Frugal grocery shopping?

[StockBeard]

Can people share their tips for frugal grocery shopping in Tokyo?

I'm in particular interested in ways to reduce our costs for "staples" like milk, bread, cereals (making my own granola here is super expensive for some reason), fruits, meat, flour,...

We live close to an "Aeon" mall and whenever I shop for our family of 5 I have to buy ridiculous amounts of everything. e.g. 3 packs of "minced meat" because they only sell what I'd consider to be individual portions,...

I've done some comparison shopping with Amazon, but their prices are not so great for food items either. I would consider costco, but we don't own a car, so not sure it would be of any value for us...

For example, local restaurants are definitely able to buy bread in bulk. Is there a way the regular public can access some of these in Tokyo?

[RetireJapan]

Look for a 業務用食品スーパー. They serve businesses and individuals.

[deepdishj]

Along the same lines as the previous post, is there an A-Price near you?
Kind of like a Japanese version of Costco that sells in bulk/larger sizes.

[RetireJapan]

You could also check out The Flying Pig (Costco delivery service). Prices are quite a bit higher than in store, but you don't need to be a member and they deliver to your home. Pretty good service.

[Jamo]

Look for a 業務用食品スーパー. They serve businesses and individuals.

I second this. "Gyomu Super" is pretty damn cheap. My wife has turned into an organic chemical-free shopping freak, so I'm not allowed to shop there... Their meats etc. are from cheaper countries like Brazil. So if you don't mind that, you can pick up chicken thighs for around 400 yen a kilo, for example.

[captainspoke]

Good veggies are a splurge that we regard as a necessity. String beans or cauliflower (and even tomatoes are ¥¥¥), it doesn't matter. If we're making a salad, additions like that are important.

Locally, avocados (one of our favs) are priced at 98, 138, and 198, depending on size and which store. I usually buy what seems like a good one, rather than worrying about price.

[fools_gold]

I love frugal shopping! I keep a mental list of the prices of most things we buy. If I see anything cheaper than usual, I stock up on it. Also, different stores are cheaper for different things so you can make big savings by shopping at a few stores. Aeon can be reasonable for some stuff, but their fresh produce is not particularly cheap. I also pay attention to the price per 100 grams of products. Sometimes the smaller packs of products offer better value.

We buy flour for bread in bulk on the internet. It's about a third of the price of supermarkets. If you're into oats, Costco is the cheapest. However, you can buy their big packs of Quaker oats on Amazon too. About 2000 yen for a 4.5kg pack.

If Aeon is your only local supermarket, then there's always the shareholder discount. If you buy 100 shares you can get 3% cashback on purchases.

[StockBeard]

I had the opportunity to go to Costco with a friend in Chiba yesterday (he is a member and owns a car, two things I don't have).

My total bill was 38'500 Yen . On the one hand, it's amazing the things I bought that I would not have bought normally (they're very good at making you buy 10 times the amount of stuff you actually need), on the other hand this gave me a good opportunity to compare the prices with their "competition". Also, I now have about a year's worth of material to make my morning granola

First, it's worth noting that most of the stuff I bought costs easily half of what it costs in our local Aeon. That's when similar products are available at Aeon in the first place. Fruits, meat, fish come to mind.
Secondly, I was able to compare my grocery list with the exact same items on The Flying Pig and on Amazon. The Flying Pig basically ships directly from Costco. On Amazon, it's probably third party sellers that buy from Costco and resell at a profit.

In the few items I compared (about half of my list), The Flying Pig upmarks the prices from 25% to 70%! And that's before shipping costs. Amazon was 40% to 70% higher than Costco, even when trying to look for cheaper brands (keep in mind that I shopped for stuff you don't easily find in Japan, such as frozen fruits, nuts, oatmeal...). Overall the Flying Pig is probably cheaper than Amazon, but that can easily be offset by their shipping costs unless you really maximize the space on their boxes (you pay shipping by the box, so you want to fill it up as much as possible)

Getting to Costco and shopping there took a total of 8h. It was fun because I was with a friend, but I kept wondering if the cost saving was worth 8h of my time. Overall I estimate that I saved about 15'000 yen on this trip alone, by using Costco instead of my usual sources (Amazon or my local grocery store), or even compared to the Flying Pig. 8h of somewhat fun time with my kid and my friend for a 15'000 yen saving: worth it IMO. (with the following notes: 1) I probably bought more than I usually would because I got sucked in by the "deals", 2) I don't own a car and my friend refused my offer to pay for gas, 3) I didn't have to pay for the Costco membership as my friend has one. But for that last one, the membership cost would have instantly paid for itself with this one trip).

Bottom line: I think Costco is definitely worth it if you have a car (or use car sharing maybe) and want to buy stuff in bulk that you're having a hard time finding in regular JP stores.

[RetireJapan]

We live about 15m from a Costco, and my wife has a membership. I don't like going there, but should probably reconsider

[captainspoke]

We have a costco, but it's a hassle to get to, to park at, etc. Our main shopping is fresh veggies and other perishables, which don't work in bulk. We have three supers within a kilometer, and I can be to one and back in the time it would take to just get to the costco.