The Grocery Game (coupons, grocery store, cheap, buy)

[Redrover]

Last night on our local news there was a story about a subscription service you can enroll in that researches the grocery store sales (published and otherwise) each week in grocery stores all over the country. As a subscriber you log on to their site and print a comprehensive list of all the sale items for the week, along with the original prices, coupons available for each item and the final price. It requires that you clip coupons from the Sunday paper that match the listed items but in some cases it is an unpublished sale. In some instances the sale price plus a doubled coupon results in getting an item for free. If you shop at more than one store you have to pay a bit more for each additional store's list of sale items and they even give you a 4 week trial for $1 to see if you like it.

Has anyone on this site used this service and if so, what do you think of it? I am wondering if it is worth the cost and effort if you don't buy a lot of the couponed items. I do the bulk of my shopping around the store perimeters where the fresh stuff is and not so much from the aisle shelves so I wonder if it would pay me to enroll. Anybody?

http://www.thegrocerygame.com/

[SteveO813]

I actually enrolled in the trial thing, and I personally wouldn't recommend it. It requires a LOT of time and effort, and it's actually not very cheap at first. Basically the premise is that you stock up on items that are on sale (so if 80-packs of toilet paper are on sale, you buy it, then you don't have to buy toilet paper again for a while). After your pantry is stocked with just about everything, you focus on replenishing things. I didn't really have the money to buy all kinds of stuff at first, and I didn't feel like doing that much shopping.

Also, you have to clip just about every single coupon you can find and bring them all along to the store. Then you find every couponed item on the list...basically you can see where this is going. Unless you have 2 or 3 hours to devote to grocery shopping, it won't work. This is especially true if you buy a lot of fresh/produce items, which usually aren't on coupons.

Of course, if you put in thetime and the work, it seems like it could really be beneficial. I just don't know that many people that are that disciplined.

[Redrover]

Thanks, that's just the information I was looking for. I haven't clipped coupons in years because it was such a pain and I bought so few of the items. I just don't buy very many packaged products although on the story last night the featured shopper had produce and meats but it may be that those are the unpublished sales. Anyway, I have too much going on in my life to devote hours to the pre-shopping this seems to require. Maybe when I am retired and have more time...

Plus, who has that much square footage available to warehouse the bulk purchases. One trip to Sam's or Costco for things like paper goods, soft drinks and litter and I am maxed out.

[luzianne]

I have been doing the Grocery Game for years, but I started it before there was a list in my area. So I downloaded their "field guide" for about $10. Now there IS a list in my area but I prefer to do it on my own using their field guide concepts.

If you go to the website and put in a nonsense zip code, it tell you there is no list in your area and will ask if you want to order the field guide. It's an immediate ebook downloade. Well worth $10. I saved much more than that on my very first trip and have been doing it for years.