The food bill in my household is our biggest spend after rent. To ensure we keep within our budget we have a tried and tested plan for our supermarket shop.
I’m heading out to a supermarket tomorrow to do a good week’s worth of food shopping so I thought I’d share with you the process we go through to keep us within budget.
Sometimes I do my shop online, other times we head to the store. Quite a lot recently, Skint Mum shops on the way home from work and gets enough for about four days (or as much as she can carry!), which isn’t working out any more expensive than doing a two week shop like we used to.
It doesn’t matter how or when we do any shopping, before we head out for our groceries, we always go through the same process.
Check cupboards
First of all we make a note of what’s in the cupboards, fridge and freezer.
Quite a number of times we realise that we have something hidden in the freezer and enough bits and pieces that we can throw together for a few meals, meaning we can put off having to spend money in the supermarket for a few days.
Meal plan
Breakfast, lunches, dinners and any snacks in between – that’s potentially up to 16 different things to eat each day for a family of four so we really need to plan in advance.
We usually have the same thing for breakfast everyday which is either toast with some fruit or porridge, apart from the weekends when we have more time so may have eggs, or bacon for a treat.
For lunches we try and make use of any leftovers from the previous night’s dinner if we can. This saves us not having to buy too many extra bits and it’s surprising how much the girls like cold pasta or a bowl of warmed up Bolognese.
When deciding on our meal plan for the week, we try to choose meals that use the same ingredients so I don’t need to buy lots of different things. For instance I will buy carrots which we’ll use in a stir fry and we’ll also use them as a side vegetable or in a Cottage Pie.
Write a list
We know what we’ve got in the cupboard and we know what we want to eat so now we make up a list of everything we need to buy.
When writing the list we group similar products together. All the frozen together, same with the fresh food, and the vegetables. This saves time in the supermarket and also stops up wandering around aimlessly and being tempted to pick up items for the sake of it.
Obviously when shopping online it’s not necessary to have such an organised list but useful if you’resticking to a budget. Also once you’ve shopped once online you can save your list for future orders.
Having a list will also mean I know that everything on it can be bought. If it’s not on the list then it won’t go in the basket or trolley.
Online or in-store
Depending on my mood, what else is going on in my week, and whether any of the supermarkets have sent an email with a voucher code, will depend whether we do a food shop online or in-store.
Each has its plus points. Online shopping can be done in your PJs, at any time of the day, and it’s really quick. You don’t need to get the kids ready to go out and don’t have trolley wars with other shoppers. On the flip side, you miss out on getting any bargains in the reduced section, you can’t pick your own sizes/shapes of meat or vegetables and you don’t have any control over the best-before dates that get picked for you. That being said, you’ll hardly get bad or stale products when shopping online. Store managers usually ensure that online shoppers get good quality items so that they can maintain the store’s reputation. Another added advantage of online grocery shopping is that you can browse different supermarkets for the best prices and order from the cheapest supermarket uk. One way of doing that could be by taking the help of supermarket price comparison websites that can help you get better deals without you spending much time researching.
Coupons and vouchers
We always have an array of vouchers that are sent to us in the post or we cut out of magazines and newspapers.
If there are some for a particular store, it may sway our decision about where we plan to go as we can get a cheaper shop.
For instance, Walmart tends to release Walmart Weekly Flyers with their best offers. If we have our hand on one such, we would certainly head to Walmart for all our shopping needs.
In some circumstances, moreover, it can also mean us picking up branded groceries at the same price or cheaper than some of the store’s own label food so it’s always worth checking.
After the shop – cashback apps
Although this is all about the planning, as part of the planning, I also have a check on cashback apps like Quidco’s ClickSnap, CheckoutSmart and Shopitize to see if I can get cashback on anything we’re planning to buy.
These apps have cashback on branded groceries but, as I said previously, it could mean getting these goods for cheaper than a supermarket’s own equivalent.
Once the shop is done we then upload any receipts to the apps and get some money back on any eligible items.
After the shop – Shop and Scan
Quite recently, Skint Mum signed up to Shop and Scan which is a research panel that monitors household spending. It’s not something that everyone can do though. She requested to join the panel months ago and it was only recently that she was accepted.
Now, after we go shopping she scans the groceries using a handheld barcode scanner and uploads the information to the Shop and Scan website.
Each week, points are awarded for scanning the shopping. When we collect a certain amount of points we can exchange them for vouchers at places such as Argos, Next or Waterstone’s.
We’ve only been doing it since the beginning of the month so we can’t comment on it too much yet but we’ll be sure to add a post about how we get on with it soon.
How do you plan for your shopping? Do you have any tips which makes the whole ordeal easier?
If you like these tips, you’ll be sure to like:
How To Grab Yourself a Supermarket Bargain
Grocery Shopping Online At Tesco
Shopping Smarter with Price Per Unit
A Guide On How To Collect Nectar Points
Top Tips for Shopping at a Pound Shop
Cashback on your Food Shop with ClickSnap
