Shopping Right Could Save You Bundle

What's the least expensive way to buy the groceries you need?

That's what Consumer Reports Senior Editor Tod Marks was wondering, so he set out to find out.

He tested four different approaches to grocery shopping to see which saved him the most money, purchasing the same 30 items on each of four shopping trips.

Marks, who writes the Consumer Reports blog "Tightwad Marks" and is a longtime expert on the retail world, shared the results on The Early Show Wednesday, then offered general shopping advice.

1. Impulsive Shopper; spent $288.26

Marks went down the aisles, checking items off his list, not paying any attention to which brand of mustard might be cheaper or which size cereal might be more economical, not looking for sales, etc.

2. Savvy Shopper; spent $166.22

Marks took full advantage of sales, put his store loyalty card to work, and sniffed high and low for coupons.

3. Warehouse Shopper; spent $156.16

For this approach, Marks compared unit prices for all of the items on his shopping list. Shopping at Costco, Sam's Club and other warehouse stores requires you to buy items in bulk. Buying four cartons of Tropicana OJ that are bundled together is of course going to cost more than buying one carton at the supermarket. But if you compare those unit prices, you'll often wind up spending less at the warehouse clubs.

Store-brand Shopper; spent $154.62

Marks visited his local Stop and Shop and simply purchased the store brand of everything on his list.

MARKS' CONCLUSIONS:

Clearly, you have to put some work into saving money. And the work you put in can save you A LOT -- like over $100!

But which of the options is truly the best?

Marks says most people are probably not going to sub out every item on their list for their store's brands, so that's not the winning solution.

If you have a large family and/or like to buy non-perishables in bulk, that yearly fee at the local Costco will certainly pay off.

But for most people, shopping supermarket sales and clipping coupons is going to be the way to go. Just to illustrate how much you can save by using a coupon, consider Marks' purchase of Frosted Flakes cereal. He bought two, 14-ounce boxes. As an impulse shopper, he spent $8.98. As a savvy shopper with a coupon, he spent $3. It's easy to see how savings like that can add up quickly.

Marks adds that, once you begin paying attention to sales and coupons, you'll notice that staples like cereal, orange juice and bread regularly go on sale. If you shop wisely, YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO PAY FULL PRICE FOR ANY OF THESE STAPLES AGAIN!

Back to store-brand items -- since ultimately, that was the shopping method that saved the most money: Marks says even though most people won't want to buy every single item on their list from the store-brand category, he really encourages shoppers to SUPPLEMENT their lists with store brands. As he points out, you don't have much to lose by trying a store brand. And if you wind up liking it as much or more than the national brand-name products, you'll cut your grocery costs.

The quality of store brand items in general has really improved over recent years. Stores are realizing that selling a quality private label affords them an edge over the competition - nobody else, for instance, can sell Whole Food's 365 Everyday Value brand. Consumer Reports has found that many store brands are as good as or better than the national brands they're designed to compete against. Store brands aren't priced lower than the national brands because the product is low quality, but because retailers don't have to spend as much on national advertising campaigns, research and development.

Expect to pay about 25 percent less for a store brand item compared to its name-brand competition. Because grocery chains are investing more and more in their store brands, you can expect to find a growing variety of products carrying store brand labels. In addition to the more traditional canned fruit, frozen veggies and paper towel, you'll now see frozen lasagnas, organic mixed greens and more.

Now, if you REALLY want to save money, you can also look for a store's VALUE brand items. These items are solely designed to appeal to customers who want to spend less. Prices in general tend to be 35 percent lower than those of national brand-name products. Generally, these products aren't designed to compete, quality-wise, with the national brand-names. Not every chain or every store in a chain will carry value brand items, but again, stores are producing more value brand products all of the time.

Marks said earlier, if you have a large family and use a lot of groceries, shopping at Costco and Sam's Club can certainly save you big bucks. But if you don't think you could possibly make it through four gallons of orange juice before it spoils, you should still consider shopping for non-perishables at warehouse stores. For most of the items, such as foil and fabric softener, Marks paid less at Costco than anywhere else. For example, take a look at these foil prices he found: Impulsive Shopper: $11.44 Savvy Shopper: $7.99 Store Brand Shopper: $7.97 Warehouse Shopper: $6.40.

ADDITIONAL SHOPPING TIPS