No, I’m not talking about some game show like Supermarket Sweep, nor a lame board game, or even an arena for singles to meet. The Grocery Game is a fantastic way to save a bundle on your groceries.
I started “gaming” in early 2006. Both years, we’ve had grocery savings of over $1000.
How does it work? Every week, the Grocery Game website has a list for your grocery store. The list tells you what’s on sale - what you should buy that week. But, it doesn’t list everything that’s on sale - only the things that are good values. Sometimes your store will put a product on sale, but it’s a pathetic sale - 10 cents off a $2 or $3 product, for example. With the Grocery Game, you quickly learn that this sale isn’t worth your time. It tells you to buy when the item is at the lowest price the store will have it at. Plus, combine it with the coupon that was in the paper a few weeks ago, and it’s an even better deal! (And yes, TGG tells you which coupon to use.)
Every week, you print your GG list. On it, there are black items, blue items, and green items. Blue items are for stockpiling (rock-bottom prices), black items are things to buy only if you need them, and green items are free. Yeah, you read that right, free. The store puts an item on sale for, say, $1. And you have a coupon for, say, 50 cents off, and your store doubles coupons. So the item is free. And there’s nothing better than free groceries.
It takes a few weeks or months to really learn to shop the GG way. Because you don’t just buy what you need for the week. You buy what you need for the next 12 weeks, but only when it’s on sale. Juice is dirt cheap? Don’t just buy a bottle - buy enough to last you until they’re on sale again.
With the game, we average about 30% savings every week. But we live in a high-priced area outside of DC, and the sales at our store suck. Most players average 67% each week.
TGG does cost money - $10 every 8 weeks (you can get a 4 week trial for $1), but I save more than that in one shopping trip.
Oh - and a GG tip - don’t clip your coupons! Every week, I pull the coupon sections from the paper, write the date on them, and throw them in a folder until shopping day. Since TGG tells me which circular each coupon is in, I cut them out when I need them.
Emschwar
I’ve been considering doing this, so I’m glad to read your first-hand experience with it. Our grocery bill has gotten so out of hand.