9 Best Apps for Saving Money on Groceries

There is an overwhelming number of apps out there claiming to help you save money on this or that. Narrow those down to apps that save money on groceries, and there are still so many! It’s easy to get confused and not know where to start saving money!

Fetch Rewards is one of the newer receipt-scanning apps to save money on groceries and alcohol and is by far the easiest to use. If you are just getting started with couponing apps, start with this one! You just shop at any store; upload your receipt and earn points. Points you can exchange for things like gift cards.

Unlike some of the other apps where you are required to shop only at certain stores or to view a video or answer a question before you can even participate in the offer, Fetch doesn’t make you do any of that. Simply shop and upload your receipt.

How to get started: Simply download the Fetch Rewards App. Sign up and enter my referral code M2CNU and you’ll get 2,000 Fetch Points ($2.00 in points) after you upload one receipt.

Cash-out options: You can start cashing out for gift cards when you have 3,000 points or an equivalent of $3.00. I cash small dollar amounts in for Amazon digital gift cards all the time!

Ibotta

Ibotta is old reliable as far as grocery scanning apps to save money.  The app offers a wide variety of cash-back rewards for purchasing select items at hundreds of stores. And the app goes beyond grocery featuring offers on Amazon and Best Buy as well as other stores.

The difference between Ibotta and Fetch is, with Ibotta you must take an action to claim an offer to your account before you use it. So, for example, say you see a $1.00 offer for an item you regularly purchase. You want to add that offer to your account. Before you can do so, you may be prompted to watch a video or answer a question. So, there is a little more time commitment with Ibotta than Fetch.

How to get started: Download the Ibotta app and start adding offers to your account on products you think you are likely to buy.

Cash-out options: Once your account reaches $20.00 you can cash out. Cash-out options include gift cards, Venmo or Pay Pal.

Checkout 51

Checkout 51 is another receipt-scanning app I use at the same time I’m using Ibotta and Fetch to save money on groceries. The app doesn’t have quite as many offers as Ibotta, but if you are buying something that is offered with a rebate on Checkout 51, why not use it?

Get cashback for things you were planning to use anyway!  Like Fetch, you don’t have to watch a video or answer a question to gain access to the offers. Just add them to your list and upload your receipt.

Also, watch the fine print because you may be able to claim each offer more than once. For example, look at this Wheat Thins offer. You can get $.75 cashback for purchasing any 8oz or larger Wheat Thins and can claim the offer up to 5 times on the same receipt.

How to get started: Download the Checkout 51 app. Add offers to your list. Upload receipt with qualifying products.

Cash-out options: After your account balance reaches $20, you can cash out!

Digital Coupon Apps

Coupons.com

If you’re like me, you’ve used coupons.com on your desktop to print physical coupons at home. Did you know you can also use the website’s coupons digitally? You can load digital coupons to your favorite store’s loyalty card.  So, you can add additional offers to your store’s loyalty card and take advantage of more coupons digitally!

The coupons.com app has over 35 retailers who participate. You can clip offers/coupons from each store and take advantage of savings when shopping in-store.

How do I get started?

• Start by downloading the coupons.com app.
• You’ll be prompted to choose a few of your favorite stores so the app can help guide you toward offers you will most likely use.
• Choose the store you most regularly shop at and clip offers for stores you shop at regularly. Also, make sure to link up your store’s loyalty card.
• Any coupons located under “My coupons” in specific stores are coupons that are automatically added to your store’s loyalty card.
• You can access manufacturer coupons and submit everything digitally and quickly get money into a PayPal account.

Target (formerly Cartwheel)

The coupon section of the Target app is legit. If you are a regular Target shopper and not taking advantage of their Cartwheel coupons, you need to start! There is a tremendous amount of savings to be had by using the coupons and offers that appear on the Target.com app.

If you are a Target shopper, then this one is a must! The Cartwheel app used to be standalone but can now be accessed through the Target store app itself.

“Cartwheel offers” contains hundreds of deals and offers all digitally applied when shopping in-store and scanning the app at check out. In some cases you can also use Cartwheel for online purchases, just check the fine print on the offer.

The offers range from percentage-off on specific products to manufacturer coupons you can digitally clip. Plus, if you are a Red card holder, you can get an additional 5% off on top of any great deals. If you are a Target shopper, this one is a MUST!

Percentage-off offers are Target store offers and CAN be combined with manufacturer coupons.

