Overlooking Easy Deals
Not only will the weekly ad show you what’s on sale, but it will also feature special promotions. For example, your grocery store might run a promotion that gives you a free gallon of milk when you buy three boxes of sale-priced cereal, Nelson said.
“If you don’t know about the promotion, you might get three boxes without grabbing the free item,” Nelson said. If you don’t check the weekly ad for these easy-to-score deals, you’ll likely miss out on savings.
Shopping For a Recipe
On average, only two out of 10 items in a recipe will be on sale in a given week, said Teri Gault, author of “Shop Smart, Save More.” If your shopping list is based on ingredients you need for a recipe, you’ll end up overpaying for about 80% of what goes in your cart.
“Instead, choose recipes according to what you already have and what’s on sale,” Gault said. So, if chicken is on sale but beef isn’t, opt for chicken recipes. Plan your menu around the biggest pictures on the front page of your supermarket’s weekly sales ad, Gault added.
