7 Reasons You Should Shop at Kroger

I have only recently become a shopper at Kroger. In fact, I had never even heard of Kroger until 2014.

I grew up in New England and lived there for most of my life. In 2014 my husband and I moved to Georgia. I had been used to shopping at ShopRite, Stop and Shop and Big Y when I lived in Connecticut. My absolute favorite store was ShopRite because they had the least expensive prices and also great deals that matched coupons so I could often get free items with double coupons.

When we moved down to Georgia I was SO disappointed in the grocery stores down South. There are no ShopRites in Georgia and the closest grocery stores to us are an IGa which is overpriced and ten minutes from us, or Walmart Superstore, Kroger and Ingles. All of these last three stores are twenty-five minutes from us. There is also a Publix, but that is thirty-five minutes from our home.

And so I did my best to find a grocery store that would:

• Provide quality food
• Provide good prices
• Double coupons

I did a price shopping comparison in an earlier post (which you can find here:

and I found that of the three grocery stores that I regularly shop in, Walmart has the best prices, Ingles is the most expensive, and Kroger is in the middle. Walmart and Kroger do not double coupons, and Ingles only doubles coupons with a face value of up to 50 cents and limits the number of coupons you can use. So why would I suggest you shop at Kroger? Because depending on what other grocery stores you have near you, Kroger can save you money and offer you some valuable perks at the same time.

I do want to mention here that the Kroger near me does not double coupons, but accepts them for face value only, but shoppers can still save a lot of money at Kroger in spite of that.

1. Friday Freebies

Probably my very favorite thing about Kroger is the Friday Freebies program. Every Friday Kroger offers a free item. You have to download the item to your phone using the Kroger app. As long as you have signed up for a Kroger store card and downloaded the Friday Freebie item onto your phone on Friday before midnight, you can pick up the free item they are giving away for up to two weeks. My motto has always been, “If it’s free, it’s for me” so I love getting my Friday Freebies. The fact that they give you two weeks to pick it up is nice as well because I can’t always get into town every Friday.

These Are the Free Items I Got in one month From Kroger

2. Kroger Gas Points

Kroger has gas stations at their grocery stores. For every $100.00 you spend at Kroger, you receive 100 gas points which equates to ten cents off per gallon o gas the next time you get gas at Kroger. Stop and Shop in New England does also, but what I really like about Kroger is that even if you haven’t accrued enough points to get 10 cents off per gallon when you get gas, you still get three cents off just for buying your gas there. Your gas points are good for the month you accrue them, and until the end of the next month.

And each week you have the opportunity to earn 50 more gas points by filling out a survey after you have completed your shopping. It’s definitely worth filling out the survey, and I give kudos to Kroger for wanting to know how your experience was at their store. This gives them the opportunity to fix things if you have any complaints.

During certain time of the year, shoppers have the opportunity to earn double gas points. This occurs often during the holidays and is going on right now. One of my favorite things about the Kroger gas points program is at times during the year they even give you two times the gas points, up to four times the gas points for buying gift cards at their store. I think ahead and figure out who is having a birthday in the next few months, or what holidays are coming up soon, and buy all my gift cards then so I can buy gift cards and get extra gift cards so I can save money on gas.

3. Coupons in the Mail

Approximately every two months I get an envelope full of coupons in the mail from Kroger. The information on what I am buying must get relayed back to Kroger through my store card because the coupons are always on items we buy on a regular basis. And the packet always includes two coupons for free items. I have gotten free orange juice, eggs, cheese, tomatoes, spaghetti sauce and more, but that’s all I can remember off the top of my head. I have to love a store that gives me free items and coupons!

4. Free items With Kroger’s ClickList

Clicklist is a shopping service that Kroger offers. You place your order online and then pick what you want to purchase. But you can look in the coupon section and find all kinds of Clicklist only coupons that you download to your card. Some of the ClickList offers give you free stuff. You can pick what time you want to pick your order up, within one hour and they bring your order to your car.

Now you may be asking if I ever use this service? Who me? No way, I love to grocery shop inside the store and buy my family nutritious food and save as much money as I can in person, and with items I may not have noticed by shopping online, or with in-store only specials. But I do know a lot of people are too busy to shop in person or don’t like to grocery shop, so for those of you who fit into this category, Kroger’s Clicklist is a great option.

5. The Kroger App Makes it Easy to Download and Keep Track of Store Coupons

The Kroger App can be downloaded to your phone and you can flip through the app to find all of the store coupons available each week. Some are good for a few weeks and the end date will be on each coupon. If you are interested in a coupon, you The just click on the “download” word, and voila, it’s on your phone ready to use when you are. When your card is scanned and your item is scanned, if you have downloaded a coupon for that item, the coupon amount automatically comes off of your bill. It’s that easy. And there is a place on the app that says “view all coupons” or “view your coupons”, which is a nice reminder of what coupons are available for you to use. You can’t combine a store app coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon, but that’s fine with me. I can just use my manufacturer’s coupon somewhere else.

6. The Organic Foods Section

I love the organic food section at Kroger. Not only does it provide a great variety of healthy items, but there are many products on the shelves in this section I have never even heard of. I have recently been trying to eat a much healthier diet and when I find new recipes, I often find that Kroger is the only store in my area that carries some of the ingredients that I need.

Plus, okay, I admit it, I am a huge coupon fan and I discovered that in the organic food section at Kroger there is a magazine called Live Naturally that comes out each season with recipes, articles, and yes, you guessed it, coupons! I look for it every time I go and especially love the fact that they have always had coupons for Activia yogurt, my favorite brand.

The Live Naturally Magazine is Free to Customers and Located in the Organic Foods Section of Kroger

7. Kroger is Open Late

I am not sure if every Kroger is open late, but the one near me in Jasper, Georgia is open until 1:00 am. Now, I don’t go shopping at midnight at this stage of my life, but there was a time many years ago when my children were young that I looked forward to going grocery shopping later at night after my kids were in bed, and another adult was at home. I loved the peacefulness of the grocery stores when most of the customers were home in front of their television sets, or in bed. I got to know the cashiers well and I didn’t have to fight my grocery cart through crowded aisles. I think the fact that Kroger is open that late is a great service for customers who like to shop late, forgot to get a much-needed ingredient for a recipe they are creating before they go to bed, or need to run in and get diapers for their baby, or Advil for a sick family member.

What’s Your Favorite Grocery Store?

Kroger is my favorite grocery store in my area in spite of the fact that they don’t double coupons. The above reasons help me save money on groceries gas, plus Kroger gives me free stuff. So I’m a Kroger fan!

I don’t know if you have a Kroger near you, but just out of curiosity, what is YOUR favorite grocery store? ShopRite is still mine, but since it’s not available to me anymore, Kroger is now my second favorite. Feel free to leave a comment below and tell us what your favorite grocery store is. And if you want an extra entry into this month’s drawing, share this post using the social share buttons below, and also tell me which social media sites you shared it on in your comment.

Thanks, and happy shopping!