How to Save Big on Groceries at Kroger

Reading a local Kroger circular to find out what’s on sale is for amateurs. Want to use coupons like a real Affluent Pauper to save even more on your groceries?

Today I purchased the following items for a total of only $7.37:

2 Olay Bodywashes
3 packs Ballpark Franks
1 pack Sarah Lee Hot Dog Buns
1 Aussie Shampoo
1 Aussie Conditioner
2 Aussie styling gels
2 Oral B Toothbrushes
2 boxes of Barilla Pasta.

Regular retail on these items would have been $45.00. I paid $7.37. That is a savings of 86%. Take just a few minutes to go through the following steps, and you too are on your way to saving big:

1. Buy a bundle of 2 newspapers every Sunday for the coupons.


2. Go to http://www.kroger.com/ and sign up for the P&G eSaver program. Once you’re in the eSaver site, you can log in monthly and pre-load e-coupons to your Kroger card. The eSaver program offers significant discounts. For example, this week, Olay Bodywash is on sale for 2/$7 (usually $3.99). You think “hmmm… $3.50 each – good price, and if I use my $1 off 2 coupon that I got in the newspaper, the lotion will only be $3”. Well, before you head out to the store, sign up for the eSaver program and load the “buy one get one free” Olay e-coupon to your Kroger card and pay only $1.25 for the item (the first product will scan at $3.50, the second item scans as free and then once you’ve applied your $1 coupon, you’ve ended up with two bodywashes for $2.50). You can use pre-loaded e-coupons in conjunction with coupons that you have clipped from your newspaper. Is registering on the site worth a few minutes of your time? I think so! The eSaver site has many other coupons.
   


3. On the Kroger site, also sign up for Uniliver’s “Making Life Better with eCoupons” which will load your card with, you guessed it, coupons for Unilever products.
   


4. Go to http://www.shortcuts.com/ and register your Kroger card. More e-coupons you can pre-load on to your Kroger card.
   


5. Use the 2008 Entertainment Book coupons to get additional savings. Buy any 2008 Entertainment Book today for only $9.99. Plus, discounted shipping! I have one book at home and one in each car so I can have plenty of coupons on hand for each shopping trip.
   
   
   $5 off any purchase of $50 or more
   from now until Oct 31
   10% off any purchase of $30 or more in May
   10% off any purchase of $40 or more in June
   15% off any purchase of $50 or more in July
   $5 off any purchase of $60 or more in August
   $5 off any purchase of $75 or more in September
   $5 off any purchase of $25 or more in October


6. Kroger has a promo thru July 31st on gift cards. Purchase a $300, $600 or $1200 grocery card and they will add 10% to your card. So if your budget permits, you can use your pre-paid gift card to purchase both groceries and gas. According to Kroger, the free 10% that Kroger gives you can only be spent on groceries (e.g. if you purchase a $300 gift card, Kroger will load it with $330. You can pump $300 worth of gas, but the other $30 must be spent on groceries).

Things to keep in mind…

For pre-loaded e-coupons, you can usually use only use one coupon for each item per month, they do not double and it takes at least an hour for the coupons to become active on your Kroger card.

When you’re using the self-checkout, pre-loaded coupons won’t show up until you press the “pay” button. If they don’t appear after you’ve hit the “pay” button, let the associate know. On my first trip, I had items in my cart for which I had pre-loaded coupons, but when I went to check out, it didn’t give me the discounts. Unfortunately, most sales associates aren’t familiar with the e-coupon programs (even though they’re on their website). It turns out that the Kroger site had technical difficulties the day I signed up. So I left the items behind and had to go back the next day when my card was working.

How to keep track of the loaded coupons? I keep track of what pre-loaded coupons I have by loading all the coupons, printing a shopping list from the site, labeling it “Kroger pre-loaded coupons” and keeping it in my coupon file. If I purchase an item off the list, I cross it off, so I know that I no longer have a pre-loaded coupon for it.

That’s how you can save big with coupons at Kroger!