Saving some green at the supermarket

Herb Weisbaum • Profile • E-mail

Do you always shop at the same supermarket? If so, you might be better off using two stores. Consumer Reports suggests finding a store with good prices on packaged goods and another that has high quality meats, produce and baked goods.

For its October issue, the magazine surveyed 24,000 readers and concluded  the “perfect supermarket” does not exist. Thus its suggestion to find two favorites.

“Where you find low prices, you’ll often find lackluster help, long checkout lines, and so-so fresh foods,” the editors write. “And where you find great service and goods, you’ll pay.”

No matter where you shop, you need to know the techniques — some would call them tricks — grocery stores use to get you to run up the bill.

Make a list and stick to it
The more time you’re in the store, the more money you’re likely to spend. That’s why the things you need each week — meat, eggs and milk — are in the back.  It slows you down and forces you to pass by the more profitable items along the way.

By knowing what you want before you go to the store, you’ll get in and out faster and buy fewer high-priced impulse items. My friend Phil Lempert, the food editor for NBC’s Today show, says this is one of the best ways to spend less.

Studies show people who don’t have a list will buy about 40 percent more than they had planned, Phil says. Most of those extra purchases “will either be impulse items or items you don’t need.”

Check the unit price
Usually, the bigger size is more economical, but not always. That’s especially true when the smaller size is on sale. The only way to know if the jumbo size is a better buy is to check the unit price.

For example, shopping this weekend I found the 182-ounce Clorox bleach selling for $4.39 or 39 cents a pint, while the 96 ounce size was $2.19 or 37 cents a pint. The smaller box of SOS steel wool pads was also the better deal. A box of 10 pads was $1.89 or $18.90 per 100. The box of 18 pads was $3.49 or $19.39 per 100.

Signs and displays that make you want to buy
Some store signs are designed to get you to spend more. In most cases, when it says “10 cans of corn for $10” you don’t have to buy 10 cans. You can get “1 can for $1” or “3 cans for $3.” Don’t let that sign trick you into buying more than you want.

It’s easy to assume the products on the big display at the end of the aisle (known as the endcap) are on sale. But they may not be. Endcaps are just prime display areas used to move product, often at full price. Consumer Reports says these displays can boost sales by as much as 30 percent.

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