Here's When You Should Shop At Wegmans For Discounted Items

People who know Wegmans love Wegmans. That is, except for the elevated price tags on delicious items like bakery goods and prepared foods. The best prepared foods at Wegmans, from chicken parmesan to sesame chicken, are known to deliver great quality and taste but the price tag often leads customers rightfully wondering, is it worth it? Looking at you $21 quesadilla. Luckily, there's a way you can score lower prices for your favorite items at the retailer: By shopping at off hours, specifically early or late in the day. Basically, whether you'll find discounted items all comes down to the time of day you're shopping in the store — and a little luck, of course. Many grocery stores discount their offerings at the cheese counter, butcher station, and fresh foods aisle towards the end of the day to avoid throwing it away, and sometimes you can find meat markdowns early in the morning, around 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m. 

It's important to remember that the occurrence of finding discounted items in this way is admittedly largely by chance and it's not widespread at Wegmans. However, if you shop later in the day or evening, you could just stumble upon manager mark-downs on your favorite Wegmans products like artisan breads, cupcakes, sushi or rotisserie chicken. Just don't set your mind on one particular item. Instead, go into the store with an open mind. You may just find a discount on something tasty from our ranked Wegmans prepared foods, or a sale baguette that inspires an impromptu Parisan-style dinner.

Any price-savvy shopper knows there are always tricks to finding a great deal — you just have to know where to look. Just like adjusting your shopping time to later in the day could help you snag deals on close-to-date prepared or fresh foods like cheese and meat, so can joining Wegmans' free loyalty program, the Shoppers Club. There, you can stay up-to-date and find deals and digital coupons to help lighten some of the sticker shock on the store's beloved quality items like organic produce and fresh-made subs.

If you're still deterred from even entering the bakery, where you'll find expensive, albeit patisserie-level tarts, cakes, and pastries, have no fear. Though you could pay $16 or more for a tray of four assorted desserts, you can definitely also find more economical and delicious items. Specifically, when buying dry goods and other ingredients for your weekly meal run, it helps to shop the store brand at Wegmans, since it's actually known for its exceptional quality and solid prices. This includes the store's famous chocolate chip cookies, which are renowned for their great taste and accessible price at around $5 a pack. Or shop the top-notch thin-crust frozen pizzas, which come in at under $5 a pop. Just stay away from the store's frozen mac and cheese, since it's a bit of a letdown.