Food Lion Hack Revealed

All sorts of grocery essentials have gotten more expensive lately, so I’m sure I’m not alone in my never-ending task to squeeze out any extra savings I can at the grocery store. That’s why I just have to share one of my favorite, not-so-obvious ways to save on groceries when I do my shopping at Food Lion. Consider this your crash course in making your own Food Lion coupons by making the most of their coupon policy.

It all boils down to this one great thing about Food Lion — they accept competitor coupons. Thanks to this policy rule, I march right into Food Lion every Saturday with my “$5 off a $25 purchase” coupon from Dollar General in hand. And just like that, I save an easy $5 every weekend. Let me show you how it works.

For more smart shopping tips and savings hacks, text HACKS to 57299.

You’ll find Food Lion grocery stores across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.

Food Lion is a grocery chain with stores in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. They offer a wide range of grocery items, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, dairy products, bakery items, and pantry staples.

Known for their affordable prices, Food Lion has a rewards program called MVP Savings to help you save even more money.

Related: We did the math to find out who wins for cheapest grocery store in America (and it actually wasn’t Walmart).

Food Lion accepts coupons from all competitors, just not wholesale or warehouse clubs like BJ’s.

The Food Lion coupon policy states that they will accept manufacturer coupons, digital coupons, and store coupons, which is pretty standard. But here’s the gem: they’ll accept coupons from competitors, too. The fine print says that store managers can refuse to accept a coupon if they don’t think it’s from a competitor, and they’ll never accept competitor coupons from wholesale or warehouse clubs.

“Dollar-off-total-order” coupons are technically limited to one Food Lion coupon and one competitor’s coupon per day, per household, with the Food Lion coupon being used first.

I will say … even though the policy says one competitor coupon, my manager is nice and lets me use two back-to-back.

Related: Cheapest Grocery Stores in the U.S.

Since Dollar General is their competitor, you can use the $5 off $25 coupon at Food Lion, too.

In case you didn’t know, Dollar General is one of Food Lion’s competitors. And Dollar General offers a “$5 off a $25 purchase” store coupon every single Saturday. You can absolutely use these as makeshift Food Lion coupons, since Food Lion accepts competitor coupons. But just remember, the Dollar General coupon is only valid on a Saturday, so you can only use it at Food Lion on that same Saturday.

To get your $5 off $25 DG coupon, you’ll need to make a purchase at Dollar General sometime in the week prior to Saturday. The coupon will print at the bottom of your receipt.

If your Food Lion store manager approves of using multiple coupons, you could save even more — like up to $10 off a $50 purchase.

TIP: You can even score those Dollar General coupons without a purchase pretty easily. Most people don’t keep their receipts at DG stores (at least in my area), so the cashier either makes a stack of ’em and collects them for whatever reason, or they trash them. I’ve asked many times for some extras and they’ve gladly obliged.

Use this Food Lion coupon hack to load up on groceries each week.

What better way to use the $5 off $25 coupon than on groceries? With the average cost of groceries going up (and up), an extra $5 (or $10!) of savings each weekend can really add up.

To help you stretch your dollar even further, we’ve put together two great deal ideas that will help you stock up on essentials like bread and milk by applying Food Lion coupons: