Saving money on groceries conjures up images of aunties aggressively clipping grocery coupons in the newspapers or travelling an extra 7km just to shop at Sheng Siong instead of NTUC FairPrice. In other words, it’s troublesome, unglam and, for most of us, not really worth the effort just to get 5 cents off instant noodles.

It’s much easier to just use a credit card that will give you a decent cashback rate on groceries. Here’s a list of cards you can use on your next trip to the supermarket (or online groceries order).

2. Best NTUC FairPrice credit card: Trust Credit Card

The “official” NTUC FairPrice credit card is the NTUC Plus! Card, but in August last year, NTUC announced that they will phase out the card. If you hold an OCBC NTUC Plus! credit card, you won’t be able to use them from 1 February 2023.

In its place,  NTUC has launched a new credit card in September coined the Trust Credit Card. So, can you really trust the Trust Credit Card to deliver?

The one major condition is that you need to spend at least $450 outside of NTUC FairPrice to qualify for rebates. If you are willing to do that, it lets you earn 7per cent rebates for in-store purchases, which is still not bad. You earn your reward points (capped at 5,500 LinkPoints) in the form of NTUC Link Points which you can then redeem when you shop at NTUC.

If you’re not willing to meet that minimum spending requirement, opt for one of the generic grocery credit cards below.

3. Best Sheng Siong credit card: Bank of China Sheng Siong Card

Just when you thought you were being cheapo enough by shopping at Sheng Siong, you find out that you can save even more money — not by shopping somewhere even cheaper, but by paying with the Bank of China Sheng Siong Card.

The card gives you a very decent 6per cent cash rebate when you shop at Sheng Siong with no minimum spending requirement. This is capped at $45 a month.

It also offers a 1.5 per cent cash rebate on qualifying expenses outside of Sheng Siong. However, it still only mostly makes sense if you swear by Sheng Siong for your grocery needs.

ALSO READ: 13 best credit cards with no annual fee (2022)

4. Best Cold Storage & Giant credit card: UOB One Card

The UOB One Card is an all-purpose cashback card that gives you a flat cashback amount every quarter depending on which spending tier you hit.

In a nutshell, you receive cashback of $200/$100/$50 at the end of a quarter if you’ve managed to spend at least $2,000/$1,000/$500 for every month in the quarter. That works out to a maximum cashback rate of 3.33per cent across the spending categories.

But if you continue to spend in any of the categories after hitting the minimum spending requirement, your cashback rate falls. Worst of all, forget to use your card for one month and you get zero cashback for the entire quarter.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s the good news: UOB One offers an additional 5per cent cashback at Cold Storage, Giant, Market Place, 7-11 and Guardian. That’s on top of the 3.33per cent you already get.

In order to get your hands on that additional cashback, you’ll have to qualify for at least one of the cashback tiers, so be sure to consolidate your spending and charge them to your card every single month in a quarter.

5. Good for all supermarkets: Citi Cash Back Card

If none of the above cards appeal to you or you tend to do your groceries at more than one supermarket chain, opting for a generic cashback card like Citi Cash Back Card can make life a lot less confusing.

The Citi Cash Back Card offers 8 per cent cashback at supermarkets and grocery stores worldwide. In addition, you also get 8 per cent cashback when dining at restaurants and cafes, and up to 20.8 per  cent fuel savings at Esso and Shell. The cashback is capped at $80 per month.

The minimum spending requirement of $800 per month is on the high side, considering how few things you can use this card on. But if you drive, eat out a lot and have a household with many mouths to feed, you could find yourself spending way more than $800. “Thank God” for Singapore’s high cost of living and inflation, eh?

ALSO READ: Top tips to maximise rewards on your credit card spend

6. Good for all supermarkets: Maybank Family & Friends Card

The Maybank Family & Friends Card is actually one of the most generous and most useful ones out there.

You get 8per cent cashback on a whole lot of essentials, including groceries as well as dining/food delivery, transport (including petrol, ride hailing and public transport), data communication/online TV streaming (including your mobile/internet plan or cable TV subscription) and a few selected pet/retail stores.

If any of the above don’t apply to you, you can swap out the default categories for 3 other choices — online fashion, entertainment and pharmacies — on the Maybank app. The maximum is 5 categories.

Like the Citi Cash Back Card, the minimum spending requirement on this credit card is $800. It’s a bit high, but you should have no trouble consolidating since it covers just about anything that you could possibly want to spend on in this pandemic. The cashback is capped at $25 per category.

7. Bonus: MoneySmart tips on grocery shopping

No, we won’t ask you to start extreme couponing. But you should be doing the following to get better value out of your grocery runs:

Remember to bring along your supermarket loyalty card: No point in having it if you don’t use it! Read about the various supermarket loyalty programmes here.

Stay safe while shopping and opt to go during off-peak hours: Why jostle with the aunties when you don’t have to? If you work from home, nip off to the supermarket in the afternoon, or do a late-night grocery run at an outlet that opens till midnight or 24-hours.

Buy your groceries online where possible: Many credit cards give you cashback for online groceries as well as offline. Take that opportunity to stay home and use online grocery delivery and on-demand services to save time and effort.

This article was first published in MoneySmart.