- These are 10 grocery shopping hacks guaranteed to save you
money each and every time you visit your favorite store. Hack number one, nowhere to look. When you approach a grocery store shelf, how do you generally stand? You look at eye level, and with most of the world's
population right-handed, we do this movement. And stores know we're going to do that, so they place the items that have the highest
profit for the retailer at eye level, front-end center. And some of these items have markups that work to the store's advantage. So my advice, look up, look to the side, look down for less expensive options. You can see right here for
the case of this pasta sauce, at eye level, it's much more expensive, but as I pan down or we
move our gaze downward, the prices drop. This is also the case
with wine, fruit snacks, and countless other items. Grocery stores also use
that front-end center trick to incentivize you to buy bulk size items which aren't always the lowest price. As you can see right here, for the case of this bulk size
popular peanut butter brand, the big size is not always the best value. If you look down on the
lower part of the shelf, you'll see a more normal
size peanut butter which might actually be in budget for you, and the one that most
people intended to buy in the first place. This was the case at multiple
grocery stores I visited. Hack number two, you can often break meat or
fish packages at the counter. If you see meat packages or
fish from a grocery store, and you only need four
burgers instead of eight, and they're sold by the pound and not from a third-party brand, bring the package over to
the respective counter. The butcher or whoever handles the seafood if you're doing this with fish, will often repackage and
reprice the item for you so you're not stuck
buying a bunch of items you don't actually need. If your local grocery
store refuses to do this, you can just buy the meat
in bulk and freeze it. Did you know you can also negotiate? If an item is about to expire or has just passed its sell-by date, the customer service desk is often willing to
negotiate a better price. As an example, I found
this ground beef package which was expiring on the same date I shot the video, May 18th. So I went to the associate
in the meat department, and I asked if she could
cut me a break on the price. She gladly took out her machine and gave me a price that was 20% lower. The whole exchange took less
than a minute out of my day and I saved money. Hack number three, know
the best day of the week to shop for groceries, and that's often Wednesday. For whatever reason, most grocery stores release
their circulars on Wednesday, and are restocked by this date
with plenty of promotions. You can also ask an employee
from your local grocery store when they normally stock for the week. Usually, on whatever day that is is when they also clear
out older inventory and put a lot of items on sale for 50% off to try to get rid of it. You can also use a coupon at
almost every grocery store. Instant grocery store
coupons are easily accessible from coupons.com, which has a huge selection
dedicated to grocery store items. And even the native app for
your favorite grocery store will have many digital coupons
ready for you to stack. There's also the Ibotta app which handles cash back for groceries, which is easily another video which I'm happy to make. If you want that, just let me know in the comments. If coupons aren't your thing, or you can't be bothered
downloading a bunch of apps, hack number four, Aldi
should be your best friend when it comes to scoring the lowest price. This video is not sponsored in any way, but if you watch my channel regularly, you'll recognize that not only does Aldi have cheaper meat
produce and staple items, but they actually have
fewer items to choose from, diminishing your chances
of an impulse purchase. As an example, organic
bananas are 67 cents at Aldi and 72 cents at Walmart. Cabbage, 65 cents at Aldi
and 82 cents at Walmart. And that list goes on. If you don't have access
to an Aldi store nearby, another great way to stay one
step ahead of grocery stores, which I covered in a prior video, is to know stores sometimes
manipulate unit prices to their advantage, and you can play a grocery
store at their own game. Let's use this pack of
Albacore tuna as an example. The tuna in the sealed pack is $1.64, and contains 2.6 ounces
of tuna or 74 grams. This can of the exact same
tuna is 6 cents less per can at a $1.58 and contains
four ounces of tuna, so you're getting more
tuna for less money. But if you don't have a unit calculator or you don't stop to do the math, it's very difficult when stores shift their units
of measurement side by side from pounds to grams, to fluid ounces. So sometimes take that
extra minute of math, and understand the biggest package is not always the cheapest. I'll have some shocking insight tied to fruit and veggie
purchases for 0.6, but first, hack number five,
dart for the dairy aisle. Have you ever noticed the dairy section is at the very back of your grocery store? That's on purpose. On almost every shopper's list, there's at least one dairy item, and stores know that, so they stash that item
at the back of the store. While you are on your journey
to the back of the store, stores know you'll make all
sorts of other impulse buys, so I always head straight
to the dairy section. I kind of cover my eyes. Actually, at one point, I inadvertently body
checked a senior shopper. Anyhow, we're friends now. She comes over for dinner, I clear her driveway every winter, and I'm more careful when I walk. Take pictures of your fridge and pantry before you go grocery shopping to avoid buying that third jar
of something you don't need. If you struggle with impulse buys like so many other people, it might be time to buy
your groceries online. And before you get all
riled up over delivery fees in the comment section, every major grocery store will allow you to grocery pickup for free, protecting your shopping spree from all that additional marketing and product placement in the store itself. For hack number eight, I have advice that goes against everything you've ever been told, but first, for point six, buy fruits and veggies
