20 Ways To Reduce Your Supermarket Shopping Bill

20 Ways To Reduce Your Supermarket Shopping Bill

5th December 2008

The average family’s monthly grocery bill has soared during the past year and, as the supermarket is where most of our money is spent, it is worth giving some time and thought to the way we shop. Here are our 20 tips to help you on your way:

1. Try to do only one weekly shop, do a menu-plan beforehand and take a shopping list with you. Do you already have any tins or jars that are nearing their use-by date that you could incorporate into a meal? Perhaps you could buy more frequently-used perishable items such as bread and milk at a smaller local shop so that you don’t feel tempted to impulse buy.
2. Make sure you look out for Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) offers particularly on non-perishable goods or items that you can freeze. Check carefully though – it may be cheaper to buy a larger pack than two smaller ones – the label on the shelf will tell you the price per litre or whatever. Always ask yourself “do I really need this?”. Also bear in mind that some supermarket checkouts will process the BOGOF item at half price, so you don’t need to buy more than one to benefit from the saving.
3. Use cookery books – especially the ones that contain simple recipes for meals that are ready in minutes. Make double the amount and freeze the rest to use later eg spaghetti bolognaise.
4. Supermarkets find out what our shopping habits are from their loyalty cards so use this to your advantage by not doing all your shopping in one store – they might send you discount vouchers to encourage you to return to them. If you do use these vouchers then make sure it’s for items you would buy anyway.
5. Perishable items will usually be reduced a few hours before the store closes but this time can vary from store to store, so find out your local supermarket’s time for putting the reduced price items out.
6. Supermarkets usually have a cycle for their offers – perhaps an offer will last for 2 weeks and then will come around again in a few months time, so get to know your local supermarkets’ offer cycles and shop around leaving non-essential items until they are on offer again.
7. Incorporate seasonal ingredients into your meals as they are usually cheaper.
8. Shopping when you are hungry could increase your spend by 20% so make sure you have a quick snack before you go.
9. Don’t do your shopping in a rush – allow an extra half an hour so that you can find the good deals.
10. Don’t always presume that frozen food is not as good quality – for example frozen cod and Birds Eye peas are frozen when they are fresh.
11. Take a packed lunch to work – you could save £70 a month.
12. Shop on-line. It is much easier to stick to a budget and you are less tempted to impulse buy. The delivery cost is usually cheaper mid-week.
13. Buying pre–prepared vegetable and meat eg carrot batons or cubed beef means that you could spend double the amount.
14. Think about cooking vegetarian versions of your favourite meals – meat and fish is expensive.
15. Take advantage of buy in bulk offers if you’ve got the space to store it all. Here's a selection of current offers ideal for buying in bulk:
    
    
    

16. Don’t be afraid to negotiate at the fresh meat, fish or deli counter at closing time.
17. Try out own-brand goods – they aren’t always inferior quality.
18. Try out discount stores such as Aldi, Netto and Lidl.
19. Buy fruit and vegetables from markets. Their overhead costs aren’t as big which is often reflected in the favourable prices. You can also be more precise in the quantity that you buy.
20. Finally, look out for offers and coupons in newspapers and on websites like www.supermarketscope.com!

What else do you do to reduce your grocery bill?