March 25 2008
By MoneyBlueBook

Updated List Of The Best Supermarket and Grocery Credit Cards To Save Money On Groceries (And Offset Higher Food Prices)

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With rising gas energy prices and increased food demand from developing countries comes an unfortunate result - higher food prices. Common grocery staples like milk, eggs, and wheat products have seen a noticeable rise in prices lately. Higher prices at the supermarket is leading to an increase in grocery spending for many. Those with large families and children are finding their food budgets being stretched to the limit. However, there are alternative and supplemental ways to save money on groceries beyond the usual reliance on price comparison shopping and clipping grocery store coupons. There's nothing wrong with relying on coupons and price comparison, however, the regularity of those money saving deals are often unpredictable. They are not dependent on what you or your family need at the time, but rather on the supply and demand assessments of supermarket chains.

Benefits Of Using Grocery Store Credit Card Rewards To Save Money On Supermarket Food Prices

If you are a responsible credit user, have you considered the usage of dedicated grocery credit cards to save money at the supermarket? Most major credit card issuers have tagged grocery stores as a major promotional focus of their credit card reward programs. To encourage consumers to use grocery store credit cards, card issuers are offering a wide array of high cash back rewards and rebates for supermarket related purchases. In fact, along with gas stations and drug stores, grocery stores are often included in a select list of categories that offer extra high purchase rebates and rewards. Grocery credit card rewards can easily and regularly net consumers a high 5% cash back on all grocery store purchases.

Debt reduction proponents frequently advise against the use of credit cards for common household expenses such as groceries and gas, but I disagree with their blanket rejection. I think the responsible use of grocery credit card rewards can help a credit responsible family save a significant amount of money on their groceries and supermarket food needs over time. Furthermore, it also helps save time at the grocery checkout counter. Many major supermarket chains like Giant, Safeway, and Kroger now offer and sometimes force the use of self checkout stations. The use of grocery reward credit cards helps speed the consumer along the checkout process rather than having to fumble around and spend time locating dollar bills and loose change.

Grocery shopping using supermarket credit cards also helps the savvy consumer keep better track of their spending habits since all transactions are logged and recorded on their credit card billing statements. The amount of money spent on groceries per month can then be more easily itemized and statistically analyzed. This organization feature goes a long way in helping cardholders better plan and tweak their grocery shopping budgets.

Other than using special grocery store credit cards to save money on food and grocery store purchases through credit rewards, they can also be used to earn high rewards at other retailers as well. All it takes is the purchase of a non-grocery related retail gift card from a qualifying supermarket. This has the added advantage of earning the higher grocery related rewards (frequently as high as 5%) but being able to spend the money on non-grocery-related purchase categories like department stores, electronic discounters, and even restaurants.

After reviewing the variety of grocery credit card reward offers available, here are the card offers that I think offer the best cash back value.

List of the Best Grocery Credit Card Offers:

1. American Express Blue Cash?? - Earn up to a tiered 5% cash back on eligible purchases. Earn a tiered 1.5% cash back reward on everything else. For more reward program details, check out my Blue Cash review.
2. Chase Freedom(SM) - Earn 5% cash back offers in popular categories like gas, home improvement and department stores. Get a full 1% Cash Back on everything else - no spending tiers or caps on how much you can earn.
3. Capital One?? No Hassle Cash(SM) Rewards -?? (Excellent Credit) - Earn up to 3% cash back on gas and groceries, and unlimited 1% cashback on all other purchases. There is no limit to the cash back rewards you can earn and your cash earnings never expire as they are applied to your account automatically. You can also save money with the 0% APR purchase rate offer until February 2011. There is no annual fee.
4. Capital One?? No Hassle Cash(SM) Rewards - (Average Credit) - Earn 2% cash back on purchases at grocery stores and gas stations, and unlimited 1% cashback on all other purchases. There is no limit to the cash back rewards you can earn and your cash earnings never expire as they are applied to your account automatically. You can also save money with the 0% APR purchase rate offer until February 2011. There is no annual fee.
5. Capital One?? No Hassle Points(SM) Rewards - (Excellent Credit) - Earn unlimited 2% back (2 points per dollar) in point rebates for purchases at grocery stores, supermarkets, gas stations, and drug stores, as well as 1% back for all other purchases. Get a 0% introductory interest rate on purchases until January 2010. There is no annual fee
6. Capital One?? No Hassle Points(SM) Rewards - (Average Credit) - Earn unlimited 5% back (5 points per dollar) for all purchases made at grocery stores, gas stations, and drug stores, and get 1% back for every dollar spent on all other purchases. Your rewards have no expiration date for the life of your account. Cardholders also receive an introductory 0% APR offer on purchases until June 2009. There is no annual fee.
7. American Express Business Blue Cash?? - Earn up to a tiered 5% cash back on grocery purchases, drugs, and gas. Earn up to a tiered 1.5% cash back on everything else.