Playing the supermarkets - anyone do this?

bizzylizzy

I recently heard of someone who shops by going to the 4 main supermarkets each week/month and only buys the BOGOFs and special offers at each one. I presume she then plans her meals around the things she's bought.
I have been thinking about doing this with Tesco and Asda, both of which are 1-2 miles away from me.
Does anyone else do this? Is it cheaper than buying everything in one place? And what about staples like milk, sugar etc which aren't usually on offers?
I know you have to factor in the petrol use as well. I have switched to Tesco as it's nearer (and had a petrol deal going too) but I could do a round trip and include Lidl too.
I always shop with a list, I suppose you would still need to or you could find yourself without some essentials (like loo rolls :eek:) and have to go out again......
Sorry for rambling, I'm thinking while I type, but I'm really trying to find ways of reducing the shopping bill and thought this was an interesting idea........

Pink.

Hi bizzylizzy,

This is a good thread for the Shop but Don't drop board so I've moved your thread across for you.

Pink

ceebeeby

We have all 4 within a 4 mile radius.

Absolutely - I meal plan around the offers.

affordmylife

we have them all nearby to but i dont have the time to be trailing around them all.

i do meal plan and i am very frugal and i buy what is on offer in the supermarket of my choice. but i have better things to do than trail round them all to save a couple of quid (and spend more petrol).

i go to lidl once every 6 weeks or so to stock up on cleaning products and olive oil. the rest of the time i alternate between the others. the way i do it is if say baked beans are on offer ill buy loads of them then i wont need any for ages. next week ill go to a different supermarket and buy loads of what they have on offer. every now and again apart from fresh stuff i can even miss a week of main shopping.

d.o.o.g

Can you not do this without leaving home, using mysupermarket.co.uk?

Helen819

d.o.o.g wrote: »

Can you not do this without leaving home, using mysupermarket.co.uk?

I dont think this will be possible as you will have to type in every product to find the cheapest.
The site dosnt (i presume) tell you what the offers are in store,so unless your after a specific product then it wouldnt be worth your while.
The people doing this are after any product that is on offer not exactly a certain product.
I think this is a fab idea if you live within a good time scale between shops,and im thinking that most of you use a car?.
As for me we only have one of the main 4 here but were getting a mr.T,next yr.
If anyone does this way of shopping for the next few weeks,maybe they can share what they bought,and if its been cost worthy.
Helen.

mrs_lds

I tend to massively stock up on bogof items I use regularly and try and always stay aware of sell by dates so that nothing goes to waste and plan meals around what I stock.

CarolTheExtra

We regularly visit all the top supermarkets including Lidl, Aldi and Netto. We get a lot of our shopping on BOGOFs and even cheaper. We are finding it easier and easier to do this with all the different internet sites and peoples help on here. We have so much food in the house and sometimes it is hard to judge how much to buy but we hardly ever throw anything away. Mysupermarket.co.uk does in fact give some of the special offers at each supermarket. Last week we went to Asda with a list and only bought the special offers from the internet. The cashier couldn't believe the bargains we had got.

Just recently we have stocked up on the baking items. Never before have so many things been so cheap I will be making loads of cakes over the winter instead of searching for the special offers. It is not that time consuming - its all about getting into a routine. We have been doing this sort of thing for nearly all our married life and dare I say it that is over 35 years.

buyitall

The only trouble is that many of the offers are on the more unhealthy, processed foods so you might not be getting the ideal diet!

look_after_the_pennies

Before I visit Tesco's, I always visit their website to check out what's on offer although I never buy online. My clubcard is registered on their site and I find it really handy as it registers my favourite items that I often buy and tells me if any of these are on offer and at what price.
Same with Asda. I visit their website and click on special offers. This tells me what's on offer, bogoff, multibuy deals etc. I don't need to go traipsing round the stores then.

earthmother

I have Tesco, Sainsburys, Lidl, Aldi and the Co-op all within walking distance, and Asda and Morrisons within a 30 minute (next town) drive, so yes, I most definitely shop to deals.

mysupermarket.com is ok to check on the main four supermarkets, but with the others, you do need to go instore, as their sites never tell the whole story. For example - right now Tesco have 750g boxes of Shreddies on bogof at £2.27, and we go through a box this size about every 5-6 days. My local store doesn't stock this size, only the £1.99 500g pack, so to get the deal I need to get them from the 'extra' store 45 minutes drive away. But what the web doesn't tell me is that Morrisons (25 minutes away) also has the 750g boxes on bogof - at £1.99 a pack. Not a big saving against Tesco maybe, until you multiply it by 10 (usually the most a supermarket will let you take of an offer line) and allow for the other offers also there, and in the Asda just down the road, and the shorter overall journey.

I do a bulk run to the out of town stores about every 6-8 weeks, and then everything else is on foot - I just do a different one on each school run (timed to the reductions of course, lol).