The best way for
me to fill my freezer, stay within a miniscule monthly budget and beat the
escalating rise in grocery prices is to take advantage of loss leaders and
special pricing offered to me by the grocery stores that I have signed up for
their rewards programs. Loss leaders and
special offers are designed to get you into the store knowing that the majority
of shoppers will not only buy those items, but the rest of the things on their
lists. I’m not one of those shoppers.
 |
| Special offers on shrimp & salmon, markdown meats plus $3 discount offer |
I typically have
two shopping lists going – one for items I need now and one for items I know I
will need in the future. Based on those
lists I will unashamedly go into a store only to buy the loss leader items in
the sales ads or the special offers I downloaded from the website, pay and
leave. Sometimes I spend a fair bit of
my budget to stock up and sometimes I only spend a few dollars on a single
item. It all depends on what I need and
what is on my shopping list.
Loss leader sale on sausage for $2.99 each
The special
offer items I get from my rewards cards are typically in the form of price
reductions and sometimes include dollar off with purchase offers. If it works for me I will often stock up on loss
leaders and special pricing items until I reach the amount I need to spend in
order to qualify for an additional discount.
Most recently I’ve been taking advantage of $5 OFF $50 Purchase, $1 OFF
$10 Purchase, $3 Off $30 Purchase
offers happily giving me an additional discount of $14 off of my grocery purchases
in the past couple of months.
 |
| Loss leaders, special offers & markdown meats |
Nearly every time
I go into the supermarket I take a quick trip through the store to check for price
reduction stickers or manager’s specials.
Most of the time I am looking for meat and produce, but I occasionally
will find them on dairy products and even pet food. Price reduction stickers on meats typically will
allow me to purchase my meat for half price.
Recently a special digital offer allowed me to buy two large two pound
bags of raw shrimp for 75% less than the regular price it sells for. When I find these deals this is when I stock
up.
Loss leader pork sausage for $2.99 & 99¢ toothpaste
Special digital offer for evaporated milk 75¢ each
After dividing
the shrimp into meal size portions I vacuum sealed nine packages making each
one cost me a mere $1.78 per package.
That is a phenomenal price for shrimp.
I also picked up a large London broil cut of beef on markdown for $10.10. I divided in half and vacuum sealed each of
those for the deep freezer. I plan to
use them for entertaining guests or a special holiday meal.
 |
| 9 vacuum sealed packages of shrimp - $1.78 per package |
 |
| NY Strip steaks slice from a roast on sale for $5.99 a pound |
At Easter time I saw in the Albertson’s grocery ad a digital offer on NY Strip roasts along with a digital offer for $3 OFF a $30 Meat Purchase and a $5 OFF A $50 Grocery Purchase. If found a good size roast for $26 to meet my needs and some additional packages of markdown meats to meet the requirements for the $3 discount and by the time I got the rest of the loss leaders I also needed I had made the $50 purchase requirement for the $5 discount. I was able to cut up the roast into seven nice sized NY Strip steaks, cut up one of the other packages of meat into three steaks for three different meals and along with all my other groceries received an additional discount of $8 making my groceries even more affordable.
My entire
freezer and deep freezer is filled with a variety of cuts of beef, pork and
chicken all purchased on markdown or from special pricing offers as well as salmon
fillets and shrimp. About every two
months Albertsons offers me special pricing on a pound of vacuum sealed salmon
fillets. The latest offer was for a
package with four fillets priced at only $4.99.
For me that was an easy decision.
Loss leaders and
sales are all cyclical so it pays to watch those sales ads and when you see something
you typically use that is the time to stock up and buy those items. Over the year you will notice that when you are
patient and wait for those offers you save A LOT of money.
I have no problem doing the same thing! I went in today and only bought what offers were on the digital app. I saved $11.50 and got a free pound of bacon in the app. I also bought two pounds of ground chuck for $8 and I will get at least 8 packages of taco meat out of that. This week, I can use my employee discount card (from my son) to get 25% off all store brands. So I guess I need to get a list together!
ReplyDeleteFree bacon?! I'm jealous!
DeleteGreat deals!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI absolutely do this. Loss leaders and clearance are my main ways of purchasing.
ReplyDeleteAt Kroger I look for meat, bread/bakery (has to be something I can't make cheaper like hamburger buns for 50 cents or artisan sandwich bread for 87 cents) or nonfood (vitamins,
shampoo) I found a big box of diapers for my daughter's baby at half price. They also had bags of Dunkin ground coffee marked 75% off. Sometimes it seems hit or miss I suppose it depends on who's doing the markdowns. Some weeks I find stuff that 50 - 75% off and other weeks it closer to 30%. I don't usually buy if it's only 30% lol!
While sometimes I find a good deal on produce at Kroger there's two other stores I hit up for produce where I can almost always find clearance items. One of these stores also will have a good meat special on occasion like chicken quarters for 69 cents.
Shopping isn't something I do for pleasure but I sure do like finding grocery bargains.
Grocery bargains are always a highlight of my shopping. Great deal on the diapers and coffee!
DeleteI do this too. I don't have a vacuum sealer, but you've got me considering the purchase.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way they stave off freezer burn.
Delete