12 Money-Saving Tips For Even Cheaper Walmart Trips

It's always a good time to get smart about grocery spending. Unlike rent or internet bills, groceries are a monthly expense you do have the power to decrease every month. There are plenty of useful strategies for saving money at the grocery store, including buying items in bulk and opting for in-season fresh produce. They might not seem like big changes, but shaving off a couple bucks on your weekly grocery receipt can add up quickly. 

Throughout the United States, Walmart is the leader in inexpensive groceries. A 2024 study from UBS, which was discussed on CNBC's "The Exchange," found that, on average, groceries at Target were 10% more expensive than at Walmart, and Amazon Fresh was 20% more expensive. Therefore, if you're looking to get the best grocery prices in town, Walmart is most likely the spot for maximum savings.

As the motto "Save Money. Live Better." might suggest, Walmart says its mission is to provide the cheapest prices possible for customers. This explains why the company has developed quite a few online tools, programs, and clearance options to help customers save time and money. Some are included in its Walmart+ membership, while others are completely free. Armed with these tips, you'll be able to strategize your spending and save some extra dollars every time you go grocery shopping at Walmart.

If you don't live close to a Walmart or you only shop there occasionally, getting a Walmart+ membership might not make sense for you. However, if Walmart is the spot where you buy groceries regularly, a Walmart+ membership could save you a considerable amount of time, energy, and money. 

Walmart+ costs $12.95 a month, or $98 with an annual subscription. To put that price in perspective, as of this writing, Amazon Prime costs $139 a year, and a Netflix standard subscription with ads costs about $96. The main benefits of the Walmart+ membership include free delivery and shipping on all Walmart.com orders, a $.10 discount per gallon of gas purchased at Walmart and other select chains, and a free Paramount+ subscription. Plus, you get access to the Scan & Go tool, early access to Black Friday deals, and exclusive cashback and rewards programs.

"But Tasting Table," you might say, "I'm trying to cut monthly expenses, not add another one!" We hear you, which is why this tip comes with a caveat. The Walmart+ membership will only save you money if you get groceries delivered regularly, or if you fuel your car up at Walmart, Exxon, Mobil, or Murphys. In Consumer Reports' analysis of the Walmart+ membership, it was found that it will save you roughly $32 in delivery fees alone every month if you already get weekly deliveries.

Keeping all this in mind, Walmart does offer a 30-day free trial just in case you're not sure if it will save you money. Plus, you might qualify for a 50% discount if you already receive government assistance.

If you get groceries delivered to your house frequently, and you're already a fan of the Walmart+ membership, it might make sense for you to upgrade your membership to include InHome Plus Up. It costs about $40 extra per year, placing the annual membership at $138. For the extra price, you don't have to pay tips or delivery fees, and the Walmart delivery associates will drop off your order right at your doorstep. Or, if you'd like, they'll even deliver them straight to your fridge. Similar to the Walmart+ subscription itself, the InHome add-on will only save you money if you get Walmart grocery deliveries frequently. But considering that InHome costs about $4 more per month with the annual subscription, you can imagine how much you'd save by not paying for tips or delivery fees on each order.

For those curious about how it works, the InHome delivery associates are employed by Walmart, not third-party delivery companies, and have gone through background checks. According to an employee discussion on Reddit, the InHome delivery employees are paid a higher hourly wage in lieu of tips, too.

The straight-to-fridge delivery option is not required, but it might be convenient for older people or busy families. If that seems a little too invasive for you, you can request your order to be dropped off at your door or in your garage.

Sticking to a budget while grocery shopping can take a lot of mental fortitude. Have you ever stopped by the grocery store after a long day of work, so hungry you could eat a horse, and been seduced by the siren call of the snack aisle? Thirty minutes later, you're dumbfounded when the cashier rings up a three-digit receipt for what was supposed to be a milk-and-eggs grocery run. 

