If you’re like most people, you probably spend a lot of Money on Food and grocery shopping every month. But what if we told you that there are simple ways you can save money on your food shopping?

If you want to know how to save money on your food shopping, you’re in the right place. There are ways you can easily reduce your supermarket shop without having to skimp on quality or quantity.

1. Create a budget for food shopping

It’s easy to put off doing a budget to another day, but it just means it never gets done. Take time to work out how much money you’ve got to spend each week on your food shop. Once you know this, you can shop accordingly and reduce your grocery bill. It may mean making different choices about what you eat, but it doesn’t mean you can’t still eat well.

Make your grocery shopping trip more interesting. Challenge yourself by swapping out branded foods for cheaper alternatives, then see if you can taste the difference. Value priced foods aren’t necessarily poor quality. You might even find you can afford to enhance the flavours with one or two premium priced items. That way you won’t feel like you’re missing out.

But whatever you do, keep within your weekly budget.

2. Make a grocery list and stick to it

Supermarkets are crafty, they know how to make you spend more. They put tempting offers in your way, and get you to walk round the store past items you don’t need. It’s easy to go in to buy a loaf of bread but come out with a carrier bag full of items. Most of which you didn’t go in for. That’s why you need to resist temptation and make a list.

Work out exactly what you want to buy, write it down and then – most importantly – stick to it! Having a list helps to keep you focussed as you walk round the shop. Tick each item off as it goes in your basket and don’t look at anything else.

3. Plan meals ahead of time to avoid impulse purchases

Make a plan of what you’re going to eat every night of the week. That way you only need to buy the ingredients needed for those meals. You may find you’ve already got some store cupboard items that can be used which will save you money. And if you know exactly what you’re going to eat each day you waste less food too.

Planning your meals helps you with your shopping list. You know that you’re buying exactly what you need for your planned meals. But then you have to stick to it. You must be disciplined and try not to be tempted to buy what’s on offer. Stay focussed on your list and you’ll do it.

4. Try shopping online

If you can’t help being enticed by special offers, don’t go to the shops! Do your food shopping online instead. Within store prices going up these days, you’re better off shopping from home so you’re less tempted to spend.

Most supermarkets will deliver your online shopping to your door, or you can click and collect. And it doesn’t have to cost too much extra when you choose this option. For example, a click and collect food shop can cost as little as 50p with Tesco if you don’t mind collecting it at lunchtime.

5. Save money on home delivery

You can save even more money by choosing a home delivery when shopping online. You can get home delivery slots from as little as £3 with major supermarkets like Tesco. This’ll not only stop you from overspending, but it’ll save you money on the fuel you’d use to get to the shops. And it’ll free up your time too.

Just be mindful that there’s a minimum spend for home delivery and for click and collect. If your food shop online falls below this amount the supermarket may charge you an additional fee.

6. Visit your local markets

We’ve got so used to doing all our shopping in one big supermarket that we don’t bother with local fresh food stores and market stalls. But the local retailers sell fresh local produce and they can be competitively priced too.

The good thing about doing your food shop locally is that you’re supporting independent businesses. You’re helping people and businesses in your local community while saving money at the same time.

7. Know your prices

What this means is find out how much each individual item costs. Dishwashing tablets are a good example. One pack of dishwashing tablets may be cheaper to buy compared to another, but the unit cost of each tablet might be more expensive. The table below shows how you work out the cost per tablet.

At first, you may be tempted to buy the Finish dishwashing tablets because they’re £1 cheaper. But because they have fewer tablets in the pack compared to Fairy Platinum, each tablet works out as being more expensive. As the table shows, the Fairy Platinum tablets are the cheaper option.

8. Leave your kids at home

Doing your supermarket shop with kids in tow can be a challenge. They spot all the things they like to eat and either beg for it to go into the trolley or they put it in themselves. It not only adds time to your shopping trip, but it adds items you wouldn’t otherwise buy.

If you can, get your food shopping done while your kids are with your partner or childminder. You’ll be able to whizz round in half the time and avoid unnecessary spending on tempting treats.

9. Compare prices at different grocery stores for the best deal

According to Which, Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in the UK in 2023. It compared around 48 items of popular shopping items with all the main supermarkets each month throughout the year.

If you’ve got staples to buy, such as toilet roll or washing powder, look online to see which supermarket has the best offers. Their offers change but you can save quite a few pounds by finding out who’s offering the best deal.

10. Buy in bulk whenever possible

Bulk buying can save you money, so long as you do it right. If you’re going to buy a supersize packet of something, or multiple items in a pack, make sure it’s worth it. Here’s what you need to think about.

• Are you really saving money buying in bulk?

If you’re buying multi-packs of toilet roll or paper kitchen towels, work out what you’re paying for each one. Sometimes there may be an offer on smaller packs which work out cheaper.

