I have been using a grocery price book for years to save money at the grocery store.
I thought I’d share a free, printable version of my grocery price book.
Basically, the price book helps you to -
- Create a list of frequently purchased products (foods, heath care items, beauty aids, etc.)
- Track prices – and only purchase products when they are truly “on sale”
Click here to read more about how I actually use my grocery store price book to save money.
Here’s a preview of the price book -
Click the following links to download printable versions of the grocery store price book -
Open Office Spreadsheet Grocery Price Book
Microsoft Office Excel Grocery Price Book
(Please note – If you print these out, just as they are, you should be able to fold them in half to create a “book”. Print a copy on both sides, and you’ll get four “pages” from one piece of paper. Punch hole down the middle and you can put them in a notebook. Also, if you don’t want to printout the forms, simply modify the spreadsheet and enter the data on your computer.)
An example of how this works…
I’ve been tracking the price of Canned Corn at my local grocery store. For months, the price of Canned Corn hovered around .50 per can. In September, the price dropped to .40 per can. A great time to buy, right? Nope. I knew, because of my grocery price book, that they tended to drop even further nearer Thanksgiving. So, I waited – and last week, Canned Corn was on sale for .25 per can! I stocked up, and now we have enough Canned Corn to last the winter and enough to donate to the local food drive.
Feel free to modify the price book for your own use! If you come up with a way to make the price book even more useful, please leave a comment and let me know!
Dude! That’s brilliant. I’ve read about price books before and known I need to implement one, but it seemed like so much work…this will be a great start for me.
Not only that, but you really illustrated well what the price book can do for you. Thanks!
this is JUST what I’ve been looking for. Thanks
This is so nice! I can’t wait to try it out because I really enjoy a bargain and finding the cheapest prices at different stores can be an overwhelming task. However, the price book will serve as a guideline.
I was also thinking that maybe we could also add the brand name for the item. Sometimes the well-known brand names, when on sale, turn out to be cheaper than the store brand name.
Thanks a bunch! God bless,
Carolina
Carolina,
I thought about adding a ‘brand’ heading – but I’m so boring, I almost always buy the same “brand” of the items I use… either I use a brand name w/ a coupon or I buy generic…
I’ll try to fit “brand” in to the design when the official No Credit Needed Notebook becomes available…
NCN
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hello my name is Bob Dole and i love this thing. ut i am an idiot so go to my website: bobdole.org
ha ha ha ha ah aha ha sorry i have spaz attacks every once in a while FOOL!
I wonder if there are any multi-user price books out there…
For example, if I wanted to get a jump start on filling in my price book, in addition to these great templates, are there any web sites that allow for people in the same community to upload their information to share with others? Similar to the Gas Buddy model…does anyone know if this exists anywhere? If not, how can we start it?
nice blog you have!
OK…I printed them out and started filling them in this week. A few questions: Do you track perishables like produce, dairy and meat? If the point is to know when to stockpile, it doesn’t seem like a useful exercise as you can’t stockpile perishables (we don’t have a large freezer).
Next, what exactly to you use that coupon column for? Are you tracking when coupons for the items are available or if you use one or something else?
Why do you note when you make a purchase? What’s that telling you?
How detailed do you get? For example, let’s say I’m tracking chips because we like to have a bag of chips around. We don’t buy the same kind every time and it’s usually whatever is on sale/I have a coupon for. Do I have a separate sheet for each type and/or brand of chips I buy or one chart for all chips? That’ s probably a dumb example, but hopefully it makes sense.
Do you update it every time you go to the store or just use store flyers and your receipts?
I think that’s all my questions. Thanks for the download!
@Jaime
Do you track perishables like produce, dairy and meat?
I track them – but I don’t have a big freezer either (don’t really like thawed meat)…
But, let’s say I have a choice between chicken or turkey… I can use the sheet to tell me which one is a better deal, stuff like that…
Next, what exactly to you use that coupon column for?
I make a note if I have a coupon… and I might make a note if I use one… and if
the coupon has an expiration date… I usually buy generic, so, not a lot of coupons,
but I do use them… I tried to limit the number of columns on this sheet… to make it
printer-friendly… so, if I have a coupon, I’ll make a note, and it’s expiration date… if i
use one, I’ll cross it out…
Why do you note when you make a purchase? What’s that telling you?
It tells me if I need to buy again… if I buy a year’s worth of stuff, I may or may not
buy it three months later, even if it’s on big time sale… but, if i bought a month’s worth…
and it goes on sale a week later, i might buy…
How detailed do you get? For example, let’s say I’m tracking chips because we like to have a bag of chips around. We don’t buy the same kind every time and it’s usually whatever is on sale/I have a coupon for. Do I have a separate sheet for each type and/or brand of chips I buy or one chart for all chips? That’ s probably a dumb example, but hopefully it makes sense.
Makes perfect sense… I list things either by specific brand – if I’m brand loyal – or by general category – if I’m not. On chips, we eat two main brands… so I list them both – and just compare..
Do you update it every time you go to the store or just use store flyers and your receipts?
I usually follow the same pattern – and update prices, even if I don’t buy the item… this helps to get a more detailed history of the ups and downs… if I don’t have time, I don’t really worry about it… and, i rarely if ever look in flyers, ’cause i have a pretty standard list of foods, and I don’t vary, all that much, from the list…
Hope that helps… feel free to ask more if that doesn’t clear things up… rock on,
NCN
I use a website that automates the grocery list and price book process. It helps me track grocery unit prices paid by item and also shows which items have increased in unit price and units purchased.
The grocery list shows the lowest unit price I paid to facilitate comparison between the current store unit price and previous unit prices paid. Very helpful at the store! I can edit the grocery list as needed and create different lists for different stores.
The site also provides me instant analysis on spending trends to provide a list of grocery items where unit prices have increased and total units purchased have increased, among other areas. That’s very helpful at home for figuring out where to cut costs and why the bill is increasing.
The site is groceryhop.com.
Thank you for sharing the illustration of the price book! Will use it next time I’m grocery shopping.