7 Simple Ways to Save Money at Meijer

I didn’t grow up with Meijer but when I moved to Ohio for my first teaching job, I quickly fell in love with Meijer. I had a Meijer just around the corner from my apartment, right on the way to school. I loved the convenience of shopping for everything at one place (which I love so much more now that I am a mom) as well as the low prices. I also loved the deals I found at Meijer.

I’ve been shopping at Meijer for more than a decade now and I have learned quite a few ways to save money at Meijer. The ways I have saved continue to change but I always save money when shopping at Meijer. Want proof of how low Meijer groceries can be? Here are some pictures from actual trips.

Check out this Meijer shopping trip that cost me $23.41.

Or how about this Meijer grocery shopping trip that cost me $5.48. Seriously! Thanks to coupons and Mperks, I only paid $5.48 for all this.

My trips aren’t always this low but they are regularly low, thanks to Meijer. Here are 7 of the simple ways I save money at Meijer so you can save on your groceries, too!

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. You can read more in my disclosure policy.

1. Mperks, mperks, mperks!

If you haven’t started using Mperks, start now! Mperks is Meijer’s version of digital coupons stacked with savings. You can sign up for Mperks here using your phone number and a 4 digit pin number you will set.

When you sign up for Meijer Mperks, you can clip digital coupons. More about that next. My favorite part of Mperks is that you accumulate rewards for doing your regular shopping.

For example, in my account right now, I have rewards for $3 off when I spend $150 on anything, $3 off when when I spend $75 in apparel or shoes, $3 off when I spend $15 on Rubbermaid storage, and $3 off every $10 spent on Lysol and Finish. The rewards do differ for every account but they all work the same. The rewards are cumulative. You do not need to spend your entire purchase amount in one trip. I can spend $75 on groceries one week, $50 the next and another $30 the following week to earn my $3 reward. Most rewards give you 30 days to earn them.

The rewards begin automatically when you purchase a particular item. Simply enter your Mperks number every single time you shop and Meijer will do all the tracking for you. When you earn a reward, it is automatically loaded to your account. You’ll be asked the next time you shop if you want to redeem that reward or not.

The most important thing about Mperks is to enter your phone number and pin every single time you shop. This tracks your purchases and rewards but it also archives copies of all your receipts. I have found this very helpful on more than one occasion when I am searching for a particular receipt.

2. Clip digital coupons. 

Whether you clip paper coupons or not, Meijer makes it simple to save with digital coupons. I used to use a lot of paper coupons but now, almost all my coupons are digital ones. Login to your Meijer Mperks account and look at the digital coupon list. Once you find it, click on the coupon to add it to your account. Now you don’t have to worry about forgetting your coupons because they are loaded to your Mperks account and will come off automatically at checkout.

There are two ways to think about clipping digital coupons. You can log in before every grocery trip to clip coupons for the items that are on your list. Another option is to go through the entire digital coupon list once or twice a month and clip any coupons that you might possibly use. I tend to do the second.

If you download the Meijer app, it is very easy to scan through all the coupons while you are waiting from an appointment or watching television. I’m all about multi-tasking, especially when it saves me money!

3. Watch for catalinas. 

Meijer does a great job with a variety of national catalinas. Some of these are the same as at Kroger or other grocery stores but some are unique to Meijer. You can find out about catalinas by watching your grocery ad, or reading the signs on shelf tags. What is a catalina? A catalina is when you purchase (in one trip) $20 worth of Huggies products and receive a $5 coupon to spend on your next order.

The great thing about catalinas is that you can use coupons to take your out of pocket cost down and the money you receive can be spent on anything. When you receive a catalina, it will print out at the register. If you don’t receive one and know you should have, be sure to ask at the customer service desk. They are great about issuing you the catalina you should have received.

4. Sign up for Mperks pharmacy rewards.

Even if you don’t use the pharmacy regularly, I highly recommend using them! Not only can you pick up your prescriptions when you shop, but you can also earn money for filling your prescriptions at Meijer. I have found our insurance prices to be very fair and comparable at Meijer, too.

Meijer pharmacy rewards are different from the regular rewards – although they do use the same Mperks number. The way it works is simple. For every 5 prescriptions you fill at Meijer, you get a $5 reward to spend on anything. In other words, you are basically earning a free dollar every time you pick up a prescription.

5. Shop the sales.

Meijer is one of my favorite grocery stores because their everyday prices are much lower than Kroger. (I do like shopping the deals at Kroger and you can read about how I save at Kroger here.) Even though Meijer already has the low prices, you will save even more if you focus on shopping the sales. When you stock up on the sale items and plan your menus around those meals, you will find your savings increase dramatically. Shopping the sales is one of the easiest ways to cut your grocery bill without using coupons. 

Also, if Meijer is out of stock on a particular sale item, don’t be afraid to stop by the customer service desk and ask for a rain check. Meijer’s rain checks give you another 30 days to pick up the deal. With as good as some of their deals are, this is a strategy to remember.

6. Stack sales with coupon app rebates.

To save even more money at Meijer, start using a coupon app. I use several but Ibotta is my favorite. (You can read more about why it’s the best coupon app here.) Ibotta is simple to use and allows you to stack your sale and coupon savings to save even more. In some cases, thanks to Ibotta , I actually get free groceries!

For example, if Annie’s mac and cheese pasta is on sale for $1, I can use a $1/2 off coupon to get 2 boxes for $0.50 each. Then, I can earn an additional $1 for purchasing an Annie’s product rebate at Ibotta which means free organic macaroni and cheese. That’s a real example from Meijer! The deals do change at Ibotta every week but I can always find at least one rebate to redeem on every shopping trip.

If you haven’t joined Ibotta yet, now’s a great time to do so. Plus, when you redeem your first rebate, you’ll earn a bonus $10! That’s a great way to earn some extra free money for grocery shopping. You can get all the details about how Ibotta works here.

7. Follow Meijer deal sites.

Bargains to Bounty is a deal website that shares specific store deals – like at Meijer. It’s nice to have a website like this that finds all the best deals and shares coupon links for the deals. It also shares catalina deals and other special promotions that you might not be aware of. If you want help finding the best Meijer deals, check out Bargains to Bounty store deals. 

Those are 7 simple ways I save money at Meijer. How do you save money when shopping at Meijer?

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4 Comments

  1. Unless they reversed the policy, I’m pretty sure that Meijer doesn’t do rain checks on most sale items. Definitely not the 10 for 10 and get the 11th free when they have those.

    1. Hmmm. It’s interesting how much Meijer’s can vary, because ours does offer rain checks. But I know that is not true of all locations. I’ll have to add that as a disclaimer. Thanks for reminding me!

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