• Will you use all the items in the bulk buy while they’re in date?

A supersize packet of rice may be cheaper, but will you use it all up within the use by date? There’s no point trying to save money buying large quantities of something if you end up throwing half of it away. That won’t save you anything.

• Don’t be tempted to eat more of your bulk buy

Let’s say you’ve got membership with a wholesaler like Costco. You go shopping and see an offer on some Jaffa cakes for example. You’d normally only buy one pack of 30 now and again. But because these are on offer, you buy them. You find that each pack of 30 works out cheaper if you bulk buy the 6 packs.

This is fine if you don’t eat the Jaffa cakes more frequently than you would otherwise. If you find you’re eating Jaffa cakes everyday instead of now and again, it’s not a good idea. It’s easy to overindulge on something when you know you’ve got a lot of it. If this happens, it won’t be worth the saving.

11. Batch cook

Batch cooking can not only save you money, but it can save you time too. If you bulk buy a pack of mincemeat, you may not want to use it all straight away. But if you’re going to cook some of it, you may as well cook all of it.

Once you’ve prepared it, split it up into portions and freeze the spare ones. Mincemeat can be used in a variety of recipes, from spaghetti Bolognese, meatballs or lasagne.

You can do this with sauces, rice or pasta too. Make extra and keep it for another day.

12. Buy loose rather than prepacked

You’ll often find that fruit and vegetables are cheaper when they’re lose than if they’re prepacked for you. Especially if they’re ‘wonky’. Fruit and veg that’s wonky have nothing wrong with it, it’s just grown into a funny shape.

All supermarkets provide the option for you to choose your own selection of fresh foods. Loose potatoes, carrots, apples and oranges are just some of the things you can pick. There are benefits of buying loose food items.

• You get to choose the exact amount you need so there’s nothing left over to go to waste.
• You can buy what you need and what suits your budget. For example, 4 loose bananas will cost less than a prepacked bag of 7 bananas. The difference will leave you with more to spend on other things.
• Loose food costs less per item than prepacked food
• You help save the planet by reducing the packaging that’s being used

13. Beat supermarket psychology tricks

Supermarkets are very good at getting us to part with our money. They want us to spend more and do what they can to achieve it. Here are some of their tricks.

• They carefully select offers and position them where we’ll notice them to entice us into buying them.
• They try to get you to walk around the store by moving things to different locations. Doing this means you walk past more shelves and more tempting offers.
• They might put more expensive or profitable items at eye level. Their intention is that you’ll pick these items instead of the cheaper alternatives – especially if you’re in a hurry.
• They surround the tills with extra treats and snacks to encourage impulse purchases.

That’s why having a list is important, you need to be strict with yourself and avoid temptation. Remember what you went into the supermarket for and focus on just that.

14. Take advantage of store promotions, coupons, and loyalty programs

• Look out for promotions

If there’s a promotion being offered on something you’re planning on buying, make the most of it. Look for opportunities that can save you money. 3 for 2 on things like shampoo are worth picking up, and tinned food offers can save you money in the long run. Items like these don’t have short use by dates so you can store them ready for when you need them.

• Don’t ignore coupons

It’s easy to discard small coupons and offers, they may only offer 50p off here and there. But those small discounts soon add up. Using three or four of these every time you shop saves you a couple of pounds off your grocery bill. And it all adds up.

• Use loyalty cards

Most of the major supermarkets in the UK have some sort of loyalty card. Loyalty cards can get you discounts on food, or they build points that you turn into cash.

Tesco’s Clubcard converts your points into monetary vouchers. You can spend your vouchers in store, or you can spend them with their reward partners. Spending with their reward partners triples their value with most of them. This means that a £5 Clubcard voucher could be worth £15. And they have lots of partners to choose from, including theme parks and restaurants.

15. Supermarket gift cards and employer discounts

There are discounts you can get depending on your employer. Some employers offer their staff the chance to buy gift cards for some supermarkets, but at a discount. For example, you could buy a £100 gift card to use at Asda but you’d only pay £96 for it. If you use this to pay for your shopping, you’ll be getting it at a discount.

If you work for the NHS, for an emergency service, or you’re a social worker it’s worth getting a Blue Light Card. Many shops offer 10% discount on your shopping if you’ve got one of these cards. Asda is one where you can get 10% discount with a Blue Light Card. They cost £4.99 but they last two years, plenty of time to make that back and save money.

16. Consider a wholesale membership

Having membership for a wholesaler can be a good idea if you’ve got a family to shop for. You could also use it to buy in bulk and split the items up between family or friends. Although you may have to pay to be a member, places like Costco can save you money. Not only can you buy in bulk, but their special offers save you even more money. When you buy in bulk it cuts the cost of your weekly shopping bill by eliminating some of the items off your shopping list.

