Save Money on Groceries at Discount Grocery Stores

With the cost of food rising, everyone is looking for ways to save on groceries. What you may not know is that you can save 10% to 40% by changing where you shop. Discount grocery stores are not as well known, but they offer many of the same foods you buy for a less money. We'll show you the savings and where to find discount grocery stores in this Seven On Your Side Consumer Watch.

You can find most of the foods on your grocery list at discount grocery stores, such as ALDI, and you'll pay less.

Said Kendra Shaw, Director of Operations for Aldi, "We can save you 25% to 40% on your groceries, depending on which competitor you shop."

How do they do it? At Aldi, Shaw says they buy a lot of their food from the same manufacturers as name brands, but put their own label on it, so you don't pay a markup for advertising or distribution.

At a discount store, you won't necessarily find the name brands that you're used to, but you'll find similar products for less money.

At Aldi, a box of corn flakes is 99 cents. We found it at $2.76 at a nearby grocery retailer. A 3 pound bag of rice is $1.39 at Aldi. It's about $3 at the retailer. And Aldi sells a gallon of milk for $2.89. We found gallons for $3 to $4 at the retail grocery store. Said Shaw, "It's the same milk everybody else gets. It just has our private label on it."

We even found lower prices at discount stores than at some stores known for low prices. You might not find every food you need. Explained Shaw, "We don't have a deli, we don't have a bakery, we don't have any specialty items."

And discount shopping is a little different. Usually there are no coupons. But there's no membership fee and you don't have to buy in bulk. You're encouraged to bring your own bags or pay 5 to 10 cents for reusable bags.

And, at Aldi, you'll deposit a quarter to borrow a cart. But you get it back when you return it. Said Shaw, "What that does is help the customer save money because we don't have to have extra employees on staff to be able to go into the parking lot and round up the carts."

Discount grocery stores are everywhere. They may not advertise as much as other stores, but they're ready to save you money.

Here are some of the discount grocery stores in the Upstate:

Aldi stores are located in Spartanburg, Greenville, Taylors, Anderson, Asheville, Greenwood and Laurens. Another store is coming soon to Seneca.

Cristy's Discount Groceries in Gaffney.

Foodsmart in Spartanburg.

Grocery Discounts in Woodruff.

Thomas and Howard Cash and Carry in Greenville.

And don't forget, dollar stores carry many non-perishable foods at low prices.