You are cleaning out your wallet, and you find a great coupon that you forgot to use. The only problem is that it expired yesterday. Most people would throw that coupon in the trash, assuming that it is now a worthless piece of paper. However, in many cases, that is not true. A surprising number…
Buying in bulk can be a great way to save money on your grocery bill. However, it can also be a major source of waste. If you buy a huge quantity of a product that you cannot use before it expires or goes bad, you are not saving money; you are literally throwing it away.…
The in-store bakery at a grocery store is a place of wonderful convenience. It is also a place of massive markups. You are paying a huge premium for the labor and the convenience of a pre-made baked good. While some complex pastries are best left to the professionals, a huge number of classic, simple treats…
You are trying to make a healthy choice at the grocery store, so you reach for a product with a “healthy” sounding label. However, many of these claims are clever marketing tricks. They are designed to create a “health halo” around a product that is secretly loaded with a huge amount of sodium. Manufacturers will…
The frozen food aisle can be your best friend when it is time to plan your meals for the week. A well-stocked freezer is the secret to creating quick, easy, and affordable dinners. The key is to look for versatile, multi-purpose ingredients that can be used as the base for a variety of different dishes.…
The weekly grocery store flyer is supposed to be a guide to the best deals of the week. However, in many cases, it is a masterclass in deceptive marketing. Retailers have developed a number of clever tricks to make it seem like every single item in their ad is on a deep discount. In reality,…
A grocery store is a carefully engineered sensory environment. Retailers know that your five senses are a direct pathway to your wallet. They use a variety of subtle “sensory marketing” tricks that are designed to influence your mood and your purchasing decisions on a subconscious level. These tricks are a powerful and often invisible way…
Halloween is the biggest candy-selling holiday of the year. The weeks leading up to October 31st are a battle for supremacy in the candy aisle. While there are hundreds of different options to choose from, a few classic, iconic brands consistently rise to the top of the sales charts. Based on recent sales data and…
A store credit card can seem like a great deal. It often promises a high rate of cash back on all your purchases. However, these rewards programs are almost always filled with a confusing web of limits, restrictions, and fine print. The advertised “5% cash back” rarely applies to everything you buy. It is a…
The checkout lane is the final and most profitable part of the grocery store. It is a carefully engineered environment. Retailers know that you are a captive audience while you wait in line. They use this opportunity to tempt you with a variety of high-margin, impulse-buy items. Most of these products are unhealthy junk foods.…
A trip to the grocery store with kids can be a long and challenging ordeal. To keep the peace, many parents will resort to a time-honored tradition. They will buy a special, car-ride-only snack to reward their children for their good behavior. These snacks are a powerful form of bribery. They are so tempting and…
When a food recall is announced, grocery stores are legally required to pull the dangerous product from their shelves. However, the warehouse clubs Costco and Sam’s Club go one very important step further. Because they operate on a membership model, they have the contact information for every single person who has bought the recalled item.…
The self-serve salad bar at the grocery store seems like a healthy and convenient option for a quick lunch. However, that convenience comes at a very high price. When you take your carefully crafted container to the checkout to be weighed, you are often hit with a shocking total. The price per pound for the…
Most grocery stores now provide sanitizing wipes at the entrance. Many shoppers see this as an optional step. However, a huge body of scientific research has confirmed that the grocery cart handle is one of the single germiest surfaces you can touch in public. It is a breeding ground for a disgusting cocktail of bacteria…
The new generation of grocery loyalty programs promises a “personalized” shopping experience. Using your purchase history, apps from stores like Kroger and Safeway will send you special, targeted deals on the items you buy most. This is known as “personalized pricing.” It means that you may be paying a different price for a carton of…
We have all found a can of soup or vegetables in the back of our pantry that is a year or two past its “Best By” date. Our first instinct is often to throw it away, assuming that it has gone bad. However, food safety experts say that this is a major mistake. The date…