Food shopping lifehacks?

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Abstraktimus
Abstraktimus Posts: 213 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys,
I'm wanting to start making my food shopping go further and I was just curious, what tips and tricks do you have for saving money, getting bargains or making savings? I'm in the UK, so input from some people from the UK would be amazing! Like, how do you know where has the best values or the best prices for specific items. Is it a case of going from store to store?

Cheers guys
Dan
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Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I'll be watching this thread :) I'm in Norway though. I write down prices of the things I use to buy, and try to get at least as good a bargain as the cheapest I know about. I try to reduce waste by not buying more than I need and not cooking more than I eat. And I eat some cheap and some expensive food, to make it tasty and more interesting.
  • workout_ninja
    workout_ninja Posts: 524 Member
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    what i noticed when i did my weekly shop in Asda is that they stock the discounted food section on a saturday night. So when I do my weekly shop, I do it at 8am on a sunday morning and get all my meat for the week/month and divide it up and freeze it. That saves us a small fortune!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Abstraktimus wrote: »
    Hey guys,
    I'm wanting to start making my food shopping go further and I was just curious, what tips and tricks do you have for saving money, getting bargains or making savings? I'm in the UK, so input from some people from the UK would be amazing! Like, how do you know where has the best values or the best prices for specific items. Is it a case of going from store to store?

    Cheers guys
    Dan

    we shop at morrisons, they now do a price match card which matches to tesco, sainsburys, asda, lidl and aldi... you get points if anything you buy is price matched cheaper somewhere else and £1 for every 1000 points. when you get 5000 points you get a £5 voucher to spend. we are getting a voucher every couple of weeks... much easier than going to 5 different shops and looking at the prices yourself!

    generally speaking, bulk buy, look for offers and go for meat and fish thats reduced to clear that can be thrown in the freezer!
  • runningforicecream
    runningforicecream Posts: 89
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    I shop at Sainsbury's. They have this membership card that allows you a certain amount off of your next purchase. You can also use your point as cash. They also have bulk buy and offers like 3 for £2, etc.

    I have friends telling me that Asda is much cheaper but when I compared the prices online, they are pretty much the same in total tally.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    Tesco and Sainsburys price match - if your basket costs more than it would have elsewhere they give you a voucher for the difference.
    Fruit and veg in season will be cheaper - go for that. Most of teh big supermarkets aheva 3 for £10 offer on packs of meat - I often choose those and then base a weekly menu plan around it.
  • Abstraktimus
    Abstraktimus Posts: 213 Member
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    melaniecheeks wrote: »
    Tesco and Sainsburys price match - if your basket costs more than it would have elsewhere they give you a voucher for the difference.
    Fruit and veg in season will be cheaper - go for that. Most of teh big supermarkets aheva 3 for £10 offer on packs of meat - I often choose those and then base a weekly menu plan around it.

    How do you know what's in season? I hope that's not an obvious and stupid question haha.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Abstraktimus wrote: »
    How do you know what's in season? I hope that's not an obvious and stupid question haha.

    In aboundance, best and cheapest = in season.

  • runningforicecream
    runningforicecream Posts: 89
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Abstraktimus wrote: »
    How do you know what's in season? I hope that's not an obvious and stupid question haha.

    In aboundance, best and cheapest = in season.

    This. And sometimes, they very helpfully put up a sign saying that the item is in season.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Abstraktimus wrote: »
    How do you know what's in season? I hope that's not an obvious and stupid question haha.

    In aboundance, best and cheapest = in season.

    at the moment a 200g punnet of strawberries is the same price as 400g was in the summer, plus they dont really taste of much!
  • TheTiagooo
    TheTiagooo Posts: 53 Member
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    Where do you shop?

    It's all about finding the best the shop has to offer - and unless you shop in a really high end place, you'll find good deals. General rule of thumb is to rarely spend more than £2 on a one-use item (such as a ready meal). Look for good deals on fruit/veg, and check the price per kilo for reference. Bananas and satsumas are cheap right now, but I shop at Tesco.
  • Abstraktimus
    Abstraktimus Posts: 213 Member
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    TheTiagooo wrote: »
    Where do you shop?

    It's all about finding the best the shop has to offer - and unless you shop in a really high end place, you'll find good deals. General rule of thumb is to rarely spend more than £2 on a one-use item (such as a ready meal). Look for good deals on fruit/veg, and check the price per kilo for reference. Bananas and satsumas are cheap right now, but I shop at Tesco.

