How to Use Coupons at Giant Eagle – Get Cheaper Groceries and Free Gas

Giant Eagle is a regional grocery store chain that has big advantages for coupon shoppers.  They have stores in Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.  They total over 220 grocery stores and also have a bunch of smaller convenience stores.

There are multiple ways to save money at their stores and you will need all the details to maximize your savings.

Giant Eagle Weekly Ad

The first bit of magic happens in the weekly ad put out by Giant Eagle.  The sale prices run from Thursday to Wednesday. 

The best deals will be items that are on sale in the weekly ad that can be combined with a coupon.  To be able to use coupons properly you will need to really get the coupon policy down.

Giant Eagle Coupon Policy

So Giant Eagle has one of the more complicated coupon policies of any grocery store in the country.  If I had to guess, they got burned by coupon Nazis somewhere along the way and they clamped down hard.  This is not to say they are not coupon friendly, they are just very careful with how coupons are used in their stores.  Here are all the details:

• Giant Eagle will double manufacturer’s coupons up to 99¢ when you use your Giant Eagle Advantage card.
• Coupons with a value over 99¢ will be redeemed for that face value
• No coupon can exceed the amount of the item itself.
• Only one coupon will be accepted per item
• Coupons that say “do not double” will not be doubled
• You can use up to 20 coupons in a single transaction on the self checkout.  Otherwise you need to go through standard checkout.
• No more than five like coupons can be used in a 24 hour period
• If you forget a coupon, you can return to the store within 10 days of the purchase date and get reimbursed for that coupon
• Competitors coupons are never accepted at Giant Eagle
• E-coupons can be redeemed from the Giant Eagle website, Cellfire, P&G Esaver or from Shortcuts
• You cannot use e-coupons and manufacturer’s coupons on the same item
• E-coupons will not be doubled
• Giant Eagle will accept printed coupons as long as they come from a legitimate site
• Printed coupons cannot exceed $3 in value
• Printed coupons that are for a “Free” item will not be accepted
• You can only use two like printable coupons in a 24 hour period
• Giant Eagle will accept store coupons as long as they have a Giant Eagle, Getgo, Market District, or Market District Express logo on them.
• Store coupons will not be doubled.

Like I said, they are a little particular about how you use coupons.  By knowing these rules you can match up the coupons with the best sales each week. 

You can find the coupon matchups each week over in the Giant Eagle section of LadySavings.com.  She actually takes the ad each week and matches up all the deals with the coupons that are available. 

After looking through some of the deals I have seen similar prices on meat to what you can get through Zaycon Foods, which is my preferred way for purchasing meat.

Fuel Perks

Giant Eagle runs a generous fuel perks program.  The way it works is for every $50 you spend at Giant Eagle or Getgo gas stations, you earn 10¢ off per gallon when you fill up at a Getgo gas station. 

This is very similar to the Fuel Rewards Network run by Shell, but only applies to the specific stations in the area covered by Giant Eagle.  The programs are so similar it’s like comparing Hello Fresh vs Blue Apron in the meals by mail programs.

What is really nice about the program is that specific purchases will trigger additional savings.  So you may have to buy two packs of Bounty paper towels and get 5¢ per gallon toward your fuelperks. 

Rack up enough fuelperks before each time you need gasoline and you can add another way to save money through Giant Eagle. It also supports some gas stations that partner with the GetUpside app, so you can double dip.

Side Note – I do this with another grocery chain in my area and couple my fuel savings with a cash back rewards credit card to get another 5% cash back on top of the fuelperks.  I filled up 19 gallons of fuel last week for $1.05 a gallon and got another 5% back on top of that

If you shop at Giant Eagle all the time you could see how the savings can really rack up.

Ideal Giant Eagle Deal

To give you an idea of just how good the deals can be at Giant Eagle, I am going to give you the absolute ideal scenario.  Let me be honest, this type of deal only happens once in a blue moon, but you can frequently get 60% off or better by using coupons and weekly ad deals.

You have an item that is regularly priced at $5.  Giant Eagle has put it on sale for $3.50.  You find a coupon for 75¢ off that Giant Eagle doubles to $1.50.  This brings the up front cost to $2. 

On top of that they weekly ad includes 5¢ in fuelperks when you purchase two of the item.  So you buy two for $4 and get your fuelperks.  That translates into another $1 of savings on a 20 gallon fill up, bringing the total cost down to $1.50 per item or 70% off.

Giant Eagle Alternatives

Since Giant Eagle is a regional chain, the few competitors they have are from national brands.

Aldi – Aldi has become the discount leader for groceries. They are followed closely by Walmart, but will mostly beat Walmart prices. They don’t have a lot of coupons, but you should know their prices to know if you are getting a good deal.

Kroger – The largest grocery chain in the country, Kroger is well known for service, excellent generic products, and a gasoline rewards program that works similar to Giant Eagle.

Target – Target is not as well known for their groceries, but they have been added in most stores. Getting 5% off with your Target RedCard can make many of their sale items a best price.

Final Thoughts on Using Coupons at Giant Eagle

I would only use Giant Eagle for deal shopping and emergency needs (if they were close to my house).  They aren’t going to beat the discount leaders like Aldi and if you are experimenting with new recipes you are better off with one of the ready to cook meals by mail services like Home Chef or Blue Apron.

Now that is some real savings.  If you have any questions about savings at Giant Eagle or want to brag about an amazing deal you were able to score leave it in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @SavingFreak.

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