How to Use Gift Cards Smartly for Best Cash Savings

Use this tool to calculate the highest cash reward from using credit cards with the highest cashback and buying gift cards in supermarkets.

This tool helps you:

Maximize your rewards and savings from everyday spending. It can help you decide whether to use a general-purpose credit card—for example, one that offers 2% cash back on all purchases—or a store-specific card such as Amazon, Target, or Macy's, to get the most cash reward. It also explores whether a smarter combination of cards could increase your overall savings even further.
Additionally, the tool shows how to combine credit cards with gift cards strategically to earn the maximum monetary rewards from your spending. By modeling different scenarios, you can identify the most effective way to stretch your dollars and make every purchase work harder for you.

How to Maximize Cash by Using Gift Cards
Choose the credit card with the highest cash back % on grocery
to buy gift card	at a supermarket, In general, the discount store, such as Walmart, Target, Fred Meyer, and Costco, does not belong to the definition of "supermarket", or "grocery store" by credit card issuers.
which offers	X reward points. Safeway and Kroger stores usually provide at least 2X reward year round, and sometimes 4X ~ 12X reward for specific gift cards. Please carefully check each store's program before purchase.
You earn	credit card cash back (Ⅰ)
and	reward points (Ⅱ).

Next, choose how to redeem your reward points:
Plan A: Redeem reward points to fuel discount
Gallons per filling	(tank size)
Savings per filling	dollars
Number of fillings
You save	on fuel (Ⅲ)
Total savings	(Ⅰ+Ⅲ)
Equivalent to	cash back

Plan B: Redeem reward points to grocery discount Not all stores' reward programs provide grocery discount. According to our survey, Albertsons (including Safeway, Shaw's, Vons, and other chains) provides the grocery discount by redeeming reward points.
Conversion rate at	per 100 points
You save	on grocery (Ⅳ)
Total savings	(Ⅰ+Ⅳ)
Equivalent to	cash back

Best Credit Cards for Groceries

Card

Grocery cash back

Year-round max cash back

Restriction on max cash back

Annual fee

Cash back after annual fee

0% APR for

Note: Opesway regularly checks if the card issuer's term and policy change, but the timeliness of update is not guaranteed. Please carefully read the contractual term at the issuer's website before applying. To be approved for these credit cards, you normally need a credit score of 680 or higher.

Reminder :

Don't buy gift cards if the applicable purchase is not immediately needed. It can trigger unnecessary spending, or lose the interest of savings when letting these cards unused.
To protect yourself from gift card-draining scam, make sure that gift cards come with a protective, untemperred seal and tape covering the PIN

Content created by

AlexCFA, FSA, FRM, MBA

Alex is a seasoned finance professional with over 15 years of experience in investment management and financial technology. He began his career as a financial advisor and later led large-scale budgeting and risk management initiatives at global consulting firms. He also brings extensive experience as both an investment analyst and a software engineer. Alex is a CFA® charterholder, Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), and Financial Risk Manager (FRM®).