How to save £1,000 a year on food shopping

Do you still do the ‘big weekly shop’? Because
research suggests that most of us don’t.
In fact, just 18% of people still shop that way,
according to a poll by thinkmoney. It found that 82%
of respondents prefer to shop at least twice a week,
while 16% admitted shopping more than four times a
week.
Why? Not only do these extra shopping trips mean
you hardly ever get a day off trudging around the
supermarket, but in my experience they cost you
more overall too. Here’s why, and how to beat the
habit.
The more you shop, the more you spend
Supermarkets know how to make us spend; they have
turned it into an art form. They place enticing deals at
the very end of each aisle so that we find ourselves
picking up items we don’t need.
They place bargains by the entrance, knowing that
this makes us more likely to buy them when we see
them again inside the shop. They even hide essentials
like bread and milk at the back of the shop so that we
have to trundle down the other aisles to get there.
Supermarkets know what they are doing.
So the more you expose yourself to the supermarket,
the more chances there are for you to buy additional
items that aren’t on your list. These items usually
seem like bargains but the fact is that if you could
have done without them then they aren’t.
Two years ago I realised that I had fallen into the
habit of visiting the shop practically every day. I
would do a big-ish shop at the weekend but then pick
up ingredients for the evening meal every afternoon.
And while I was there I inevitably spent a bit extra;
splashing out on a pudding, buying a two-for-one
deal on fruit, or letting my toddler cajole me into
buying him some sweets. I changed tack and began
to do one big shop a week – shopping online to limit
the opportunity for the supermarket to upsell.
I worked out that we spent an average of £20 a week
less – that’s more than a thousand pounds a year
saved.
Not only that, but I spend less time trawling the aisles
and have more time at home to cook or just relax.
Making the one shop count
So how can you get back into the habit of one big
shop, and what are the most important tips? Here’s
what I’ve found to be the most important things:
Make a plan
To make one big shop work and avoid running down
to the supermarket because you’ve forgotten
something, you’ll need a meal plan. Not only will this
help you manage your shopping, but it can reduce
your household waste, which will save you even
more money – after all, the average home chucks out
£480-worth of edible food a year.
If you want some inspiration, I love the NHS’ Change
4 Life meal planner tool, which provides healthy
recipe ideas that cost around a fiver or less and feed
four adults. The tool will draw up a meal plan for you
and even print off a shopping list.
Be firm
It’s so easy to ‘pop’ into the supermarket if you’ve
forgotten something but I really recommend avoiding
this unless it’s genuinely an emergency. The stricter
you are, the better you will get at buying everything in
one go.
Go online
You can avoid the extra temptation almost entirely by
shopping online and having your groceries delivered.
You do pay a delivery charge when you shop online
but I find this is more than offset by the amount I
save by not buying impulse purchases or sweets to
bribe bored kids with.
And if you use the grocery price comparison tool
Mysupermarket.co.uk then you can even find the
cheapest shop to buy your items in. It claims its
customers save up to 20% per shop.
Check use-by dates
As I unpack the shopping into my cupboards, fridge
and freezer, I check the use-by dates to make sure
that they fit in with my meal plan. If food might go off
before then I can rejig the week so that it is eaten up
sooner or freeze it if necessary. This has really cut
down on what I waste and means I don’t end up
running into the supermarket at the last minute
trying to find something for the kids’ supper.
Have back-ups
By planning my meals and doing one big shop I can
help my family eat far more fresh food. But we’ve had
the odd disaster (as a vegetarian trying to cook meat
for my family things I occasionally screw up). So, I
also have back-up food in my freezer – frozen veg,
frozen fish, frozen potato cakes – so that I don’t have
to leg it to the supermarket or takeaway because I’ve
accidentally cooked something that no one will eat.