free. This amounts to a savings of 1/3 off each of the two items, I haven’t personally bought any yet to see if you can get just one and get that savings. Let me know if you try it!
10 for $10 (and all other variations of this)
For most stores, you can read right in the ad if you need to buy the full quantity indicated on this sale. It will generally have noted “when you buy all” followed by the quantity required. I often see this on 12 packs of Cokes (I grew up in TX…they’re ALL Cokes haha). Today I saw 3/$14 when you buy all 3.
If you don’t see the disclaimer, then you can buy any quantity you want and get the per item price. The trick is that you might not know what the per item price really is. 10 for $10 is pretty straightforward…each item is $1. 2 for $5 is also easy…each one is $2.50.
Here are some prices you might just want to memorize. You can’t tell if it’s a good price if you can’t compare per item!
- 4/$5 is $1.25 each
- 3/$4 is $1.34 each
- 3/$5 is $1.67 each
- 3/$7 is $2.34 each
- 3/$10 is $3.34 each
- 3/$11 is $3.67 each
Mix and Match sales
These can show up in really any quantities…I usually see Buy 5 most often but as pictured, this last week, it was Buy 3. The key things to know are you can mix and match anything with the special tags (some are in the sales flyer and some may just be marked on the shelves) and then you get the price shown for each item as those will vary.
If it’s a Buy 5 sale, and I want 5 of the Classico pasta sauce for example, I can just buy 5 of that one thing and get the sales price marked for each. But let’s say I only want 4. I look for the cheapest item on the sale, and if it’s something I could use, I just add that to the mix so I get the sales prices on all 4 items and that last addition.
What if you want more than the prescribed quantity? Once you reach the threshold they’ve assigned, any other items in that Mix and Match set that you add will ALL carry their sales prices! (This is a vast improvement from when they used to require you to buy full sets of 3 or 5 or whatever every time.)
Any other sales you’ve seen and questioned?
I’ve covered a boatload here. But if I’ve missed something you’ve seen and question, please let me know in the comments. I’ll update here as well as respond to your question.
Long story short, you CAN save on grocery sales if you pay attention. When the sales are good, use the opportunity to stock up if they don’t limit quantity. It pays off in the long run. Happy deal hunting!
Wanna check out this week’s sales for Mid TN, FL, or So Cal? Check those out here!
