Slash your supermarket spend

Rachel Robson rounds up five ways to cut your food bills.

If you’re always surprised at how much you spend at the supermarket, here are five top tips to help you slash your food bills.

Ditch the big brands

Cheaper brands don’t necessarily mean poor quality. It can be very tempting to simply buy the big brands we all know and love – such as Kellogg’s and Heinz. But supermarket own brands can taste just as good and they will cost a lot less. 

You can take this one step further by buying value items for basics such as flour and rice.

Shop online

Shopping online can work out far cheaper than spending hours walking around the supermarket. By using a clever website called mySupermarket, you can track how much your shopping will cost at each of the UK’s four major supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, and Ocado.

You can then select your basket of goods from whichever one works out to be the cheapest. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for online voucher codes which can lower your bill even further!

Bargains and discounts

If you do your supermarket shop towards the end of the day, you’re bound to pick up some discounts. Most supermarkets have a reduced to clear shelf and this is always worth a browse. Just be warned that these items often have a short use by date, so either eat them quickly or freeze them if you can.

Ditch your supermarket

Instead of simply heading off to your usual supermarket, why not try out your nearest deep discounter? Aldi, Netto and Lidl keep their shop overheads low, so they can offer lower food prices than the major supermarkets.

It’s also worth checking out your local greengrocers or market for cheaper fruit and veg.

Bin the packaging

 Try to avoid buying food wrapped in lots of packaging as it will work out to be cheaper. Buy your fruit and veg loose and purchase more from the deli counter. Cheeses and meats are likely to be cheaper at the deli compared to those wrapped up in plastic on the shelves.

Happy shopping!