Tactics for a grocery shop saving newbie

maman

Another Aldi fan her. I'd say buy everything there that you can and then go to Asda or other cheap supermarket for the (very few IMO) things that Aldi doesn't sell.

The other shops like Home Bargains and £land are worth a look every now and then for store cupboard items but not really much cheaper than Aldi and more expensive in some cases.

Unless you have a huge family and limited storage space then I'd say do a meal plan and a shopping list and shop once a week. The idea of top up shops makes me shudder. You need to be hugely disciplined not to buy things you could manage without.

Greenqueen_2

Beware of temptation in the pound/discount shops. It is not unusual for their products to look the same but actually contain less weight than the regular offerings in other supermarkets.
EG. Tins of tuna can be deceptive. I Always check the drained weight to be sure. Wherever you shop it is handy to know the current prices per Unit/gram/ millilitre and also visit the shops at the right time for reductions. Being a canny shopper takes practice!

PasturesNew

Just shopping around isn't always the only answer.

You need to be aware of what you're buying, why, cost and frequency.

Many people are under the illusion these days that "everybody...." has/does something, that most probably don't.

Have your "treats" become your norm?

Are you over-indulging yourself too often/all the time because "everybody" buys this and "it's a treat" (now the norm)?

e.g. it might be you decided years ago that "Friday was steak night, bit of a treat" and at the time you'd buy two small steaks.... roll on 10 years and that's now two of the finest steaks, twice the size, served with "the best" chips and an expensive/bagged side salad, followed by a treat dessert costing £6 (because it's Friday and a treat) ... and washed down by a bottle of wine "on offer", but it's still £9.

Analyse, question, consider and tot up.

P.S. And make sure you aim for a "zero waste" household for food items. I waste less than £1/year. If I've bought it, I have to eat it ALL. No waste allowed. If you can't eat it all, you're not allowed to buy it. Waste is cost and unacceptable.

sarah1972

PasturesNew wrote: »

P.S. And make sure you aim for a "zero waste" household for food items. I waste less than £1/year. If I've bought it, I have to eat it ALL. No waste allowed. If you can't eat it all, you're not allowed to buy it. Waste is cost and unacceptable.

Out of interest what do you do with bones if you are zero waste? And veg skin like swede?

MissMollyJ

I shop the opposite way to you - I do my main shop at Aldi and pop to other supermarkets for little bits I can’t get in Aldi. I would say overall that my weekly shop in Aldi is 40-50% cheaper than anywhere else. Changing where you do your big shop will have the biggest impact on grocery costs.

belfastgirl23

You don’t say how much time you have for shopping and meal planning. It’s possible to cut quite a bit off your bill but you need to invest time. I decided to try to cut down after Christmas and I knew one thing I needed to do was a top up shop rather than always doing deliveries - when I tend to add in everything to make it worthwhile.

So as I thought about it, Lidl would be cheaper for the top up shop (we don’t have Aldi in Northern Ireland) but the nearest one is at least a 15 minute drive away in traffic, its really busy, and it doesn’t always have everything I need. However there is a small and fairly quiet independent supermarket 5 mins away with parking right at the door, and it has most things and is also enroute to other activities. i can be in and out comfortably in 15 minutes. So I go there. It might be marginally more expensive than Lidl but is mostly around the price of other supermarkets and it saves me an hour. So I figure with my lifestyle that’s the best I can do for now.

So I’d say ask yourself what time you’re willing to invest and then take it from there. My mum after she retired knew the price of everything in every shop and was thrilled when she got one over on the man by getting it cheaper elsewhere. She had the time and enjoyed it, it was practically a hobby. I’d love to be able to do that but it’s not realistic for now. Where are you on that scale?

vgoel922

You can check for Grocery Offers Online to save some bucks on Grocery Shopping.