How to Earn 17x on Dining and 5x on Groceries with the Chase Freedom Flex (Oct 1 to Dec 31)
Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase through these links. I only recommend products and services I trust and believe will benefit you. I do not sell your personal information, and all opinions expressed in this post are my own.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post..
If you’ve been waiting for a sign to add a no-annual-fee card to your wallet, this is it. From October 1 through December 31, 2026, the Chase Freedom Flex can earn up to 17x on dining and 5x at grocery stores. And the grocery bonus keeps going into the new year.
Here’s how it works, step by step.
First, What Are Rotating Quarterly Categories?
The Chase Freedom Flex has a rotating bonus feature. Every quarter, Chase picks a few spending categories that earn 5x points (5% cash back). You activate them once each quarter, and you earn the bonus on up to $1,500 in combined purchases across those categories.
For Q4 2026 (October 1 to December 31), the categories are:
- 🛒 Grocery stores
- 🍽️ Dining
- ❤️ American Red Cross donations
Activate by December 14, 2026 at ChaseBonus.com or in the Chase app. If you don’t activate, you don’t get the bonus, so do it as soon as you see the notice!
Grocery Stores Means Grocery Stores (Not Walmart or Target)
This trips people up every time. The grocery category only counts purchases at stores that are coded as supermarkets or grocery stores, like Hy-Vee, Price Chopper, Aldi, Kroger, and Whole Foods.
Walmart and Target are excluded, even though you buy groceries there. Warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club usually don’t code as grocery stores either.
The good news: grocery stores are also a bonus category in Q1 2027 (January to March). That means you can earn 5x on groceries for six months straight, as long as you activate each quarter.
How Dining Gets to 7x
The Freedom Flex already earns 3x on dining all year long. When dining shows up as a quarterly bonus category, you don’t get 3x plus 5x. Instead, you earn an extra 4x on top of your usual 3x:
| What you earn | Points |
|---|---|
| Base earning on dining, every day | 3x |
| Q4 bonus category boost | +4x |
| Total on dining Oct 1 to Dec 31 | 7x |
How Paze Takes Dining to 17x
This is where it gets really fun. Chase has a promotion through December 31, 2026 where eligible cardholders earn an additional 10x when they check out with Paze at participating online merchants.
Paze is a digital wallet built into the checkout of many online stores. It connects to your Chase card, so you don’t have to type in your card number.
So if you order food online (think online ordering for pickup or delivery) and pay with Paze using your Freedom Flex:
| What you earn | Points |
|---|---|
| Base dining earning | 3x |
| Q4 bonus category boost | +4x |
| Paze promotion | +10x |
| Total | 17x |
That’s 17 points for every dollar. On a $50 takeout order, that’s 850 points from one meal.
A few Paze details to know:
- It’s for online checkouts only, not tapping your card at the restaurant.
- The 10x bonus applies to up to $1,500 in Paze purchases per month.
- The offer is targeted, so eligibility can vary. Log in to your Chase account and check for it.
- Bonus points can take up to 8 weeks to post, so don’t panic if you don’t see them right away.
Keep the $1,500 Cap in Mind
The 5x quarterly bonus covers $1,500 in combined spending across grocery, dining, and Red Cross donations. Once you hit it, dining drops back to its normal 3x and groceries drop to 1x. The Paze 10x has its own separate monthly cap, so it keeps working.
If you max out the quarterly cap, that’s at least 6,000 bonus points on top of your normal earning, and a lot more if you use Paze for your online food orders.
Why This Is a Great Time to Get the Card
If you’re not using this no-annual-fee card yet, this is your sign! Right now, there’s a limited-time offer with a LOW spending requirement.
And the timing is chef’s kiss:
- 🍽️ 7x on dining this quarter (up to 17x with Paze)
- 🛒 5x on groceries for the next several months
- ✈️ No foreign transaction fees, so you earn rewards worldwide
- 💵 Elevated welcome offer to earn even more points right off the bat: $250 (25,000 points) after spending $500 in the first three months
👉 [Check out the current Chase Freedom Flex offer here] Make sure you click on the Flex and NOT the Unlimited.
Our Teacher Tip
The Freedom Flex earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. If you also have a Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve, you can move those points over and transfer them to airline and hotel partners like Hyatt, Southwest, and United. That’s how we turn everyday groceries and takeout into family trips on two teacher salaries!
Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
I found out about points and miles accidentally.
I was researching index funds and happened upon the points and miles community through creators who also post about budgets, financial independence, and investing.
Points and miles allowed those people to travel and work toward financial independence simultaneously.
Thank goodness I got started when I did. The past almost two years of travel have been something we will never forget.
Earning points and miles through credit cards is only a good choice if you have the financial discipline to use them, like cash/debit cards.
Since we started traveling with points and miles, we have had more money going into our investment and savings accounts than ever.
Now I'm excited to teach you!
Welcome
I am excited you are here
New to points and miles? START HERE!