when they're in season, otherwise buy them frozen. And I've linked to a chart below which tells you what to buy when. You'll notice on that chart, cauliflower, as an example, is in season all year. Which means pretty much any
day is a great time to buy it. Alternatively, if you look at fresh corn, it's generally only the best value between June and October
due to its seasonality. Outside of those months, you'll likely get a better value purchasing canned or frozen corn, as fresh corn will likely
be at a higher price. If you're someone who budgets every month to buy organic fruit or vegetables, there are actually some fruits and veggies where buying organic doesn't
make a big difference. Every year, the EWG publishes a list of popular fruits and vegetables that have a low level of pesticide, which at that point, there's no major advantage
to buying organic. For hack number seven, before I get to a credit
card show stopper, always join a grocery
store's loyalty program because you will get a better
price 100% of the time, and access to more discounts as annoying as a grocery store's spam email list might be. Most grocery store cashiers are also willing to scan a
generic store membership card for you that they have on hand. You can always tell them
you don't live in the area and you can still unlock
most of the discounts. Now, when it comes to credit cards, if you wanna slash your
annual grocery spending, the Blue Cash Preferred Amex gets you 6% cash back
on your grocery bills. The Capital One Saver
credit card gets you 3% back at grocery stores. And even the Bank of
America Cash Reward card gives you double the points
on grocery store purchases. Saving you anywhere from
$400 to $1,000 per year on just groceries. Other credit cards from Amex and Chase give you free Walmart
Plus grocery delivery, DoorDash, or Uber grocery
delivery memberships for free. In some cases, with the
current crazy cost of gas, some grocery delivery services could offset the price of gas depending on how far you
are from a grocery store or if you live in a city
with extreme traffic. Hack number nine will
ensure grocery stores don't mess with your mind
when it comes to the sticker. But first, hack number eight, you've always heard the advice, make a list and stick to it. And while that old advice
worked before inflation, with the situation we're in, the new advice, let the grocery store
prices dictate what to buy. While this advice sometimes
comes with an asterisk. Look at all of the promotions available inside a grocery store. What are the manager's specials? What's in the circular? What's newly marked down? What are you seeing that
you haven't seen in a while that's now reduced? Build your meal plans based
on what you find on sale. Websites like SuperCook
will build your meal plans based on all of the actual deals you'll find inside a local grocery store. Cooklist is another great meal planner where all of the deals this
week are tied to poultry, from chicken tacos, to chicken cacciatore, chicken bolognese, lasagna, whatever it is that you are making, it will not make every night
feel like chicken night in your house, even if that's mostly what you purchased. In the bonus section of this video, I will expose a very popular food item you almost never wanna buy free. But first, hack number nine, don't always pay attention
to the expiry date printed on a package. Stores are overly conservative when it comes to expiry dates, and they want you to buy more before you've completely
enjoyed a product. Check out the free
website, stilltasty.com, which I've linked to below, that exposes a more accurate expiry date for your favorite products. The FoodKeeper app from the
Department of Agriculture is another free app that
helps you optimize freshness based on how you store your food. Grocery stores also have
a rotating clearance rack. Most shoppers are aware of clearance racks from traditional retailers, but your grocery store often
has a clearance rack of shelves that change their deals
once or twice a week. Ask customer service where
the clearance rack is located on a particular week as store managers
frequently move it around. Before I get to some crazy
bonus grocery shopping secrets for my next hack, did you know that some items hit their all-time
lowest price of the year during a certain month, making it your best time to stock up? The month of may, as an example, is prime time to stock up on
Memorial Day focused sale items like condiments, barbecue charcoal, chips, paper plates, and sandwich fixings. The month of August is your best time to stock up on school lunch items, pudding cups, single serve juices, lunchables and crackers. March is frozen food month, making frozen meals, and entrees,
veggies, and side dishes, as well as desserts,
and juice concentrates your top buys at their
lowest price of the year in the month of March. And if you look below, I'll link to the best items to purchase for every corresponding month. And now for the bonus hacks, including how to never pay double, which I'll get to in a moment, but my first bonus hack
is tied to some items you typically buy at the grocery store that are actually less
expensive from a drug store like CVS or Walgreens. For example, when I'm
shopping for my family, dairy products, including milk, are often cheaper at my local Walgreens. Half a gallon of name brand
milk is $2.79 at Walgreens. At Walmart, it ranges from 2.87 to 3.64, and at Target, it's $3.49, making Walgreens the best bet in my area. The next hack is tied
to a little grocery DIY to avoid you paying double. Most of us realized that bagged lettuce is more expensive, but you might not
realize by just how much. Wash your own lettuce. Prices are almost double when you pay for the convenience factor. A full head of iceberg lettuce at Walmart is $1.68 for 1.88 pounds. If you bought a shredded
bag of the equivalent, you'd be paying $3.47 for one pound. And finally, when it comes
to some types of seafood, don't be fooled by the word fresh. For example, most fresh shrimp that you see at grocery stores is previously frozen for
roughly half the cost by frozen shrimp to begin with, and don't pay for someone
else to defrost it. I hope you enjoyed my grocery hacks. Thank you so much for watching. I love you, bye bye.
