Product Review: the Grocery Game

Like most men I find shopping to be more of a chore than a hobby. My wife would disagree. Until just recently she did the majority of the grocery shopping while I just picked up a few of the necessities during the week. Several weeks ago we agreed we were spending too much on food and decided to budget our groceries. We did spend less money overall, but mostly by buying less food, not by finding the best deals. That was until I finally found a way to make grocery shopping fun for us guys, too.

Four Week Trial
While surfing around the message boards at Dave Ramsey's website I noticed several people who were participating in something called The Grocery Game. Apparently, The Grocery Game was a website offering a shopping list for your local stores highlighting the best deals for that particular week. By clipping coupons and matching them to weekly store specials you could save some big bucks. Being the natural skeptic I am, I reluctantly agreed to a four-week trial membership for $1.00. At the end of that trial period my subscription was to continue at the rate of $10 every eight week period. Not a bad deal, I thought. We started The Grocery Game the first weekend in April.

Coupon Hunting
Our first mission was to locate coupons, and lots of them. We bought a Sunday paper and found two coupon circulars included with the store advertisements. We clipped every single coupon and organized them by grocery section (breads, dairy, cereal, frozen, etc.). We also asked my mom to hold on to her coupons so we could double-up on certain products. The coupons were filed away in a canceled check organizer I picked up for a couple bucks at an office supply store.

The List
The first of each week a list is published for Grocery Game subscribers based on the store they selected as their primary shopping destination (you can add additional stores to your membership for $5.00 per eight-week period). The lists are color coded so free or rock-bottom priced items are highlighted. The idea is to stockpile items that are either free or at their lowest price and then not buy that product again for several weeks. Because coupons tend to be offered in cycles you eventually work your way around the grocery store stocking up on items from each aisle. Until you are working strictly from your stockpile you still need to pick up a few things at regular price. This is also true on things like milk, eggs, etc. that have a relatively short shelf life.

The Results
So far I have been extremely pleased with our results. Last weekend there was a sale on Ragu pasta sauce at our local store. Ragu also offered a manufacturer's coupon, and when combined with the store's rock-bottom price we were able to pick up six jars of sauce for about $0.83 each - a savings of over 50% off of the regular price.

The Grocery Game is primarily marketed to women, but I think they are missing a huge demographic. The idea of getting a deal on anything and of stockpiling household items appeals to the hunter-gatherer nature of men. The only regret my wife has is I think she misses those solo shopping trips to the store.