Kroger used to be my absolute favorite grocery store until I met Publix......now they rival each other, yes, but I don't say "I'm going here because they have better sales this week..." No, I say, "I'm going here for this and there for that." Locally, they are right beside each other, so no wasted gas!
Kroger has a loyalty card program. If you do not have one, go to the front desk and get one! They will send you special coupons, you can get discounted gas, and this is the only way to get their sale prices!
Their rules about gas: No matter what, Kroger Plus Card members will get .03/gallon discount when they scan their card.
For every $100 of groceries, items you purchase within a month, you get .10/gallon discount.
For every $50 in gift cards purchased (and they have A TON!), you get .10/gallon
For every 2 prescriptions purchased, you get .10/gallon
Kroger has also teamed up with Shell and now you can use your card at the Shell stations and get a discount as well!
One of the things I love about Kroger is their markdowns they do every morning usually between 7 and 9. They go through and markdown the produce, meat, bread, and dairy for things that are going out of date soon. This has been a major blessing for us as we have gotten ground beef for .99/lb, bananas for .19/lb, bread for .49/loaf, and milk for 1.50/gallon before! Granted, these things do expire SOON, but I live in a house with 4 guys! We freeze the meat, eat/freeze bananas (bananas frozen are WONDERFUL for banana bread!), eat/freeze the bread, and go through a gallon of milk in less than 2 days.
Kroger has their 10/$10 sales that they do frequently, and while some things are a great price, you do have to be careful to not get excited "just because it's on sale" (yes, I have to deal with my husband on this ;-) ). One important thing about this type of sale: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY 10 TO GET EACH ITEM FOR $1! You can buy just one and it will still charge you the same price.
They also have their "Mega Events" that they have begun doing more frequently. Thy currently have a frozen mega event going on to where if you buy 10 items off of their special list (there is usually a wide assortment of items available for the sale), you will get $5 off of your order. That is essentially that each item will be .50 cheaper. This discount comes off automatically at the register at the end of your checkout. Make sure you have the required number of items or it will not give you the discount! You can do this as many times in each transaction as you want, just as long as you have it in multiples of the number. For example, this week is buy 10 get $5 off. If I bought 50 items, I would get $25 off of my order, but if I bought 58 items, I would still only get $25 off since I haven't hit the next mark yet.
****BOGO coupons are AMAZING for this type of sale!! An example recently:
Herbal essence was in the list of Buy 4, Get $4 off
You could buy:
(2) Herbal Essence shampoos @2.99 ------
5.98
(2) Herbal Essence stylers @2.99 -----------
5.98
Total =
11.96
Minus $4 mega even sale =
7.96
Use (2) Buy 1 shampoo/cond get 1 styler free coupons from 12/26/10 PG
These would both take off 2.99 each (not the discounted price!) -
5.98
Total would be
$1.98 + tax for 2 Herbal Essence shampoos and 2 stylers!!
OR JUST .50 each!!
Kroger also has catalina deals where if you buy a certain number of items, you get a certain amount back on your next order (OYNO). These do not run with the sales weeks nor do they advertise them in their paper. Usually they have tags hanging under the items. There is also a
master list over at
Southern Savers where she keeps record of it all. You do not have to wait until the next trip to use these (yes, I have forgotten about them before!!! lol). You can just divide your items into 2 transactions and use them on your 2nd. One major thing about catalinas is if it says:
Buy 3, get $1.50 oyno
Buy 4, get $2.50 oyno
Buy 5(+), get $3.50 oyno
You will not get $7 for buying 10! If you wanted 10, it would be best to split your order into 2 separate transactions.
Kroger also has eCoupons you can load
at their site,
Shurtcuts, and
Cellfire. A lot of stores will not let you use both an eCoupon and a paper coupon, but last time I checked, our local store would let you. It something they are having to slowly transition in their system, and from what I understand, they will all eventually only take one or the other. These coupons take 2-24 hours to load onto your card, so when you're browsing the coupons, if you think you will use it, save it to your card! Your card can hold MANY coupons!
Kroger, like Publix, doubles MQs up to .50. However, there is one difference. While at Publix, they will always double the same amount no matter how much the item costs, Kroger will not. I tried it on McCormick seasonings for .89. I used a .50/1 MQ and it doubled .39. It will make the item free, but you will not get overage at Kroger. Still great though!
