Tips to Help People Cut down Their Food Shop Cost
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What tips would you give to someone who wants to cut down the cost of their food shop?
Mine would be to order online and work from a list, you'll be less tempted to impulse buy.
Always factor in fuel costs, its amazing how the £s add up if you are making frequent trips to different supermarkets to get different items. Try to do one main shop a week or less. You haven't saved money if you've spent 3x as much on fuel as you needed to. Obviously you need to work out what the car costs you. I guess a gallon of petrol is not far of £7 now so if you had a car that does 23mpg in urban/congested traffic that is about 30p a mile but they used to say double it for wear and tear elsewhere on the car but not sure that still applies. If its a 10 mile roundtrip that's £3 maybe £5 or more allowing for wear and tear etc. People need to think about fuel costs more I think as many people I've met seem to overlook them and seem to spend a lot at the pumps. I realise some of these people will never walk anywhere. If the corner shop is more than 3 houses away they would probably drive there.
I was always amazed when I watched a gig economy food courier on youtube who collected the order from a takeaway and didn't even get on his bike as the house was only a minute up the road to deliver the food to. The person could have saved £2-3 by just walking down the road for about a minute.
BonzoBanana the food courier could have been delivering to someone who was disabled or not able to move due to an injury? But most probably the person was incredibly lazy!
snoogans888 I think in the video the person came to the door but they always blur the face of the customer as they are not meant to be shown. Of course the person could still have health problems not obvious. I'm pretty lazy myself so not judgemental and I do love a takeaway occasionally however I feel with the takeaway so close I certainly wouldn't have paid for delivery.
Don’t go shopping hungry!
A list is a good idea as well
Meal planning before shopping
Shop in the evening to catch the reductions
Always check you food stores at home before going and use the supermarket checker from latest deals ...my family shops in lots of different shops and we bulk but then share my mother gets amazing deals at the Chinese supermarket then shares with us all I use Amazon's prime and get great deals on s&s I tell them about them on what's app then order more and share it they want it
I use a saver slot for online shopping but it still costs more than I would spend on petrol. Also I am more likely to impulse buy in store than online.
SamGoodship no, not necessarily. The cheapest are usually round 7-11am or 3 -7pm. This is from Sainsburys, they offer a 4 hour slot which is fine now I am retired but they do text on the day and narrow it down to 1 hour.
Use Amazon Subscribe & Save, but ruthlessly. They price match all the supermarket deals, then add another 5% or 15% off, and deliver it to your door every month. Remember to cancel all the deals, rinse, and repeat. Set up an alert on here for "amazon"...
Zcaprd7 I have done this for years but at christmas they sent it from amazon via royal mail. 2 weeks later I had to pick up 30kg on cat food plus 36ltrs of water and some other bits. They said were too heavy to deliver. So we're sat in royal mail office as undeliverable
Make a list and stick to it, and something that is going to initially sound silly, Don't go to multiple shops stick with just one store, as the more shops you go into the more likely you are to pick up random items or be tempted by those so called offers and bargains for items that you didn't set out to buy.
Mango4 I disagree, if amazon subscribe & save is doing the heavy lifting (see above) then you are free to pop into shops and just get their deals on any fresh stuff. To be fair I normally use an online shop with whoever has a voucher that week (Iceland is my ultimate online backstop, as you can top up the Iceland card and get 5% off, and they have free next day delivery).
I write a list and only buy what is on that list unless there is an orange sticker item that I can use. Buy orange/yellow stickers and freeze where you can. Buy lentils/split peas and bulk out your meat. You can buy a large pack of mince and get 2 extra meals by adding lentils. Always check what you have in your cupboards/freezer before you go shopping.
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