Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

badmemory

A list is king, as is checking the supermarket prices before you go.  If anything has been sold with tescos clubcard price I stock up & do not buy until it is back on clubcard price again.  They seem to rotate the selection.  I use the supermarkets own & supermarket watch.  I tend to shop in Mr T or Aldi as the distance to others just adds tp the cost.  Have you notice that they are doing a lot of Aldi price matching, most are fine but fruit & veg do not always seem to be comparing like with like or should I say size with size.

DawnW

We are in a slightly odd position, because there are 6 supermarkets in and around the small town we live in. Mr As and Mr Al are on the other side of a busy main road so we don't tend to go to those, unless on the odd occasion we happen to be passing. In fact this only counts for Mr Al, as I don't think I have ever been inside the other one. They did come up trumps during the pandemic, as I was one of those counted particularly vulnerable due to a medical condition, and was supposed to shield. They were the only supermarket who would deliver to us for quite a long while, so I was very grateful, but their products by and large are sadly not my favourites.

Recently we have been using Mr L, and getting the few things they don't have in either Mr S or Mr W. Occasionally I pop into Icyland to stock up on some of their frozen fish and veg. We have noticed recently that Mr L has been getting more expensive, and Mr S hasn't, so I may well do my next shop there, as a comparison. We only go once a week by and large. We have our milk delivered and stock up on meat occasionally at one of the two very good local butchers. Sometimes we go to the next town to their very good market to get fruit and veg, but only if we are going for something else as well.

QueenJess

Thanks @foxgloves I have a similar clip jar in a similar size, but wasn’t sure if it was too big, but thought the size down might be too small. Solved! I shall make sure I have one free.

ladyholly

I use Mr S and Al if I am on my own but got to Mr T once a week for heavier stuff and bacon (they are the only place to sell bacon with rind). Al only get my custom if I have the energy to get there as although it isnt far from Mr S (only across the 2 car parks and a 2 lane road but as i am also carrying shopping from the other I cant always make it). The tinned dog food we use isnt sold in Mr T so I have to carry that from Mr S. When I was driving life was much simpler as I prefer to shop in the morning and Mr LH doesnt do mornings.

scandimore

I don't have enough self control to shop at lots of places, the few quid saved would be dispensed (and more) as I added items when going around. We get a weekly delivery here and I pay for a monthly pass. I'm fairly detached from the process with it being online so I don't tend to add lots of extras. Sometimes I under-shop which leaves us needing to visit the (expensive) local corner shop. We're fairly rural (25 mins or 45 mins to the nearest proper towns with 3+ supermarkets) and I just don't have time at the moment to trail around, am honestly in awe of how much some people on here seem to be able to achieve. We have some lovely small producers locally and when I can I go to them for meat veg etc but struggle to fit it in every week. 

Tescodealqueen

I do the majority of our shop at Al** dads at As** so can pick up bits of need be

Moorviews

It’s interesting to read how other people shop. I live rurally and am a good 15 miles from towns with big supermarkets. A shopping trip is therefore a combination of errands, including the groceries. The more places I go into the more I spend. Generally, this is because I will look out for special offers on my regular items and take advantage of them, or buy items from the shop that is consistently cheaper for the product. I don’t think I spend more overall by doing this, as I’ll have a list and benefit from the offers. If I don’t have a physical list, just going into one store is better for me, as I can mentally plan the meals from what I see is in the trolley and what I know is at home. I would probably over buy otherwise, or forget a vital ingredient. I don’t go supermarket shopping every week though and if I only need meat and vegetables I get those in the local small town’s independent shops. I do love where I live but would also love to be able to walk to the shops, instead of having to drive and embark on a long, exhausting round of errands and shopping. 

Humdinger1

I tend to stick to 2 main places @foxgloves:  a weekly veg/fruit box with occasional meat; and I delivery per month from Oc*d* for nuts, cheese, a few things like passata, oil etc. I like the regularity and being able to stop at the limit I've set which is much harder in person and trust both organisations.   I do have occasional in-person top-ups and DH does too.  I know this sounds an expensive way of doing it but depending on the number of Mondays in a month, the planned deliveries come in at between £200 and £300 per month for 2 of us, more when DD is at home.   Any money left in the budget each week goes into savings. Love Humdinger xx 

Cheery_Daff

We tend to shop around, but in a very haphazard kind of a way. Mr Cheery loves being in a supermarket. Any supermarket will do. He can spend hours in one, looking at all the tins and the little pictures (this is a slight caricature, of course, but not much ) 

I don't have the patience... So he tends to potter around various supermarkets several times a week, and pick up different things in each. Bulk of the shop comes from @ldi, although we don't tend to do a 'weekly shop' as such, just pick up a few things here and there, and then now and again do a bigger shop. Usually we don't bother with a list. We do have a storecupboard, and so that gets topped up now and then. 

We've been getting Mr M vouchers for participating in a covid study for a while now, so we do go there when we have vouchers that need using, or when there's stuff we can't get in @ldi (own brand bran cereal  - although they seem to have stopped doing it in Mr M now as well!). Generally things feel more expensive, although we don't specifically keep track. 

We do also pop in Sainsbo and W@itr)se occasionally too - mostly because they're smaller shops and within walking distance of other things we might be in town for (eg the doctors). Can't say either of those works out cheaper!

And of course there are the discount shops - we don't actively go looking for food in them regularly, but we do sometimes find ourselves eg in B&M, or there's a small local equivalent, and so will have a poke around the food aisles and buy anything that takes our fancy. 

So in answer to your question - I have no idea whether shopping around helps We rarely use a list (only if I'm going by myself for something specific), but we tend to stick to mostly the same staples anyway, and will just manage if we forget. Mr Cheery is far more thrifty than I, and if we're in Mr M and I've picked up something we need, he'll sometimes take it back out again if he thinks it's much cheaper in @ldi, but other than that, there's no particular plan. 

And reading all that back it makes us sound extremely disorganised, especially given our nearest supermarket is 6 miles away  

marionmgcars

I tend to do a store cupboard stock up with a list once a month.  After that I shop with a list for anything I need.  My rule is that only one extra item is allowed in my trolley, as when I don’t buy any extras, I don’t really miss them once I’m home.  Interesting to read everyone’s comments on different shopping habits.