How to save money on food shop?

SadieO

GaleSF63 said:

Some things are  regularly on offer. Notice what sort of frequency (non-fresh) products turn up on offer, and try to buy enough to last from one offer to another. 

I drink Nescafe Gold Blend and it's probably at least 10 years since I had to buy any at full price (although got a bit close occasionally!)  It's easier to manage that with something that has a best before date well into the future of course. 

Same here. My favourite instant coffees are L'Or Intense and Nescafe Alta Rica. One or both of them seem to come on offer pretty regularly, so I always try to have one on the go plus one in the cupboard. I actually feel quite anxious at the thought of ever having to pay full price 

MysteryMe

Yorkshire Tea 240 bags is down to £4.50 at Asda and Sainbury's
Used to be cheaper when on offer but still better than paying full price.

KellyLiam

buy things that you can eat for more  than 2 days like pasta or so on

RobM99

Vickyh said:

Thanks for all the replies- lots of food for thought.

In your case, too much 

Hannimal

I've found Iceland to be amazing. They do free deliveries on orders above £40 and often have a £5 off deal as well. Their delivery service is great and prices are really affordable. They often have very decent offers on as well.

theoretica

I would suggest an exception to 'make a list and stick to it' for veg, especially as you say it is a mixed bag in your Lidl.  Look at what is available and buy what looks good and cheap.  Don't get your list set on a particular vegetable regardless, but go first to that week's offers and whatever you like from it.

Coffeekup

Some good advice so far. I'll mention what helped me a few year's ago  when there was 3 of us in the house and we would spend around £100-120 a week. I got it down to £50 a week and that includes, all cleaning items and personal hygiene products.

*One person to do the shop, doing it between you and your partner escalates cost.
* Do a big shop once a week, with one trip half way through the week for milk and bread.
*Make a list of what u need and stick to it, a meal plan is even better.
*Don't buy as much junk food like biscuits and treats as if you eat well throughout the day you need the treats. If people in the house want treats they can buy them themselves as far as I'm concerned. Hence the name "treats".
*The ex used to buy bottled water, amounting to £4+ a week. So bought a water filter and kept it in fridge, it also saved on plastic waste. She also liked energy drinks which came off list and came out of her own outgoings.
*Take time to look at and work out costs, i.e. my favourite brand of butter can be 5p more for the kilo sized tub than the 500g tub when on promotion.
*If you want to take it a stage further, make note of what food goes in the bin over the course of the month, tally up the costs of them items and either don't buy them again or learn to use them in recipes.

I also go places like home bargains, Iceland, eastern European shops and butcher's first, what I can't get from them I'll get from JS, which 95% of the time bread, fruit and veg. As others have said it's the best, lasts longest and for me is worth the extra cost.

Also local Indian shops are cheap for spices and in my opinion better, even more so if you consider the size of the bag it comes in compared to a shwartz glass jars.

LisaJA

I try to budget £200 per week for a family of 6 (2 adults, 4 teens aged 14-21) for food and household supplies and have found this helps:
- plan meals for 7 days
- write a list and stick to it
- use self-scan. It keeps a tally as you go and there’s usually no queues for self checkout so no time waiting or being tempted by checkout displays 
- I buy fruit, veg, dairy and meat first, then store cupboard ingredients plus basic essentials (bread, eggs) then everything else. If I’m almost up to the limit then the extra biscuits/crisps/snacks etc just don’t go in!
- choose store own brands as far as possible (Even Tesco ‘finest’ range is often cheaper than a branded item)
- I ‘stealth’ swap with my brand conscious teams sometimes and bring home cheaper versions of non-essentials eg choc chip cookies. If they are hungry enough, snobbery goes out if the window and they eat it! 
- I go once a week in an evening and you can often find good mark downs at that time (6 bananas for 17p this week at Tesco!)
- I have a set route through the shop and head for the shelves I need. That and sticking to the list means it’s easier not to be tempted/distracted by other stuff and loading up the trolley with extras.

- I’ve also stopped buying fizzy drinks and moved family onto squash, and budget doesn’t include alcohol (Hubby is the drinker and he buys his own supplies)

It’s a challenge every week, and shopping for a larger than usual family, I always get comments from check out staff (“Oh some one’s having a party!” “You’ll need a second trolley for that lot”, “You must have a big kitchen to store all that” etc which is another reason I’ve switched to use self-scan as the automated tills are non-judgemental! 

Doc_N

It’s very, very simple. Buy as much as you possibly can at Aldi and Lidl, and just top up elsewhere with the odd item they don’t sell.

Ignore the silly invented ‘brand’ names they use - it’s all much the same as other supermarkets’ own label stuff, produced in the same factories but often to a higher specification.

You should save around 25-30% on traditional supermarket shopping, with the added bonuses of not having to fuss about special offers and a huge time saving.

maman

I'd agree with Doc, definitely change to shopping in Aldi or Lidl. You should be able to get 90%+ of your shopping there.
Unless you have a large family or limited storage I'd try to just shop once a week with a list and a rough meal plan but don't be afraid to change your plan if you see a bargain like YS or offers on fruit and vegetables. If you can afford it, try to buy any good offers particularly on meat and fish and freeze them for the future. Same with store cupboard items like good value canned foods.