I take it no one here sticks to the same SM?

Ilona

I shop in all of them, supermarkets, discount stores and market. I call in when I am passing, or go to several in close proximity to each other, to keep the mileage and petrol costs down.

You need to know how much your every day items cost so you can cherry pick. If you can't remember them note them down in a book. When you get home and unload your shopping get a black felt tip pen and go through your receipt marking the price on every item as you put it away. That will help you to remember. It takes a bit of effort, but it's like everything, investing your time doing research will get your food bill down. If you can't be bothered, you pay more.
Ilona

Lugh_Chronain

You could also do the downshift challange if you're wanting to save a little more. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to buy the cheapest, dropping one brand level on everything you buy can help cut your bill by about 30%.

Full article can be found here.

mySupermarket also has a Price Per Unit option as well which can sometimes be helpful.

My recent downshift was from Knorr Vegetable Stock Cubes (20x10g) at £2.99 (£1.50/100g) to Guest House Vegetable Stock Cubes (120g) (12/cubes) at 70p (58.3p/100g) at Tesco.

You may not always want to take too much notice of the unit price though as you may want weigh up the odds between quality and quantity.

Lugh_Chronain

Just read Soworried's post and reminded me of the supermarkets [rough] reductions schedule:

Sundays may be different due closing times.

ASDA 12pm up to 25% off, 5pm up to 50% off, 9pm up to 75% and up

Morrisons 5pm up to 50% off, 7pm up to 75% and up

Sainburys 10am up to 25% off, 5pm up to 50% off, 8pm up to 75% and up

Tesco 8am up to 25% off, 4pm up to 50% off, 8pm up to 75% and up

Co-op 8am up to 25% off, 5pm up to 50% off, 7pm up to 75% and up

And the following days are when price changes occur i.e. when they introduce their offers:

Monday - ASDA/ Morrisons
Tuesday - Tesco
Wednesday - Sainsburys/Waitrose

You could also have a look at the Great 'supermarket staff tell us your reduction policies' hunt as well if it'll help any.

Taadaa

We have the choice of Mr A, Mr S, Mr T, Mr M AND Aldi.

I tend to just used Mr S. I quite like Mr M. I tried Aldi but their fruit and veg wasn't up to much, and I had to take some gone off milk back, then their filled fresh pasta was mostly full of fat and gristle, so that was the end of them. Mr A - same problem with fruit and veg. Hate Mr T in general really, seems they want to take over the whole sodding world.

I have changed my shopping habits now anyway - instead of me buying things having chosen the menu for the week, the menu is based on special offers then a mish mash of whatever is left in the freezer and cupboard.