Statistics from the Office for National Statistics, found that UK households spend on average £3,224 on food shopping bills every year, which works out at around £268 every month.
While that may seem high for some households, it’s a figure easily achieved, and surpassed, if you add up all the little shops done during a typical month. Rarely when we pop to the shops for bread or milk do we leave with just that, often swayed by the latest promotions on display or well-timed bargains in the reduction bay.
Food shopping is an essential monthly outgoing, however, there are some simple ways to reduce your spending habits and shop smarter.
Money-saving student Jordon Cox shares 10 ways he has found to cut the costs on his supermarket shop.
The 22-year-old told www.nhsdiscountoffers.co.uk : “Once you know the tricks of the trade that supermarkets use to jump up the price of your basket, you can try to avoid them, and potentially save hundreds on your shopping.
“From downshifting, to switching aisles and even shopping at the right time, here are some tips to cut down your supermarket shopping bill by £100s or even £1,000s each year.”
10 supermarket tips to help slash your shopping bill
Downshift Your Shopping
Jordan said: “We Brits can be brand snobs, where we stick to what we know, which is usually the brands everyone recognises. This can be very expensive however, as you could be paying up to 70 per cent extra just for having a recognisable name on the box.
“Downshifting is the practice of shifting down one brand level when shopping, to see if you like a cheaper alternative.
“So if you buy the ‘finest’ or ‘taste the difference’ range, drop down to branded. If you buy branded, drop to the supermarket own brand. And if you buy the supermarket own brand, buy the ‘value’ range.”
Jordan says this not only saves you money, but if you like or prefer the cheaper option, you’ll have a new go-to item, which can rack up the savings over time “to the tune of £10s or £100s a year”.
He added: “Quite often, a lot of the name brands are made in the same factory and have the same ingredients, so there may not even be a difference… only the price.”
Shop In The World Foods Aisle
“For most people the world foods aisle at the supermarket is not even thought about. The common misconception is that everything is overpriced, as it’s been imported, while that is correct for some items, but not others,” advised Jordan.
He added: “If you’re shopping in that aisle for Twinkies or Marshmallow Fluff, yes you’ll pay a premium, but items such as rice, sauces and spices can actually end up far cheaper.
“When searching in my local Sainsbury’s, one of the best examples I found was a 100g bag of Natco Paprika Power for 80p.
“If you wanted a comparable jar from the spice aisle – the cheapest was Sainsbury’s own brand at 85p, but for 44g (less than half). If you bought the name brand of Schwartz, you would be paying even more.”
Complain If Things Go Wrong
“We are all stereotypically British in the fact that if something goes wrong, we usually keep quiet about it, but you shouldn’t,” said the savvy student.
“If there is something genuinely wrong with something you buy, either tell the supermarket or the brand what the problem is.
“It’s perfectly reasonable under the Consumer Rights Act to ask for a refund on faulty goods, but more often than not, as a gesture of goodwill, supermarkets and brands send you coupons or gift cards for more than the item is worth.”
Jordan explains how he once complained to Mars chocolates that a tub of Celebrations didn’t have a single Maltesers in it.
“Genuinely the most heartbreaking moment of my life,” he said.
“This was obviously a fault however, so I emailed in, gave the batch number, and got sent £10 worth of coupons in the post for more chocolate, so actually made a profit. It pays to complain.”
Shop In The Baby Aisle (Even If You Don’t Have A Kid)
Because supermarkets are so big with a massive variety of products, there are sometimes the same product sold in several different aisles.
On occasions, they may change the packaging & price to make it look like a different product, despite it being nearly identical.
The best example of this is in the baby aisle instead of the beauty aisle.
Jordan explained: “If you were looking for some cosmetic cotton buds in the beauty aisle, you could pay nearly double the price of a pack of 200 baby cotton buds. When in fact they are the same item with different packaging.”
Look High And Low On Shelves
Supermarkets seem to put either the most expensive items, or the ones they most want to sell at eye level.
“They want your eyes to naturally gravitate to the shelf you’re eye level with, instead of gazing up and down looking for other items,”said Jordan.
“Quite often you’ll find the best deals tucked away either down low, up high or at the corners of aisles as these aren’t places shoppers tend to look the most.”
Yellow Sticker Discounts
At the end of each day, supermarkets have a lot of food going out of date that would otherwise be thrown away. So instead, they put a reduced sticker on it and try to sell it off cheaper.
Most customers don’t realise that food retailers would rather get something for a product that’s reduced rather than throw it away as it reflects negatively on their regular store operating statements. This is a performance review that summarises monthly footfall, basket spend, wages, sales and shrinkage from wasted products in a particular store.
Reduced products can be hit and miss for shoppers, there’s no golden rule to the time of day something will go down in price, factors that need to be taken into account include volume of stock to be shifted and how busy the store is likely to be in order to sell it at the lower price.
If you want super-cheap bargains, go to the store half an hour before closing time and check out fresh counters such as bakery, deli, meat and fish for last-minute offerings that need to be sold that day.
Switching Your Medicine
When it comes to pills and medicine for pain relief, cold and flu or indigestion, there’s only one type you should be buying according to Jordan – supermarket own brands.
He said: “No matter what medicine it is, both the name brand and the supermarket own brands have the same active ingredient most of the time. That should mean they do the exactly same job at stopping your pain.”
Just to be sure, check the ingredients on each pack, and as long as the active ingredient is the same, it’s safe to buy the cheaper one.
Jordan added: “The difference can be huge too. Buying the standard Ibuprofen instead of Nurofen can save you £1.50 per box and both contain 200mg of Ibuprofen with extra ingredients for the coating.
“A few different medicines also share the same ‘PL number’, which is given to a certain drug made by a certain company. Don’t be surprised if your Gaviscon shares the same PL number as a cheaper brand – and that’ll mean it’s the same medicine instead with ingredients exactly the same.”
’Value Packs’ Aren’t Always The Best Value
“This probably goes without saying – but you should never take a supermarket’s word for it! Just because a pack of something says ‘value pack’ or ’50% extra’ doesn’t make it the cheapest,” advises Jordan.
You do have to be beady-eyed in the supermarket, as prices change all the time. It’s not unusual that buying two smaller packs is cheaper and more cost effective than buying the larger ‘value packs’.
Don’t Be Duped Into ‘Thins’ Or ‘Minis’
There’s been a bit of a craze recently of brands releasing ‘thins’ and ‘mini’ packs of popular products. This may be great for variety, but may not be great if you’re looking for the best value.
This can be found mostly on biscuits and crackers, and it can cost you twice as much to have the thinner variety.
Jordan shared a recent example about McVities chocolate digestive biscuits: “The ‘thins’ pack costs £1.59 for 180g, but the standard pack you can pick up for £1.35 and 266g in weight.
“The ‘thins’ pack is priced at 88p per 100g, while the usual pack is 51p per 100g, so there’s quite a big difference.”
Bulk Buy If There’s A Good Deal
Supermarket offers can be a great deal from time to time and if you see one, there’s nothing to stop you buying more than a single packet.
This is especially true for non-perishables like toothpaste, toilet paper and shampoo.
“The last thing you want to do is buy something at full price (if you can help it), so the more you can buy at the cheapest price, the better,” said Jordan.
There’s no hard and fast rule for saving money at the supermarket, especially during lockdown when you’re following in store guideline and only buying essentials, but next time you’re in your local, try comparing brands or checking whether a deal is really saving you money before you pop it in your basket.
