Since starting to pay off our debt, I have worked on cutting the cost of our groceries gradually, which has really helped us to free up some money extra debt repayments. We wanted to cut down on the cost of groceries without going down the route of living off processed food, so it was key to find ways to pay less for the food we already ate.
My grocery pattern is one large monthly online shop (costing roughly £75), topped up by a weekly shop to buy fresh produce (costing roughly £40 each week). Today I’m going to focus on my tips for cutting down the cost of your online shopping by giving a step-by-step guide of how I completed my last monthly online shop.
1.Use MySupermarket.co.uk– My Saving- £20
Instead of going straight to the retailer’s website to start shopping, use MySupermarket.co.uk first. This website collates all of the offers available from all of the large retailers.
Using this information as a base, you can start to plan your meals, incorporating the best offers to ensure you are maximising your savings. Make sure to check pricing first, then plan your meals/food, not the other way around.
If you follow me on Instagram, hopefully you will have checked out my stories where I show how I meal prep one recipe in bulk at a time. I never pay more than about £10 for the ingredients as part of each bulk meal I make, and I would easily get 15 to 20 portions from each meal prep session. Therefore, when deciding what meals to prep, using this website as a base allows you not only to save by cooking in bulk but also keeping your initial costs really low. I have found that it really saves to be flexible about the products you buy, for example, when I’m meal prepping with chicken breasts but there is a good offer on whole chickens, I’ll buy them and make it work.
You can also use the website to find out where your shopping is cheapest, look for ‘Top Offers’ across all supermarkets to find the best deals and get cashback on products.
Remember to also check cashback apps such as Shopmium, Checkout Smart and Green Jinn for any offers that you’d like to use, which you can redeem after purchase. You can find my blog post giving you the rundown on cashback apps here. Build these offers into your shopping in advance.
MySupermarket.co.uk showed that Sainsburys was the cheapest retailer for my shopping (usually they are on the expensive side, but remember that my shopping included a lot of their specific deals), so the initial cost of my shopping was £76 and this reduced to £56 after discounts were applied.
2. Loyalty/Promotional Codes- My Saving- £7.50
Use any other vouchers available, which are issued via loyalty cards/on voucher websites. At the minute, I have Tesco Clubcard vouchers, Sainsburys vouchers and Nectar points that can be used. If you are a new customer, always make sure you use a voucher where it applies- you can get a great discount when you initially start shopping with a new retailer.
If you are an existing customer, make sure to plan your shopping around these vouchers where you can, as you can save a small fortune by tweaking your shopping dates to ensure you qualify for a voucher.
The Sainsburys voucher I used in this case was one they sent me in the post for £7.50 off £50. This reduced my total to £48.50.
3. Get What You Pay For- My Saving- £11.20
When your shopping is delivered, make sure it includes all of the items you’ve requested, and the dates are correct. For example, because I meal prep, I need to make sure that all of my ingredients are in date on the day I prep. If the retailer sends you goods that expire before the date indicated on the website, ensure to let them know that they need to refund you. This voucher then goes towards your next shop.
This isn’t something I had done before we started paying off our debt but I’m now a lot more willing to complain if the supermarket doesn’t deliver the service they promised.
Sainsburys had given us a voucher for £11.20 from our last month’s shopping because they sent us meat with a ‘use by’ date that was earlier than stated on the website, meaning I had to rush to meal prep and freeze it before it expired. Their website allows you to stack vouchers, i.e. apply multiple discounts, so I used this, bringing my total down to £37.30.
4. Cashback Apps- My Saving- £7.80
When my shopping was delivered, I used cashback apps to request cash back on products that I bought that qualified. This reduced my total to £29.50.
So there you have it- £76 monthly shop for £29.90. It does pay to do your research, be flexible with regards to offers and delivery dates and ensure you follow up if something isn’t right, as this will affect the cost of your next shop. Even utilising one of the steps above guarantees that you will save some money, so do what works for you.
Happy shopping!
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