More ways to save money on groceries

The grocery aisle has never been more competitive than it is right now. Here’s a quick look at how people are saving money today.

The supermarket segment has seen an influx of non-traditional intruders coming into the market space. You have everything from Walmart SuperCenters and SuperTargets to some really out there players taking market share away from the traditionalists like Kroger.

Among the nontraditional players are chains like Dollar Tree, with its refrigerator/freezer section in larger stores, and hard discounter Aldi, which saves you up to 40% in very small format stores stocked with mostly house brands.

Kroger, meanwhile, is the biggest traditional grocery in the country. All the infringement on their territory has them firing back in an unlikely way — with giant supercenters of their own that sell jewelry, furniture, and more in a big format store like a Walmart or a Target!

The reality is with everybody having their own business reasons to get more heavily into groceries, you have more and more opportunities to save money.

Of course, this will requires a rethink if you’re a traditional shopper who always shops at the same store on the same day of the week and is very brand loyal. If that kind of wash, rinse, repeat shopping describes you, at least use a site like CouponMom.com or a competitor to maximize your coupon deals.

And if you’ve driven by an Aldi and have never been in, go check it out. It’s an acquired taste, but it could save you big bucks.

Finally, you have a lot of high-low shopping taking place and that’s another strategy to save money. That describes the people who may go to Whole Foods, but they only buy what’s on sale, and do the rest of their shopping at cheaper places.