Friday 5 October 2012

Special: Food for Thrifty Thought

Image from Google
So this is the food special.

Welcome.

Please sit back in your chair, preferably with a mug of tea (or coffee, but being quintessentially British, it's usually tea), and of course some biscuits, and relax.

So food shopping on a budget is always difficult. Theres countless tricks that the supermarkets and other food sellers use to trick you/ force you/coerce you into buying food you didn't need.
So when you get back and sort out your shopping you think 'Did I really put that in my trolley?'... and the answer is usually yes, unless you have children, or a person decided that you really really needed some Spam.
So Here are a few helpful tips the next time you feel like saving some money on food.

1. I think the first thing is to give yourself a budget for each week's food. (Or two weeks, depending how often you food shop.) So write up, or remember, how much you'd like to spend each week on food, and try to stick to it. I gave myself a budget of £10 per week for dinners for two people. I pretty much stuck to it, and we had some left over for the next week too! So, from experience, it can be done.
Also, only buying what you need is very helpful. Maybe making a list of what kinds of things you (and your family, partner, housemates) eat most weeks, and stick to that.

2. Price comparison guarantees. Supermarkets now offer money off your next shop if it was more expensive than at another supermarket. Which is great! The problem is it only compares on brands, and if you don't buy many brands, it won't make much difference. So it's worth looking at which own range is generally cheaper.

3. Supermarket's own ranges like Tesco Value, Smartprice and Essential Waitrose are always cheaper, and usually they taste just as good, but there are some things you just don't scimp on. Pasta tastes pretty much the same no matter what price it is. However I've found I just can scimp on tea bags.. or soup. Both taste bad on the cheap.
Freezer sections are always a good bet too, because you can use the same things for a few different meals each week.

Farmers Market, Image from Google

4. Poundland is NOT always cheaper. I've noticed that a can of Heinz Soup is smaller in Poundland, and the normal size is currently on offer at Adsa for 50p. I think you know which one is better value. If you have enough time (26 minutes) watch The Secrets of Poundland. Please.

5. If you're after fruit, vegetables, cheeses, meat and other groceries go to a market. Farmers markets happen at least once a week in many towns and cities in the UK. Please utilise them. They offer a good price on quality produce, with the added benefit of it being local, so you support local economy. Bonus!

So I hope these tips have helped you in terms of food, and here, as usual, are some useful websites related to saving on food shopping:
http://www.localfoods.org.uk/
Local Food Advisor - Bloggers, Markets
Saving Money on your food bills
Lovemoney.com

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