17. Buy seasonal fruit and vegetables

Eating fresh food that’s in season has more than one benefit.

• You can save money by buying what’s in abundant supply. Strawberries are a good example. You might be able to buy them all year round but buying them when they’re in season is going to save you money. If you want to eat them out of season, buy them when they’re available, then freeze them.
• You’re more likely to be supporting local suppliers if you buy in season. You could even pick your own with some local fruit growers.
• You help to save the environment. In order to provide you with out of season produce, supermarkets have to import it from countries overseas. Transporting the food has an impact on the environment. If you stop buying out of season produce, there’ll be less demand for it. This in turn will reduce the need to import the produce from overseas.

18. Buy value brands whenever possible

You might think the well-known brands are better, but are they? The big brands spend more money on marketing, and they sell you the idea that their brand is best. But even if the cheaper alternative brands might taste a little different, they’re not bad quality. Quite often the value brands are made in the same factories as the big brands.

Next time you go food shopping, give the cheaper brands a try. They help you save money without feeling like you’re going without.

19. Use cash or debit card instead of credit cards to avoid overspending

When you do your food shopping on your credit card you don’t see the money leave your account. This makes it easy for you to think that you’ve got more money than you have. Once you’ve worked out your food budget, make sure you stick to it. Create a ‘food’ savings pot with your bank or take out the money in cash. When you know you’ve got a limit to stick to, you’re less likely to overspend.

20. Look for bank holiday and end of day offers

Supermarkets can’t predict how many of each item they’re going to sell but they have to do something with what’s unsold. This is where the ‘yellow stickers’ come into play. Supermarket shops will reduce items that have a use by date of today. A lot of them cover the original price with a yellow sticker showing the lower price. They’d rather sell it than throw it away.

You can take advantage of these reduced items. Many supermarkets will have a clearance shelf or you’ll have to look for the bright yellow stickers. If you don’t eat these reduced items on the day you buy them, freeze them as they are. Or you can cook them ready to reheat and eat the following day.

21. Don’t shop when you’re hungry

There’s nothing worse than going food shopping when you’re hungry, everything looks tempting. Your eyes get bigger than your tummy as you fill your trolley with all the nice foods you want to eat. The clear solution to this is to make sure you’re full before you go shopping. That way you’re more likely to stick to buying the items on your list.

22. Bring your own carrier bags

It might not seem like much but spending 10p or 20p on each carrier bag every time you shop soon adds up. Chances are you’ll need more than one bag with your weekly food shopping, and 40p a week turns into £20.80 a year. Savings like these might seem small but it’s with unnecessary spending like this that your money drips away.

Keep carrier bags in your car ready for when you go food shopping. And fold one up as small as you can to keep in your bag, so you’ve always got one to handy.

23. Try a vegetarian diet

If you’re a meat eater, you’ll know that it quickly increases your shopping bill. By eating less of it you can save quite a lot of money. You don’t have to go without completely, maybe have a rule that you only eat meat on the weekends. Then find vegetarian recipes that you can make through the week. The internet is full of tasty recipes that’ll give you variety, so you still feel like you’re eating well.

24. Choose cheaper cuts of meat

If you can’t go without meat, choose cheaper options. Here are some ways you can save money.

• You can make mincemeat go a long way if you bulk it up with pureed vegetables. Even adding some carrots when you’re cooking it can create bigger portions.
• Choose beef brisket or braising chunks of beef. By slow cooking it in a casserole you not only save money but with patience, you can make a delicious meal.
• Choose chicken thighs instead of the breast. The thighs are not only cheaper but can be tasty and more succulent than the breast.

25. Check the use by date before buying

We’ve all bought food and left it in the fridge too long. Throwing out food that’s past it’s use by date is a waste of money that can be avoided. Try and cut down on food waste by choosing the item with the longest date on them. Supermarkets will often stack the ones with the shortest date at the front. Unless you know for sure that you’re going to eat it before its date is up, reach for the ones at the back of the shelf. They usually have longer use by dates.

26. Check if the food has a best before date

The best before date on a food item is different to a ‘use by’ date. The best before date means that the food can still be eaten after this date. It’s just that it’s fresher and may taste better if you have it before the best before date. Of course, you’ll be able to tell if something has started to rot, just check it before you eat it.

27. Buy frozen fruits and vegetables

You might be so used to buying your fruit and vegetables fresh that you haven’t thought about buying them frozen. But buying them frozen is a good idea.

