Grocery Almanac: What To Expect In January through March

Did you notice the coupons for Atkins in Sunday’s newspaper?  Turkey sausage?  Boca burgers?  They’re a good indication of what we’ll be seeing on sale in the next few months: stuff for those healthy diet New Year’s resolutions.

This is definitely not my favorite time of year for grocery store sales, and is typically the time of year that I lay low and use what’s in my pantry and freezer!  Based on typical grocery store cycles, we’ll likely see sales for low-fat foods, diet drinks, soup, cough and cold medicines, and cleaning supplies (think spring cleaning).  However, a lot of those things don’t really go super-cheap or free, so for me, who doesn’t use many of those items anyway, it’s a usually a bummer month or two.

March is “officially” National Frozen Food Month, which means we’ll likely see King Soopers, Safeway, and Albertsons run frozen food promotions of some sort.  However, they are often all-hype, no substance.

Looking Back

Last year in January, we saw great deals on cereal and a Kraft cheese catalina deal at Safeway; and King Soopers had free deodorant, tuna, pantiliners + cheap tortillas.

In February 2010, King Soopers had milk and cereal for $1 each and Sunflower had a good deal on dried cranberries (man, I wish this sale would come around more often!  And what happened to that great price Sunflower gave us on raisins for awhile?)

March 2010 was a good month for dairy: King Soopers had a pretty good deal on butter and eggs, and several posts from “back then” referenced deals for Sargento cheese.   Safeway had a Buy $25, Get $10 frozen food promotion in February/March.

Was the last issue of Grocery Almanac accurate?

Well, last quarter’s “issue” of Grocery Almanac was accurate to the point of naming which items were going to be featured on sale, but we really didn’t see many rock-bottom prices.  Where was the 50¢ cream cheese and chocolate chips?!

Many people are saying prices are rising – and yes, they very definitely are.  However, I take that warning with a grain of salt: prices are fluctuating all the time.  Milk used to be what, around $3.50-4.00 a gallon a few years ago?  We’ve seen it at $1.99 per gallon for a long time, so a price increase is to be expected.

Lots of individual deals tend to by cyclical, presumably due to a manufacturer wanting you to use their product regularly because you got it at a great deal, and then they back off on the promotions once you’re used to buying it.  (That’s my non-technical explanation from a consumer’s viewpoint!)

But, I do think we’re seeing higher prices and fewer deals.  The ratings system is going to be adjusted to reflect that, so if perhaps potatoes used to be a ‘5’ at $1.00 for a 10-lb bag, they might now be a ‘5’ at $1.25.

What do you look for to go on sale at this time of year?