Trae Bodge is a smart-shopping expert. Find additional savings tips at her website. Here, she tells Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine about her favorite grocery hacks to keep prices low, plus where she thinks grocery prices are headed.
Q: With grocery prices up nearly one-third since 2020, food costs have become a major pain point for most Americans. Do you see prices coming down or moderating this year?
While I see prices stabilizing — barring a weather pattern that affects crops or an illness amongst animals — unfortunately, prices aren’t likely to come down anytime soon. So it’s important for shoppers to get into the habit of using savings tactics. You don’t need to become an extreme couponer or do anything complicated to save. There are lots of little steps you can take that can be quite impactful over a year of shopping.
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(Image credit: PHOTO COURTESY OF TRAE BODGE)
Q: What tools can shoppers use to learn about sales or increase their savings?
Download your favorite grocery stores’ apps. They often have special coupons or promotions available and will alert you to sales. They also use artificial intelligence in a helpful way by serving up offers based on how you shop. You may get a notification when your favorite cereal is on sale, for example.
If you buy groceries online, I also recommend installing a couple of browser extensions, such as CouponCabin, Rakuten or PayPal Honey, which search for available cash-back or discount codes and automatically apply them when you check out.
Another potentially useful app is Flashfood, which partners with retail and grocery stores to help them sell surplus items. You can save up to 50% on overstock items you order with the app and then pick up from a local store.
With the Fetch app, you can scan your grocery receipts to earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards.
Q: Do you recommend using rewards credit cards at the supermarket?
I always shop with the credit card I own that offers the best points or cash back for groceries. As an Amazon Prime Visa cardholder, for example, I use that card at Whole Foods because it pays 5% cash back there. That’s 5% I’m getting back on purchases I was already making.
The PayPal Debit Card is fee-free and pays 5% cash back per month in a category you choose, including groceries or restaurants. And the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card may be worth the annual fee ($95) because of its generous benefits — 6% cash back on supermarket spending.
Q: What changes can people make to their shopping habits to save more?
A very easy tweak is to look at your grocery list to see if there are any store-brand options that can replace name-brand items.
From my research, you can save between 25% and 40% just by buying the store brand. Often, name-brand and store-brand items are made in the same factories using the same ingredients.
Also, try to buy in bulk, especially if you’re a family of more than two. Usually, the larger the quantity, the lower the unit price is. This is where, if you have a Costco, Sam’s Club or BJ’s membership, you can potentially save a lot.
But don’t buy quantities that are too large. That giant tub of microgreens may be an amazing deal, but if it goes moldy before you’re halfway through, you’ve just wasted money.
Q: What items should people avoid buying?
The whole prepared-food category is a no-no in my book. You’re paying too much of a premium for convenience. You’ll save so much by doing the chopping, washing or whatever yourself.
You could take this a step further by looking at things that you buy regularly that are easy to make. In my house, we make our own hummus and granola. Buying the ingredients and doing the work at home saves us so much money. A nice bag of granola can be $9, whereas I can make a batch twice as big for half the price, and customize it to the exact flavors I want.
I would also avoid nonfood items, things such as beauty products, office supplies, vitamins and supplements. In my experience, other retailers easily beat the pricing at the grocery store.
Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.
