Commissary Shopping

For those of you who do not know what a commissary is, it's a military grocery store. Since we don't live super close to one I go about every 4 to 6 weeks & stock up. In between trips I will go to the local grocery stores nearby. I know what I can get cheaper at each place I go to & also study the weekly grocery ads along with my stack of coupons.

The commissary claims to save consumers about 30%. I've always wondered how true that is. For example I know I can get beef A LOT cheaper at the commissary than any sale out in town. But what about other items? I decided to do some comparing. This blog is just based off of my latest commissary trip. I plan on getting extra nerdy on you all & start a spread sheet tracking all items. Eventually being able to fill in price for each store. That will be an on going project. One note, the commissary doesn't charge sales tax BUT they do charge a surcharge. At times this surcharge can be comparable to tax. In California not all food is taxed. I bought a mix of food, cleaning supplies & other necessities. Too much work to figure out what my tax would have been if bought out in town.

On to my comparison...

I spent $224.24 before coupons were taken off (-$20.10)& the surcharge was added (+$11.64).

I compared my purchases to a local grocery store here, Albertsons. Albertsons tends to be a smidge pricier than other local grocery stores nearby. Also, these prices were based off their online shopping. I'm sure they up the prices a bit, just not sure by how much. If I bought my items there my bill before tax & coupons would have been $381.22. That's a $148.52 savings - 39%. So I did in fact save about 30%. If I couldn't find the same exact item I went to the store brand which was always still more expensive than the (name) brand I bought at the commissary. The commissary does not have a store brand. In between trips I will buy fresh fruits & veggies, milk & eggs out in town. A gallon of milk at the commissary is probably $2-something. I don't know the exact price because I have not bought milk there in a while. I can get it often for $1.99 from one of the local stores.

I have lost my train of thought, but I just wanted to share the comparison.