8 Food Lion Perks Virginia Shoppers Over 60 Swear By

Do you think you know every way Food Lion trims your grocery bill?

Its weekly ad shows maybe half of it.

The rest lives in an app, at the customer service counter, and on a shelf tag most Virginians blow past on their way to checkout.

Here’s what Virginians over 60 reach for to get more back from Food Lion.

1. The Free MVP Card

Food Lion runs almost every sale price through its MVP card, and the card costs a Virginian nothing to carry.

Signing up takes about two minutes at the customer service counter, or a few taps inside the Food Lion app.

Those big yellow sale tags in the aisle?

Most of them ring up at the lower price only after a cashier scans your MVP card.

A customer who pays the shelf price without scanning walks out having left the discount behind.

You can pull the card up as a barcode on your phone, too, for the days the plastic version hides in a drawer at home.

2. Digital Deals in the App

Food Lion loads dozens of digital coupons into its app every week, and clipping each one takes a single tap.

The savings come off on their own once you scan your MVP card at checkout.

Clip before you shop, because a coupon a Virginian never tapped does nothing at the register.

Food Lion also lets you stack a store digital coupon with a manufacturer coupon on the same item, which doubles the discount on that product.

3. Shop and Earn Rewards

Food Lion’s Shop & Earn program hands Virginians personalized offers tied to what they already buy.

A typical offer reads like this: spend $15 in the dairy department this month and earn $3 back.

You have to activate each offer in the app or online first, so an offer a Virginian never turned on earns nothing.

The reward loads onto your MVP card and comes off your next Food Lion trip, not the one that earned it.

Fresh offers post the first of every month and the old ones expire, so a Virginian who checks monthly builds up the most.

4. Weekly BOGO Deals

Food Lion refreshes its buy one, get one free deals every single week.

You’ll spot them on the chain’s BOGO HotSale page and marked on tags down the aisles.

Read each tag closely, because some Food Lion deals want two items in the cart and others ring a single item at half price.

The rule can vary by store.

Meat and pantry staples show up often, which is where a customer on a fixed budget gets the most out of it.

5. Food Lion Store Brands

Food Lion's own labels sit right beside the name brands at a lower price, and Virginians who switch barely taste a difference.

The plain Food Lion brand covers the everyday basics like milk, eggs, and canned vegetables.

Nature's Promise is the organic and free-from line for Virginians who read the ingredient list.

Taste of Inspirations aims higher, with cheeses, sauces, and small-batch items for a nicer dinner.

Building a cart out of Food Lion store brands can trim a chunk off the total without downgrading the meal.

6. Food Lion To Go

Food Lion To Go lets a Virginian order groceries online and pull up to the store, where an employee loads the bags into the car.

There's a pickup fee, but it stays low and no minimum order stands in the way.

Your MVP card deals and digital coupons still come off a To Go order, so a Virginian doesn't trade savings for the convenience.

For anyone who'd rather skip the walk across a hot parking lot in July, curbside does the heavy lifting.

Many Food Lion stores also take SNAP EBT on pickup orders, which helps Virginians shopping on a fixed income.

7. The In-Store Pharmacy

Plenty of Food Lion stores across Virginia keep a pharmacy right inside, so a Virginian fills a prescription while the cart fills up.

The Food Lion pharmacy counter takes most insurance plans and honors discount programs like GoodRx on many medications.

That pairing can drop the cash price on a common generic well below what a Virginian expects to pay.

Moving a prescription over usually takes one phone call to the Food Lion pharmacy.

8. Rain Checks

A Food Lion sale item selling out before a Virginian gets there isn't the end of the deal.

Walk to the customer service counter and ask for a rain check on the out-of-stock sale item.

Food Lion honors that sale price on a later visit once the shelf restocks.

Popular meat specials often sell out first, so a rain check keeps a wasted trip from stinging.

Yellow-Sticker Markdowns

Food Lion tapes yellow reduced-price stickers on meat, bakery, and produce that's near its sell-by date.

The markdowns run deep, sometimes half off or more, on food that's fine to cook or freeze that same day.

Virginians who hunt these stickers tend to find the fullest selection early in the week, on a Monday or Tuesday morning.

A discounted pack of chicken thighs headed straight for the freezer cooks up the same as a full-price pack.

Does Food Lion Give a Senior Discount?

Here's the straight answer a lot of Virginians over 60 came for: Food Lion doesn't run a company-wide senior discount day.

Food Lion has told AARP it offers no senior discount, keeping prices low for everyone through weekly sales and the MVP program instead.

So the setup is different at Food Lion than at a chain with a set 60-and-up day.