There are many smartphone apps out there that claim to help you save money on groceries, though their quality and usefulness varies. The apps in this article are free and have been recommended by news agencies. They should be safe to use, but bear in mind the pros and cons listed alongside them.

If you’re going to experiment with apps that aren’t on this list, particularly apps that cost money to sign up for, require you to link to your bank account, or provide your personal information, proceed with caution! Look for reviews from reliable sources before potentially installing malware on your phone.

With those disclaimers out of the way, let's talk apps! There are a few different categories of grocery savings apps. They are designed to offer users different things:

The online equivalent of the clearance shelf, these apps allow grocers, restaurants, and bakeries to offer discounts on food that is at risk of going in the trash. Food may be marked down for being near its best before date, having small visual imperfections, or simply being over-stocked by a store.

Pros

These apps can help get more variety in your diet by giving you access to food that’s usually out of your price range. The discounts can be very high, and are sometimes applied to products that can be frozen or will last a long time, which can be a good opportunity to stock up.

Cons

Discounted food is often near expiry, and if it can’t be preserved, it needs to be used up quickly. Sometimes you can only purchase bags or boxes of random goods through the app, so you’re not sure what you’re going to get when you buy.

Apps

• Flashfood: Covers large local supermarkets that have products marked down for sale. You can purchase items on the app in advance, and then pick them up at the store.
  
  
• Too Good To Go: Restaurants, bakers, butchers, and some small grocers offering discounts on food that’s unsold at the end of the day. Generally these will be “surprise bags” that you buy through the app, and pick up within a specified time frame.

The apps below (and their associated websites) compile store specials and coupons, making it easier to find and compare the deals available in your area.

Pros

If you have a few different big grocers in your area, these apps make it easy to compare the deals that they’re offering. It’s fairly simple to use them to figure out what stores have good prices for your grocery staples. If you’re able to put more time into planning, you can also meal plan around the best advertised specials, or use the apps to save extra money by price matching at the till.

Cons

Unlike ordinary comparison shopping, these apps only allow you to compare advertised offers from major grocery chains, not regular prices at all your neighbourhood stores. Smaller grocers, ethnic grocers, and dollar stores can be some of the most inexpensive places to buy food, and they’re not usually included on these apps. The products on sale are also very specific and can be restricted by brand, size, and flavour. Shopping these advertised offers can make it easy to overspend by buying things that you don’t need, or buying more expensive brand-name products because they’re marked down.

Apps

• Savin App: A Canadian grocery savings app that compiles flyer deals, online coupons, and cashback offers. You’re able to search for specific items on your grocery list and save deals you’d like to take advantage of into a favourites list. Links are included for easy explanations about topics like how to print and use online coupons or price match, making this a good app for a beginner bargain shopper.

• Redflagdeals: A massive Canadian deals website and associated app, with a substantial grocery section. The site compiles grocery flyers but doesn’t have a search function to quickly find and compare specific items. It's mostly recommended for its large and active forums, where the user base pools coupons, deal recommendations, and other strategies for grocery savings. This is a good place to ask questions and get individual advice from dedicated bargain shoppers.

• Flipp and Reebee: These were originally two different apps, but Flipp bought Reebee in 2022 and now they are the same. Like the Savin app, they allow users to browse store flyers, or search for specific items to see which store is offering the best deal on a specific item. Tapping on deals will save them to a shopping list that is organized by store, and has a reminder about when the deal expires. There are not many coupons available, but loyalty cards can be saved on the app to use in-store, which is convenient if you are someone who frequently forgets them.
  

These apps enable users to collect cash back as they shop, usually by buying specific products, sometimes at specific stores.

Pros

These apps can be used to get money back for items that you would be purchasing anyway. The more intense bargain shoppers aim to “stack” store specials, coupons, and cash back or points apps to get items heavily discounted or free, though stores may have different policies about how many deals can be applied to an item at one time.

Cons

Like store flyers and coupons, you can end up overspending on items you don't need in pursuit of cash back. If you don't carefully read the fine print on the cash-back deals offered you may buy the wrong product, buy a product at the wrong store, or buy a product after the sale deadline has passed. In this case you won't receive the money back you were expecting. Information about your location, shopping preferences and purchases can also harvested by these apps and sold to marketing agencies.

