This Is the Best Day of the Week to Score Deals on Groceries

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Timing your grocery shopping right could actually save you money on your food bill. Here’s the best time to shop. 

Unless you’re one of those folks who eats out at every meal, groceries are going to make up a big part of your budget. Which means optimizing that grocery bill is a big part of smart personal finance.

Of course, between inflation, shrinkflation, greedflation — and all the other “flations” — getting your grocery bill under control is getting harder. But what if you could reduce your food costs simply by choosing the right day to shop?

While it may sound odd, there’s some method to the madness here. As it turns out, you really could save money on groceries by timing your shopping trip right. Here’s the best day to buy groceries.

In general: Wednesday

Overall, most sources agree that Wednesday is the best day to shop for groceries. For one thing, many grocery stores start their new sales week on Wednesday, so you’ll be the first to shop all of the latest deals and discounts.

Plus, the new sales day may mean you get twice the sales. Some stores may still offer the previous week’s sales, as well as the sales from the new week. This could give the best of both worlds as you get anything you missed from the previous week while stocking up on all the new deals.

Another point in Wednesday’s favor? It’s about as far from the weekend as you get. The majority of people do their shopping on the weekends, so stores will be less crowded in the middle of the week. This could give you better access to sales goods since you won’t be competing with everyone else.

Additionally, items that are close to their sell-by date are more likely to be discounted mid-week than on the weekends. That’s because things are more likely to sell without being discounted when the stores are full of weekend shoppers. So, you could potentially pick up some great deals on meat, dairy, and even bread.

Of course, it’s important to make sure you can actually put all these sale items to good use. If your discounted meat expires before you can use it, you actually wasted money, rather than saving any.

For you: New sales day

While it’s true that many grocery stores start their new sales on Wednesdays, it’s not a universal law. Your local grocery stores could start their new sales on any day of the week. (One of my local grocers starts sales on Thursdays, rather than Wednesdays, for instance.)

You should be able to check the dates on the sales flyers you can pick up in store. Or head online to see if they publish digital sales flyers to save yourself the trip.

Another time it may pay to switch up your shopping day is after major holidays. Many grocers actually run holiday sales through the weekend, then start new sales on Monday. In this case, you may be better off hitting the stores at the beginning of the week if you can.

Double up with grocery rewards cards

No matter which day you shop, there’s one sure way to save on groceries: credit cards. Make sure you use a grocery rewards credit card on your purchases, as you can find cards that offer up to 6% cash back on groceries. Even better, your card rewards will stack with any other coupons or discounts you use.

And speaking of coupons, there are a ton of great coupon and cash back apps that can help you save on groceries. Most will require you to submit pictures of your receipt, so keep that in mind. Not everyone is comfortable sharing their shopping habits to be sold by third-party companies.

The weekly grocery trip may be getting more expensive, but there are a lot of ways you can save. Whether it’s picking the perfect shopping day, using card rewards, or couponing your way to savings — or all three.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Brittney Myers has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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