Grocery Stores - clicky

LoLoPanda

On my quest to save money given that there's now a 3rd person in our house, I've been on the hunt to look up coupons, but haven't been too successful. I'm also trying to see which grocery store of the 3 I get to choose from would save me the most money. Unfortunately, I haven't seen too much savings, so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. Of the three, which in your experience or opinion saves you more money?

 

[Poll]

Mrs.BoomBoom

I voted Lucky's because I feel like it has better prices overall than Safeway.  I have never been a regular shopper of FoodMaxx and when I've been, I find that it takes me FOREVER to get out.  They're Safeway with SOME better deals. 

You can do well at Safeway if you just go for their loss leaders (but that's true of everywhere.  Before, I used to shop 4 different places searching for best prices.  I can't do that with a LO in tow.) I try to stock up on things when they're on sale.  The new Lucky gas card has saved me a few extra bucks on gas but their meat section is gross and their fish is downright disgusting so I buy meat at costco or Lunardi's.

hersheykiss

I don't know with the others, but I know with Safeway you can sign up online and have coupons put into your cart to help save.

Also, we used Costco when E was an infant. We upgraded our membership to Executive to get the money back at the end of the year. We bought our diapers, formula, wipes, etc through them plus other stuff. The year E was born I got a check for $50. That basically paid for the upgrade from regular to executive.

Oh and Target now has the red debit card. You automatically save 5% on your total when you use it. It is linked to your checking account so it works just like a bank debit card. Anything I need that I can buy at Target, I just go and make 1 trip there and get the instant savings.

1krazykitty

I find my safeway to be cheaper than Lucky. I can't say for foodmaxx, I've never shopped there.

torylynn1

I shop at Savemart, Safeway, Winco, and Food Maxx and say without a doubt that Food Maxx and Winco are cheapest. I spent $150 at safeway last week and if I had gone a few extra miles to Winco or Food maxx I probably would have saved at least $50.

abvernon

Safeway used to work for us but they have raised their prices and they never seem to have what I need (the one near me at least).

Also, Target is good too esp with their grocery section and using coupons. 

NCSW

FoodMaxx is by far the cheapest on both their everyday prices and sales prices. It's sometimes quite the experience to shop there (at least the location closest to me is), but they have some really really good deals.

I do combine trips there with other stores, though.

1krazykitty

torylynn1:

I shop at Savemart, Safeway, Winco, and Food Maxx and say without a doubt that Food Maxx and Winco are cheapest. I spent $150 at safeway last week and if I had gone a few extra miles to Winco or Food maxx I probably would have saved at least $50.

if you had to pick between foodmaxx and winco, which would you choose?

Passanie

I've been using this website that I find kinda handy: http://www.grocerysmarts.com/

It's pretty clunky, but you put in your location and it basically shows you the ad for each of the grocery stores, Target, etc, and drug stores. Then it tells you where and when (or links to) there's coupons for stuff on sale to stack them (they recommend you save your Sunday paper coupons and date them, the abbreviations stand for the name of the coupon inserts).

Anyway, that said, I've been doing a lot of my dry goods shopping at drug stores lately. They're really trying to get in on being a place for food, so they've got lots of good deals, if you don't mind making one extra stop. Target's dry goods are almost always cheaper than grocery stores too.

coupons.target.com is pretty cool too.

torylynn1

1krazykitty:

torylynn1:

I shop at Savemart, Safeway, Winco, and Food Maxx and say without a doubt that Food Maxx and Winco are cheapest. I spent $150 at safeway last week and if I had gone a few extra miles to Winco or Food maxx I probably would have saved at least $50.

if you had to pick between foodmaxx and winco, which would you choose?

Tough call...I like the produce and meat at FoodMaxx better, but Winco has more options in the dry goods/dairy products-They have a generic brand lactose free milk wheras FoodMaxx only has Lactaid etc. Winco has a huge bulk section too with spices, grains, pastas, nuts, dried fruits etc. So that's nice. Since I can get a little more savings overall with getting my meat and produce at FoodMaxx I'd probably pick them.

leolyns

I prefer Lucky over Safeway (so happy I don't have a Safeway near me) but shop at Winco, Trader Joe's, Target & Costco. Foodmaxx moved from one spot in town to the other so I have yet to try their new location. I usually find one thing at Winco that I can't find at Foodmaxx and vice versa.

pink.dutch.tulips

i seem to be able to save $40-80/wk at safeway depending on what i buy, how many coupons i have and if i remember to check their website and download even MORE coupons to my club card.

the thing i've found that helps alot is when the weekly sales circular comes out to go through it and plan my meals for the next week around what's on sale or if something i use ALOT of is a loss leader (ie rice a roni for less than $1/each) i'll stock up. i don't grocery shop w/out a list and i have NO brand loyalty. i'll buy what's on sale - generic or name brand depending on what's cheaper.

JoEsther

I find that it can seriously yo-yo - sometimes, Lucky will have a good deal on certain items, and then the next week, Safeway will. FoodMaxx is fine if you're okay with their limited selection (and mine doesn't have a freezer section - what's up with that?) and low quality fruits/vegetables (at times, not always) but since it's further from our house than both Safeway and Lucky, we don't go there that often unless we need to stock up on something or other that they carry for a good price.

Costco is wonderful for us for cleaning items, or frozen chicken, or other things we buy in bulk (I'll separate out the chicken into two breasts per ziploc and store them that way in the freezer when we get home). If we know we're going to eat a lot of it, and we have room to store it, Costco is where we'll buy it.

I've recently discovered couponmom.com and while I haven't saved tons with her, I have become more aware of the weekly sales at my local stores (Safeway in particular) and make it a habit to add things I need or want to my JustForU list online.

patty&nick

Absolutely Foodmaxx or Winco for regular groceries.

We tested this out with my parents a few months ago, actually. My parents shop at Safeway exclusively, and they're always spending about $350-$400 on their monthly grocery bill, which seemed crazy to me. We convinced them to go to Winco with us, and they spent $190 and said they got everything they would have got at Safeway and were really happy. Now they never shop at Safeway.

Foodmaxx is really similar to Winco. You just have to go in knowing it's going to take a while because the store is gigantic.  I feel like if you don't have the patience to deal with a warehouse style grocery store then you're just bound to miss out on a lot of savings. That said, I do run to Savemart/Lucky's about once a month when I realize I don't have 1-2 items and need them right then, but I'm always a little bummed at the prices I end up paying there.

hannikan

We're still figuring out the stores down here. We don't have Safeway here, it's Vons (same company now). And we have Ralph's here. So far we've noticed the stores are smaller and have less selection. We do get some food at the drug store sometimes but the closest Target is kind of far from us.