Our grocery costs are out of control. Again. During a recent road trip, during which my husband and I would have hours to kill while our kids listened to their iPods or watched movies, we decided to crunch some of our monthly numbers, since it felt like we were coming up short once again. And we were. Here’s what we discovered:
- My income is down again.
- Our grocery costs are up.
Now kudos to us for cooking at home nearly every night, one of the reasons that we’re spending more at the grocery store. (You get that math, right? When you stop wasting money eating out, you inevitably start running up your grocery bills–at least beyond where they used to be when you weren’t eating at home.) However, some recent entertaining at home–finally, now that our home renovation is complete–found us spending way more than normal at the supermarket when stocking up for entertaining. Plus, the dip in my income hasn’t helped with spending up.
The good news is that we have plenty of grilling necessities left over from that entertaining to keep us going on dinners for at least a week. The bad news is the number crunching confirmed that we are spending more on food. But the good news again? It’s the one area where we can likely cut back if it’s the obvious place where our budget is bleeding.
But beyond meal-planning and coupon-cutting, what more could we do? I’m hoping that something called the Grocery Game will help to make the difference.
I first heard about the Grocery Game, when I was researching my money-saving article for Good Housekeeping, and the website’s PR person pitched the Grocery Game’s founder Teri Gault as a resource. (I did end up interviewing her for the story but that interview ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor, as I discovered when my story came out in the July issue.) Nonetheless, when I first heard about the Grocery Game, I’d mentioned it to my husband, who confessed he’d found out about the Grocery Game during his own frugal grocery-shopping research, and he thought it was worth signing up for. (You get your first 30 days for free.)
The notion behind the Grocery Game is that you “play” by stocking up on products only when they’re practically free or on super sale, with coupons, at your local grocery store. You know to do this because the Grocery Game scans all the supermarket fliers for you (read: time saver) and, on a weekly basis, posts a list of what’s on sale at the stores near you. In addition, this list includes which coupons appeared in your Sunday paper that week, so together you can stock up on necessities when they are the least expensive to buy.
Here is how the PR person pitched it:
The Grocery Game is a membership Web site that provides an easy and fun way for consumers to save 50 percent or more on groceries. The site tracks close to 10,000 items per week in more than 160 supermarkets nationwide to find the lowest priced items, both advertised and unadvertised, and matches these items with weekly specials and manufacturers’ coupons.
So for the next few months I’m going to be using it exclusively for our food shopping, and I’ll bring you along so you can see how much we’re saving and maybe learn a trick or two about new and different ways to save at the supermarket. My goal is to get our monthly grocery-shopping spending below $400.
I’m going food shopping tomorrow so I’ll post about how my first foray to the supermarket went, with The Grocery Game knowledge under my belt. If you have any experience with The Grocery Game, I’d love to hear how it worked (or didn’t work) for you.
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I’ve been using a free site similar to the Grocery Game that lists sales at stores and tells you where to find coupons for those items. I also follow a couple of freebie and deal blogs that help me find deals also. It has reduced our grocery budget dramatically. For me it helps offset the cost of more expensive items such as organic produce. I’ve also been able to get extras of some items such as shampoo and cereal at such low prices, or free, so I can donate it to a local food pantry.
What is the name of the free site? I would be interested to compare it with The Grocery Game. Thanks.
I’ve used the grocery game in the past (the trial of 4 weeks for $1). It worked fine, but why pay for something that you can get online for free. There are a TON of websites that show coupon match-up for most of the stores out there. All you need to do is a search for your store and the ad week…ie: ‘Harris Teeter 7/7-7/13′ or ‘coupon matchups Harris Teeter 7/7-7/13′. I live in VA so I use Southernsavers.com. Hope that helps.
But do these other sites actually show you what’s on sale in the stores–not just the coupons that are available to match the sales? So far I like the convenience of being able to see, in text, and in a different color of text, what is on sale and worth stocking up on. I find this to be a time saver over scanning the multiple grocery fliers that come in the mail. Please let me know if I’m missing something.
I went to the website and it looks interesting, but I probably wouldn’t want to do it because I don’t want to have to pay for it. I follow some other blogs that basically make my shopping lists for me with printable coupons and it’s all for free. I am very interested in seeing how it goes for you. I will be reading. . . .
