Grocery markets are set up in very specific ways. Produce is always along the sides, or near the front entrance, dairy far away along the back wall, and all those frozen foods, convenient packaged foods, and fast foods piled in the pretty center aisles for you to walk through on your way to other parts of the store. For many shoppers, it’s unavoidable to buy those salty chips and cookie tins because after buying the essentials and seeing all the other tasty treats on the way, the “why not?” factor comes into play. It’s all about cleverly researched marketing, placing those foods that sell the best at the highest value for the cheapest production price in the most noticeable areas – just ask Marion Nestle. In much the same sense, it’s difficult for shoppers to decide which savings or quantity sales have the best value, meaning which will buy them the most product for the cheapest dollar. In any large grocery store, shoppers are sure to see signs that say “$17.89 for three dozen” or “$24.00 for 5 dozen,” and rather than do the quick math – if you’re able to, that is – most shoppers will simply give a cursory look and perform a rough estimation in their head that oftentimes misleads them into choosing the least frugal deal. Should you pick the economy size? Or is better to just buy a few of the smaller sizes?

With an iPhone app bearing the same name, Frugal by Tidal Pool Software, you’ll be able to figure it out in seconds. Frugal lets you compare two or more items in imperial or metric units in four categories: items, weight, volume, or length. Just tap in the price and measurements on the app’s big, calculator-style buttons, and  Frugal will take what seems to be a mind-boggling conversion – such as the dilemma above – and calculate a common denominator to illustrate which price is best. The best deal will be highlighted in green and placed at the top, with the other, less valued options painted in red below, with each holding a percentage giving away how much pricier it is (in the above scenario, the $17.89 for three dozen is 24% more than the other option).

While it is true some stores provide this sort of comparison-friendly breakdown right on the price labels they put on the shelves, it’s much more common for them not to. In this case, Frugal is a great shopping aid to have. Frugal also retains your past comparisons on a history page, but, curiously enough, only displays a summary of each; you’d think Frugal would allow the option to view past comparisons in full detail. But at the same time, why would you need to view past comparisons? Deals in markets are constantly changing, seemingly never the same, and the Frugal calculator is so quick that any time saved by viewing past comparisons would be negligible.

Excellent for shoppers wanting to save a bit of cash here and there, or simply wanting to forgo the math and frustration required in figuring out better deals, Frugal is the app to have. And for only $0.99, Frugal is a frugal deal.