Write a commentLooking to Reduce your Food Shop Spending? Here is how to save money on your groceries in 2024 to lower your food bill and tighten up your food budget.
How can I lower my weekly food bill? Food prices are now at their highest rate of inflation in years, and finding ways to cut costs whilst not compromising on food quality and quantity is a very important part of household budgeting for most families in the UK.
Supermarket Shopping Tips
How can I pay less for groceries? If you're feeling the pinch, making a few easy changes to your buying can cut your food bill by a third, saving you hundreds of £££s a year!
1 - Create Your Food Budget & Stick to it
As well as creating a meal plan, you really need to work out a realistic budget each week and stick to it. The more stringent you are with your budget, the less likely you are to go over it.
Check out this: Free Printable Grocery Budget Template to get you started.
2 - Find Budget Recipe Ideas
Some of my family's favourite meals have surprisingly come from me searching out budget recipe ideas online. I have a large family to feed so am always on the lookout for frugal meal ideas - some of the other UK Money bloggers have fantastic sections on their websites for budget-friendly meals ideas - Check out KatyKicker for frugal mealtime Inspiration and Savvy in Somerset who has some amazing ways to make meals from leftovers.
3 - Meal Plan
Does making a grocery list Save Money? Yes, It's super important to meal plan if you want to stop overspending on your food shopping. The number one thing that helped to cut our food spending by thousands a year, is meal planning, and it can help you too.
Check out this: Free Printable Meal Plan to get you started.
4 - Make Your Food Last Longer
Stop throwing away leftovers and pop them in a tub for tomorrow's lunch or pop it in the freezer to keep it even longer. There are so many things you can freeze rather than throwing away, such as fresh vegetables and fruit that you can buy in the reduced section for half the price.
5 - Use Food Waste Apps
There's a great app on the market by 'Too good to Go' which distributes all that yummy, perfectly edible food that stores and restaurants have to throw out at the end of the day can be yours for a quarter of the price. Find out how to Reduce Food Waste & Get Cheap Meals
6 - Don't Takeaway - Fakeaway
We all love a takeaway on occasions but boy can they be pricey! There's a new craze going on in the weight loss world called "fakeaways" where you cook identical takeaway meals yourself, at home. Not only are they healthier, but they cost a hell of a lot less. This is why I started trying out some money-saving ways to re-create my favourite takeaways and saved over £30 a week.
7 - Make Brand Food Swaps
This is a no-brainer! Some value foods taste exactly the same as their branded alter egos - the only difference is the ugly packaging, but fear not...
You can always mask your food shop - Huh? I hear you say....well this cheeky money-saving trick I have been using for many years, and I have written a post detailing exactly how to food shop cheaply and get away with it.
8 - Buy Reduced Stickered Food
Different supermarkets tend to reduce items at certain points of the day. Don't be shy to ask your local what their usual reducing time is and go shopping then. You might not always pick up a huge haul, but if you needed to pick up a few bits anyway, you may as well go later on and see what's being reduced.
Tip: Don't shy away from the fresh items, they are easily frozen!
9 - Shop Online
Shopping online rather than in-store can save you a fortune. When in-store we shop with our eyes and if you happen to be hungry at the time, you will spend even more. By shopping online, you can easily track your spending as you go, make any necessary swaps before purchasing, and only put items into your basket that you have a meal planned for.
10 - Be Strict With The Food
I used to spend a hell of a lot of money re-buying items that the family had eaten. They now know I meal plan and by me having such a strict budget in place, my family doesn't dare eat anything without checking if it's for a meal first. I make all the packed lunches for the week as soon as the shopping arrives which also stops them grazing on the packed lunch items that I was forever re-buying.
11 - Supermarket Loyalty Cards
There are many different supermarket loyalty schemes, with varying benefits. Whilst some offer cashback, others instead offer coupons and freebies. Most major UK supermarkets offer some sort of loyalty scheme including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Iceland, Marks & Spencer, Lidl, Waitrose, and Co-op. So it's well worth signing up for free if you regularly use them.
Here's everything you need to know about Supermarket Loyalty Cards 2024
12 - Shop on Sunday
Choosing the day you shop wisely can really help you reign in the kids from eating what they shouldn't. I have my shopping delivered on a Sunday evening - which includes the exact amount of packed lunch items we need and 7 evening meals (to last the week) it obviously includes the other essentials but they come second to the important meals. Everyone in the house knows that food is to last 7 days!
13 - Use Coupons & Vouchers
You can find coupons in magazines, newspapers, and even online - if you have some extra time on your hands, emailing companies, telling them how much you love their brands, more often than not gains a reply with free coupons to use against their products. You can also get voucher codes for lots of online Grocery Delivery companies, to help save even more cash.
You Might Like: Where to get Coupons for Groceries in 2024
14 - Shop Around
If there are certain products you must have and they're not currently on offer at the supermarket you're using, have a quick check online to see if they're on offer elsewhere.
15 - Take Advantage of Special Offers
Each week (usually on a Tuesday) supermarkets change over their special offers. If something you use regularly is on offer, stock up - just make sure you don't use more for the sake of it, or you won't end up saving money.
16 - Compare Supermarkets
Supermarket comparison websites (and mobile APPs) are a great method to use when trying to cut down on your grocery budget, especially as some supermarket prices can vary substantially.
Check out the best Supermarket Comparison Apps 2024
17 - Cut Back on Meat
Meat is the most expensive item to buy in any food budget, you don't actually have to be a vegetarian to have a few meat-free meals each week. Things like tomato pasta and vegetable soups are easy to make, cheap, and healthy.
18 - Cupboard Clearout
Everyone is guilty of having items in the back of their cupboards and freezer that have been there for months. Have a week once in a while where you don't do any shopping and have a good clear out. This avoids wasting food by letting it go out of date, as well as stopping you from overbuying items you already have.
19 - Food Waste Apps
Use food waste apps such as Olio or Too Good Too Go. This is a great way to fight food waste, and for consumers to save money on food. It's also helping food outlets make some profit from the food they would have otherwise had to throw away
20 - Shop at Cheaper Supermarkets
The likes of Iceland, Lidl and Aldi can save you quite a bit on your shopping compared to supermarkets like Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Asda. You can also shop online at Approved Food, which sells perfectly good food that's close to/past its sell-by for around a third of the price.
Check out the UKs cheapest Supermarkets 2024 for your online deliveries
As always, if you know of any other great ways to reduce your supermarket food bill, please let us know in the comments below...
