Where do you find the best deals when you are shopping for food? I live in a small town and find that I find food cheaper when I leave the town. We have one grocery store in the town so they can jack the prices up, and I get that. But it's not fair to the people who don't want to pay that money. I would rather drive the extra 20 minutes to go to another store where I will be able to find the food cheaper. So, where are you able to find the best deals on food?
Thankfully we live near several discount grocery stores, as well as locally owned ones (non big chains) and they are actually a little bit closer to me than the big chain stores, as well as places like Wal-Mart and Target which also carry groceries these days too. The main drawback is that their selection is much more limited, so when I do need some specialty items that they don't carry, I have to suck it up and go to the big chain stores and fight through crowds and stand in long lines to check out. There are many non-grocery stores carrying fresh(er) food items these days, that might be worth looking into. Places like Dollar Tree, Deals, Dollar General, and Family Dollar all have freezer sections now where you can find some occasional deals. Some items are more expensive than the grocery stores, such as lunch meats, cheeses, frozen pizzas, etc... but other items such as bags of frozen veggies, and certain frozen meals are $1 or less too. Their canned goods and other pantry items are usually reasonably priced as well.
@ohiotom76 wow, that is nice then because it does stink having to take so much time out to go shopping here. I find that the WalMart here actually has a good selection when it comes to food that you can buy from them. My family isn't super picky about what we eat, so sometimes we will just get some food there. Plus we are able to get better savings there, so how can you go wrong? Yeah, I have seen those. When I was living on campus in college I would go there because the food would be so cheap. It's good when you are on a budget.
I'm lucky enough to live close to the city centre so I have a good selection of grocery stores all within 5-10 minutes walk away. This makes it easier for me to shop around and compare prices. There is a convenience store close to my house but I refuse to pay thier over-inflated prices. A little effort can save a significant amount.
Prices on similar items vary from store to store on a weekly basis, so the best thing you can do is prowl the weekly ads. You'll see specific prices and deals on items. It never hurts to use blogs to help you find the best deals with coupons and cash back, or whatever you're looking for. There are tons of ways to go about finding the best deals, and everyone prefers a different process. I simply look at the weekly ads, though, because I don't want to spend hours seeking out deals.
My favorite place by far is Winco to find cheap prices on food. I'm trying to transition most of my shopping to Winco because the prices are absurdly low on most goods compared to other stores. Once, I compared a full shopping trip at Costco to a full shopping trip at Winco, where I bought similar items, and it was close to $100 cheaper in price. I'm a little different though as I don't like going out of my way to shop at Winco, which is close to a 30 minute trip. If I ever became too strapped on my budget, I'd probably be willing to just do all my shopping at Winco, but I like the ease and how close Safeway and Costco are to my place.
@Thejamal Oh wow, I've never heard of that before. But that does sound like it would be a good place to check out. I don't think that I have one near where I live. Wow, that is amazing, you can't beat a deal like that. Sometimes the gas can add up too and you have to think about that before you go shopping far away. Which does stink especially when you want to get those sales.
