1). A grocery list that shows the lowest unit price paid to facilitate comparison between the current store unit price and previous unit prices paid. Very helpful at the store!

2). Analysis on spending trends to provide a list of grocery items where unit prices have increased and total units purchased have increased, among other areas. Helpful at home for figuring out where to cut costs and why the bill is increasing.

3). Item detail and trend analysis for additional detail.

The site is groceryhop.com

Please let us know what you think!

I find Fred’s cheaper than Safeway, Alberstsons, Whole Foods, PCC etc. I rarely use coupons since eating this way eliminates what coupons are available but my grocery bill is about $30-40 a week anyhow and sometimes less. When you eat well and exercise you don’t have cravings for junk since your blood sugar is fairly stable.

I think if one wants to reduce your grocery bill trying the store brand is good with non edibles and then comparing ingredients against name brands for foods and then trying those out by trial and error.

I used to live in an area that had Safeway stores, and I recall that Safeway had great sales (I’ve never shopped at Fred Meyer, so I don’t know about them). If you pay attention to the sales, you’ll learn what goes on sale and how often, so you can stock up enough that you rarely have to buy things at full price. In that case, it can actually be cheaper to shop at a store with higher everyday prices but better sales. And if you live near more than one store, you can hit the best sales at both but buy the non-sale items at the store with lower prices.

Since I started Grocery Game in February, I figure that I’ve saved more than 50 percent on groceries, cleaning products, and health and beauty (excluding prescription drugs).

At first, it was way too time-consuming. I clipped every coupon every weekend and filed them away. Now, I simply don’t have time for that. So I file the coupon inserts into a binder by date. On the Grocery Game lists each week, it tells you what date the coupon was in the paper, so I just pull out the one insert and clip the one coupon.

Instead of shopping for 1 hour each week, a trip takes about 1.5 hours (extra time for printing lists and clipping coupons). But the big benefits are:
- huge savings (50 percent or more)
- almost all high-quality and brand-name groceries
- incredible meat deals that I never paid attention to before (the web site tells you what % off and when something is actually a good deal – not just an advertising come-on)
- more variety in our diets, since I shop for sale prices
- we never run out of something to eat, since I stock up on staples and meats at low prices

Just my two cents …

Everyone should try the store brands of everything, since even if someone else notices a difference, you may not. Someone else had a problem with Wal-Mart soda and flavored instant oatmeal, but I think those are great. I was thrilled when I finally found a Sam’s Choice cherry cola.

The only name brand groceries I prefer are Taco Bell refried beans, Kraft cheese slices (very important!), Always maxis, any high-end toilet paper.

I think I need to do some more comparisons with plastic food storage bags. I think I’ve had more problems with Great Value’s than with Ziploc or Glad.

The problem is that each chain has the best prices on one thing or another, and it can get expensive just trying to get the best deals where they are (gasoline costs!). We try to keep it to 2-3 stores, Publix being one. They’re also very good on coupons.

http://www.redbog.com/pricebook/

(shameless and hopefully useful plug)

For Southeastern readers, a couple times a year, Publix runs promotions where if you buy the national brand of something, they’ll give you the same size of their house brand for free. Good way to test out the waters on their house brands, and we give high marks to their premium ice cream (still two quarts and a $1 less a carton price than Breyers’ 1.5 quart cartons) not from concentrate orange juice (still 100% from Florida and spouse swears it tastes better than Tropicana) goat cheese, Greenwise ketchup, raisins, and parchment paper, among other things.

You just have to experiment with the generics. Try it once and if you aren’t satisfied you’ll know not to do that again.

I also use the plastic grocery bags for trash bags. Another thing I can add for those of you with small dogs, this is kind of gross so be warned, I store my used ziplock sandwich bags in a drawer and use them to pick up dog poop before I throw them away. I think that washing them out is a ridiculous way to reuse them. This allows me to use them twice before throwing them out without involving soap and drying time.

A few things I would add to the dollar store list would be hand sanitizers and hand and bath soaps.

Are you absolutely sure that taste is significantly different? Placebo effect is very real. Some products are different, but we are also conditioned by advertising to perceive more difference than there is.

Even if prices are different, that doesn’t rule out a store brand of course. The question is not really about which product is better in an absolute sense. The question is, is the more expensive product enough better to garner my hard earned cash?

I can’t recommend too much keeping a shopping book. Our local choices are Walmart, Aldi, and Hy Vee. I know a lot of people who swear by all of them, but I shopped my shopping list at all of the stores and put them in a spreadsheet (making sure to compare sizes so the comparison was fair). Almost all of my items were equal or cheaper at Walmart, and I know what few select items to pick up at Hy Vee or Aldi. I also know what sale prices to wait for on frivolous purchases like soda.

So I do my day-to-day shopping at Walmart, but make quick runs to Hy Vee (which is closer) when in a hurry. I always grab those few items that are cheaper when I’m in, no matter what is on my list.

First you say,
“It’s my understanding that a store brand is usually a name brand, just marketed under the store’s name for less. I see no difference at all in quality between store brand foods and name brands”

And then you proceed to not trust a specific store brand.

“There is one big store where I won’t buy the store brand. I don’t trust their quality control, and I’m not willing to risk that I’m getting contaminated food from China.”

If the store brand is just a name brand in a different box, then how is the store brand riskier?

That being said, I must admit I’m surprised that your family isn’t already using Generics, JD! Think of all the extra comics you could buy with that money!