Did you know that on average you’ll spend around a fifth of your entire budget on food every year? Here are a few tips to keep your shopping expenses down.
1. Don’t shop hungry
The most obvious tip, and probably the most common mistake made: don’t shop hungry. Doing your food shop on an empty stomach can add up to 17% onto your final bill.
2.Use a basket instead of a trolley
Using a basket will force you to think more carefully about what exactly you’re picking up.
3. Make a list
Planning ahead is important when you’re trying to keep an eye on your diet and avoid overspending; take 10 minutes before you go out to plan your meals for the coming week and make a list of ingredients.
4. Overcome the power of brands
Branded products are often aesthetically pleasing packaging disguising small portions – check out the ingredients and compare with the supermarket’s own brand to see the difference. Sometimes it pays to spend more, but the majority of the time you’re just paying for the packaging.
5. Pay with cash
Debit/credit cards and more recently contactless payment have made settling the bill significantly easier, but this convenience comes at a cost. Exchanging a physical object like notes or coins for your shopping triggers a small pain response in your brain; you experience a sense of loss and this goes a long way towards ensuring you don’t overspend in the long run.
6. Supermarket tricks
Supermarket profit margins are extremely narrow; they’ll employ any number of tactics to push up that final number at the till. Your best defense is to be attentive and stick to your plan from beginning to end. Here are some tricks you may or may not have noticed before:
- Piling dozens of unhealthy treats around the till to tempt you.
- The smell of fresh bread is blasted at entrances to make you feel hungry, even when none has actually been baked that day.
- Seasonal aisles placed tactically at the front of the store.
7. Use the market on Campus/ head to the greengrocer
Whilst it may be convenient to get everything in one place, you can save a lot of money by shopping around for fresh, local produce such as fruit and vegetables. They’re often cheaper when bought at a market, and you will find a larger number of offers and deals (especially towards the end of the day!)
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