My tips for the dreaded supermarket shop

Daz1

Hi all fellow moneysavers.

New here but thought I'd share some ideas on how to beat the shopping budget blues...

Was at the local supermarket the other day and was shocked to see the price of meat. Is this just seasonal or has it really gone up that much in such a short space of time? I shop regularly at this same shop and know what each item generally costs. Went in recently and chicken breast pieces had jumped from approx £5-6 per pack to over £7....a massive jump in a short time. Steaks too, up from +/- £6 per pack of 2 rump/sirloin to over £7-8 :eek:

Anyway, here's a tip. The roasting joints of rump/sirloin are about half the price per kg of the pre-packed/cut steaks. Got myself a nice looking piece for £6, took it home and cut it into steaks myself and got 4 large, thick, juicy pieces from it. Only took 5 minutes and a sharp knife. By my reckoning, I got 4 steaks for the price I would have paid for 2 of the pre-packed ones..... Same with mince etc though this, I'm sure, is common knowledge. Buy the bulk packs, take them home and before freezing, split the meat pieces, mince etc into meal-size portions and freeze in freezer bags or containers. Bulk purchases are often slightly cheaper by weight than small, individulally packed portions in the supermarket, though it does pay to do a bit of mental arithmatic in the meat aisle before buying

Daz1

Another tip...sad but true

When money is tight (all too often for me), decide what you need to spend on the weekly shop. Only take that amount of cash with you, no cards. Knowing that you have to shop for the week ahead with only so much money, you may surprise yourself just how good you can be at spotting bargains and specials and cutting out those luxuries that eat into your cash. Its a case of fitting the shopping to your budget, not your budget to the shopping.

Daz1

Got a lot of spare change round the house, coppers etc?

I am too embarrassed to present a handful of coppers to the cashier as payment for a couple of items, I think some shops even have a policy on how much small change they will accept. I therefore used to go to the coin-counting machine which counts your change and prints a voucher for your shopping that day though it does charge you a fee per pound counted. With the advent of self-service checkouts, you can feed your coins directly into the slot at the till. Not sure how much they will accept but did about £5's worth of 5p and 10p coins the other night. Just make sure you go at quiet times otherwise the people in the queue behind you will be less than impressed as you feed your coins in one by one........:mad:

Daz1

Where items are sold by weight, typically fruit and veg, pick off all inedible bits, leaves, stalks etc. This will save you a few pennies cause you're not paying for the bits you don't want

badmumof1

MSE tip
DONT use supermarket coin changing machines as some can charge upto 10%
count money yourself and change it up at the bank

saintscouple

Daz1 wrote: »

Where items are sold by weight, typically fruit and veg, pick off all inedible bits, leaves, stalks etc. This will save you a few pennies cause you're not paying for the bits you don't want

It's amazing how much can be saved by cutting the stalks of broccoli, you end up paying less than half the price if the stalk was still attached. i guess it can be frowned upon, but i've never been questioned.

saintscouple

Tip - don't get tempted by certain multi-saves i.e buy 2 jars for £2, when they cost £1.10 each - think - do you need an extra jar, or is it going to stay in the cupboard till it is past its BBF date.

badmumof1

Dont forget the batteries
unless the toy is very noisy

ladysparklexx

The best tip has to be not to take the children, even my husband in my case, I end up hasseled and forget what I need to buy so buy to much as I dont want to have to go back again soon.

lightisfading

don't park your trolley, yourself, your 3 kids and the hubby in the middle of an aisle and have a lengthy chat with your similarly large-familied friend? :rolleyes:

Daz1

badmumof1 wrote: »

Dont forget the batteries
unless the toy is very noisy

On the subject, go for rechargables. Almost everything these days from camera, toys, remotes etc requires batteries costing a fortune and you end up throwing them away. If you do have non-rechargable ones and they are too flat to power something like a digital camera or radio, MP3 etc, you may find that they still have enough juice to run a wall clock or some other "low power" device for a few weeks/months until they are totally flat.....talk about squeezing the last ounce of energy.....