How To Save Money At The Supermarket

Supermarkets are built with tricks and challenges designed to make you spend more than you planned. But with a little preparation, you can safely avoid them and save money. We have some grocery tips this week!

Two Cents on Twitter: @twocentspbs

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Two Cents was created by Katie Graham, Andrew Matthews, Philip Olson CFP® and Julia Lorenz-Olson and is brought to you by PBS Digital Studios. We love dropping some knowledge on all things personal finance and helping you make better money decisions.

Two Cents is hosted by Philip Olson, CFP® and Julia Lorenz-Olson
Directors: Katie Graham & Andrew Matthews
Written by: Andrew Matthews & Julia Lorenz-Olson
Produced by: Katie Graham & Amanda Fox
Images by: Shutterstock
Music by: APM

Works Cited:

Stephanie Clifford. (July 17, 2011)
At Stores, Making 5 for $5 a Bigger
Draw Than 1 for $1 The New York Times.

Emily Co. (Feb. 29, 2016)
15 Sneaky Ways Supermarkets Get
You to Spend More. Popsugar.

Michelle Crouch. “50 Supermarket Tricks
You Still Fall For”. Reader’s Digest.

Sophia Tulp. (Jun. 26, 2017)
Millennials eat up savings by dining
out a lot, study shows. USA Today.

Mary Ellen Biery. (Oct. 3, 2016)
The 15 Least Profitable Industries
in the U.S. Forbes.

Stock footage from Prelinger Archives.

[Theshakingfist]

Just don't eat. Wasting money on the vice of eating weakens the mind. Just absorb the humidity of the air and hope that you inhale a fly for extra protein.

[hognigk]

I was always taught that the best defence was a good offence so I’ll go to the supermarket and try to sell them stuff and play mind games on them. See how they like it.

[FaizanAli-opxe]

When you are broke. No tricks or treats can fool you.

[hooligaan]

> "you're just gonna walk away? After everything we've been through?"
Lol

[MrReddit]

Eat before going to the supermarket and you would not have the urge to buy too much food

[lennywright]

I walk to the grocery store, nothing makes you weigh how much you’re spending more than having to carry it all home.

[Loveroffood]

One tip that I wanted to add along with making a grocery list is also making a menu. To kind of explain a little bit what you're doing with that grocery list also figure out ideas for meals that you can make that will last about 2 weeks. This is what my mom did Growing Up with 8 people in my family and it always seemed to work out well for them and stay under budget pretty good.

[leelya]

I'm so glad this channel exists it's growing so fast I can already see them hitting 100K subs!

[chameleonhound]

I found that while I was in college, riding my bike or walking to the grocery store made a big difference in how much I purchased. Having to get home with all of it in my backpack really limited the impulse buys. And it was good for the environment too!

[aaronsmith]

As someone who worked at a Supermarket for over a year and a half, I have a few tips:

Always buy more produce and grains than anything else. It doesn't matter if you're vegan/vegetarian or not. Not only will it cost significantly less, it's healthier, it fills you up more, and they're packed with nutrients and often have the best sales regardless of the week.

Plan your meals out a week in advance or more and shop seasonally. By doing this you'll save tons of money. Some things are only available or on sale at certain seasons, learn them and learn how to incorporate them in a meal.

Don't take advantage of the sales on sodas or pastries. Even if it is a sale, you're still spending more than you'd spend if you just found a cheaper, healthier alternative or cut them out completely, and they're the worst for your health.

Meat, seafood, and anything that's made "in-house" is the most expensive, bar-none. Also, the international aisle(s) are your best friends.


ALWAYS buy generic(with few exceptions). Most of the time generic brands are less expensive than name brands and are either made with the same ingredients, taste/function the same, and/or are the exact same thing and might even be owned by the same company as the name brands.

ALWAYS GET THE REWARDS CARD IF IT'S FREE!!!! I don't care if you're tired or don't want the hassle of filling out a few forms or entering in your phone number. Most sales only pertain to people who have rewards cards nowadays and those savings do add up. I can feed myself for a week on $60 or less. That's less than 1/4 of my current income.

Speaking of which, the store's brand is almost always cheaper. Find out what it is and look for products that you need to buy that can be found in their brand. What I said about generic brands typically applies here(again, with few exceptions).

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CLEARANCE SALES/DISCONTINUED ITEMS!!! A clearance sale either means that an item in the store is about to be replaced with a similar item but made/distributed by a different manufacturer, or the store's own brand, and it will be dirt cheap. I've been able to get months worth of shampoo and such for less than $7.

That being said, don't always take advantage of a sale just because it is a sale. You don't need to buy everything that has a price tag. Make sure you only get what you need(no, not what you think you need or what you want), and stick to it *rigidly.* Exercise some will power and don't just start absent-mindedly filling up your cart with items that you don't need and aren't going to use. Of all the things I've listed here, this is one of, if not THE most important tips I can give you.

