Comparing the sale flyers - what a difference!

[HeatherFeather]

I am shocked at how much my local grocery store is selling boneless skinless chicken breasts for this week - $3.99/pound is the "sale price."

A mere month ago or less, that was the normal full price per pound! Then they recently jacked up the price to $5.99/pound, only to now put it on "sale" for the same old regular price. I hate that!

I checked out the sale flyers for some of the other big grocery stores in my area - one has the same chicken on sale for $2.99/pound this week, another is selling 2 pound packs of boneless skinless chicken tenders for buy one, get one free, meaning I'd get 4 pounds for about $5.75 (the price of one 2/pound pkg). Since chicken tenders are essentially the sale thing, I will be getting those instead.

If you want to save money on groceries, meat is one of the biggest things to be careful about. If I hadn't bothered to check, I would have probably just gone to my usual store and grabbed a pack of chicken with my other groceries.

[Ninner]

Heather I am a grocery store H*** (sp). I have a friend who explained to me to shop between flyers. For me it is 6.30pm when they are stocking the shelves for Friday morning. I do very well on my weekly shopping using this method.

I do understand what you are saying about the difference in the prices week to week. It is very much like the gas prices day to day.

I am "bumping" this back to the top of the first page as I think it is an excellent thread.

[Kchurchill5]

I don't go too crazy. But, you are right, there is a big difference in pricing.
Especially with meat and seafood.

I have 3 stores all within a few miles. Then Cotco, Trader Joes 10 minutes, Sams Club, Walmart, all within 10 minutes.

I do have a Sams membership, and I do take advantage of that for several items.
Especially, pork loins, tenderloins, chops, chicken, shrimp, and even salmon. Then I don't mind, some of their specialty items. Their rotisserie chickens, baguettes. Etc.

But every week, I do watch Publix and Sweetbay stores for specials. They are the 2 closest, And I check the online flyers; especially for seafood, chicken, beef/pork. But depending on what my schedule is; I'm not going to drive to another store just to save $2.00, my time and gas isn't worth it. But if I know one store has a great deal on meat, I will get that plus my regular groceries; then later in the week, since the flyers go for one week; I would pick up the seafood at the other store.

And veggies, 85-90 at the Farmers Market.

But checking the flyers can really save you $$

[HeatherFeather]

Yep - for me the farmer's market usually has the best of both quality and price for anything in season or made local. I stop there once a week for those items.

I keep thinking about joining Sam's and then forget to go check it out.

I have a similar set-up here - lots of big stores really close by. I go to the closest one as my regular store, and then makes trips to the others if I am on the way there anyway, and that is when I take advantage of any of their sales.

Publix for me has the best deals on regular pantry item foods, especially on dairy items and buy one get one free items. Great bakery.

Both Sweetbay and Winn Dixie usually have better meat prices and meat sales. They also both have a better selection of shelf items, but their prices aren't always as low as Publix if they aren't on sale. Not a fan of their bakeries except for donuts.

Target has great clearance shelves - I check them every time in case they have marked down coffee, spices, etc. They usually have good prices/sales on coffee and spices and hair dye, for some reason. OK bakery.

Walmart - I usually find good generic paper products there, and if I need freezer items, they often have some good options. They also have pretty good prices on their pantry items, but their produce and meat for me is not always as fresh looking as I would like. I don't like their bakery at all.

Fresh Market - good selection of gourmet/harder to find/imported type items. Really nice fish counter and great meats. Expensive meats, but good sales if you pay attention. Produce is overpriced Love the olive bar. Great !! bakery. Decent sushi and other prepped meals - love their deli salads. Nice selection of bulk nuts and trail mixes.

Whole Foods - too far away right now to realistically shop at. Love it - new one is opening in November nearby.

[HeatherFeather]

Sheesh - talk about a misleading sales flyer. I made the trek to Winn Dixie to pick up the sale chicken. The add said something like "save 5.75 on 2 pounds" and then next to that said buy one get one free. Silly me - I thought it was a 2 pound package, normally $5.75, this week buy one of those, get another free. That made sense, since chicken often goes on sale for $2.99/pound.

Well - when I got to the store, it was not quite what I had expected. They had a bunch of packages, many of which were more like $6.50 etc. Your free package HAD to cost no more than $5.75. (I suppose they might have just made you pay the difference, but then that isn't really free is it?). The packages were also not 2 pounds, but one pound packages... and the real kicker? $5.99/pound.

So - it wasn't really a true buy one get one free sale AND the price per pound was more than the maximum free amount. Talk about making it confusing for the consumer.

I was so annoyed that I had been misled by the ad that I checked out without buying the chicken. I bought the 5 items I already had in my cart, but I wasn't interested in doing the rest of my shopping there today.

[invictus]

That's very deceiving!

I haven't been good about shopping flyers and sales since the beginning of the year and my grocery bill is definitely suffering. I made a commitment to myself earlier this wee to start doing that again. There are 2 stores with flyers within a few miles of me and both are on my way home from work. It DOES take extra time as opposed to just shopping one store but the prices I am paying for food each week are just killing me!