Meal Planning
I write a meal plan for the week ahead and this helps me plan what needs to be purchased from the supermarket. Before I settle down to do this, I check out the contents of the fridge and ensure that anything needing to be used up is either incorporated into the meal plan, or is frozen. I can't bear to waste food by throwing things away! I also check out what I have in the freezer so that I can include what's in there. I only have a small under-counter three-drawer freezer, so I have to practice strict freezer stock management!
I usually write my meal plan for the Friday to the following Thursday and use this to help me write my shopping list.
Writing a Shopping List
I have a list based on my meal plan for the week and I have a list for things that I have run out of and need to be bought next time. I never go into the supermarket unless I am armed with a list - and I try to avoid impulse buying!
Searching out Yellow Stickers
If I need just a couple of items I tend to pop into our local Tesco Metro for these - and I usually try to time this visit for between 6pm and 7pm, when all the short-dated items are greatly reduced in order to clear them. Sometimes I can pick up some really good yellow sticker bargains and incorporate them into my plan for the week ahead.
Using Vouchers and Coupons
I cut out coupons and vouchers from free magazines and leaflets and keep these in my "Shopping" file. I also use Tesco Clubcard vouchers and recently Tesco have been issuing a lot of till receipt vouchers too. When I write my list for the week ahead, I check my vouchers to see if I have something relevant and I'll use that on my next shop. For example, I had a coupon for 35p off Hellmans mayonnaise. This week jars of Hellmans are half price in Tesco; so £1.39, with a 35p coupon, made this a good deal.
Taking Advantage of Offers
If there's a multibuy or half price offer on something we use regularly, I will stock up on this whilst the offer is on. For example, Branston beans were on a really good offer (£1 for 4 tins) in Asda recently, so I stocked up on them.
Supermarket Delivery
At the moment (being 8 and a half months pregnant!) I am getting my shopping delivered to save me pushing a trolley around the supermarket. I'm using Sainsburys as I received a special introductory offer of 3 shops delivered for free. But I'm registered with Asda and Tesco too, and I tend to use whichever one I can get a free delivery code for. Failing that, I'll get my shopping delivered at the cheapest possible delivery slot for that week.
Getting shopping delivered is also saving me on impulse buys!
Shopping Around
I'm pretty flexible and take my money where the best deals are. I usually head to Aldi for all my fresh fruit and vegetables, and take advantage of their "Super 6" offers. This ensures we are getting a variety of different fruits and vegetables in our diet but also means we are getting a great price (usually 39p or 69p) for them. I also check out the latest offers on the My Supermarket website to see what the big supermarkets are offering.
Going Value
Most of the time I avoid the big brands and stick to the value and basics ranges in the supermarkets. For the most part there's no difference in the quality or taste, and when you're cooking from scratch there's really no difference in a tin of tomatoes for example. Yes, you could pay more for a fancy tin with the garlic and herbs already added - or you could add these at home yourself and pick up a basics tin for much cheaper.
My "Big Shop"
At the moment my "Big Shop" is delivered fortnightly and anything in between is a "top-up" shop. This is working really well for us as it gives us the right amount of fresh items such as yogurts, ham etc for lunches, meaning the "top-ups" are kept to a minimum - mostly for bread and milk.
It sounds like a time-consuming process but it isn't really - I'm well into these habits now and I find it comes as second nature. All these steps save me a fortune on impulse buying and food waste!
Do you have any tips to share?
Best Wishes
Debbie
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