Everyone needs to eat, and unless you have unlimited money to shell out at restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner, groceries are an unavoidable weekly expense. For gourmands and families alike, grocery bills can add up fast. Luckily, there are a number of credit cards available to you that get you up to 6% cash back at grocery stores.
To help you figure out which one is right for you, we put together a list of some of our credit card top picks for groceries for March 2021. For a more generalized roundup of great credit card deals, see our article on the Top Credit Cards of 2021.
Best Credit Cards for Groceries in March 2021
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
The Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express is my favorite cash back card for groceries, with 6% cash back on up to $6,000 in spending a year. You’ll also get 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions, 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on transit (including such things as taxis, rideshares, parking, tolls, trains and buses), and 1% cash back on all other purchases. They also currently offer a $300 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new card within the first 6 months. There’s a $95 annual fee. The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express offers 3% cash back with no annual fee, so that’s an attractive offer as well.
American Express® Gold Card
The American Express® Gold Card was revamped in 2018 to include some amazing spending reward categories, including 4 Membership Rewards points per dollar on up to $25,000 a year in spending at grocery stores. That’s an incredible return of 8% based on our valuation of Membership Rewards points. There are other great benefits of the card, including 4 points per dollar at restaurants and 3 points per dollar on flights booked directly with the airlines. There’s a $250 annual fee, partially offset by $10 a month in select restaurant credits and $10 a month Uber Cash.
Chase Freedom Card
The Chase Freedom Flex℠ Card is a good pick for a grocery store credit card because it has no annual fee, and for one quarter every year (April to June), it offers 5% cash back on the first $1,500 in combined purchases at grocery stores. While it’s not a year-round discount like the Blue Cash Preferred Card, other quarters offer strong 5% bonuses as well, like gas stations and local commuter transportation in Quarter 1 of 2018. You’ll also receive 5% on travel purchased through Chase, 3% on dining at restaurants and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases. Plus, there’s a $200 sign-up bonus when you spend $500 on the card in the first three months of card membership.
Another compelling way to receive even more than 5% return on your grocery purchases with the Chase Freedom Flex℠ Card card is by pairing it with any card that earns Ultimate Rewards points. While the Freedom Flex℠ card alone is strictly a cash back card, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve card, or Ink Preferred card, you can transfer, at one cent per point, your cash back rewards into your Ultimate Rewards account. From there, you can expand the value way beyond one cent per point in value when you redeem for free travel (just see what I did with some of my Ultimate Rewards points in Australia). If you’re interested in learning more about the Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve cards, check out our post on the Top Airline Credit Cards.
Keep in mind, Chase does have another Freedom card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited Card, that offers a strict 1.5% cash back on every purchase (no rotating categories). While the bonus might not be as high during the grocery store bonus quarter, there’s no cap to the cash back that you receive with the Chase Freedom Unlimited Card. These rewards can also be transferred to your Ultimate Rewards account for maximizing your bonus. For some, this hassle-free card may be a better pick.
Chase Freedom Card Highlights
- 5% cash back at a rotating list of categories each quarter, plus 5% back on Chase-booked travel, and 3% back on restaurants and drugstores
- $200 cash back on the first $500 in purchases in the first three months after account opening
- No annual fee
What’s behind our selection methodology?
We pride ourselves on editorial independence at Brad’s Deals, and we make sure to give our honest and researched recommendations, regardless of compensation from card issuers. The recommendations above are either based on my own personal experience with these cards, or based on the hundreds of discussions we’ve had with readers on what they need out of a grocery store credit card.
The post Best Credit Cards for Groceries in March 2021 first appeared on The Brad's Deals Blog.
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