Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Wednesday Ways To Save, I want to discuss one of my favorite places to grocery and stockpile shop, and that is at my local Save-A-Lot store! For those who may not know, Save-A-Lot is smaller chain grocery store, that offers consumers higher quality, lower cost food option. The chain is known for cutting overhead costs by having customers bag their own groceries, emailing bi-weekly sales ads online to savings card holders, and by offering a mixture of brand and non-brand name items.

Some perks to shopping at Save-A-Lot:

• The stores website offers great recipe ideas, a posted section called “Feed A Family of 4 For Under 5,” which shows healthy, affordable meal ideas, has a section to sign-up for their shoppers card club, and to view their “10 items for $10.00,” weekly deals!
• The store also hosts an everyday sales promotion where you can buy 5 large family packs of various meat products, ranging from roasts, hams, and chops, to breakfast and pre-packed meat sections for only 17.00, as well as 1 pound tubes of ground turkey, a healthy alternative to beef, for an everyday stock-up price of only $1.00 a roll!
• Save-A-Lot also accepts coupons, and although their website is a bit vague, it states that all valid manufacturers coupons will be excepted; from personal experience I would not use internet coupons at Save-A-Lot as their systems often cannot read the bar-codes.
• Like with all other stores, I recommend you visit the Save-A-Lot webpage at the link provided below, and print a copy of their official Corporate Coupon Policy, keep it in your coupon binder, and take it with you whenever you shop at Save-A-Lot!
• Also, be sure to sign-up for their loyalty rewards emails, and you will receive monthly emails, and you will receive, by mail, quarterly savings coupons, such as $5.00 off of a $25.00 or more shopping purchase!
• Save-A-Lot also offers a butcher department, and though they are not visible to the general sales floor, the meat department has buzzer buttons which summon butchers for services; this is a great option for buying meats in bulk and having them wrapped in smaller quantities. Butchers will also season goods with their “special blend,” a Cajun seasoning, free of charge.
• Save-A-Lot sales are tri-weekly; sales change the forth week of the month nationally.
• Lastly, Save-A-Lot also features match-up recipes on their website, recipes that coincide with ongoing sales, which allow customers to make everyday family meals, all under $5.00 which feed a family of 4; recipes are updated monthly.

With all of that said, here are   items that I purchase at Save-A-Lot, no coupons needed:

1) Bagged Lettuce and Cole Slaw Mix: Save-A-Lot carries Bagged Dole salad and Cole slaw packs, everyday priced at $0.89; this is $0.25 less per bag that Walmart’s own brand!

2) The Pick-5 Selections: Save-A-Lot features every valued pick-5 meat selections, where you can select from fresh poultry, pork, and beef products, as well as a large variety of pre-packages luncheon meats, cooked breakfast fare, and the like all for $19.99; the selections also include pork and beef roasts, pork spare ribs, and five pound chicken quarter bags.

3) Rolls of Ground Turkey: In my family we generally consume ground turkey over ground beef for health reasons, and at Save-A-Lot the 1 pound chubs of rolled ground turkey are everyday priced at $1.49 per pound, and on the last weekend of each month, there is an a special where the rolls drop in price to $1.00 per roll; this is my stock-up pricing for ground turkey and monthly I buy numerous rolls of this product. Also worth noting, Save-A-Lot rolled meat products are certified pink slime-free and hormone-free.

4) Spices: Save-A-Lot offers 12 ounce bottles of spices, herbs, and dry rubs, for $0.99 everyday priced; they carry basic seasonings as well as more hard-to-find for that price items such as Bay Leave, Ground Ginger, White Pepper, Curry Powder, All Spice, and several baking extracts. Considering that you can pay well over four times this amount at Walmart and Whole Foods, as well as that even the Dollar Tree, with their limited stock, only carries a very common varieties, this is an awesome stock-up deal!

5) Pantry Staples: Save-A-Lot carries 3 pound bags of rice, white and whole grain, and a variety of pastas, both bleached and whole grain as well, everyday priced at only $1.59, as well as $0.49 boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mixes; also worth noting I found $1.00 1 pound boxes of gluten-free kids alphabet pasta as well! This pricing cuts both Dollar Tree and Winn-Dixie pricing in half!

6) Banquet Frozen Dinners: These dinners are everyday priced at $0.88 each!

7) Canned Beans: Save-A-Lot offers navy, pinto, black, and kidney beans everyday priced at $0.59 a can!

8) Jarred Pasta Sauce: Save-A-Lot offers 24 ounce jarred pasta sauces, in marinara, meat, mushroom, pesto, Alfredo, and chunky varieties for only $0.99 a jar!

9) Canned vegetables: Save-A-Lot offers canned vegetables at everyday low pricing; canned potatoes and green beans are $0.79, canned green beans for $0.59, and canned hominy, corn, and mixed vegetables for $0.49 a can.

10) TGIF Chips: Save-A-Lot offers 16 ounce bags of TGIF brand chips for $1.00 a bag, in assorted varieties; this is a saving of $2.69 a bag over Walmart pricing!

11) Canned Pet Food and Treats: Save-A-Lot offers canned lamb and rice pet food, in grain-free varieties for only $0.69 a can; this is a saving of $2.00 a can over many Petco varieties. As well, you can purchase the Canine Carry out pet treat bags, in the 8 punch pouches, for only $1.00 a bag!

12) 9 Lives Canned Cat Food: Save-A-Lot also offers 9 Lives canned cat food, in assorted varieties, everyday prices at only $0.49 a can; though this is not stock-up pricing, this is a good value, without coupons being needed, for a reliable brand of canned cat food.

So, that’s some of the ways in which I save money while shopping at Save-A-Lot! I hope this list inspires you to consider shopping at retail food outlets outside of the large boxes superstore labels for your family! Though Save-A-Lot is a no-frills shopping environment, the deals are plentiful, the aisles are clear, the products is well stocked, and the staff are always super courteous and polite! Please note, you can save time by bringing in your own reusable shopping sacks to Save-A-Lot as the chain does not bag groceries in a traditional manner, and instead has customers load groceries into a empty shopping cart, and then walk to a staged bagging area; bringing your own bags with you will save time in the process!

Here’s to saving!