Black Friday is dead. Retailers realized they don't actually have to give you a discount but can just sell you crap they were having trouble getting out of their warehouses with some percentage off a price they never sold it for.
'essentials' are rarely put on deep discount sales. manufacturers and retailers know you're gonna buy regardless. even the discount retailers like walmart and target don't put a lot of 'essentials' on black friday deals anymore. used to get a pair of jeans, some socks, shorts and tees, a new hoodie, and a few other things every year, to replace what's worn out or been eaten by the dryer monster, and they were always cheap af--always some kind or another of those were on sale. but i haven't been able to the last 5-6 years.
Grocery stores already have their own versions of Black Friday they just don’t get advertised. Go in a couple days before and a couple days after major holidays and you. An always get good stuff for cheap. I bought a ham a couple weeks ago around Canadian thanksgiving and the price was at least 1/3 of what they would normally charge. After Indian festivals, I usually go to the store and can get desserts like ras malai for $1-$2 instead of $13.
The only thing that usually doesn’t get a big discount that is brought in for the holidays is turkey, since the price is already almost at a loss and they can stay frozen until Christmas if the store has room (and a good manager would make sure they can keep an order until Christmas frozen in the back to alleviate order issues during that time.)
Don't even think about it. There's this international grocery chain near where I am that has gamefied grocery shopping to such an extent that if you aren't doing everything to get the cheapest 2x3 or 50% or free such and such for purchases over $50€ you are getting ripped off, they don't need ideas.
I don't pay attention to anything that's not the actual price of the item at the moment. Sometimes the 2+1 for free deals are nice if it's some consumable like socks which is something I will always need, but I noticed that stores where I live don't do this anymore (I guess when I put a dozen pairs of socks in my cart, manager realized that was a bad idea because for that one time, it was actually slightly cheaper) except for garbage like chips and shitty sodas, and 3rd one isn't even free, you will pay more than 50% of its price for sure...