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Since we need to purchase food items regularly, it’s only natural for us to find grocery bargains whenever we can. It is always nice to get a true sale. It makes us feel as if we hit the jackpot. What is a true sale? A true sale is a sale that consists of items that have been genuinely marked down.

See, there are two kinds of sales. There are sales that appear to be sales but really are just items that have been marked down after a significant mark up. For example, we may see a jar of grape jelly that regularly costs $3.95 but it has been marked down to $2.95. However, there may be 5 more stores selling that same jar of grape jelly for $3.19.

Is this a sale? Sure it is! Should we take advantage of it? Absolutely! Money saved is money saved. However, this is not the type of sale that makes us feel as if we hit the jackpot. We want the grocery bargains that make us feel as if we are actually getting a true sale.


Listed below are four ways we can find the best grocery bargains online or offline (in order of simplicity):



1. Ask your grocer if there are any clearance items or over-stocked items

This is the most obvious way to save and that is why it is number one. It is so easy that it often gets overlooked as an option. Many times, we may go in the grocery store and walk right by the clearance items and straight into the isles to pay full price.

Sometimes, we may not see the clearance items. Other times, we may just have a weird feeling about clearance items. We may feel as if these items are defective or spoiled in some way.

In some instances, this may be the case. There may be a few items that have been on the shelf too long. Some items may have peeled labels. Some canned items may even be dented. Even with this, there are still good deals to be found in the clearance section.

There is nothing wrong with taking precautions. Pick the grocery items out of the clearance section as if you were picking fruit from the produce section. Use good judgment.

Also, try not to forget that a grocery store is a business. If they sell us spoiled or undesirable food items, we can return them. If we happen to purchase an item that makes us ill, we can take legal action against the store. Either way, it is bad for their business.

So take advantage of the clearance items. You may get some good brand name items for a very low price. And if you are not the type of person who is too concerned with brand names, you can find grocery bargains by doing the following…


2. Purchase store brand items.

Not all store brand items are created equal. Some store brand items are great while others leave much to be desired. Even still, most of them are average to above average in quality. They also cost a lot less than major brand name grocery items.

It is possible to save 75 cents or more per item by just buying grocery store brand items. Think about it. If you bought 10 items, that’s $7.50 or more in savings. 20 items would be $15 or more in savings.  Do this once per week and you can save over $750 per year.

Now, what if you just swear by store brands. There are probably some things that you just don’t want to sacrifice. This is understandable but there are some things that you can sacrifice. For example, cooking oil. There cannot be that much difference between the major leading brand cooking oil and store brand cooking oil. Oil is oil. A few other items that come to mind are eggs, orange juice, milk, sugar, frozen vegetables and paper towels.

If this is still unacceptable to you because you cannot see yourself buying anything other than leading brand groceries, there are a couple of solid ways you can get good grocery bargains on your favorite items.


3. Join shoppers mailing lists, shopping clubs and don’t throw out those circulars and newspapers.

People throw away money every week without even knowing it. Someone may buy the weekly paper and grab the sports, classifieds and business section and toss out the stack of coupons and sale notices hidden inside. How about the person that gets a stack of grocery circulars in the mail and tosses them away because they see them as junk mail.

There is no need to do this. Save those circulars and fliers. They come every week and every week someone is advertising a new way for us to save money. We never see what we can save because we are too quick to toss these papers out for whatever reason (busy schedule, don’t want a paper pile, etc.). Find the time to look through them. If you don’t see anything you like, then toss them out but you will not know unless you look.

There is also an issue with people collecting coupons. They do not want to be the person at the grocery store holding up the line with a pile of coupons. This is understandable.

However, don’t let this stop you from saving money. There are ways around this. You can shop on a weekday or you can shop when the store first opens or is about to close. This way, you wont have to worry about holding up the line…and you can still save money.

Now if you are not receiving any circulars or coupons, you can join a shoppers mailing list to receive grocery bargains. You can do this offline or online. Often times, when you sign up for these lists, they send you a lot more than just coupons. Sometimes, they send you notices for cooking classes, cooking contests and other special events. Some of these classes and events are sponsored by well-known chefs and/or restaurants.

So sign up for a few grocery shoppers lists. You never know. You may get an invitation to a wine tasting or to a cooking class taught by a world renowned chef.

The very last way to get grocery bargains is the one that gets overlooked the most. It is also the one that may not be so obvious.

4. Call the toll free number on the back of your favorite item.

You know that toll free number that you see on the back of many grocery items? Guess what...there are real people on the other side of that number. Its hard to believe if you never called that number, but it is true. Those people are actually there to take your questions and comments. They want your feedback. This is how they do market research.

There is a little known secret about these toll free numbers. If you call them and give them positive feedback about their item, often times they will send you a coupon in the mail for this item. Sometimes, these coupons are for a free item or free trial offer.

It is actually a very smart move on their part. By giving you a coupon or a special offer, they are actually giving you a reason to go back to the store and buy the item.

Now, don’t treat this as a scheme to get grocery bargains. Only call the number if you genuinely love the product and you genuinely want to leave feedback. First of all, there is no guarantee that you will get a free coupon or special offer when you call and leave your feedback.

Secondly, there is just no reason to do this. You can simply call the number and ask them to put you on their mailing list (or email list) and send you free coupons, discount offers and other special information.

There is no shortage of grocery bargains. They are available just about every week. We just have to be smart enough to take advantage of these bargains whenever they pop up.  Every market in the country knows that consumers love discounts. This gives us a lot of buying power. We need to use that power to save ourselves some money. It doesn’t matter how big or small the savings is. Money saved is money saved.