Apps

• Checkout 51: Offers weekly cashback deals on products (usually brand name), which can be browsed and saved to a shopping list. Users purchase the items, upload the receipt to the app, and get cash back dollars added to their accounts. Once $20 has accumulated in the account, it can be redeemed in the form of a check or a PayPal deposit. PayPal deposits usually take up to 15 business days, while checks take up to a month, according to the company's FAQ.
  
  
• Eclipsa: This is a smaller app, but a good one for beginners because it provides cash back for some items that are not brand or product specific. For example, you may get cash back on “chicken”, instead of “X sized package of bone-in chicken thighs from Y brand”. New deals are uploaded every Thursday, and the redemption procedure is the same as Checkout 51- photograph the receipt, collect cashback in the account, and redeem the cash any time after reaching $20. Money can be redeemed in the form of a check, which takes a few weeks to come in the mail, or through e-transfer after 1 business day, according to the company's FAQ.
  

• Rakuten: This is an online shopping app that provides cash back when users order products from a variety of retailer’s websites. Instead of rewarding the purchase of specific products,  the app pays a percentage of your order back in cash, via cheque or PayPal. Grocery options are limited, but if you’re a big Instacart user it may be worth a download. Just make sure that you access the retailer website through the portal on the Rakuten app, otherwise you won’t receive your rebate. Receiving a rebate can take between 48 hours and a month, according to the company's FAQ.
  
  
• Caddle: This app is probably the most straightforward about harvesting data for marketing companies. In addition to earning cash back by purchasing specific products and uploading receipts to the app, users can earn very small amounts of cash by answering surveys, watching ads, or writing reviews for products. Like the other apps, cash can be redeemed once you’ve earned $20, and is sent in the form of a check, which can take up to 60 days to arrive according to the company's FAQ.

 

These are essentially a cross between a loyalty program and a cash-back app that pays you money that can only be spent at select stores. They are all more or less the same; you get a physical card that you scan along with your purchase at check-out, which will collect points that can be spent like money at associated stores. You can download an app and link it to your points card. This app helps you to track your points and will generate weekly offers that will give you bonus points or discounts for purchasing specific products or spending more than a certain amount of money at a specific store. You need to select the weekly offers in the app to activate them before shopping.

Pros

Like cash-back apps, points apps can save you money on products you were going to buy anyway. Oftentimes the weekly specials will be slightly more tailored to your shopping habits, so you'll get discounts on products you buy frequently. The apps are usually linked to large chain businesses, so you can use them to collect points or save money at a variety of grocery stores, gas stations, movie theatres and restaurants. Points can accumulate pretty quickly if you generally buy groceries at the same store.

Cons

Unlike cash-back apps, instead of money you receive points that are only redeemable at specific stores. Trying to collect points can also steer you towards buying things you don't need, or shopping at a store with a points card when you could buy things more inexpensively elsewhere. If you forget to load your weekly offers onto your points card from the app, you may not receive the bonus points or discounts you were expecting. Information about your purchasing habits and location can also be harvested by these apps and used as consumer data by the stores.

Apps

PC Optimum: Works at Loblaws stores and affiliates, like No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Esso and Mobil stations

More Rewards: Covers Save-On-Foods, Buy-Low Foods, and a few other grocery stores and restaurants

Scene+: Mostly known as a points card for movie-goers, Scene+ also works at Sobey's, Safeway, and Freshco

 

It is worth noting that this article was written in August 2023 and technology moves very fast. It is a good idea to double-check this information against reliable sources to see if these apps are still in operation or if they have been replaced by new ones. Ideally in the future food will be affordable for everyone, and bargain-hunting apps become obsolete!

Sources

Global News: Canadians reducing grocery bills, waste by using food rescue apps

The Globe and Mail: PC Optimum, Rakuten, Ampli: How do these five popular cash-back grocery apps measure up?

The Globe and Mail: Wondering wher eto get your points? How Canada's grocery store loyalty programs compare

CTV News: Cash back apps help you to reclaim some hard-earned money

Reader's Digest Canada: The best apps to save money on groceries

The Food Bank of Waterloo Region: 6 coupon and money saving apps to save on groceries

 

 

Food is Too Expensive! was funded by the City of Saskatoon through our Healthy Yards partnership, the Cyril Capling Trust Fund of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the Department of Plant Sciences. Focus group research to inform this work was collected by CHEP. Thank you all for helping us make healthy food more accessible!