Impulse shopping can really wreck any attempts to stay within a budget. Therefore, minimizing impulse buys is a worthwhile strategy to save money on grocery store trips. This is when Scan & Go can be really handy. It's a tool included in the Walmart+ membership via the Walmart app that lets you scan each item's barcode right when you place it in your cart, giving you a real-time glimpse as to how much money you're spending. When you're finished shopping, you can even check out from your phone with a QR code at self-checkout. Using Scan & Go takes out the guesswork out of how much money you're spending, hopefully dissuading you from buying the stuff you shouldn't. 

Another strategy to avoid impulse purchases and to stick to a shopping list is to never step foot in Walmart itself, bypassing the visual stimulation of advertisements and snack aisles entirely. While home delivery is a great option for busy people, Walmart also offers curbside pickup for those willing to drive to the store themselves. And for orders over $35, Walmart lets you get curbside pickup for free. You don't need a Walmart+ membership to take advantage of it, either. Anyone can place an order online and select a timeslot for pickup, and when Walmart sends an email letting you know it's ready, an associate will bring your order straight to your car.

The $35 minimum isn't too high, either, considering the average American household spends $270 weekly on groceries. You could get non-perishable pantry staples like canned goods or pasta, or you can add on household items like toilet paper or paper towels to meet the minimum amount.

Is couponing a lost art? In the digital age, we have to wonder if the days of collecting paper coupons and flyers are over — and perhaps for good. Those paper flyers and coupons often ended up collecting dust on the tops of fridges anyway, well past their expiration dates. However, flyers and coupons provide an accessible way for shoppers to get discounts with some strategic planning.

Luckily, the Walmart app features an up-to-date, online version of these weekly flyers on its homepage, next to the Coupon Center and Clearance sections specific to your local Walmart store. Like curbside pickup, the Walmart app is a free tool that anyone can use. When combined together, you can use Walmart's online coupons and curbside pickup to take advantage of the best deals without even stepping foot in the store.

It's good to keep in mind that rollbacks, the Walmart lingo for temporary discounts, can be in effect for a few days or a few months, depending on the deal. So, if you see a good price, it's best to take advantage of it quickly, as it might not last long.

Cashback programs are pretty popular with credit and debit card companies, but did you know Walmart has its own cards and cashback programs, too? These programs give you back a small percentage of the money you've spent at Walmart, which could potentially make them a smart option, depending on your shopping habits. 

The Walmart MoneyCard is a physical, prepaid debit card that gives you 3% cashback on online purchases, 2% back on Walmart fuel, and 1% back on in-store purchases (which can add up to a maximum of $75 per year). The MoneyCard could be worth it if you frequently shop on the Walmart website or with the Walmart app. Since it's prepaid, it could be useful as a budgeting tool, too. But keep in mind that you'll have to maintain a balance of at least $500 per month to avoid that $5.94 monthly fee.

Walmart One Pay is a digital card, integrated with the One finance app, that lets you link your debit and credit cards to check out faster online. Its cashback options (which have a $50 yearly limit) are easy to use, as the dollar amounts appear instantly with a One Cash account, and you can combine deals and rewards together to maximize savings.

Beyond Walmart's own programs, you can also use PayPal, Venmo, and Ibotta's cashback programs to get more money back from grocery purchases, whether in-store or online. These programs are definitely worth researching if you already have accounts with these companies.

Ibotta is a free cashback app that works with a variety of stores — not just Walmart — and collects all of your rewards in one place. It works best with online shopping, although you can also upload receipts from in-store shopping to claim rewards. Additionally, Walmart has a partnership with Ibotta, meaning you can either use the Ibotta app to get your rewards, or you can opt to receive Walmart Cash as a reward on the Walmart app. However, you'll need to pick which app you want your rewards to go to, since you can't use both methods at the same time.

PayPal and Venmo also have cashback rewards with Walmart. With PayPal, you can use the PayPal Debit Card to get 5% cashback on a particular category of shopping — groceries, for instance — or, you can use the PayPal Cashback Mastercard to get 3% cashback on all purchases, including ones from Walmart. The Venmo Debit Card gives you up to 5% cashback at stores like Walmart, as long as groceries account for your highest category of spending for the month.

