Think That Grocery Store Sale Is A Good Deal? Not So Fast - Tasting Table

"Few things are more exciting when you're out at the grocery store than finding a sale. Maybe you see boneless, skinless chicken breasts priced at $8.17 for two pounds, which is 20% off the normal price. That sounds great. But there's a five-pound tray for $12.85. The first one is over $4 per pound, while the second is just over $2.50."

"Any time you look through your weekly flyer, you need to break things down by the unit price. For meat, that's dollars per pound. The price per package, always printed big and noticeable, doesn't tell the whole story if your chicken is 50 percent more expensive than the package next to it. For something like cereal, you need the price per ounce or gram, which is trickier."

Shoppers must evaluate prices by unit to determine the best deal, using dollars per pound for meat and dollars per ounce or gram for packaged goods. Package price or a prominent sale tag can hide higher unit costs compared with larger trays or bulk sizes. Different promotions change effective unit cost: percentage discounts and buy-one-get-one-free offers require calculating the per-unit result. Smartphones and calculator apps enable quick division of price by package size, and websites such as PricePerOz.com automate per-unit comparisons. Consistently checking unit prices prevents overpaying when stores advertise smaller quantities as the sale item.

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