Want to beat rising grocery prices? Here are 5 grocery rewards cards (and tools) that can help

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“We have food at home” is the go-to response for skipping expensive restaurant prices and sticking to cheaper, home-cooked meals. Now, eating at home is more expensive, too.

According to the January 2026 Consumer Price Index (CPI), released Feb. 13, five of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased in January, and the food at home index rose by 2.1% over the past 12 months. The food away from home index also rose over the last year by 4.0%, almost double that of food at home.

So, while Mom’s technically right (the cost of eating out is rising faster than grocery prices), it’s worth looking for ways to save at the grocery store as in-store prices creep higher.

Since food and grocery spending accounted for $319.4 billion in credit card spending last year, we discuss a handful of grocery credit cards that can help you save or earn rewards, based on how you shop for your food.

If you’re someone who enjoys chasing the highest rate of return, you should consider the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. Offering 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year in eligible purchases, then 1%), the Blue Cash Preferred could save you up to $360 each year on elevated eligible supermarket purchases alone.

The card offers a second, uncapped 6% cash back category on select U.S. streaming subscriptions, plus 3% back on transit and at U.S. gas stations, making it a well-rounded option outside of grocery spending. And if you want to turn your at-home meals into dinner and entertainment, you also get access to up to $10 in monthly statement credits after using your enrolled Blue Cash Preferred® Card for a subscription purchase, including a bundle subscription purchase, at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com, or Stream.ESPN.com U.S. websites (subject to auto-renewal).

While the card charges a $95 annual fee, it’s waived for the first year. If you keep the card past year one, it’s fairly easy to recoup the cost through a combination of statement credits and cash back earnings.

If you’re more of a homebody or prefer selecting your groceries without dodging shopping carts, you can do your grocery shopping online. Online grocery shopping not only earns rewards with the right credit card, but it can also save you time if you’re on a tight schedule.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) earns 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards® points on most generic online grocery purchases. According to Chase, that includes grocery stores, specialty food stores or delivery service merchants that classify as grocery store merchants. The 3X rate doesn’t apply to stores like Target®, Walmart® and wholesale clubs, and you can’t earn rewards on gift cards or gift baskets purchased through grocery stores. It will, however, earn on purchases made directly with a grocery store or via a third-party app, like Instacart.

The Ultimate Rewards® Points you earn are also pretty flexible and can be spent in several ways, including statement credits that you can apply to your account balance. Similar to the Amex Blue Cash Preferred, the Sapphire Preferred charges a $95 annual fee that can be recouped through rewards and various perks, like up to a $50 statement credit each account anniversary year for hotel stays through Chase Travel^SM and a 10% anniversary points boost.

It’s also worth noting that the Sapphire Preferred offers a complimentary DashPass membership, which unlocks $0 delivery fees, lower service fees and a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders for at least one year when you activate by Dec. 31, 2027.

If you already have an Amazon Prime membership, you should also look into the Prime Visa; it earns 5% back at Whole Foods and on Amazon Fresh orders. While Whole Foods is a more traditional grocery store chain, Amazon Fresh is an online grocery platform that offers various national brands as well as Amazon’s own.

As of January 2026, Amazon is planning to close most of its physical Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go locations and expand further into grocery delivery. The company also plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods stores within the next few years, making them more widely available to customers.

You can buy a number of food and cooking ingredients via Amazon.com, which can be especially helpful if you’re trying to buy in bulk for savings.

While not an obvious connection, earning rewards on groceries could lead to some exciting travel opportunities, especially if you use the American Express® Gold Card.

The Amex Gold earns 4X Membership Rewards® Points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points. This flexible rewards currency is worth at least 1 cent per point toward travel redemptions and can be transferred to 15 different travel partners to book either airplane tickets or hotels.

The Amex Gold Card also offers a high welcome bonus: You may be eligible for as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after spending $6,000 in eligible purchases on your card in the first six months. While the spending requirement is definitely on the higher side, that’s at least $1,000 in travel value.

The card’s $325 annual fee (see rates and fees) may be intimidating, but it comes with several large statement credits — including statement credits related to dining, rideshares and hotel bookings — that can help recoup the cost.

If you prefer to keep your wallet as thin as possible, you could opt for a flat-rate cash back credit card —meaning you’ll earn the same amount no matter where you spend.

One well-known option is the Citi Double Cash® Card, earning 2% cash back on all your purchases: 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay. You won’t have to worry about spending caps or whether you’re using the right card at checkout, and there are no quarterly rewards categories to activate.

One trade-off with a flat-rate grocery card is that you may earn a slightly lower rewards rate compared to other options. On the other hand, you’ll earn consistently, and you won’t have to carry multiple cards that each serve their own purpose.

The Citi Double Cash doesn’t charge an annual fee, so there’s a fairly low barrier to entry. Plus, the card doubles as one of the best balance transfer credit cards thanks to its long intro APR offer.

In a similar vein, the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card also earns an unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases, but you don’t have to wait until you pay to earn the full cash rewards amount.

Since both cards have $0 annual fees, they don’t come with many notable additional benefits. But the Active Cash does offer up to $600 in cell phone protection if you use the card to pay your cell phone bill (subject to a $25 deductible), as well as an intro APR on both purchases and balance transfers (with the Double Cash card only offering the latter).

While the right credit card can help you with a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to cutting costs at the grocery store, there are a few additional ways to stack savings even higher:

Look for targeted offers

In addition to the cash back or points you earn when swiping your card, many credit card issuers feature targeted offers you can opt into to save even more. The portal you can use depends on the card(s) you have; here are a few well-known programs:

Often, these offers require you to activate individual deals, which you can do through your card’s account or mobile app. These targeted offers also rotated pretty frequently, so if you don’t see anything that tickles your fancy, you can always check back.

Combine your card with cash back apps

Many times, the rewards you earn through cash back apps can stack with the rewards you’re already earning from your credit card.

If you’re looking for an app to help you save a little extra, Ibotta focuses on groceries. You can add cash back offers to your account, then, after shopping for your groceries like normal, submit your receipt or link your store loyalty account to earn cash back. Once you reach the $20 rewards minimum, you can link your bank account or PayPal to withdraw it or cash it in for a gift card of your choice.

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For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, click here.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.