According to a Tasting Table survey, one of the most popular ways Americans aim to cut their grocery spending is to switch from name-brand foods to generic brands, such as Walmart's Great Value. It's a worthwhile strategy, too: On average, generic brands can cost between 25% to 30% less than name-brand products. For example, when Tasting Table investigated the difference between generic and name-brand milk, we found that Oatly brand oat milk cost $4.98 per half-gallon, while Great Value oat milk only cost $2.78 at the same Walmart location in New York. With minute differences in taste, generic products give you a similar quality item at a fraction of the cost.

While perusing the Walmart aisles, you might notice that Great Value isn't the only generic brand that Walmart offers. Sam's Choice is typically the generic brand used for gourmet products, like coffee beans and specialty meats, while Marketside is the store brand most often found on deli meats and bakery goods.

It's hard to accurately predict when and for how long clearances and rollbacks last at Walmart. This is most likely on purpose — Walmart wants to motivate you to buy the good deal right when you see it. But for items like meat and produce, which will inevitably go bad at some point, they will also inevitably go on sale before their expiry date. Often, you can catch them on sale exactly one day ahead of their "best by" date. 

There are also anecdotal reports on forums like Reddit that claim there are ideal times to snag the clearance items at Walmart. In one r/Frugal thread, Reddit users claim that going to Walmart right when it opens in the morning is the best time to find freshly discounted groceries. Alternatively, you might get great savings immediately after a food-related holiday, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the Super Bowl. You can investigate further by asking Walmart employees when the store typically reduces prices, but many discounts will just be up to chance. As a former Walmart employee once told BestLife, "I can say markdowns happened whenever we had time to make them."

It's incredibly easy to buy junk food or TV dinners when you wander down the wrong aisle of Walmart on your way to buy cheaper, healthier foods. To avoid this misstep, you can use the Walmart app's map to navigate your way around the aisles of each particular Walmart location, while also letting you check to see if the item you're looking for is in stock.

This is helpful for a couple reasons. One, you never have to search for an item too hard, letting you bypass the aimless wandering that could lead you to places like the bakery section, where everything looks fresh and colorful but might not taste as good as it looks. Two, you can check ahead of time to see if your local Walmart has the particular item you're looking for. After all, time is money, and what better way to save time than to rule out a trip to Walmart in the first place?

Third, if you know the layout of a Walmart before you walk in, you can avoid particular aisles altogether. For instance, prepared foods can look so deliciously enticing on an empty stomach but are not very economical. Maybe you're trying to cut out sugar from your diet, or you're giving up alcohol for Lent. Having the knowledge to steer clear of sweets and spirits can let you stay focused on your budget or health goals.

Price matching can a useful tool, especially when combined with some of our previous tips. If you're shopping in person, sometimes the price displayed in the store doesn't match what you see on the Walmart app or website. In cases like this, Walmart's policy states, "For items purchased in a Walmart U.S. store, we will match the price of the identical item advertised on Walmart.com." As long as you inform the cashier when you're checking out, and the item is still in stock on the Walmart.com website, the store should honor the price match. Keep in mind that Walmart does not match Walmart.com prices that are for special events, like Black Friday deals, or competitors' prices. 

If you remember a time when Walmart did match competitors' pricing, you're not wrong — the Savings Catcher program used to be a great way to save money by scanning receipts and getting money back in the Walmart app. Unfortunately, Walmart discontinued price matching with competitors as of May 2019. This caused a big stink, as the Savings Catcher was a wildly popular program. The company's reasoning for ending it? Well, Walmart claims to already offer the lowest possible prices in the market, seemingly making the program no longer necessary. 

If, by chance, you buy something that's funky — and not in a good way — at Walmart, don't be afraid to bring it back to the store. While you won't always be able to actually return it, you will be eligible for a refund. Walmart has a Fresh Guarantee policy, which states, "[You can] receive a refund on Produce, Fresh Flowers, Meat, Bakery, Deli, Dairy, and Frozen items with a receipt." Plus, you don't necessarily have to go into the store to make the return — you can return items via the Walmart app or on its website.

While it's nice to know that Walmart has a good return and refund policy with groceries, it's more convenient to avoid bad or expired products entirely. To avoid the hassle of returns, read more about how to spot bad and good quality produce at the grocery story, and keep an eye out for red flags in the refrigerated products section.