4 Ways of Saving Money on Groceries In Singapore

1. Online Grocery Shopping

Tired of carrying heavy bags of detergent, rice and canned food home after work hours? Now, grocery shopping can be as easy as tapping on your phone and getting free delivery as well. In the last 2 to 3 years, we’ve seen some big players coming into the online grocery market, giving consumers greater convenience when it comes to grocery shopping. Names like Redmart and Honestbee have become the new household name and you can now browse for the products you want in the comfort of your home without even moving from your sofa.

While online grocery stores definitely give you the convenience, they may not always be the cheapest way to go. For instance, some credit cards actually give you discounts and cash rebates when you shop physically at certain supermarkets. For online grocery shopping, you can make use of sites like Cuponation that consolidates discount codes that you can use for your online purchases.

2. Wholesalers

If you are the type who prefer to bulk-buy and stock up, you are in for a treat. These wholesalers give you not only cheaper prices as compared to traditional supermarkets, products are usually fresher as well since they typically distribute their goods to other suppliers. Some of these wholesalers are:

• Warehouse Club – set up by Fairprice, you can find plenty of cheap deals, ranging from frozen food to fresh produce, as well as household and beauty items. You get larger value packs, but don’t expect fancy packaging. You need to subscribe to the club for $50 a year if you aren’t a member. However, if you manage to chalk up a bill of $400, you qualify for free delivery services.
• Fassler Gourmet – Particular about getting fresh seafood and having them delivered straight to your doorstep? Fassler Gourmet is definitely the place to go, considering that their products are fresher and competitive compared to supermarkets. They offer a wide variety of seafood, including sashimi, smoked salmon, cod, mussels and even crab bisque. You can have your frozen and smoked seafood delivered to you at the time slot you want and offer free delivery if you spend above $150. It is also a great choice if you are organising a party at home as they also sell prepared food which you can easily heat up with little mess.
• Pasir Panjang Wholesale centre – This place is usually crowded near to Chinese New Year as Chinese household stock up on fresh meat and seafood as they prepare for their annual Chinese New Year feast. The place is huge, spanning about 20 football fields and provide a large selection of fresh produce and dried goods as well. However, be prepared to go there in the wee hours since it caters to wholesalers more than individual consumers.
• Victoria Wholesale Centre – if you love to snack on nuts and dried food, you must know that they don’t come cheap if you buy from the local supermarket. A great place to get them in bulk and enjoy bulk discounts is the Victoria Wholesale centre. Other than these snacks, you can also stock up on dried provisions and household items, as well as party accessories.

3. “Outlet” Shops

Yo might have spotted one of these “outlet shops” in your neighbourhood – popular names are Value dollar, ABC Bargain Centre and Beauty Language. If you compare the prices of some of the products at these shops to those you find at the supermarkets, you’d be pleasantly surprised that they cost about 20 to 40% less! How could this be? Well, most of these shops sell what we call B-stocks, where the goods could have been slightly damaged packaging, imported from emerging countries or are nearing their expiry dates. Shopping at these shops can greatly cut back the amount you spend on groceries and toiletries per month. Some items to buy include snacks like cereal bars, chocolate bars, shampoo and shower foam, instant coffee and even deodorant!

4. Use The Right Credit Cards For Grocery Discounts

Well, this isn’t really a place but more of a hack to get cheaper groceries. If you decide that you’d prefer to spend your weekends on the beach instead of visiting wholesalers or outlet stores, you can still get your groceries cheaper even if you buy from an NTUC Fairprice or Cold Storage near your home. You just need to use the right credit card:

POSB Everyday Card – gives you up to 6% cash rebates off Sheng Siong and 3% discounts at Watson’s.

UOB Delight Card –  If you are a regular customer of Cold Storage, this is the card for you. You get up to 8% SMART$ rebate at Cold Storage and Market Place and get to enjoy an extra 10% discount for house brand purchases.

OCBC Plus! Visa – If you’ve been living in the heartlands all your life, you are probably a hardcore fan of NTUC Fairprice, given that it offers a huge variety of products at very competitive prices. The NTUC Plus! Card is actually a rewards card that allows you to earn “link-points” when you make purchases with it. Using the link points you’ve earned, you can exchange them for dining and shopping vouchers from a huge range of merchant partners.

So if you prefer cost-savings to convenience, perhaps using the right credit card at your favourite supermarkets is still the way to go compared to paying for the convenience of online grocery deliveries!

Article by Lynette Tan

This article originally appeared on ValuePenguin. ValuePenguin.sg helps you find most relevant information to optimize your personal finance, like rewards credit cards and investing. Like us on our Facebook page to keep up to date with our latest news and articles.