Cut your grocery bill in half

Everyone's hurting thanks to high food prices - here's how to slash what you spend on groceries.

EMAIL  |   PRINT  |   SHARE  |   RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer

I buy most of my food at ...
  • Grocery stores
  • Big-box stores
  • Organic food stores
CDs & Money Market
MMA 0.69%
$10K MMA 0.42%
6 month CD 0.94%
1 yr CD 1.49%
5 yr CD 1.93%

Find personalized rates:
 

Rates provided by Bankrate.com.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly $5 for a box of cereal is outrageous - and it's probably only going to get worse. But there's a crop of new online resources that can help take the sticker shock out of food shopping.

The average U.S. household spent $3,240 on groceries last year, according to the American Express Everyday Spending index, and prices have risen substantially since then.

Of course, clipping coupons can help, but it's time consuming and tedious. The good news is that now there are Web sites that can help make saving much easier.

Strategic shopping

Stephanie Nelson, a mother of two, says cutting your grocery bill in half is easy. She launched couponmom.com seven years ago to show other shoppers what weekly sales and savings are available - saving them time, and of course, money.

The Web site's database tracks what's on sale at your local grocery store and matches it with what coupons are available.

For example, New Jersey shoppers can use a $1 coupon in the RedPlum circular when All brand laundry detergent goes on sale at Pathmark, and save 50% off the retail price.

Nelson says that shoppers who match up weekly specials with coupons from newspaper circulars can easily take 50% off their entire bill, if not more. That's what she calls "strategic shopping." And it's catching on, Nelson has seen a huge uptick in interest in her site, which lists grocery bargains at 41 retailers in 50 states. Since January, traffic has tripled, she said.

"You can't do much about your mortgage payment or car payment," Nelson said. "Grocery shopping is where you have the most opportunity to save money."

Virtual coupon clipping

If sifting through the newspaper for savings is not your bag, more stores are offering electronic coupons, which can be printed at home, or loaded right on to your store loyalty card.

Kroger (KR, Fortune 500) customers can go to Shortcuts.com, enter their loyalty card information, click on coupons they want, and have the savings automatically applied to their bill at checkout.

And Shortcuts.com is currently in discussions with other national chains to roll out similar programs soon.

Other sites, such as coupons.com and eversave.com, offer a slew of printable coupons as well as coupon codes that can be used for online shopping.

Buy online

Shopping online is another way to score great deals on groceries. Although the prices aren't always better, comparison shopping is definitely easier. And the savings of time - and gas - can be substantial.

New online grocery and delivery services are emerging across the country, such as FreshDirect, Peapod and SimonDelivers, and sell everything from fresh produce to frozen dinners.

Amazon.com's (AMZN, Fortune 500) grocery service, which launched two years ago, sells nonperishable items in bulk (no milk, fresh meat, or produce) at relatively low cost.

A pack of four boxes of Kellogg's (K, Fortune 500) Mini-Wheats is $17.60 on Amazon, 10% less per unit than on the bulk shopping site buythecase.net, and 18% lower than the per-unit price on Walgreens.com.

On top of that, Amazon orders over $25 qualify for free shipping, and additional savings are available when shoppers sign up to have deliveries made regularly.

The e-tailer manages to keep per-unit costs down by selling items in larger pack sizes or manufacturer's cases, which cuts the cost of handling and packaging, according to Tom Furphy, vice president of consumables.

You may have to clean out your pantry to make room for all that sugar-coated cereal, but the savings will be sweet.  To top of page

Features
They're hiring!These Fortune 100 employers have at least 350 openings each. What are they looking for in a new hire? More
If the Fortune 500 were a country...It would be the world's second-biggest economy. See how big companies' sales stack up against GDP over the past decade. More
Sponsored By:
10 of the most luxurious airline amenity kits When it comes to in-flight pampering, the amenity kits offered by these 10 airlines are the ultimate in luxury More
7 startups that want to improve your mental health From a text therapy platform to apps that push you reminders to breathe, these self-care startups offer help on a daily basis or in times of need. More
5 radical technologies that will change how you get to work From Uber's flying cars to the Hyperloop, these are some of the neatest transportation concepts in the works today. More


Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.