Food shopping is one of those essentials we just can get out of. Being a university student it is often the first time you have to food shop. For us we find we all to easily pop to the shops for a pint of milk and come bag with a bag full of stuff. Whilst we are working on tackling this by limiting the number of times we go to the shops (doing online shopping also helps with this), it is inevitable that we will go shopping. That doesn't have to mean there aren't other ways to save money.
Today we are sharing some of the best ways we have found to save money on your food shopping whilst requiring minimal effort.
1. Use discount cards
If you can use a discount card either staff, student or NHS etc. then go for it. Though for staff discount please read the terms and conditions carefully (as using a family members card is not always allowed). Typically such discount cards save you 10%, so a couple spending £35 a week could save £182 over the course of a year.
2. By reduced and freeze
Become familiar with where your local shop keeps reduced items and at what time of the date they do final reductions can see you pick up food for pennies. Granted its going to be close to its use-by date so be prepared to have to freeze these items but this makes a great way to stock up you freezer. After seasonal events (christmas and easter) a lot of seasonal food will be reduced too; so long you aren't fussed about having christmas food in the spring this is also a great option.
3. Using gift cards
Using gift cards either bought through an employee discount scheme or an online site such as Zeek (get £5 free through this link) allows you to purchase them at a discount from their usual price. This means you are saving money even if you buy the same stuff you would normally. Plus you can use other forms of discount in conjunction with gift cards (i.e staff or student discount) as the gift card is just another form of payment method (like card or cash). Buying a fixed amount on a gift card is kind of like using cash envelopes as you have a sent amount allocated to each expense which can really help with controlling spending and impulse purchases as once its gone its gone.
4. Meal plan.
Meal planning is an great way to got shopping with a plan and buy only what you need. Pinterest is full of awesome meal plans and we even have a great budget friendly meal plan for two here. Try to plan meals that will share several ingredients so that there is less waste and you are able to buy greater quantities and take advantage of cheaper per unit prices.
5. Use cash-back
If your choose to use debit cards don't forget you can get cashback on your shopping at supermarkets (aka free money for spending money you would have spent anyway). Our favourite cashback site is Quidco and if you sign up through this link you get £10 FREE (who doesn't love freebies). Even just a 3% cashback over a year would save you over £50 (for no real effort).
What nifty tricks do you use to save money on your food shopping.
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Great advice. I like to use the ad circulars to plan my list and even my meals based on what the good sales are that week.
ReplyDeleteI need to get into meal planning. I keep saying this and then never do.
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