The Best Days To Shop For Groceries To Save Money

It is without a doubt that the increase in grocery prices has been one of the largest issues facing American consumers in recent years. Between 2019 and 2023, the all-food Consumer Price Index, a blanket statistic used by the USDA to measure food prices in the U.S., rose by a whopping 25%. While these price increases can be attributed to a variety of factors like the COVID-19 Pandemic and geopolitical issues, the overall complications took some time to noticeably make an impact on consumers' wallets. However, in 2022, the damages finally took shape. In fact, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service, 2022 alone saw the sharpest increase in food prices than any other similar time period in the last 40 years.

The good news, though, is that while we may not have control over the inflation of food prices in America, there are still strategies we can use to adapt to this changing price environment at the grocery store. In addition to checking the unit price (as frugal shoppers always do), and being aware of the ways grocery stores get you to spend more money, you can also shop on the days of the week when savings are said to be potentially greater. Those grocery shopping days would be midweek days.

Wednesdays are the best days to buy groceries if you're looking to save money. The first reason for this is pretty simple: During the middle of the week there are far less crowds. According to Dive Research, the majority of grocery shopping takes place on the weekends, as most people have a hard time getting to the grocery store in the middle of the week due to their work schedule. 

This not only makes Wednesday an ideal time to scope out deals before anyone else gets to them, but also because the middle of the week is typically when most grocery stores have fully restocked their shelves. Brand new products on the shelves generally means that older products will go for cheaper, as the store is trying to get rid of them to make way for the new merchandise. Seeing as this is the case, it also means that the time of day that you go shopping can lead to bigger savings as well.

While Wednesday is typically the most common day for grocery stores to be fully restocked, a lot of the bigger grocery store chains tend to restock every day. This means that if you go shopping for perishable items like produce, meat, dairy, and bread, they will most likely be cheaper in the evening hours compared to the mornings. For more specific information on your local grocery store's restocking schedule, make sure to ask an employee to obtain more information. This will make it much easier to figure out the cheapest days/times to buy certain items.

That being said, along with the day of the week and time of day that you shop, the type of grocery store where you do your weekly shopping matters as well. Grocery store chains like Aldi and Trader Joe's are significantly cheaper than somewhere like Whole Foods. The biggest reason for this is that neither of them sell name brand products. While other grocery stores spend a fortune stocking up on popular name brand products, stores like Aldi and Trader Joe's have taken a more cost effective route. 80 to 90% of the company's products are private label, which allows these two grocery store chains to price their products significantly cheaper than their competition, leading to more savings for you.