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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge)   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, June 10, 2007 It pays to play the grocery game A Web site shows shoppers where to stock up on groceries at the best prices. By Debra Smith / Herald Writer It sounds too good to be true - an online service that promises to save shoppers hundreds off their grocery bills every month. It's called The Grocery Game (www.thegrocerygame.com) and it works like this: Shoppers get a weekly list for a local supermarket that contains the best deals based on manufacturer's coupons and store sales. Company founder Teri Gault said she got the idea after observing grocery sale cycles. Nearly everything in the store goes on sale sometime in a 12-week period, she said, much of it not advertised. She started keeping track so she could use her coupons at the optimum moment. The list indicates what to buy and when to buy it. The big savings come when shoppers stockpile the items when they're cheapest. If shoppers follow the rules, they can save 60 percent or more, the company says. The Herald recently paid for 10 Snohomish County families to try this service for a month and asked them to share their experiences. Audrey Morgan, a 30-year-old Marysville mother of four, stuck to the rules of the game closely and liked the savings she saw on the bottom of her receipts. For the month-long trial, Morgan did the bulk of her shopping at Albertsons, supplemented with a few trips to Thriftway where produce is cheaper, she said. Morgan spent a total of $767.36 during the month trial. Her receipts show she saved $564.74, a 43-percent savings for the month. She normally saves some money since she shops the sales, but she said her family did seem to save more, and she plans to continue with the service. Hers was the only family among The Herald 10 to opt to continue after the trial. Most of the families saved some money but found the game didn't fit in with their shopping habits or lifestyles. John Rivera Greene of Everett, a 38-year-old fundraiser for United Way of Snohomish County, didn't find many of the items his family of four regularly buys on the list, particularly fresh produce. "Many of the things on sale were things we don't tend to buy," he said. "We don't tend to buy boxed easy-to-make meals. We don't buy boxed juices for the kids. There were a number of personal products we don't use." This budget-conscious family already pared down their grocery bill to less than $100 a week. Rivera Greene said his spouse, Jill, plans their meals ahead of time. They buy a lot of fresh produce and prepare virtually all of their meals from scratch. He clips coupons and will buy less expensive store brands if they're cheaper. When they shop, they stick to the list and don't buy what they don't need. "I don't think it saved me more money," he said. "The company says, 'Oh, you're going to save hundreds.' That didn't happen." Some didn't like having to shop at one supermarket or taking the time to get the list off the computer. Christine Fraize, 59, of Marysville manages most of the shopping and meals for her household, which includes her husband and her father. The experienced coupon-clipper said she did save $186 using the list, but that wasn't enough to offset the inconvenience of changing her routine. She also didn't like fooling with the list on the computer. "You have to take the time to look at the list, mark the list, print the list," Fraize said. "It took some practice." She doesn't plan to continue with the service but suggested it would be a good thing for less experienced shoppers, such as a new housewife. While hundreds of items are available on the list, including some organic and vegetarian products and meat, shoppers won't find a large variety of produce. And often the items on sale weren't the ones they would buy. Mary Kennedy-Draper, a 55-year-old retired nurse, didn't have any trouble using the list but found the sale items weren't necessarily the ones she wanted to purchase, citing high-sugar yogurts, breakfast cereals and ketchup. She said she opts for products that offer the most nutritional value. She would rather pay a little more now for healthful food than spend more later on medical issues. Plus, even with a hungry teenage son, Kennedy-Draper doubted they'd ever get through jars and jars of peanut butter. "I'm not looking for rock-bottom prices if it means a product has lots of sugar," she said. The list is best suited to large families that need to feed many people economically, Kennedy-Draper said.

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