Top Credit Card for Purchasing Groceries (updated on October 21, 2022)
I cannot believe that it has been over 6 years since we last updated this post. So we are way overdue for an update. Furthermore, with the way inflation has been going, who does not want to reduce their credit card bill?
First of all, I recommend signing up for free loyalty programs affiliated with groceries to rack up rewards for spending, along with watching for discounts/sales. Then triple dip by using a credit card that gives a higher multiplier bonus when shopping at grocery stores. The savings do add up by triple dipping.
Some offers are only temporary because they are tied to a sign up bonus. So I will list these the cards separately between temporary and permanent offers. Below are two lists of top credit cards to use for grocery purchases, based on the highest return, followed by lowest annual fee, and alphabetically if there is a further tie-breaker.
Temporary Offers
For this list, I only included 10% and above return on grocery purchases.
Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
- No annual fee
- Earn 15% cash back on all purchases (on the first $1,000 in spending or up to 2 months) (apply before November 18, 2022)
- Earn 2% cash back on choice of 2 categories (if you choose groceries, otherwise 0.5% cash back)
- No annual fee
- Earn 15% cash back(on the first $1,000 in spending or up to 2 months) (apply before November 18, 2022)
- Earn 2% cash back on choice of 2 categories (if you choose groceries, otherwise 0.5% cash back thereafter)
HSBC Cash Rewards MasterCard® (non-QC residents only)*
- No annual fee
- Earn up to 13.5% cash back on eligible grocery purchases (on the first 180 days, up to $1,000 in spending) (apply before October 31, 2022)
- Earn 1% cash back for every $1 spent on groceries thereafter
BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard
- $120 annual fee (waived the first year for applying before December 6, 2022)
- Earn 10% cash back on all purchase (in the first 3 months or up to $2,000 in spending) (apply before December 6, 2022)
- Earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases thereafter
- No annual fee
- Earn 10% cash back on restaurants and bars purchases on up to $500 in spending or within the first 4 months (whichever comes first)
- Earn 1.5% cash back on all grocery purchases thereafter (up to $15,000 in spending annually)
- Earn 0.5% cash back on all purchases thereafter
- $120 annual fee (first year fee waived if you apply before May 28, 2023)
- Earn 10% cash back on all purchases (for the first 3 months, up to $2,000 in spending or $200 in cash back) (apply before May 28, 2023)
- Earn 3% cash back on grocery purchases thereafter (on first $15,000 in annual spending per category, including the 3 month bonus promotion)
- Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases thereafter
Permanent Offers
In terms of permanent offers, we only look at 4% and above offers. Note that there are spending limits to obtain the higher multiplier bonus before it drops down.
Scotiabank Gold American Express
- $120 annual fee (waived the first year by applying before October 31, 2022)
- Earn 6 points for every $1 spent at Chalo! FreshCo, Co-Op, Foodland, FreshCo, IGA, IGA West, Les Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry, Safeway, Sobeys, Thrifty Foods, Voilà par IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Voilà by Sobeys
- Earn 5 points for every $1 spent on grocery purchases
- Earn these 6 and 5 multiplier bonus points on the first $50,000 in annual spending cumulative of the above mentioned categories
- Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases and thereafter
BMO Cash Back World Elite MasterCard
- $120 annual fee (waived the first year if you apply before July 23, 2023)
- Earn 10% cash back for every $1 spent on all purchases (for the first 3 months, up to $2,600 in spending or $300 in cash back) (if you apply before July 23, 2023)
- Earn 5% cash back for every $1 spent on the first $500 per month in grocery purchases
- Earn 1% cash back for every $1 spent on all purchases and thereafter
MBNA Rewards World Elite MasterCard
- $120 annual fee
- Earn 20,000 sign up bonus points (earn 10,000 after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days and earn 10,000 after choosing paperless statements)
- Earn 5 points for every $1 spent on groceries (up to $50,000 in cumulative annual spending for all multiplier bonus categories)
- Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all purchases and thereafter
Meridian Visa Infinite Cash Back Card
- $99 annual fee (first year fee waived)
- $30 annual fee for supplementary cardholders
- Earn 4% cash back for every $1 spent on grocery purchases (on the first $25,000 in purchases)
- Earn 1% cash back on all purchases thereafter
American Express SimplyCash Preferred Card
- $9.99 monthly fee
- No annual fee for a supplementary cardholder
- Earn 4% cash back for every $1 spent on grocery purchases (up to $30,000 in annual spending)
- Earn 2% cash back on all purchases thereafter
- $120 annual fee for first time cardholders (first year fee waived)
- Earn 4% cash back for every $1 spent on grocery purchases (up to $20,000 in annual spending)
- Earn 1% cash back on all purchases thereafter
- $120 annual fee (first year fee waived for applying before October 31, 2022)
- Earn 10% cash back on all purchase in the first 3 months or up to $2,000 in spending (apply before October 31, 2022)
- Earn 4% cash back for every $1 spent on grocery purchases (up to $25,000 in annual spending)
- Earn 1% cash back on all purchases thereafter
Please let us know in the comment section below if we missed any cards to add to this list!