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How To Save On Your Weekly Food Shop
Plan, plan and plan again:The amount of good food which goes to waste in the Western world is shocking - and yet most families regularly throw out unused food. Why? They haven't planned what they need before shopping. Cutting out the waste is without doubt the first way you should be thinking about saving money, and for most of us it is the place where we can make the biggest impact. Take some time to think about what is going to work best for you, but find a way to incorporate planning into your family routine. We outline different methods for planning your family's meals, as well as suggestions for taking the planning further so that you can really understand what you are spending - and how to reduce it. Planning Your Family's Meals - Coming Soon! Make a shopping list - and stick to it:If you have ever bought on impulse (haven't we all!) this is another essential area to tackle if you want to save money. Before you even think about visiting a store, plan your meals (see above) and make a comprehensive shopping list. If you don't plan, how will you know what to buy? Remember that stores spend time and money to tempt you to buy more than you need, and you must therefore enter the store with a commitment to resist! Impulse items, usually placed right at the checkout, are a big source of extra income for the store and a big dent in your food budget, so avoid falling for the trap at all costs. Special offers:Keep an eye out for advertisements for special offers in your local newspaper or television, while you are shopping in store, and online. Find out what sales are going on, and see if you can stock up on a much-used item to take advantage of special offers. Some of the more expensive household goods are commonly on "special offer" as competing manufacturers tempt you to purchase their product - so oblige them by doing so! Toilet paper (3 extra rolls), dishwasher detergent (buy one get one free) and washing powder (50% extra for the same price) are all expensive items that you can often get cheaply, if you are prepared to switch brands. If you have a freezer or spare cupboard space, try to stock up on commonly-used food products when they are offered at half price, just being sure to keep use-by dates in mind. Shop around:Grocery stores charge very different prices for the same, or similar, items. Some price differences can be justified by location and convenience, and some by customer service. You must decide for yourself whether you are prepared to travel a little further (and whether it is cost-efficient to do so), pack your own goods, and spend the time looking for the best bargains. These days it is relatively easy, if a little time consuming, to research price competitiveness on the internet. In some areas it is well known which stores offer the cheapest prices across all goods; in others you may find that one store is cheapest for vegetables, another for cleaning products. Keeping a price book:If you are really determined to keep costs down and save money, you could start a price book. Get yourself a small address book or file with A-Z markers, and write in the products you buy regularly on the appropriate pages. When you are next in store, write down the price that you are paying for each product. You can also do this later, at home, by looking carefully through your receipt. Now you have a record of the price you paid, and a target to beat. Carry your price book with you and you will instantly be able to see whether you can save money by buying in bulk, taking advantage of a special offer, changing brands, or shopping in a different store. Learn the tricks:It is not just the checkout counter where stores try to manipulate us into buying goods that we don't want or need. Learn some of their tricks and you can also learn to avoid falling for them! First, think about what the stores are actually selling these days and how far away from the original ingredients the products are. The more packaging you see, the more expensive the item is likely to be. The more preparation that goes into a "ready meal", the higher the price. Ask yourself whether the price is really worth it to you. What about choice? How many different brands of cereal do you really want to be offered? Some stores now have a whole ailse devoted to breakfast cereals! How difficult is it to compare prices across the different brands, packaging, sizes? Have you ever noticed that the cheaper items are often put high on the shelf, or low on the shelf, where we are less likely to notice them? Sometimes we are not even able to reach the goods we want, and settle for a more expensive item instead! Shop without children if you can, and keep husbands under your thumb:You are carefully walking down the cereal aisle, determined not to be seduced by sugar, packaging and "new" varieties. Then your 3 year old sees something they want, and the only way to get out of the shop without a tantrum is to give in. If you can, leave the children with someone else and shop alone! You will be amazed at how much you save (and how much better you eat). The same goes for husbands. Have you ever noticed how sneakily a husband (or teenage son) can slip something completely unnecessary (and expensive) into the shopping trolley? It is not until the offending item bleeps through the checkout that you spot it, or even when you are unpacking at home! Men and boys of all ages must be warned to stick to the list no matter what, or left outside to help with loading and unloading. Make the best use of coupons:If you live in the US, one obvious way to save money is to use the coupons which you will find in the local press. Coupons are effectively free money - an incentive from manufacturers to entice consumers to try their products - and hopefully like them enough to continue to purchase them. Yes, it can be tedious to clip coupons. But the simple act of clipping and filing available coupons and incorporating them into your weekly shop can save a family quite a bit of money. The trick is to make sure that you don't purchase items simply because you have a coupon; instead, look for coupons for items that you normally purchase (or an acceptable alternative). Keeping a coupon book or file:Regular coupon-users will set aside time each day to cut out and file coupons ready for use each week. You can organize your coupon book in many ways. You might keep coupons by product, alphabetically, either by pinning them to the correct page in an address book or perhaps by slipping them into a plastic insert page in an alphabetical file. If you shop from different stores, you might be better off keeping the correct coupons in separate file folders or ziploc bags. Perhaps you could find an appropriately sized wallet and just file the coupons inside alphabetically? Find a method that works for you and stick with it, to make sure that you save money. Follow up on rebates:If a manufacture offers a rebate on a product, make sure you keep any necessary documentation and follow up to claim the rebate promptly. The manufacture is probably counting on most customers to fall at the first hurdle, or just not to bother! Own brands:Most stores offer their own generic brands, and in many cases they are as good, or almost as good, as better known brands, and dramatically cheaper. Look carefully for own brand canned goods and you may find that you can save 2/3 on the price of a can of baked beans or tomatoes. Remember that the more expensive brands will be placed where you are most likely to see it on the shelf, so look high and low! Buy basic and make it yourself:If you are trying to save money, stay away from prepared and pre-packaged foods. Manufacturers make their best margins in the more "added value" foods, so if you add the value yourself, you will save money big-time. It may take a little longer to prepare your own cottage pie than to pop a pre-prepared one in the oven, but you will be paying less, eating less salt and chemical preservatives, and controlling your ingredients. Keep your ingredients basic, and you will spend less money on your weekly shop - and you will eat healthier too! (NB You may find that by "buying basic", you can reduce your shop to the vegetable, dairy and meat counters and avoid many of the middle aisles of the supermarket). Shop in season:In the old days, before goods were imported from all around the world, you had no choice but to buy "in season". These days you can buy strawberries all year round, but they will cost you more in the winter when they are imported from somewhere warm or forced in expensive nurseries. Your local paper may have a feature on what it is season; alternatively, ask your local nursery or do some research on the internet. You may save some money, and enjoy better quality produce too. Shop at quiet times:Try to visit the store when other people aren't! Early evenings, Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, and lunch hours are times to avoid. If you can shop early in the morning you should benefit from fresher produce and better customer service. You will have more time to explore the options, too. Give yourself time to focus on prices and you’ll be less likely to rush into an impulse buy. Choose where you shop carefully:Finally, it is easy these days to assume that all food shopping must be done at the large grocery store or supermarket, but the best bargains are often to be found at your local weekly market or farmer's market, where the number of stalls competing for your business brings the price down. And don't ignore the local butcher store or bakery, as a good one will often give excellent value for money. Yes, it might be easier to drive to the local superstore and do everything in one go - but it is not always the most economical way to do your weekly shopping!
Also see: Saving Money On Groceries Back to Parenting Library |
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