Top Tips for Grocery Shopping Saving

tiny_courageous

I do one big shop a month where I stock up on cleaning products, large items like drinks, tins, cook in sauces and other non-perishables. Then will probably do two little shops a week where I'll get fresh food - mostly I'll go around 6pm and mostly our menus will be determined by what whoopsies I get. There's always plenty of reduced fruit and veg at my local Mr Ts and I've got a freezer full of yellow stickered meat that I just have to remember to take out the day before for that evenings tea. Work lunches are generally leftovers.

thegirlintheattic

nje24 wrote: »

How often do people shop? I go weekly. Do you think you should go to mysupermarket and research deals on at each shop. Or do you just go to one shop and buy when things are on offer. I usually have a few of say washing powders in, bleach, beans in stock.

Which shops do you usually buy from and is it only for convenience i.e its the nearest.

I shop weekly but often wonder whether its more economical to go say every 10 to 14 days.

I go once a week and travel further to go to ASDA as it is cheaper than the nearer supermarket.

I do check shopping on mysupermarket but it's never been more than a few pence difference so not worth going all the way to another supermarket to get the difference.

lilac_lady

Take cash to the supermarket with no plastic in your purse as a back up. Concentrates your mind wonderfully when you're filling up the trolley!

Snugglebunny8

I go on a Thursday then again on Monday, I take cash out weekly and try not to take card with me. shop at Mr S mainly and try to do list night before and run it through mysupermarket, I check deals at all supermarkets and on here to see if anything worth working meals round or stocking up on. Main reason I have to go twice is the amount of fresh fruit we get through

London_Town

For Snugglebunny8 and other Marmite fans, I've tried the shops own brand yeast extracts, that's Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco. I would say they are just "ok", no more no less. I'm a mega Marmite fan, and I just decided that it was worth paying the extra for the real thing. Do try them though, you and your family maybe ok with it, they're certainly not unpleasant, just not Marmite.

Also, if you only want Marmite, please be aware that Asda sometimes do a rollback on the small jar. For a few weeks (I don't know if it's ended now) it was rolled back to £1 for the 125g jar. I know we're always brainwashed into thinking that a bigger amount must be cheaper, but on this rollback it isn't. Just think of it as the big 250g jar for £2 which is a real bargain. I've bought about 30 jars, all with a best before date of June 2013. However, I've used Marmite that is out of date and it's fine, so the date doesn't concern me.

Snugglebunny8

London_Town wrote: »

For Snugglebunny8 and other Marmite fans, I've tried the shops own brand yeast extracts, that's Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco. I would say they are just "ok", no more no less. I'm a mega Marmite fan, and I just decided that it was worth paying the extra for the real thing. Do try them though, you and your family maybe ok with it, they're certainly not unpleasant, just not Marmite.

Also, if you only want Marmite, please be aware that Asda sometimes do a rollback on the small jar. For a few weeks (I don't know if it's ended now) it was rolled back to £1 for the 125g jar. I know we're always brainwashed into thinking that a bigger amount must be cheaper, but on this rollback it isn't. Just think of it as the big 250g jar for £2 which is a real bargain. I've bought about 30 jars, all with a best before date of June 2013. However, I've used Marmite that is out of date and it's fine, so the date doesn't concern me.

thank you very much for the tip, will go check it out! x

lifebeginsagain

I didn't realise you could freeze cheese. Do you defrost it in the fridge?

FrugalFranny

I usually let frozen cheese thaw on a side board and I've not had a problem.
Also if I find 'someone' has left cheese unwrapped and it's gone solid, I usually grate it then freeze it for later use in sauces...rather hard on the old wrist though when it's rock hard lol, might try it in my mincer at some point.

UnluckyT

i shop monthly, but pass by a sainsburys and a tesco on the way to drama once a week so pop in when i can.
i tend to try and keep an eye out for non perishable bits plus things like tins that'd last quite a while on offer and stock up on them.

Jamc4659

Loving this thread.

Yeah we freeze everything! Cheese, butter, meats veg the lot. I bought tons of lurpak ( which we love) when it was 2 for £2 at christmas which saves some as even the cheap butters run about £1.10-1.20 per 250g block. Morrisons I find the cheapest for cheese at about 3.75 p/kg for mild cheddar. It helps to freeze everything. I buy things like tinned corned beef ( for the kids with home-made hasbrowns) and since the kids only a couple of slices i then preslice/wrap and freeze what is left for another time. In stead of using it myself ( not my thing really) same goes for baked beans. Kids only have half a can between them, just freeze the rest. When I make home made Caesar dressing I use 2 anchovies ( it's lovely by the way:-) ) but have loads left so I get one resalable bag and place them in two's and freeze them separately but inside one bag so I can use them another time I make it. Or DH use's then when we make HM pizza.

I really think if you plan your meals you will save loads on groceries. Batch cooking is o.k. But as my family aren't overly keen on things like bolognase we can still make thins and freeze them just different foods. Like Tagines, curries, soups, pies and pie fillings etc. I also find that since I am a baker that making desserts and freezing them really helps when you want a little snack in quick time. I.e. I will make hm chocolate chip biscuit but freeze only the batter in balls and cook them when the kids fancy them or I bake them and freeze them. Really helps at Christmas time too. You can do that with most biscuits. I also freeze things like egg whites and egg yolks. My DH does a lot of cooking too and when he makes mash he always put in a yolk or two to help with creaminess. So I freeze the whites to make meringues with another time. Or to help with my cake decorating. We freeze a lot of herbs too and just keep them on the door. I only buy 'fresh' herbs if they are need for a meal on the day and then I make sure we have that meal on the day we do our weekly shop. We also buy things like frozen garlic ( 97p in Mr A's - brand is Taj) it works really well. Cheaper than lazy garlic, less calories as it doesn't contain the oil, and you don't have to worry about not using up the fresh stuff in time. Also when we make makes ( our kids eat at a different time to us and have different meals) we always freeze our extra portions therefore the kids will get a meal out of it as well. (I.e cottage pies, lasagne, chili, enchilada stacks)This way the if we are in a rush the kids will still get a HM meal that takes little time to cook but that they will love and eat. We also freeze milk. I buy my milk once a month and freeze it and just pull it out to defrost a day or so before we need it. If you get them from Mr A's or T's they are £2 for 8 pints. We go through about 16 pints a week so it works well.

Just thought I would mention. :-)