Top Tips for Grocery Shopping Saving

Snugglebunny8

great tips Jam4659, thanks! x

Edwardia

1. Check out Lidl or Aldi for at least some of your shopping.
2. For non-food items have a look to at 99p Stores, Poundland, Poundstretcher and Wilkinson (some of these stores sell some food items also)
3. If you don't have a Lidl or Aldi or getting there is expensive, work out whether it would be cheaper to have food delivered than drive/bus/train
4. Use mysupermarket to price compare
5. Check out offers for Spar, Costcutter, Co-op, Budgens etc and if you can stop by eg on return from school run or to/from supermarket
5. If you have kids old enough to shop at the store near their school/college get them into competitive bargain-hunting eg whoever saves most money for you gets a treat. (Good Life lesson?)
6. Grow herbs if not veg
7. Get the kids summer/Christmas jobs in supermarkets to learn how it works and get discount
8. Use leftovers from Sunday roast for Bubble & Squeak, curry, burgers, sandwiches, stock or soup as appropriate
9. Ask fishmonger for trimmings when s/he fillets fish, make stock and freeze (use in paella later) also make stock with prawn shells.
10. Use reduced price veg/cheap frozen veg for soups
11. Eat more veg less meat
12. Experiment with cheaper fish eg sprats, Cornish sardines, dab, mackerel
13. Check out local shops and farms for food and you'll often find cheap veg at boot fairs and fetes.
14. Give OH a list and get him to bring home offers if s/he works near supermarket you don't have locally

chimchimcheree

It must be very difficult for you to have to check every label, as well as concentrate on keeping costs low.

I have managed (over a period of 5 years scrimping practice) to get our monthly shop for two adults and two small children down to £90, this includes all cleaning stuff, nappies, toilet rolls etc. Almost everything we buy is Tesco value or reduced, so I would estimate with having to buy the non-brand foods you should be able to do it for around £150. There is lots of advice on here regarding markets, farm shops etc but unfortunately we have neither near us so this advice is based on Tesco, the Co-Op and 99p stores. If you only have one local supermarket do go online and do a mock shop based on your meal plan so that you have all the prices in front of you and can change meal plans round to make use of special offers.

Meal Planning

1. Work out a menu plan for the days of the month (1-31), making sure meals made of leftovers come 1-2 days later (e.g. Mon spag bol, Wed mince pancakes using left over mince mixture or Tues lunch bolognese on Jkt pot). Include lunch and snacks. Also make sure that you work out which days would be work days/weekends so you can put quick meals, roasts etc on the correct day depending on the time you will have.

2. Go through all the meals and work out the ingredients you will need e.g for the whole month you need 10 chicken breasts etc and use this as the basis for your shopping list. Think how you can bulk meals out e.g 1 less sausage but a slice of bread and butter etc and always check your portion sizes to stop waste or plan to bulk cook and then bulk freeze.

3. As you have each meal cross it off the meal planner so you know you are down that amount of sausages etc

This takes a while but if you put it on the computer you can just re-jiggle any meals and you only have to do it once.

Meals are obviously personal taste but ours always include beef mince, lamb mince, frozen pork chops, frozen lamb chops (both of which can go straight in the pot) and frozen chicken breasts. We also have fish once a week (again frozen value). All our veg is frozen, including the onions and peppers as it cuts down so much on waste. Pasta is always value pasta with different sauces, fillings etc. So we do eat healthy, filling meals! We grow salad crops but buy large sacks of potatoes (£4.50 for 7.5K, I think) and these last for months if you take care to keep light out)

To get nice sausages with meat in (value are great but all husk) I always go to either Tesco or Co-op late in the day (you would need to find out best times for yours) and buy them reduced and then put in the freezer.

All sundries, including, tea, coffee, cleaning etc are branded names (no one liked the cheap coffee, sensitive skin probs etc with cheaper brands) and if they are not on offer at Tesco, I get them from the local 99p stores.

I hope this helps, as I say it has taken 5 years to get to this point but if you can spend some time getting a planner in place it will save you a fortune.

Best of luck:)

borkid

The biggest money saving tip I can give is LEAVE THE OH AT HOME. Mine is awful in the food shops I turn around and there is something else in the trolley. Trouble is he just says don't worry I'm paying. I do have a budget though ( large by my reckoning £450 a month for 2 adults and 4 cats but that includes everything including meals out and Xmas food shop) but he's more than willing to up it if I want.

Even if I only have a half portion of food left I freeze it, baked potato with coq au vin/ chilli/ curry for lunch is easy. I always make stock from bones in my slow cooker and use to make soup for lunch or use instead of a stock cube.

I'd second the 10% off at amazon for a standing order, I use it for cat litter which even before the 10% off was cheaper than shops ( can't let my cats go out at the moment as we are in a borrowed property and can't alter the garden to give them their own 'patch'.


Good luck

Moodles_2

I buy things like clothes washing liquid/ softener, toothpaste, "flash" lookalike cleaner, loo rolls kitchen rolls, loo cleaner, dishwasher tablets etc etc from the Co-op now. The reason being that they are cheaper by far than persil or Bold , they do the same job, and best of all they have the " leaping bunny" sign on which means they are not tested on animals. Infact I can't remember the last time I bought the other stuff now. I have noticed that some Co- op shops have different prices so have a look, but they are definitely worth trying. Just look for their own brand ie it will say co-op on them. Good luck!.

