Stocking Up for Less: The Optimal Day To Buy Household Essentials

In a world where every dollar counts, discovering the best day to buy essentials could be the key to stretching your budget further. You simply have to align your shopping trips with things like store promotions, product delivery dates and specific markdown schedules.

Here’s the best time to go shopping for the things you need to stock up on so you can save — plus, find out helpful tips for saving even more at the grocery store.

Read: How To Save $200 on Your Grocery Bill Every Month

Consider When Grocery Stores’ New Ads or Promotions Begin

Kari Lorz, certified financial education instruction and owner of Money for the Mamas said that grocery stores could run their new ads or promotions on Sunday or Wednesday — it just depends. For example, Kroger, Albertson’s and Amazon Fresh run their new grocery ads each week on Wednesday.

Savings Tips: Lorz said to be sure to check the grocery store’s ad for loss leaders if you want to save big. “These are really good deals to drive customers into the door; then, the store makes up the margin on other items you buy — for example, chicken breasts at $3.99 a pound.”

What Days and Times Do Grocery Stores Do Markdowns?

Lorz said that grocery stores usually do daily markdowns by department. “One day it’s usually dry grocery, the next could be health and beauty items and the next day could be perishable grocery — aka frozen and dairy,” she said.

Savings Tips: “Don’t show up too early in the day, as the staff is still working on things. Come in about five hours after they start so you can see all the markdowns,” Lorz said.

Lorz also said that the day after a holiday is always a great time to go to the store and check out all their holiday-specific markdowns. However, she recommended getting there early before everything is picked over. “Think of Easter/Halloween candy, Thanksgiving cranberry sauce and stuffing mix, New Year’s Eve fruit and veggie appetizer trays and crackers.”

Find Out the Delivery Days for Meat, Dairy and Seafood

Find out when your store receives shipments of essentials, like meat and dairy, which means you can purchase the freshest items and avoid having them spoil before you can consume them.

“Major grocery stores frequently restock their meat, dairy and seafood sections on Wednesdays,” said Sarah Bridenstine, professional baker and chef, and co-owner of Baking Kneads, LLC. “This gives you the privilege of cherry-picking fresh and varied items — it’s like striking culinary gold, where the freshness of ingredients adds a star to your dish.Of course, these trends may differ based on your local store’s protocols. Not all stores restock daily, particularly smaller ones.”

Bridenstine said she advises befriending your local grocer. “It’s like being part of an exclusive club where you’re privy to the secret codes of savings and freshness,” she said.

Savings Tips: “In my household,” Lorz shared, “we buy gallon jugs of milk but don’t drink it that fast. So I go in on a delivery day and squeeze the upper half of my body into the milk cooler to reach all the way to the back of the shelf to get the milk jug with the farthest out expiration date. (Throwing away expired food can be very expensive). I do this same process for all dairy items and bread items.”

Other Grocery Store Savings Tips

Here are some other ways to stock up for less, according to Lorz.

Consider Bulk-Buying

“For grocery essentials,” Lorz said, “it’s best to find a store with a great bulk department for all your flours, spices, dry pasta, nuts, etc. You’ll pay a fraction of the price for an almost identical item. You’ll want to shop one to two days after the store’s busiest shopping day (as staff [will] have had time to refill the bins so you get the freshest bulk items.”

Use Store Rewards, Coupon and Cash-Back Apps

Lorz said that when you’re standing in the checkout line, don’t forget to open your store rewards app or coupon app and add any appliance coupons to your account so they can help you save money on your groceries.

“Then once you unload your groceries at home, you can go into your cash-back apps, like Fetch, Ibotta and Pogo, to scan your recipes to get cash back on purchases,” she said.

Find Out Which Grocery Store Has Cheaper Prices

Lorz said if you live in a location with multiple grocery stores, you should know which chains are more expensive than others. She said that even between stores within the same chains, pricing will differ. “For example, I live in between two Kroger stores,” said Lorz. “One store is consistently higher priced than the other. It may only be by $0.15 per item, but over a full shopping trip, over the course of months, it adds up to a lot. Over the next few weeks, keep your receipts and compare prices on your frequently bought items.”

Avoid Buying Convenience Items

Even if you’re tempted, avoid buying convenience items if you’re really looking to save. “For example, single-serve snacks and cut-up fruit (i.e., melon chunks) will always cost more than doing the work yourself,” Lorz said. “These are called value-added items because they are easier to use (but cost more). This also applies to things like canned beans (versus buying dry beans and soaking them yourself) or pre-sliced cheese. When you’re trying to save money, it all adds up.”

Pay Attention to Price Per Ounce

“Many shelf-stable food items (dry goods) come in a few different size options,” Lorz said. “Usually, the larger size has a more cost-effective price per ounce but not always, so it’s worth it to figure it out. Take the price divided by the ounces, and there is your number. If you buy this item often, then buy the size with the cheaper cost per ounce. If it’s something you haven’t bought before or hardly buy, then buy the smaller one (you may not like it, or it may expire before you eat it all).”

Takeaway

Overall, it seems as if Wednesday might be the optimal day to buy household essentials. It’s the day many grocers run their new ads and also restock items like meat and dairy, so you can purchase items that are super fresh.

However, smart shopping is as much about pricing as it is about timing. First, know which grocery store has better prices on the essentials you need. Next, aligning your trips with promotional schedules, product markdowns and delivery dates could lead to significant savings, and so could taking advantage of bulk-buying opportunities and comparing the price per ounce between different sizes of the same product. And before you check out, don’t forget about store reward programs and cash-back apps that can help you save even more.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Stocking Up for Less: The Optimal Day To Buy Household Essentials