Since around November last year, I have become quite obsessed with the idea of "weeding out the unnecessary".
This obsession has seeped into pretty much every area of my life: I've got rid of a lot of my stuff; I think carefully about how I spend my time; and I have tried to shop less.
Not only has it made my home much more pleasant place to live, I feel more relaxed I have saved a SHEDLOAD of money. I'm not going to bore you with everything that I have done, we would probably be here forever, but seen as this blog is about food, I will talk about my food shopping. To be fair, it is probably one of the aspects of my "paring down" that I am most proud of. Not only do I save a lot of money, but we also waste a lot less.
Mr MFC and I used to spend around £250 on food a month. Now we spend about £125. These simple tips may come as common sense, but I thought I would share with you anyway:
Know how much things cost
I have done food shopping for myself for over six years, but only until very recently have I actually made a point of stopping to acknowledge how much things actually cost. When I did, I was shocked. It's amazing how marketing can dupe you. Large supermarket chains that constantly tell you they are good value for money, that they are the cheapest around (not naming any names) are actually probably the most expensive places to shop. I'd never realised, I just assumed that they were cheap because the billboards told me so.
Don't fall into that trap. Start to take note of how much things cost. Start with the basics, such as milk, bread, eggs etc and move onto stuff that you buy often. It's actually a lot easier than you think.
Take milk for example. I used to pay £1.29 for 4 pints of semi skimmed. Now I normally pay 79p for two litres (which is marginally less than two pints). While I used to be happy to shell out £1 for a loaf of bread, now I rarely pay more than 65p.
Even if the idea of learning the prices of every item on your grocery list seems daunting, just learning a couple of the key items on your list will give a pretty reliable guage for the pricing of the shop as a whole. Say for example I go into a shop that is selling milk for £1.50, I know to run a mile. And now, hopefully you do too :)
Shop around
Having said that, once you pay more and more attention to pricing, you will come to realise that you will rarely get the best deal on your entire grocery list all in one place. It's a pain, but one of the facts of life, I'm afraid. If you truly want to have a good value, varied store cupboard, you have to mix up where you shop.
I have my weekly shop, which is Lidl. I can find most of the stuff I need there at the cheapest price. However, there are some things that I simply can't get there or (gasp shock horror) I can get cheaper elsewhere.
Enter my monthly shop: Sainsburys.
I know what you are thinking: "how is Sainsburys cheaper than Lidl?!". Believe it or not, Sainburys is cheaper on a few items that I use often: spaghetti, tinned tomatoes, chicken to name but a few.
BUT neither shop gives me the variety or value for money that I demand for snacks such as cereal bars. Those I get from Poundland, which I pop into just as and when I need to stock up.
It just comes back to knowing what things cost. Over time, and comparing receipts, you too will realise that different shops offer value for money on different items, and stock different items too of varying quality, so vary where you shop to make sure your cupboard is always full of the food you love, no matter where it is from.
Be smart with offers
Offers are great, but be mindful of the fact that their sole purpose is to make you buy more than you intended. If you needed the item on offer anyway, then fantastic! Fill yer boots. But be careful will offers, especially those that include high end branded stuff, as it may end up costing you more than you intended to spend in the first place.
Plan ahead
You can instantly build up your immunity to these kind of offers, and other impulse buys, by going into the shop with a list. If you have a list to hand, you have a clear idea of what you need and are less likely to stray from the essentials.
How do you get a clear idea of what you need? By planning your meals, of course! I know I am not the first to say this, and I definitely won't be the last, but if you want to save money on food, one of the most effective things you can do is plan your meals.
By planning your meals, you can make sure you use all of your fresh produce before it goes off. You can also take stock of what you already have in your cupboard and create a meal plan to fit around it. Once you have all your meals planned, you can figure out what ingredients you will need to get. Nine times out of ten, you will need a lot less than you think.
There will also be a lot less nights where you will succumb to the takeaway, simply because you don't know what to have for dinner that night. The decision will already be made for you.
The freezer is your friend
If by some chance you do buy more fresh produce than you need, chances are you can freeze it. Sometimes I see vegetables on offer, so I stock up, go home, process it and freeze it. Frozen vegetables are great for plopping into soups or slow cooked stews.
Meat as well, which is notoriously expensive, can just be dipped into as and when you need it if you freeze it. I like to get the big packs of chilled chicken breasts, these offer the best value, and then split them into portion sizes with either freezer bags or cling film when I get home.
Don't go shopping unless you have to
You might find that with a freezer full of goodies and an organised meal plan, a week might roll around and you don't need to get anything. That's okay. It's odd that we have trained ourselves into doing a "weekly shop", but the reality is that if you don't need anything, there's no point in going! Don't go shopping just because it's in your schedule - go shopping only if you genuinely need to stock up.
What are your food money saving tips? Is there anything I've missed? Please let me know in the comments!
