There’s absolutely no denying it rising grocery prices are having a huge impact. The Office For National Statistics reported food and drink products were up by an average of 6%. Some products like milk and pasta have increased by as much as 10% in recent months.
With costs set to rise even further throughout the year now is the time to start actively saving money on your food shopping.
Here are some simple tips that will help you combat rising grocery prices.
How To Save Money On Rising Grocery Costs
Track Your Spending
The best place to start if you want to save money on food shopping is to look at what you are actually spending. Tracking your spending gives you a clear view of areas where you can save money. This should be your number one priority when it comes to rising grocery prices.
Could you cut back on unnecessary snack purchases? Could you buy cheaper blocks of cheese and grate them yourself at home?
Taking a long, hard, and honest look at your grocery spending can be a useful tool when trying to save money.
Shop Your Home Before The Store
Check your pantry, fridges and freezers before you even think about visiting the grocery store. I can guarantee that you have at least a few things you can put together for a meal.
Once you have done this you can build a shopping list around what you already have.
Store Your Food Properly
Storing your food properly and being aware of use-by dates will not only save you from wasting food it will also save you money. How many times have you forgotten about the things at the bottom of the fridge?
I’ve added a few links below to some great resources on how you can store your food.
How To Store Fruit & Make It Last Longer
How To Keep Produce Fresher For Longer
Meal Plan
A meal plan is such a simple and basic way to save money on groceries. Having a detailed plan of breakfast, lunch, and dinner means that you always know exactly what to buy from the grocery store. There’s less temptation to overspend once you are in the store because you know exactly what you want to buy.
Using a meal plan also eliminates the stress of having to think on the spot about what you are going to feed the whole family.
Buy Foods That You Actually Want To Eat
Buying food for the person that you think you ought to be is the fastest way to waste money on groceries. Don’t always go for the cheaper options if it’s not something you are going to enjoy and therefore not eat. There’s a great saying that the most expensive food you buy is the food you throw away, think about that for a minute.
It’s much better to buy what you will actually enjoy eating than end up ordering an expensive takeaway because you can’t face eating what you already have.
Get Freezing
If you have the room then get freezing all of your leftovers. This will not only save you money but time too. A few times a month you can pull out all the frozen leftovers and enjoy them as a potluck dinner with the family.
It is quite surprising the number of different foods that can be safely frozen, here are some useful articles about it.
Foods You Can Freeze To Save Money
Order Groceries Online
If like me you find it hard to resist an impulse purchase then you could save money by shopping online either for delivery or free pickup. You can usually see the best value offers too that you might have missed in-store.
Some other simple tips that need no explanation are:
Bring a calculator.
Never shop when hungry.
Use coupons.
Get to know the supermarket layout.
Look at the high and low shelves, not the middle where the most expensive items are.
Swap branded for the store’s own brand.
Check the reduced section.
What would you add to this list? I would love to hear your tips and ideas for saving money on your food shopping.
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