How do you tell a good price??

**TheRootedNomad** · 05-12-2008, 08:27 PM

With all the current threads about grocery prices I hesitated to start another. Most of themm seem to be talking about how much the costs are rising. I'd like to ask how you know what a good price is??? How long do you hold out??? With the price fluctuations there are some things I'd been holding off buying for a very long time. Then a sale would run and I'd think. Oh that's the routine sale the good one should be in a couple of weeks. Then it never comes. Then I also never see the same sale price for what I passed up again.

Some things I've got figured out but others I'm lost on. Meat seems to be staying semi steady and dairy here is used as the draw into the store. How about stuff like pasta??? I paid .89 a pound last week and stocked up on a few pounds but I have no idea if this is a GOOD price or not. It was just 3 pounds for a dollar on sale a few months ago.... Ugh

Maybe we could trade good prices we've found for sales???

**Bethany** · 05-12-2008, 08:34 PM

I struggle with this too. I'm getting better at it. I really just have to get down to the tedious (in my opinion) job of doing a price book. I think that would help alot. But with prices going up so quickly, it's hard to remember what a good price is.

**Frugal Cook** · 05-12-2008, 09:08 PM

The only good price is the one that you are willing to pay at the moment. You cannot second guess it later.

I'm still upset when the price of gas was raised to $0.30/gal. and mentally I'm still waiting for the price to come down. In the long run it just doesn't happen.

When you are no longer willing to pay the price, you go without or you change to something else. Eventually supply & demand comes up with something that people need/want and we adjust to the price for that. And the process repeats itself.

**cheles2kids** · 05-13-2008, 11:28 AM

I don't think this is necessarily the answer your looking for.
But for the most part, I don't comparison shop, use coupons or look for loss leaders.
I know, I know, I'm going against the general consensus here.

I've recently started shopping at one store for everything, *except* for fresh fruit & veggies and I know I'm getting the best "bang for my buck" every time I go. But I shop at SAL and alot of people either don't have one close by, aren't willing to give them a try or they like another store better.

I think for me personally I have to know that everything (or most everything) I'm purchasing is cheaper than anywhere else. The difference between the store brand Save-a-lot canned foods and those you would find, say.... somewhere like Kroger, is a considerable amount. Sometimes as much as .15-.20 a difference per can.

I don't mind store brands if I know that the quality is there and we all like the taste of the product.

So in other words for us, I *know* that every time I walk into SAL I'll get the cheapest prices on 98% of my groceries, and it's not worth it to me to deal with all the other stuff, just to save on that possible 2%.

**Marie78** · 05-13-2008, 11:43 AM

I have been shopping Aldi for my staple items and a few other items, because I know these are the cheapest prices I can find on these items and we are fine with how these Aldi brand products taste: flour, sugar, oil (cooking and EVOO), choc. chips, corn muffin mix, baking powder, etc..., cereal bars, oatmeal, cereal, egg noodles, rice, canned veggies, canned beans, canned cream soups, tortilla chips, and hot chocolate mix.

I shop at Wegmans for almost all of my other food and household needs. I don't know if I am getting the best price at Wegmans, but I feel I am getting the best price in regards to the quality of the store brand food, produce, and meat selection.

I shop Rite Aid for their Free After Rebate items and they had a few grand opening sales in the last couple of months and I stocked up on HBA, tp, and detergents when they were on sale and I had coupons and I felt I got the best price around on these items at the time.

With the rise in prices lately, if I see a sale on an item that I know I can't find cheaper at Aldi and that I usually buy for X amount of dollars, I will stock up. It's okay with me if I see this same item on sale again at some point for a better deal, if I use the prodcut regularly enough I will buy more, if it's something we have enough of for the next year or so, I will pass on the "better" sale, because we don't need the item anymore.

**Jskell911** · 05-13-2008, 09:56 PM

I have been struggling with this for a few months as well. We do not have any of those discount grocers within say 30 miles or so. I have a Price Chopper or a Stop & Shop. Both large chains, but they are about 10 miles from each other so they don't compete. Makes for some tough sales.

