Slash your food bills online

Find out how the internet can help to save you money on your grocery bills.

Why food has to be so expensive is beyond me. Each week I try to spend less and yet whenever I go to pay, I’m always horrified at how much I’ve managed to rack up.

Here at lovemoney.com HQ, we’ve regularly published articles to help you keep the cost of your food bills down. But actually, one of the simplest ways to do this is to do your shopping online. Here’s how.

mySupermarket

If you haven’t heard about this clever website by now, then quite frankly I don’t know where you’ve been hiding. mySupermarket.co.uk allows you to track how much your shopping would cost at each of the UK's four major supermarkets (Sainsbury's, Tesco, ASDA and Ocado/Waitrose). You can then select the basket of goods from the one you choose.

What’s more, you’ll be told when you can 'swap and save' by substituting one bag of grapes for another bag of grapes (perhaps because it's on special offer, for example). So it’s a really easy way to save money on your grocery shop.

mySupermarket.co.uk will also save your favourite items, making it much faster to complete you shop each week – saving you time as well as money.

Save with voucher codes

Another advantage to shopping online is that you can make the most of any relevant voucher codes. This is particularly beneficial because, if you are buying your weekly shop on the internet, you’ll be charged a delivery fee of around £3 to £6 depending on when you have your shopping delivered.

So finding a voucher code can help to offset this fee. Good websites to check out include HotUKDeals, vouchercodes.co.uk and myvouchercodes.co.uk, and you can also keep an eye out for our weekly Frugal Food blog for the latest deals.

It can also be worth signing up to supermarket websites even if you don't shop with them, as some supermarkets will often send out discounts via email. You’ll usually find they are trying to lure you back into shopping with them if you haven’t done so for a few weeks. So it can be a good idea to vary who you shop with and that way you can take advantage of these offers.

Alternatively, if you're prepared to be a bit underhanded, read A sneaky way to get money off your groceries and get £15 off an Ocado shop every single time you order.

Use your mobile

If you are doing your grocery shopping online, your mobile phone can also come in handy. If you have an iPhone and you’re happy doing your shopping at Tesco, a new app from the supermarket means you can scan the barcode on items wherever you are and add them to your online shop.

So if you’re munching on your Cornflakes in the morning at work and realise you’re running out, you can simply scan the barcode and add it to your shopping basket! This won’t necessarily save you money but it will certainly save you time.

If you prefer to shop with Ocado, the supermarket has its own app that allows you to do your grocery shop online – and of course, this means you can add to your shop wherever you are.

Buy out of date

If you’re happy to buy food that’s out of date, websites such as Approved Food and Food Bargains could be right up your street – particularly because they are likely to save you money.

Both of these websites sell short-dated and out-of-date food and drink, but fear not because they are still perfectly safe to consume. Any items that are out of date are past their ‘best before’ date and not the ‘use by’ date – so it’s simply a matter of quality.

That said, we conducted our own taste test at lovemoney.com and the majority of testers said they didn’t think the goods tasted any less fresh than they thought they should. So you may not even notice any difference in the quality anyway.

Although prices are cheaper than you'll find in the supermarket, bear in mind you will have to pay a delivery fee. Approved Food charges £5.25, providing the box weighs no more than 29kg, and Food Bargains charges £4.99 for the same weight. Deliveries take two to three working days. So if you’re happy to buy in bulk, this could be a great solution. But be warned that you probably won’t be able to do all of your shopping there.

Vegetable boxes

One thing that really seems to push up my grocery bill is the price of fruit and vegetables. If you buy a lot of fruit and veg, one way to reduce the expense (apart from growing your own) is to order a vegetable box online. Depending on how much of the healthy stuff you get through, this could be a great way to slice a few pounds off your bill.

Take a look at Riverford, for example, which offers mini veg boxes for £8.95 (suitable for 1-2 people), going up to a large veg box for £17.15 (suitable for four or more people). And the best bit is, delivery is FREE! The website also compares its veg box prices against online prices for the equivalent organic products from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, and so far Riverford has always come out cheaper by around 20%.

Abel & Cole is another option to consider. You can get a small veg box for £8.50, going up to a large one for £17.75. There is, however, a small delivery fee of 99p and you must spend at least £10.

There are plenty of other websites too including VegBox2u and Sunnyfields.

Amazon

Sadly I’m not such a big fan of this one. But it’s still worth considering. During the summer, Amazon launched a new food department offering around 22,000 items, including fresh produce, cupboard essentials and beverages. The idea is to buy these items in bulk so that you’ll save money.

However, personally I’m not so convinced. Even if the items themselves are cheaper, the main problem is the delivery fee. We found that on a basket of goods worth £33.54, the postage and packing charges came to an outrageous £24.66. Even with the Free Super Saver Delivery (three to five business days) option, the fee still came to £19.65. Ouch.

One way to get round this is to sign up for Amazon Prime which costs £49 a year. With this, you’ll get unlimited, free one day delivery on eligible Amazon purchases. However, the word ‘eligible’ is important. Not all items will be included, and as a result, the fees can still be high. So personally, I’m not convinced doing your grocery shop with Amazon is worth it.

That said, if you’re after more specialist items and products that are gluten and wheat-free, Amazon does have a good selection.  

Other great savings

Finally, shopping online is also likely to help save you money simply because you’re less likely to get tempted to add extra items into your trolley when you’re not strolling round the supermarket aisles!

Of course, if you have any further suggestions, please post them in the comments boxes below.

More: 10 foods that will save you a fortune | Avoid this sneaky supermarket rip-off