Like many things, grocery shopping can be a chore for some people, but for others, it’s an absolute joy. Making the list, checking it twice, hunting through coupons for every possible penny to save, arranging your cart for maximum storage – for the consummate grocery shopper, it’s all part of the thrill of the chase. Now, the age of the smartphone has made it easier to save money on your groceries, and even to earn cash back for the purchases you make. Here are some of the best apps available to reduce your grocery bill or score you rewards for what you buy, so you can start putting food in your pantry and money back in your pocket.
Coupons.com: The premier website for extreme coupon fanatics now has an app that makes it even easier to obsess over maximizing your savings at the grocery. The app gives access to the website’s massive, constantly updated catalog of coupons, allows you to select the ones you’d like to use, and even lets you print them directly off your phone. You can filter your search by store, brand, or location, or choose from their featured deals. If you’re going paperless, many of the app’s coupons are scannable from your phone or feature promo codes for online shopping.
Ibotta: Ibotta started way back in 2012, and made headlines when it raised $20 million in funding more than three years ago, in 2014. Since then, it’s grown into the most popular app of its kind, with users earning combined millions in cash rewards they can redeem for gift cards or Venmo payments. Ibotta is simple: you select an offer, answer a question or read some information, scan the barcode on the CPG (consumer packaged good), and take a picture of your receipt. Voila – you’re earning money with your purchases, that goes into your Ibotta account in less than 24 hours. Plus, they’ll give you an extra $10 when you use your first rebate.
Receipt Hog: Like many other apps, Receipt Hog asks you to take pictures of your grocery receipts to earn cash back, but it’s different in that it doesn’t require you to buy specific items to get cash back. Rather than encouraging certain purchases, Receipt Hog is just looking to collect consumer data. While that’s bad news for the coupon-minded, it does mean that every purchase you make at stores including Costco, CVS, and Safeway can be redeemed for “coins” from Receipt Hog, regardless of what you’re buying – and those coins add up to cash or gift cards.
Southern Savers: Despite the name, this app’s useful for grocery shoppers even if they reside above the Mason-Dixon line. Southern Savers started as a project for a mom looking to save on her family’s grocery bill and has now become the go-to app for coupon obsessives, with deals updated in real time and functionality that parallels the way paper coupons work in conjunction with each other. What does that mean for you? A veritable database of deals, showing you all the weekly store promotions and allowing you to search for specific items that you plan on buying. Plus, you can use it to store your grocery list!
SavingStar: This app has fewer partnerships with businesses than some of the others on this list, but it does have coverage at quite a few grocery chains and big box stores, including Target, Walmart, and Walgreens, and it’s more health-conscious than other apps, with weekly offers that reward buying fresh produce and other healthy foods. And it offers automatic savings at stores with loyalty cards, letting you double up on your rewards.
