Earlier in the week, I dropped my daughter at summer camp and spent the morning at Fred Meyer (aka Kroger, King Soopers) and did some research. Armed with my notebook and pen, I strolled from aisle to aisle listing every item I buy, its retail price and a competitor price, if available. (I know this data exists somewhere, but I'm sure it's highly classified, so I figure I have to make my own). I learned a few interesting things by examining my store this way.
Among the things I learned:
- A bigger box of something might cost you less or the same as a smaller box. There's an article about this (http://www.ajc.com/business/meltdown-97098.html). A great example is a box of "Cheeze Its" 9 oz is regularly priced at $2.67, but so's the 11.5 oz box and the 13 oz box. I also found this to be true in the cereal aisle.
- An item marked "on sale" isn't necessarily the best deal. This may seem obvious, but for those of us running through the store (which is my usual mode), the sale signs save us time and leads us to believe that we are getting a good deal. Sometimes I can tell it's less than I usually pay, but if it's $2.00 or under, I figure it'll do. Turns out, it's not always that great a deal, but you need to know what you usually pay for something to be certain.
- The cereal aisle is deceiving. The secret to buying cereal is to look at the unit price. This is generally true for all of your shopping, but you'll really see it here. An 18 oz box of "Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats" is .22 per ounce. A 24 oz box is .20 per ounce. So while $4.83 looks expensive compared to $3.99, it's a better deal. While that's obvious here, when you are running through the store with your kid talking to you and you're in a time crunch, $3.99 looks fine and almost $5.00 does not.
- The food storage items are really confusing; I think they do it on purpose. They don't put all the freezer bags in one area, sandwich in another, gallon bags in another. No, they sort it by snap n seal or the kind with the zipper on it. And then within that, they sort it by item, but not always. Comparison shopping for these not Earth friendly items is a real pain. If I thought I could live without them, I'd skip this section all together.
I am certain that there's a lot more to learn, but for today, that was plenty. What I've confirmed for myself is grocery shopping is confusing (the store makes it so), takes time and it would be helpful if I had a steel trap to remember what I "usually pay" for something.
What I hope to learn soon is whether or not Fred Meyer's is generally cheaper or more expensive than Safeway. Or if they are about the same and it's all about the sales or generic food items. Or if it's really about something else I know nothing about, but will learn on this grocery research journey.
Next time: A peek at my price log
Bonus:
Make your own grocery price log; use this form to help: PRICE LOG
