8 Things You Should Know Before Grocery Shopping At Target
Target has an allure over people: Inevitably, you walk in planning on buying toothpaste and some gummy vitamins - and walk out with a full grocery cart and your bank account $200 lighter. Even if you could put on blinders, beelining to just the essentials on your grocery list, who wouldn't want to save a little more? We spoke to employees and insiders to find out the best ways to save, so if that Nate Berkus gold accent stool is just calling your name and you cannot help but surrender to its Hollywood-Regency-meets-Gordon-Gekko siren's song, it's okay.
1. Look For These Labels.
You know generic brands are cheaper than the name brands, which is why it's worth knowing Target's in-house lines as well as you know Tarek and Christina El Moussa's relationship drama. Simply Balanced is the health-focused line, which tends to be 10 to 20 percent cheaper than name brand versions of similar products, a Target rep said. About half of its products are organic, too.
For almost everything else, look out for Market Pantry. Target sells more than 1,500 products under this name - frozen fruit, seafood, crackers, canned vegetables, you name it - and they're usually 10 to 30 percent cheaper than the major brands.
2. Coffeed Your Addiction.
If you prefer it if people generally avoid talking to you until you've had a cup (or three) of coffee, you should hit up Archer Farms. It's another Target brand, specializing in all different flavors of java. They'll grind the beans for you for free in stores, and each bag tends to be about 15 percent cheaper than major brands.
Need proof? Archer Farms' Buttery Caramel Ground Coffee sells for $6.69 per 12-ounce bag, while an 11-ounce bag of Starbucks' Caramel Ground Coffee costs $7.99.
3. Get Cartwheelin' And Dealin'.
Cartwheel is Target's app for collecting discounts, which you can apply all with one scan at the checkout - no coupon clipping necessary. It offers anywhere from 5 to 50 percent off items, and to date, users have saved almost $959 million.
4. Triple-Stack Your Coupons.
Extreme Couponers know that many stores let you use a manufacturer's coupon and a store coupon. Target lets you take things one step further, using both of those and a Cartwheel digital offer from the app.
5. Buy This In Bulk.
While it's not as cheap as Two Buck Chuck, Target sells its own boxed wine under the label Wine Cube. Each 3-liter box is the equivalent of four regular bottles of vino - so it's like paying less than $5 a pop, if you look at it that way. Or paying $20 to fill up your wine purse twice over.
You're gonna need a bigger glass.
6. Party Like It's Your First Birthday.
If you buy your kid's first birthday cake at the Target bakery, you can get a free smash cake. You just have to ask for it.
7. Start Seeing Red.
Like many major stores, Target offers its own credit card, but it also offers a debit card that links to your bank account - and saves you 5 percent on everything you buy. It's known as the REDcard, and the brand will also give you free shipping on anything you buy online (no minimum!), as well as an extended return policy. You know, for anyone who's been meaning to return those just-a-tad-too-small sandals for the past, oh, two months.
8. Kid Around.
The bullseye-branded chain also gives away free cookies to kids 12 and under at SuperTarget bakeries. However, if you're not into letting your kid get all sugared up and run buckwild through the store, you can ask for a free piece of fruit instead.
Also, you'll be parent of the year if you can convince said kid that the fruit is every bit as awesome as scoring a free cookie. Teach us your ways, sensei.
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