PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Like a treasure hunter looking for a prize, some savvy shoppers these days are combing for the best grocery deals.
"It can be challenging, you get creative, you search for the best deals, find coupons, the BOGOS," says Jessica Wolinski of Jensen Beach.
WATCH BELOW: What shoppers are doing to find best grocery deals
As a single mom with a high school football player at home, she has to find the best prices.
"For the amount of food that I buy for $200, it's a lot less than what it would have been a few years ago," Wolinski said.
She said each week she shops at three stores — Publix, BJ's and Aldi — and goes into each store with a plan.
"Every Wednesday, I belong to (a Facebook group called) Savings 101," Wolinski said. "They're on Facebook as well as Telegram, and every Wednesday they post all the sales from Publix for the week following."
She also uses apps to save cash.
"I use a lot of reward apps — Ibotta, Fetch — which point out things like that where you earn rewards based on your scans of receipts," Wolinski said.
It may seem like a lot, but grocery experts say it's how smart shoppers are saving money.
"The good news is all stores are putting their circulars online on their websites," supermarket guru Phil Lempert said. "Keep in mind that the way grocery retailers operate now is really by zip code, so you might find the prices in the same store, same brands are cheaper if you drive 5 miles away."
Lempert said so-called treasure shoppers need to follow a few rules, such as finding online coupons, buying store brands that can be 20-30% cheaper than name brands and always shop with a list.
"No. 1, always have a shopping list," Lempert said. "What we find is if you don't have a shopping list, you're going to spend about 60% more on impulse items."
