Six Reasons to Grocery Shop in the Morning

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

22 Jul 2008 06:04 AM

If you are a morning person, take advantage of this to save some money. Just the act of shopping as an early bird can reduce your food budget at the grocery store. Here are six reasons why this works.

Before we get started shopping in the morning, make sure that you have had your coffee (if you drink it) and a light breakfast. This will give you the energy you need to shop.

1. Shopping in the morning will give you the opportunity for the best markdowns on bread and meat. The managers usually use the less crowded morning time for marking down meat and bread that is near the end of its sell by date. This meat and bread tends to get snatched up quickly, so it pays to get there early. When I only had one child, I would grab the stroller and do my shopping in the early morning. The special bread bins were overflowing with mark downs. Now, when it is harder to get out the door until afternoon, I seldom find any 25 cent loaves.

2. Shopping in the morning will make it more likely that you'll actually get those sale items. Shopping on a Saturday afternoon pretty much guarantees that any good deals will be gone. You might be able to get a rain check for the missing items, but how likely will you use it later? If you are combining loss leaders with coupons, getting a rain check for items that are sold out won't get you the best price, since the coupon may expire, or the store may not allow coupons to be combined with rain checks. It also throws off your meal planning. Get to the store early after the shelves have been stocked overnight, and you can stock up on the sales.

Don't leave me now! Check back later for more reasons to shop early.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don't miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.

More Great Articles:

10 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill

10 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill 2

The Grocery Report

Adjusting Your Price Book with Escalating Grocery Costs

The Astronomical Price of Strawberries

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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