• Frozen fruit and vegetables are as good as buying fresh as they’re frozen very soon after being picked. So, you could say they’re fresher!
• Being frozen they last longer, you don’t have to eat them straight away
• Frozen fruit and vegetables tend to be cheaper than buying them fresh

28. Check your receipts for any extra charges

Most of the time, cashiers at the supermarket tills scan your shopping correctly. But occasionally mistakes can happen. Although it’s rare, it is possible for an item to be scanned twice by accident.

But the main reason for checking your receipt is to check for special offers or discounts. For example, if you’ve bought three items on a 3 for 2 offer, make sure the free one has been deducted from your bill.

29. Buy more carbs

Filling up on carbs is a cheap way of eating. Things like rice, pasta, potatoes, and couscous are cheap additions to your meals. By adding roasted vegetables or cheese to any of these you can make a tasty meal. Carbs are much cheaper than meat to buy so they can save you money on your food shopping.

30. Make sure you’ve got eggs

Eggs are a great go to food when you’re not sure what to cook. They can be used in so many ways – you can make a frittata for your dinner or boil an egg for a sandwich for lunch. Not to mention the cakes you can make. The good thing about having eggs to hand is that they give you options that can help stop you nipping out mid-week for a top up shop.

31. Grow your own vegetables

You don’t need to have an allotment to grow your own vegetables. Just a small patch in your garden is enough to grow your own things like tomatoes or potatoes. You can save money as you’ll find you can grow enough to last you through the season, not just for one meal. And don’t forget herbs. These can be planted in pots on a windowsill and can enhance the flavour of your food. It’s satisfying when you get to eat food you’ve grown yourself.

32. Organise your fridge

You may not think this makes a difference, but it does. Having a system of putting your most recent use by dates at the front helps reduce waste. When you’re putting your shopping away, put your freshest items behind any that you already have in your fridge.

That way, when you reach for something, you’re more likely to take the food that needs to be used first. Do this for your milk or juice cartons too.

33. Freeze what you can

You may not realise it but items like cooked rice, cheese, milk and even peeled bananas can all be frozen. If you’ve got food that you know you’re not going to eat before it goes off, check to see if you can freeze it.

Left over meals such as soup could be frozen too which can be perfect for days when you don’t feel like cooking. Reducing your waste in this way saves you money further down the line as you can use the frozen food items at a later date.

34. Watch where you put your bananas!

Talking of bananas, they’re a great snack food – and cheap too. You can get 5 or 6 of them for less than £1 so they’re a good food item to add to your list. But be mindful of where you store them.

They release a gas that affects other fresh fruit nearby so be mindful of this when you unpack your shopping. If they’re very ripe don’t throw them out, make a banana cake with them instead.

35. Always have food bag clips

There are ways of making your food last once it’s been opened, and food bag clips can help. As soon as you open a packet of food the air gets to it, and it can start to go stale. By resealing open packets of food you can help it stay fresh for longer, and can be used again at a later date.

36. Eat smaller portions

How many times have you scraped your leftover dinner into the bin? We’re all guilty of cooking too much, it’s easy to do. It can be a lucky guess on how much rice or pasta to cook as it swells when it cooks. But by working out quantities for each person’s needs, you can reduce waste and save money.

You may be used to eating until you’re bursting, but you don’t have to. Eating smaller portions can not only save you money but it lets you eat the things you love most, just less of them.

37. Save on sauces

Buying a jar of pasta sauce or white sauce might save a little time but it doesn’t save you money. Making your own sauce isn’t hard, and it doesn’t take much time.

Adding tinned tomatoes to your pasta with a few herbs and a splash of Worcester sauce can be quick and easy. And it costs a lot less than a jar of readymade pasta sauce. It’s rewarding when you know you’ve rustled up a tasty meal that you cooked yourself from scratch.

38. Make your own bread

Making your own bread isn’t as hard as you might think. You don’t need a bread maker to do it either. There are some easy to follow recipes online that teach you how to do it. Bread doesn’t need a lot of ingredients, just a bit of time. The smell of freshly cooked bread wafting around your home will make it a joy to eat.

39. Save your leftovers with reusable bags

Whatever you’ve got leftover, keep it. You can use it to create another meal. Get some reusable food bags or storage cartons to keep it in. You can use what’s leftover to make a pie or to mix in with some pasta.

You can use it the next day or freeze it for a quick ready meal when you want it. And reusable bags are handy as they take up less space.

Final Words

Making the effort to save money on your food shopping is worth it. By having a monthly food budget and managing your weekly shop, you can save money on your food bill. With grocery prices going up these days, you’ll be better off by taking the time to see where you can save.

Doing things like cooking from scratch at home and avoiding food waste are great ways to save money. You may only save small amounts here and there, but these small savings soon add up.

FAQs

Disclaimer: The information given above is provided for reference only. The brands named here are only for an example, we are not promoting them in anyway.