Thanks. I would love to know which free blogs/websites offer a similar service. I, too, don’t want to pay to save money unless the service is so outstanding that ti’s worth it. I’ll keep you posted.
http://moneysavingmom.com/store_deals/
Look here to find the blogs. Subscribe in a feed reader. They generally point out the sales and the match-ups.
I have used Grocery Game for about six months and have cut my grocery spending in half! Our pantry stockpile is amazing, I am able to use “extra” money on organic items and treats that I would not normally be able to afford, and I am even able to donate surplus grocery and healthcare items to charity – a win/win/win situation. It’s well worth the very small cost per month! I also check on freebie and deal blogs, but nothing I’ve ever found is as comprehensive as Grocery Game!
I like Slickdeals.net, its free. Once on the site, rest your cursor on forums and then scroll down to B&M drugstores & grocery, click. Find the stores you are interested in and click. It helps me to plan purchases as I run out of things. Some store sale flyers are available 2-3 weeks in advance, others only one week. Using sales, store loyalty cards, coupons and slickdeals.net I have been able to get 60 boxes of cereal (Kelloggs conflakes & raisin bran) for free, 100 boxes of Zatarains Rice free, and 30 boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes for less than .25 a box. I donate alot to the food bank. Also, I shop throughout the week, I never clear the shelves. The things listed are just some of the things I have gotten free or for pennies in the last 3mos. I rarely pay for personal care and household products, and then only pennies (usually sales tax). Good luck with your experiment!
I did the Grocery Game for a little over a year, and it’s a great program. I had to stop because we moved to a gluten-free diet, and I started doing much more shopping at natural food stores. To the best of my knowledge, GG doesn’t support the natural food stores in my area. I loved it, but our needs changed, I stopped buying so much processed food, and I had to drop it.
Thanks for sharing these additional resources.
Thanks for letting me know. I guess you could still use Grocery Game to find out when fruits and vegetables are on sale but everything else processed is probably moot for you, right? Thanks again for posting.
Hi Leah! I am new to your site (heard you on NPR). Please let us know about this site because I have been interested. I bought the coupon mom book but haven’t gotten around to reading it. My husband and I are only 24 so our friends make fun of us alot for bargain shopping but I bet they are getting free hot dogs (2 for $1 at Albertson’s with a $1 off coupon)!
I go to groceryshopforfree.com for a quick look at upcoming deals and freebies.
So glad the segment on NPR led you to my site! I hope you’ll find my experience with The Grocery Game helpful, and I’ll be sure to check out the site you’ve mentioned, too.
I’ve never used the Grocery Game, because I get all my deal ideas from http://www.hotcouponworld.com. It’s free, has virtually every store listed in the US, and has extra perks like a coupon database, and coupon trading! It’s wonderful and I highly recommend it.
i use coupon mom.com its just like the grocerygame but free same deals and clippable coupons
I used Coupon Mom, too, for the coupons. I didn’t realize that she scanned the supermarket circulars as well. Where on the site do you find that information?
I just went to couponmom.com and I was a little disappointed. Out of all the stores in our area, it only lists Safeway, which I don’t shop that frequently– mostly due to poor quality produce, inconvenience and higher prices. Will have to weigh whether it makes more financial sense to shop the stores I know and scan the flyers and coupons myself. Eager to see how the Grocery Game pans out for you.
I used the GG for maybe 2 months. I did pretty well but one thing I found was that not all the prices listed for my stores were accurate. That made the “deal” not worth the effort. I started using southernsavers.com and couponer 101. There are so many out there that do the matchups for free and they seem to be more accurate on the local price. One other thing that didn’t work well for me. Here in Charlotte, NC the grocery sale ads run Wed – Wed. The GG publishes Sun-Sun. By the time “the List” came out most of the good sales were bought out. Good Luck!
Good point! We have some Wed-Wed circulars, too.
My husband did the GG shopping last night so I’m going to debrief him and write my next blog post based on what he tells me. I do know that he ended up saving $60!
I think the grocery store is the best place to really take advantage of saving. I actually wrote an article that talks about creative ways to save when grocery shopping that I hope your readers will like. http://www.savester.com/blog/post/be-creative-when-grocery-shopping/