The manufacturer coupons you clip digitally CAN’T be combined with the exact same printed coupon.

For example, if you clip $1.00 off Cheerios digital coupon, you CAN’T also use a $1.00 off Cheerios you cut from the Sunday paper.

But, if Cheerios were 40% off through Cartwheel as a Target store promotion, then you could use the $1.00 off manufacturer coupon on top it.

Also, you can use the percentage-off Cartwheel offers repeatedly as specific by the Terms and conditions. And you can use it on a maximum of 4 qualifying items per transaction.

Walgreens

Thought of as a pharmacy or drug store, Walgreens is a mecca of awesome grocery savings if you pay attention.

The Walgreens app offers hundreds of coupons you can clip to your Walgreens account. Then when you check out at the register, enter your phone number and the coupons will be automatically deducted. If not, ask the cashier and they can make sure they are applied.

Using the Walgreens app coupons along with sale prices in store on things like canned goods, nuts, frozen items, laundry detergent, etc. and you can find deals that rival any traditional grocery store!

Plus, Walgreens offers what they call “Register Rewards” which is a coupon that prints out at the register if you purchase certain items. You can then come back to the store and spend it on a future transaction. Watch the expiration date on Register Rewards though as there is typically a short window to redeem

CVS App

Like Walgreens, CVS is an awesome and usually unthought-of app to use to save money on groceries.

On the CVS app, you can clip coupons directly to your CVS card. You can then have your CVS card swiped or give you phone number at checkout to have the coupons applied.

Similarly, to Walgreens with their “Register Rewards,” CVS offers “ExtraBucks Rewards” on select purchases when you buy qualifying items. Once you have earned ExtraBucks you can return to the store and use them the next time you shop.

Pro tip: If you don’t regularly shop at CVS, be prepared with a second transaction. That way you can earn ExtraBucks with the first transaction. Then turn around and spend the ExtraBucks in the second transaction to use it. It’s an easy way to use the deal instead of forgetting about it and letting it expire.

Grocery Resource apps (to help you find the good deals)

The Krazy Coupon Lady

The women behind The Krazy Coupon Lady know their stuff. They are constantly in search of the best deals and steals and offer them for free on their website and app.

What I like most about The Krazy Coupon Lady:

• They offer up deals from thousands of stores by showing a breakdown of the deal and where to find the coupon. So not only do they tell you what’s on sale, they list specifically what coupon(s) you can use to pair for the greatest deal. The coupons may be found on the web, for example from coupons.com or a manufacturer’s website. The coupons may be from the Sunday paper. In this case, they will specifically indicate from not only the date of the Sunday Paper but specifically from which savings circular the coupon came from.
• They make it amazingly easy to save money on almost everything. You may find yourself visiting their site before your next grocery trip just to make sure you are in the know of the best deals before you shop!
• Another thing I like about The Krazy Coupon Lady app is that they organize the deals by store. So, if you know you are heading to Walmart, you can locate the Walmart store on their app and see all deals they have identified just for Walmart. It’s a huge time savings vs. hunting and pecking through the site to find current deals.
• A newer feature they have added recently as well is indicating when deals have expired. They offer so many deals and their pages are just brimming with deals, it’s hard to know what an active deal is or not.  Once a deal has expired, it is now grayed out. They also have a colored bar that says “last day” to give you a quick reminder if you wanted to take advantage of the deal, the time is now!

Free Stuff Finder

Using this app, you can easily scope the best grocery deals by specific stores. While the name says Free, and there are things you can find for free or become zero out of pocket, most deals you pay for. But expect to pay 50% or less on deals you find. It’s an alternative to The Krazy Coupon Lady.

The app says you will find 3 distinct types of deals: Couponing deals, online deals, and free samples by mail.

They offer deals from many different stores. Specifically, grocery stores or stores I know sell groceries include:

• Target
• Costco
• Whole Foods
• Dollar General
• Sam’s Club
• Publix
• Rite Aid
• Kroger
• And more!

For example, you can visit this site before you start shopping at Target. They have a weekly matchup for Freebies and Deals so you can scope out the best deals before you leave your house.

Conclusion

You want to save money on groceries but aren’t sure where to start? Use one of the recommended apps for saving money on groceries in this post. I would recommend trying one receipt-scanning app, master that one then try another one. The more you use these apps the more comfortable you will become with saving money and the more you will want to use them!

What is your best tip for beginners when saving money using grocery apps?

Steph