We’re just coming to the end of No Spend January and have managed to spend only £89 on food (so far) for our family of 4. I’ve been speaking to a few people this month about our food shopping spending and people are often shocked at how little we spend. Especially during the cost of living crisis when a lot of prices have hiked. This month we’ve had to buy gluten and lactose free products so it’s been a little more difficult to keep costs down. I wanted to put together a few little tips with ways to save money on your food shop.
Meal Plan
Make a meal plan based on the foods you already have in the fridge/freezer/cupboards. And stick to it! I look in our cupboards, see an ingredient that’s going to go out of date, and base a meal on that product. This week I know I’ve got some wraps in the freezer and a rogue tin of black beans in the cupboard so I’m going to make some cheesy bean wraps. I also have loads of different pastas, tuna and sweetcorn so will make a tuna pasta with a few other extras thrown in such as pepper and spinach. The only food that gets wasted at ours is the peels of vegetables. And even that I hate wasting.
I bought this meal planner that so many of you have bought since seeing it on my Instagram. It’s magnetic so I have it on the fridge and always know exactly what I’m cooking. No more “what shall we have to eat”. I often do a 2 week meal plan. By meal planning you can go shopping with a list of the foods you know you’re going to use. Without purchasing things you already have in your cupboards.
I have a list on my phone of our go-to meals so I refer to this when doing a meal plan. I try and make a new meal/recipe at least once a fortnight and I’ll add it to my list if the whole family enjoys it. Meals are often easy, cheap and cheerful. Unless I’m feeling inventive one day or have a bit of extra time.
Don’t Buy Brands
Brands may sometimes be the better deal, or unbranded items aren’t available, so I’m not saying never buy brands – but where they are, please make the effort to buy them. Even if you’ve got to try a few supermarket own brands to find one that compares first. You can save soooo much this way and it’s such an easy switch to make. Unbranded items are often half the price, if not less so you can cut a food shop in half just this way.
Shop AT Multiple Places
If you have more than one supermarket accessible to you then it’s worth shopping at a couple of different places to get the best deals. If there’s a specific product you need or tend to buy a lot of (in our case Quorn products) then find where this is on offer and stock up there. Quorn is currently 3 for 2 at Sainsbury’s, so I saved £2.95 just on 3 products and means that the lasagne I made yesterday was basically free.
Use Storecards/apps
We shop at Lidl and use the Lidl Plus app to save money on our food shop each month. This gives free products, money off vouchers and even 10% off your whole shop depending how much you spend each month. They do extra games with prizes and one month we got a free fruit item every single day. Another month this was a free bakery item.
You can also use cashback cards, and everyday baking offers. I bank with Lloyds who have “Everyday Offers” and sometimes have 5/10% discount codes for supermarkets on there. It’s always worth checking.
Freeze Foods
I look through our cupboards/fridge each Sunday and freeze anything that is about to go off (such as bread, vegetables (prepared) and meat). I often make soups with vegetables, and the soups can be frozen too. You’ll be amazing what can actually be frozen when you read the packets.
Batch Cook
This isn’t something I do much of personally but I will make extra pasta for example when I’m doing a pasta dish and freeze a few portions of plain pasta. I always take a (kids size) portion or two out of meals like a lasagne or cottage pie to before eating to freeze. I like to have around 4 or 5 meals in the freezer to grab for Arthur and Rupert on days that we’re not eating as a family.
Don’t Go Food Shopping Hungry
It may seem obvious, or silly, but going shopping hungry causes you to buy more. Have a snack, or at least a glass of water before shopping so you don’t buy things unnecessarily. Also, go shopping on your own if you can, when I take my partner and kids we end up spending loads more!
Save on Reduced Items
I buy a lot of “yellow stickered” items, I can’t remember the last time I bought bread full priced, as well as meat products. Buy a few loaves of bread at a time and freeze them, the same with meats and sausages. We’ve needed to buy gluten free bread this month so have been buying a few at a time when they’ve been reduced at Tesco. It’s worth finding out the times supermarkets are reducing their products as you can get some good deals this way. Lidl also do a £1.50 fruit and veg box which we make the most of.
Eat More Vegetarian Meals
I’m Vegetarian, I’m not going to try and push it on anyone, buuuuuut it is cheaper. Sam eats meat, so do the boys but as a family a lot of our meals are vegetarian. Unless you’re buying meat products reduced, this can add quite a bit to your food shop. I’d suggest changing 1 or 2 meals a week to Vegetarian and seeing how much you save.
Save On Cleaning Products
My monthly spend includes things like cleaning products, nappies, wipes, bin bags etc etc. Which for some reason aren’t included in people’s shopping budgets. Are there ways you can switch to save money? We use Lidl washing powder which costs us £3.60 every couple of months, fabric conditioner is similar. We use one bin bag a week, sometimes not even that, as we recycle as much as we possibly can. I do buy Fairy washing up liquid, I know this goes against “don’t buy brands” but I can’t find a washing up liquid that you don’t end up using 3x the amount of.
I do receipt audits for friends/family and I’d be happy to do a few for my readers if anyone is interested? Send me an email to ami@thisbristolmum.com with a copy of your weeks’ food shopping receipt and I’ll try and find a few ways to save money on your food shop. I really hope this post has been helpful in giving you a few pointers.