    I live in Liverpool so alternating where I shop isn't a problem.
  • pinkiezoom
    pinkiezoom Posts: 409 Member
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    I am in the uk, and I have switched to buying a lot of my stuff locally, rather than from a big supermarket, i go to a farm shop for my eggs, 30 big FREE RANGE eggs only £3.00, i can buy so much Kale for £1.00 compared to the prepacked stuff in tescos for £1.50, I buy in bulk if the stuff can be portioned out and frozen, also my slow cooker is my best friend now winter is here, that can make a little go a long way :)
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
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    One good tip is to look at the price per kg/lb rather than just the cost of the pack on its own. It can often be cheaper to buy 2 smaller priced products rather than 1 jumbo pack.

    Also, sign up for all the loyalty cards and collect points as you shop. You often get discount vouchers and offers in the post and they can add up.

    And if you have a number of different supermarkets nearby, visit all of them and you'll start to get a feel for who sells what more cheaply. I find that fresh meat, sliced meats and cheeses are cheaper at Lidl and Aldi, but Tesco have the cheapest gammon. These are just examples and it obviously depends on what you like to eat and how much time you have, but I've found I'm saving a lot of money shopping this way instead of buying everything at Tesco.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    TheTiagooo wrote: »
    . General rule of thumb is to rarely spend more than £2 on a one-use item (such as a ready meal).

    :laugh: says who? i'll often spend more than that on meat or fish... i like my protein!!
  • TheTiagooo
    TheTiagooo Posts: 53 Member
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    Abstraktimus wrote: »
    TheTiagooo wrote: »
    Where do you shop?

    It's all about finding the best the shop has to offer - and unless you shop in a really high end place, you'll find good deals. General rule of thumb is to rarely spend more than £2 on a one-use item (such as a ready meal). Look for good deals on fruit/veg, and check the price per kilo for reference. Bananas and satsumas are cheap right now, but I shop at Tesco.

    I live in Liverpool so alternating where I shop isn't a problem.

    Lovely place, went there this summer.

    If you're looking for cheap food, that shouldn't be difficult as similar foods tend to be shelved next to each other. If you're looking for healthy food on top of that, it might take more time to see all the options, and you will probably have to learn to cook if you don't already.
  • TheTiagooo
    TheTiagooo Posts: 53 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    TheTiagooo wrote: »
    . General rule of thumb is to rarely spend more than £2 on a one-use item (such as a ready meal).

    :laugh: says who? i'll often spend more than that on meat or fish... i like my protein!!

    Aye, but you probably aren't as concerned about price. I'm quite fond of protein too, Tavi.
  • corofinlass
    corofinlass Posts: 43 Member
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    Tesco in the evening time have lots of short dated products like bread and meat for a fraction of the cost. Buy what you like and freeze them. They also have the points reward scheme and just last week my shop came to 100 but I had vouchers from the reward scheme so it came in at 46 euro (I'm in Ireland).

    Lidl and Aldi are great for fruit and veg and they run weekly specials on 3 or 4 different fruits / veg.

    Tomato pasatta is a great buy in Tesco (60c) and can be used as a base for lots of sauces.

    Dried beans, lentils, peas are much cheaper than canned.

    I also buy store brand rice and pasta - much cheaper and same quality as Uncle B's.

    Investing in a few jars of dried herbs and spices saves on packets of sauces and also is much healthier (you decide how much salt etc)

    I always look out for specials on dishwasher tabs and washing powder and usually get mine for half price by only buying when on offer.

    Skipping the crisp / chocolate / cakes section saves me a fortune!



  • pinkiezoom
    pinkiezoom Posts: 409 Member
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    ooh i have noticed the tesco express near the student accom reduces down its products at 9pm and i mean really reduces them down, fruit down to 9p for a bag of apples etc, I sometimes buy them for juicing, but as a rule leave them for the students, as guess their needs are greater than mine lol!
  • JenniDaisy
    JenniDaisy Posts: 526 Member
    edited November 2014
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    About 4 times a year (seriously) I get a meat delivery from westingourmet.co.uk (they are the same people as musclemeat.co.uk, just not marketed towards bros) because they do these various mixed boxes and usually have offers on, I can fill up the freezer for about £50
    Anything we go through alot of (lentils, beans, dry soy mince, couscous) I get delivered in bulk from realfood.co.uk
    Fruit and veg and most other groceries come from lidl, because I find their fresh produce much better quality than asda/tesco/sainsbury's for the same price or cheaper.
    Curry powder (and some other spices), soy sauce, hot sauce and things that we go through a lot of but that's harder to find in bigger amounts I get from 'cheapo' shops or ethnic food shops.


    ETA: I'm not a shut in, I just don't drive :\
  • HarrietSabre
    HarrietSabre Posts: 186 Member
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    Lidl/Aldi for meat, market for fruit and veges and Morrison's/ASDA for everything else :)

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