With food prices rising daily and the average UK household grocery bill (for a two person household) reaching £61.50 per week it can feel like bit of a punch in the stomach when you reach the checkout at your local supermarket and see the final bill. Here’s how you can make your weekly shopping trip a little less costly.

Drop down a level

Do you buy the highest level brand? Drop down to the next level down. Are you buying supermarket own? Drop down to their low cost range. I once spoke to someone who worked for a large supermarket who told me that their low cost salmon is just the off cuts from the supermarket’s best range which made me think a lot about the what I’m paying for. I’m not prepared to pay extra for packaging, are you?

Use coupons

Don’t bin those free ad rags that come through your door, use them! They are often filled with money off coupons that will give you great savings at the till. Search online for the brands you like and see if there website has money off coupons that you can print out or even send to your mobile phone.

Timing

Most supermarket will reduce food close to expiration date. This food is often reduced to pennies and freezes well. Different supermarkets reduce at different times of the day so get to know what time your local supermarket reduces their food. Don’t be shy about asking, you won’t be the first person to ask.

Meal plan, research and focus

Before you make your trip check sites such as Mysupermarket.com (which claims to save up to 35% per shop) and individual supermarket websites to see where your shop will work out cheapest. Work out what’s on offer, make a meal plan and then your shopping list accordingly. Don’t be tempted by the fancy signs and displays, buy what you need to feed you and your family and get the hell outta there!

Buy in bulk and double up on deals

In general my top tip is to avoid BOGOF deals because they’re nothing more than a marketing trick designed purely for suckering you in but if you spot something that really, really can’t be passed up and feel the need to stock up why not team up with a friend? Recently a brand of washing powder that I like (which is rarely on sale) was reduced and my local supermarket it had 2 for 1 offer on top of the reduction. My friend and I clubbed together and bought ourselves a year worth of washing powder in one go at around 1/3 of the normal price.

Add it up

Okay, okay, you might feel a bit of a numpty doing it but if you use a calculator to add up the cost as you go around the store you’ll find you keep a tighter grip on the purse strings during your shop. Most phones have calculators ready installed so you don’t need to bust out that scientific calculator that you last used in you Maths GCSE.

What are your supermarket shopping tips?

{Photo: Jiunn Kang Too}