You can save a lot of money by freezing things. Either ingredients like vegetables and fruits or whole meals like pasta, soups, and burritos. Then whenever you don't feel like cooking or just want a quick meal, you can either thaw it out overnight or pop it in the microwave and/or warm it up. This will save you a ridiculous amount of money.

You can substitute a lot of ingredients with cheaper ones for almost any meal you're making. Do that. When I make stir fry, I use either ramen noodles or rice. Saves me a ton of money

Don't be afraid to shop around at different stores or go online or even to dollar stores. Some places will sell the same item for a lot cheaper, memorize and compare prices. Also, pro tip: some stores have a "price guarantee" thing programmed into the registers where if you mention that the item being rung up is sold relatively cheaper at a different Supermarket, they can hit that button, enter in that price, and give it to you for that. It mostly isn't done because people don't typically memorize and compare prices, and it's a hassle to everyone and annoys cashiers and customers alike, but if it saves you money... However, your mileages may vary as I can't say which stores do or don't do this, so it's best to just ask.

You don't always have to take advantage of coupons, especially if you're like me and don't typically consume/use enough of the item in question to justify using the coupon. That said, if you're going to use coupons(and this should go without saying but after having worked at a Supermarket for a year and a half, sadly, it does need to be said), FFS read your flipping coupons and make sure that they aren't expired(not every place accepts expired coupons), what amount of the item you're required to buy, how much money it'll take off, what specific brand it applies to, and memorize that store's coupon policy, because some stores limit the amount of coupons you can use per item, per household, per day(you can thank extreme coupon-ers for that one).

Don't put items that are priced by weight in the same bag even if they're priced the same. A yellow squash and zucchini that are both priced $1.99 per lb are going to cost you more total than if you just got them separately because some of them are larger so they add to the weight, which adds to the price. I saw it all the time when people stupidly put habañeros and jalapeños in the same bag, and end up getting charged more because jalapeños weigh more than habañeros even if they're both peppers and priced the same by weight.

Don't be a regular at the store no matter what the reason. You come there a *MAXIMUM* of 3 times per week. Once to get what you're gonna get, a second time in case you couldn't get all you needed to the first time for whatever reason, and a third time for returns/something goes bad or breaks/you ran out of something. That's it. Not only will you save on food, you'll save on gas too.

And lastly, I don't care what's going on in your life, unless your cashier is particularly being a prick, ALWAYS be polite, patient, and nice to your cashier and don't be an entitled, nasty asshole. We already don't get paid enough to do what we do and our jobs are stressful enough, so listen up because I will say this only once: if you are a dick to us, it doesn't matter who you are, we will do EVERYTHING within our power to inconvenience and piss you off that we can get away with, including and up to; not caring or paying attention to how much we charge you for things or whether or not we ring them up correctly, intentionally charging you more for things, not serving you at all and hoping you get frustrated and leave, and not entering in your discounts or coupons. Stop thinking that if you just call the manager for everything that you'll just get what you want, that works less than half the time. But if you're patient, nice, and work with us, we'll be the same to you and we may even give you extra discounts, charge you for a cheaper item than what you bought, or even just "forget" about ringing you up for it entirely. Being an asshole will only ever make your interactions with us slow and agonizing, I promise, you are NEVER important enough that we will care if you stop coming to the store, so don't be a prick.

And there you go, happy shopping.

[sashamoser]

As someone who works at ALDI, I can attest to some of the selling schemes. Most notably with the flowers. They place them right at the entrance of the check out lane and I swear, every other person buys a $4.99 bouquet of some flowers that are looking dry and withered.

[jesso.]

Thanks for the tip! Hmmm my 2cents would be don't shop exclusively by brand label. I have a family member who swears brand labels are superior in quality and taste. Yet many of the more expensive brand labels have the same ingredients as the store label brand. You can be paying more for the nicer packaging. I'll take a not so nicely designed package if it means more savings and equal ingredients. Go brandless! :)

[PiXimperfect]

Loving this series! Thank you so much for making such high-quality videos :)

[MrNemitri]

One more tip; categorize items as need or want, you would be surprised how useful this is! I mostly buy what I need to survive.

I already did the bring your own music to the grocery store portion haha

[lorescien]

I love this series. Though I already know a lot of the information I've received here its good to have an entertaining reminder that those issues (such as eliminating debt and staying focused grocery shopping) always exist.

[andrewvelasco]

"[free samples] create a feeling of personal obligation" ==> so true! :/

[patricklippert]

Best advice I've gotten is shop the perimeter. The sides and back are where the meat, dairy, produce, and eggs are and the shelves in the middle are where the processed and premade food is (worse for you and more expensive). I'll go in the middle aisles for pasta, rice, beans, etc. Sometimes but avoid instant meals and junk food.

[christianlassen]

I love how fair you two are in your videos! Like this one, putting the plug in there in favor the the stores and their tactics for good reason. You're out to help people be more aware!

[aaronsmith]

I dont know about anyone else but around me more and more stores are straight up doing away with the little hand baskets or there hidden somewhere obscure

[sneekykelepir]

The references to the three Indiana Jones movies are a nice touch.