Just realized my grocery bill went from $310 to $190 every two weeks after I started shopping at 7am
Not a coupon thing at all, the shelves are actually stocked at that hour so I stopped making panic buys at the crowded 6pm rush in Lansing, and I'm wondering if the early crowd is just a different kind of shopper or if I'm kidding myself.
I read something a while back about how stores put the marked down meat and bakery stuff out early too, so if you're there at 7 you get first pick before it gets cleared. That alone could shave a lot off. The panic buy thing makes sense though, when it's packed you grab whatever and don't compare prices. When it's empty you actually walk the aisles and buy what's on your list. Feels less like a different kind of shopper and more like the store just works better when it's not jammed.