How to Save Money When Buying Groceries
In just about every household the largest expense is that of food. And, with the rising food prices many are finding it harder and harder to manage to buy the same foods in the same quantities as they once did. The price rise in food in the past year was well above the official inflation rate at an average of 5.9%.
A family of four saw an increase in their food bill by about 20% in 2008 according to a comparison shopping website, www.mysupermarket.co.uk. In reaching this percentage, the website based its conclusions on a full cart of groceries that this size of family would buy for a week and included such staple foods as milk, vegetables and bread. There were no luxury items included in the purchase. The typical cost of groceries for a family of four currently runs at about £100 per week, which when totalled for a year adds up to more than £1000.
In spite of the rising cost of food there are ways in which you can cut down on your food bill and still eat a healthy diet. If you look at even one type of food product, you will see that there are many brand names and these are expensive. Own brands contain the same ingredients as the brand name products and are cheaper. You can consider switching to own products to save money.
Check out supermarketownbrandguide to compare the various brand name food items to the own brand. You will see how many different items vary in price, such as Aldi’s chocolate digestives at 48p per package compared to McVities at £1.30.
This price range difference does not apply to only food products. Many of the detergents and cleaners you use in your home are available in own brand products as well and can save you money. That being said, it is possible that there are some of the own brand products that you do not like and therefore will not purchase. But if you switch to only one or two and these are products that you frequently buy, you will realize significant savings.
When shopping for the basics in food, shop for the lowest price. This applies to staple products such as flour, sugar, oats and rice as a few examples. You will not notice any difference in the lower priced brands of these products than that of the higher priced ones. Pre-packaged goods are also more expensive. You can save money, for example, by buying your meats from the deli counter rather than the pre-packaged items in the cooler.
Some supermarkets have cheaper prices than others on just about all items. Shop the aisles of these stores to find the lowest price items that you usually buy and keep the brand name ones that you like best for shopping in the other locations. According to a recent survey, those who shop for food in budget supermarkets are more satisfied with their purchases than those who continue to shop in the more well-known stores.
Prices fluctuate on a daily basis so what you pay for an item today may be more or less than what you will pay tomorrow. It is of little use to compare prices today for planning your shopping later in the week. If you see an item at a bargain price, you should buy it right away. Some of the sale items are also subject to availability and when they are sold out, you can no longer get them for that price. The same items may also be sold for different prices in different stores. You do have to watch the weekly specials and compare prices of items from one store location to another.
While you may thing that two-for-one sales are great buys, in actual fact they are not. Most of the time you end up buying more than you want and then have to throw it out because it spoils before you can use it. In the case of meats, though, you can save money because you can freeze them.
Make a shopping list of what you need and stick to it. Going grocery shopping without a list is like letting a child loose in a candy store. Quite often you end up with several items that you do not want and sometimes you forget the items you really need to buy.