Snugglebunny8

really great tips on this thread, getting some more great ideas, thanks all! x

VfM4meplse

Some excellent advice on this thread...all I would add is that I would use this as an opportunity to stop buying sweetened foods and confectionary. I know these things are often on offer but they are just treats and not meal substitutes, so any expenditure on them is unnecessary - that money is much better spent on fresh fruit, which has nutritional value and is filling. If your family likes sweets, get them to go cold turkey for a week but allow unlimiteed access to healthy food and don't look back.

Snugglebunny8

I buy biscuits etc that we all like when they are on half price offer, buy one each visit and hide them away, I save them as a treats for when we sit down to watch movie or tv show as a family, or we take them to the cinema as their sweet prices are ridiculous

I dont think you have to stop treats, we dont smoke or drink, and we all eat our 5 a day and have a healthy diet, we dont use them as meal substitutes and I don't really think many people who are looking to cut their grocery expenditure do that

gailey_2

What I do.

2adulds, 3kids 6, 2 and 10months and 2 in nappies.
was £400 a month includuding household and toilitries managing to drop down to £250 and aiming to get to £200.

we have large chest freezer.

frozen once every month sometimes every 2months and use money off coopons £5 off 50quid spend:).

buy lots of frozen veg its as good as fresh.

Remember it takes time to cut down be kind to yourself make gradual changes get everyone involved im hubbys getting better.

meat-either butchers, on offer or reduced never fullprice in supermarket.

Play the online game as money off for new customers try one a month already done waitrose, ocado and sainsburys. still need to do tesco and asda.

buy some value lines but with it going up check weight against brands and own brand to ensure its really is good value.

lidls for weekend deals , fruit/veg milk and a lot of long life grocery. their nappies are fab as is their formil washing powder!

aldi -odd good deal but mainly go their for super six fruit and veg.

if near a market or cheap green grocers if near one.

shop the deals only in all the big 4this involves being strict my local paper usually has flyer for each so I always look whats on offer and plan my journey.

try and shop reduced hard with kids at closing time but latly me and hubby been taking it in turns to do that sundays also good find coop and spar best.

i go local spar good reductions
some fab offers in my local book premier corner shop
poundshops.

my mam has homebargains and b&m near her she says they fab but none here so if visit her I pop in.
we have family bargains, poundland, wilkos, poundstrether and one other name escapes me and try get odd food item there fqab for crisps and cereals.

we grow stuff in garden

we forage free fruit/nuts and we live inouter city suberb.

cook 90%from scratch

only buy reduced bread or make it myself
have brewe wine and made chutney jams next on my must try list.
Im good at savoury but rubbish at baking so aim is to get better at cakes and desserts.

easy wins there are

batchcook muffins and freeze indivually in bags.
poundshop sells carboard tubs with foil lids tehy fab for doing crumbles then freezing so bulk make load of crumbles.
Other easy wins for kids are very retro jelly, fruit salad or cheapy angel choc delight £15p
they have value choc mouse or fromage frais.
I do lots of cupcakes with icing and sprinkles sometimes value choc buttons on top.
the value bottons and choc are great a 100g bar 30p buttons 35p.
flapjacks easy win.
icecream goes further in cones £1 a box and sprinkles pay £1 for 4pack in farmfoods.

Dont forget eggs we make least one egg based meal a week

cooked brekkie usually family brunch on weekend
egg and chips
cheese and ham omlette
frittatta with salads
kids adore my mini quiches 1pack ready made pastry makes about 24 either do chese and onion or cheese and ham.

sausages another versatile dish can do so much with them

chose cheaper cuts of meat pork belly, diced bacon, pancatts fab to add meat to pasta dishes without breaking bank. we reguarly do chicken wings, thighs and slow cook or casserole as meat falls off.

boil up chicken carcass can get 3meals out of a chicken why they call it rubber chicken.

make a shopping list stock to eat
meal plan I meal plan per week
stocktake cupboards and freezer reguraly to make meals as used to have stuff that stayed in cupboard months because we dident fancy it!

have a soup and pudding night
take packed lunches hubby has microwave so takes leftovers.
tinned tuna useful standby for sandwiches.
I find cooking gammon slipper join then splitting into freezer bags cheaper than buying slices meats.

double concentrate swuash best nearly always 2 for £2.50

try shop the offers, reductions and own brands to keep costs down.

boots sale after xmas gift sets fab as can get tonnes cheap toilitries.
last boots deodrant glitch brought 10 deodrants
bulk buy and stock up if price is good.

Jeni-smith

I try to shop for my family(2 adults and 2 kids) for £240 a month. This is tough but means we are clearing our debts. The most useful tips I have found are to shop in the evening if possible - loads of products are reduced. I do plan for the number of meals I need (having checked the fridge, freezer and cupboards) before I set off but I also find it pays to be flexible - if something is reduced then I would substitute that item for something on my list. The one thing that has most changed the way I shop though is to pay with cash. I used to have a figure in my head which was my 'budget' and then pay by card - it's easy to overspend this way. Now, at the beginning of the month, I take out my £240 in cash. I keep this money in a separate purse and that has to last me the month (along with any money off coupons etc I can collect!). We eat lots of jacket potatoes and pasta but these are 2 meals that the whole family enjoys so the fact they are cheap is just a bonus. :-)