Comments on: Gaming the Grocery System

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:20:22 +0000

I’ve been using the Grocery Game for about 18 months and love it! It can be cheaper than Costco. I would go to Costco and make a list of items you might by regularly and then compare with the grocery game list.

By: Joyful Abode: Domesticity by Trial and Error

Joyful Abode: Domesticity by Trial and Error — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:42:57 +0000

I tried the grocery game, and it did seem great… a lot of money “saved” and we always had stockpiles of toothbrushes, razors, peanut butter, and whatever else you could think of.

But we just moved to a place where we’re 20 minutes from the nearest grocery store. We live on a military base, and the commissary is 1 mile away from our house. So where do you think we prefer to go?

I actually took a pad of paper and a pen to the grocery store 20 miles away and wrote down prices for everything… we were used to buying most things at 50% off with the grocery game, so I compared the 50% price of regular stores’ things to the full price of commissary goods (brand-name stuff, the same things you’d find in “real” stores).

Guess what! The commissary is usually cheaper. Plus, they LOVE coupons, and often will dig up manufacturer’s coupons and put them right beside the thing they’re for WHILE running a sale on that item. They do the work for us!

So we’ve saved a ton of money just by buying what we need at the commissary, using their coupons when we notice them, and stocking up when things are on sale at the commissary (I recently stocked up on shredded cheese at 3 dollars a pound. woo! It’s in the freezer now.)

Also, sometimes “amount saved” can be misleading… a small example? Hall’s cough drops were on sale for 1.99 for a package. The store brand was 1.00 and had 20 more cough drops in the package. Same ingredients. The store brand wasn’t on The List (because it was full price, not on sale) but the Hall’s brand was. I bought the store brand, saved money, but it didn’t show up as “saved” on my receipt. I could’ve “saved” more by buying the pricier cough drops.

Joyful Abode: Domesticity by Trial and Error’s last post: Navy Child Development Home (CDH)

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:00:07 +0000

Thanks for the info…I’ve been wondering about The Grocery Game for a while now. I guess I’ll have to check it out more closely.

By: Madison

Madison — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:50:55 +0000

@ thayerbear0: A canned food warehouse? Tell me more!

By: thayerbear0

thayerbear0 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:52:58 +0000

I wish that would work in my area of Oregon, but I have already found it does not. I buy very few pre-packaged goods, and the local Costco is $3-$5 higher on their prices than our grocery stores. The gas is the only real savings. Also, there is a Canned Food Warehouse that many residents go to if they want real deals.
Don’t get me started on the farmer’s markets here, either. They frequently charge more than the grocery stores.

By: Jaynee

Jaynee — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:51:52 +0000

Madison – great! Thanks so much!

Kendra – I agree that the short timespan for the shopping (which is true in my area) can be daunting, but I’ve found that if I go Tuesday nights, not only are the shelves fully stocked but the store is EMPTY so I get in and out pretty quickly.

I’m especially excited for this weekend – it’s TRIPLE COUPONS at Harris Teeter this weekend. I may faint from all the deals I’ll be able to get.

By: Madison

Madison — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:00:27 +0000

@ Jaynee: You got it! I’ll enter you as my referrer! Thanks for the comparison to Costco, that will help. Glad to see how much you are saving with Grocery Game.

@ Kendra: Luckily our list goes an entire week because our store has the sale 4 days later. I’ll have to keep an eye on the prepared foods versus fresh stuff. So far, I’ve seen a lot of fruits, dairy, and meat on the list.

By: 50 Frugal Things You Aren't Doing | The Wisdom Journal

50 Frugal Things You Aren't Doing | The Wisdom Journal — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:14:49 +0000

[...] [...]

By: kendra

kendra — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:36:59 +0000

I tried the Grocery Game a year ago and it was fun to use, definately. However I found that the food that they had deals on was not the kind of food we eat. We don’t eat much boxed or canned food which doesn’t leave much left on the list. Plus since we live in California, we don’t get any of the free things that people in other states get. The only other negative thing I found was that you only get Sunday-Tuesday to shop and I usually only have time to grocery shop on Wednesdays (go figure!).

I would recommend the Grocery Game for people who purchases a lot of prepared foods and who live in states were you can double coupons. It is fun to use.

By: Jaynee

Jaynee — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:21:15 +0000

I’ve been doing Grocery Game for about eight months. My average savings is 50% – some weeks I’ll save 60%, others I’ll save 40%. My rolling average for the past eight months is a solid 50%.

Net result? In eight months I’ve spent $800 for $1,600 worth of groceries. Not bad!!

I’ll also add that the only things I don’t buy at the grocery store with GG is toilet paper, paper towels, meats, batteries and baby products (diapers, wipes, etc.). Those are still cheaper at Costco even without coupons – but everything else is fair game.

my user name there is jaynee AT yahoo DOT com – I’d love for you to put me in as your referrer!