Keep track of prices at your local grocery store using a Grocery Price Book! You won’t believe how much money you’ll save!
Following is a great Money Saving Tip and guest
post by Rachelle at Oh I Got This ~ enjoy!!
Grocery Price Book
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When I first got married I had ABSOLUTELY no idea when I was bagging a bargain or when the grocery store was ransacking my wallet. Obviously it was alarming. So, I tried a caboodle of things that did not work well.
My latest effort has been to strut into the grocery store, list in hand, determination on my brow, and…not buy much of anything or staunchly ignore when my pocket was getting picked. Sad, I know. But a solution has been found in the form of a book!
How Do You Keep Track of Grocery Prices?
Well… a grocery price book, of course!
What is a Price Book?
Definition: A book in which one records store’s prices on items so that sale cycles and best deals can be clearly seen.
You can thank Organized Home (organizedhome.com) for this beautiful idea. It will help you save money, find your target price for each item, find sale cycles for your favorite stores, and feel great.
Grocery Price Book Template:
Here is the layout for a Grocery Price Book…
At the top of the spreadsheet (notebook, or whatever else works best for you) there is the product, in this case Cheese. Underneath the product name you record the date, store, brand or description of the product, price and size, and finally the price per unit.
It makes the process easier if you create store codes. For example here are some of my store codes:
KRG- Kroger
SMC- Sam’s Club
SMT- Smith’s
WLM- Walmart
In the Cheese product spreadsheet above the store is HEB. That is an actual store name on it’s own, no shortening required.
The sections date, brand or description, and price and size are all pretty self-explanatory and simple. The price per unit can be a little tricky sometimes though.
What is Unit Pricing at the Grocery Store?
First, you need to decide what your unit for that product will be and make a note of it on that product’s page somewhere (my note is in the top right-hand corner). If you look at the price tags at most stores it will tell you the unit price and what unit they are using.
Usually the unit is either ounces, fluid ounces, or “per count”. An example of per count is paper towels. The count is one roll, or with batteries the unit price is per battery. Here is an example of a Cheerios price tag you might find at the store:
The unit price is .263 and the unit they are using is ounces.
Since the stores are so nice as to do all the math for you, it can be handy to make note of the unit price while you are shopping then record it in your price book later. When you are first starting your price book, or if you don’t have the time to peruse price tags at the store, use receipts! You will need to find out how many ounces, pounds, or counts there are in each product though when using receipts because it is usually not marked on them.
Once you have the price and the size for your product simply divide the price by the number of units and you have your unit price! Going back to my Cheese spreadsheet, the HEB brand Sharp Cheddar cost $4.18 and was 16 oz. So I grabbed my calculator, divided 4.18 by 16 and got the unit price of $.26.
Another good idea for building your price book is to check out your local ads. Most stores make it easy on their websites to receive their ads by email which makes it so you get the ads right when they come out (and it saves paper).
Now it takes a little time to create a solid price book, but I started mine not too long ago (a month maybe) and it has already been saving me money at the store. Like a few weeks ago I saw that HEB was having a sale on chicken breast so I marked it in my price book and compared the unit price with others I had under chicken breasts and it was a steal of a deal! So I stocked up!
Preventing wallet ransacking? Oh, I Got This!
Rachelle is a novice Mom with a newly found motto: Oh, I Got This! She blogs about her lemon-scented, dime-saving, diaper-changing, recipe-rounding, homemaking life at ohigotthis.blogspot.com. Check it out and get out of those “I can’t do it” days!
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So have you made a Grocery Price Book yet?
Leave a comment & share!
Diane says
These are great tips but I noticed the sales flyer for my local grocery store are not sale prices because they are the same prices as the previous week and so forth. As for the unit prices they are all the same unit price for example if you look at Hunt’s tomato sauce and you compare it to the store brand you will see the same exact price. I feel like I’m being ripped off every time I go shopping. Thanks for the tips and I might try this system even if the unit prices are the same.
Michelle says
Is there an app that is great for a price book to have with u on us phone??
Mable Hicks says
How much does it cost for the grocery price book? How do I get one?
Sherry says
I’ve had a price book in one form or another since the ’90’s. It’s an excellent tool. I had to start over when we moved from TX to GA, but it was well worth the effort to recreate it. To build one faster, split the data gathering with your friends and offer to compile and share the data. Start with the most common items that everyone buys and everyone takes a different store. Build on it with each shopping trip. Before you know it you’ll only be buying items at the lowest price. Watch the sales and add in coupons and you’ll be able to really stretch your food budget.
ann lavine says
i do not have nook or Kindle wish they had a hard copy
Shauna says
I too have had a price book for a few years. I had to do some refiguring when we moved because the baseline prices changed, but it wasn’t too hard.
I recommend figuring your own unit prices and not relying on the price on the shelf. I have found them to be incorrect more than once.
James says
I’ve been using a price book for months now, and I’m frequently surprised at how much prices differ from store to store. For a while, grapefruit juice at Walmart was about half the price of the exact same juice at Kroger! I would never have noticed that if I didn’t have a price book.
If you have an iPhone, I suggest using a price book app like PriceMouse. It does unit price calculations for you.
Letia says
Thanks for the tip James!
Alyssa says
I am also newly wed, I am already pretty frugal. I am excited to try this however! I already pay attention to the unit price, but this will be a good way to keep track and what stores may have higher prices and things!