Anyway, back to the original point. I can't keep the figures in my head anymore. They keep changing and the ads don't help all that much. Ugghhh. Well, guess I better figure it out before we start leaking grocery $$ again!

**nuisance26** · 05-14-2008, 08:41 PM

~I shop at Aldi as well but also grab the loss leaders at supermarkets. I like to buy at 50% off or better. It doesn't really matter to me if an item used to be $1 cheaper 6 months ago. 50% off NOW is a GOOD SALE. Accepting this rule of thumb while shopping has helped me to stress less!~

**TheRootedNomad** · 05-15-2008, 06:36 AM

Lots of information here. I especially like the 50% off rule. Even with prices changeing frequently you can just lift the sale tag to compare it to the original tag.

I generally do pretty well keeping numbers in my head but like Kristen, I'm haveing a hard time with it now that everything is jumping all over the place.

**kita** · 05-15-2008, 05:08 PM

Another thing to look at is a limited offer. If you can only buy 5 of an item at that price, it is a good loss leader. I also like the idea of comparing prices to Aldis.

**Cymbaline** · 05-15-2008, 05:32 PM

A price book really does help with this type of stuff but I agree it is tedious. One thing I do is save my receipts when I grocery shop. I don't know about every store but where I shop , the item descriptions are pretty clear.

You can also go to mygrocerydeals and check out weekly ads.

**ravenmaniac** · 05-15-2008, 05:40 PM

I get confused with prices too. My sister and I compare grocery, health and beauty, laundry, etc. prices with each other. It is so hard to keep up. With gas prices rising pricing continues to change. I buy what I can on sale. Just try to replenish my stock. I'm afraid prices will keep rising so I buy what I can. Is it just me or are there less people in the stores? Like grocery stores and drug stores.

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 05-15-2008, 08:36 PM

I used to have set prices in my head for many items and would not pay more than x for an item. I also knew when to stock up on stuff. With how quickly prices are rising, I never know if the sale price is really good or not? Sometimes if it is the lowest I have seen in a couple of monthes I know, but other times I am not sure if the price is the new lowest price and you hate to wait just to have it go up more. it is getting harder and harder to figure it all out!

**mombottoo** · 05-15-2008, 10:06 PM

Originally Posted by Frugal Cook

The only good price is the one that you are willing to pay at the moment. You cannot second guess it later.

I'm still upset when the price of gas was raised to $0.30/gal. and mentally I'm still waiting for the price to come down. In the long run it just doesn't happen.

When you are no longer willing to pay the price, you go without or you change to something else. Eventually supply & demand comes up with something that people need/want and we adjust to the price for that. And the process repeats itself.

Yep, what Frugal Cook said!

**30s&DebtFree** · 05-16-2008, 07:49 PM

I tried to do the price list thing and for me, it was too time consuming to shop and found that the store brand (I shop at Giant) was usually the best deal. I also do not stockpile, but send DH to the store once per week for whatever we need. I try to plan a few meals per week, figuring left overs will get us thru a few days as well.

I find that just buying the staples (More with Less book has a great staples list) and making dishes from the staples in my pantry is the best way for me. Just doing this consistently vs going out to eat often is a huge savings.

Sometimes it is hard enough for me to plan weekly meals, so if I can just do this making inexpensive dinners, I figure I am ahead of the game. However, once I start getting too nit-picky and do major price comparing, etc, I usually go on a "I'm not cooking" binge and we end up doing take put more than we should. So, I take the less pressure route and just try to do meal planning using "from scratch" staple ingredients with a few speciality things added in weekly.

**Wendy99** · 05-16-2008, 11:11 PM

I started a price list myself to learn with the rising cost of food what is good / bad prices. If I see a big sale I stock up. I just got 20 tubes of toothpaste for just over $8.00 and purchased 6 bricks of cheese for $3.97 each ( the large ones) ... so I stock up when it goes on sale as I can afford it.