How To Spend Less On Groceries

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With the cost of living crisis meaning families have less money than ever before you might be wondering how you can spend less on groceries.

How To Spend Less On Groceries

The first thing I would recommend doing when trying to spend less on groceries is an inventory of what you already have. Go through your cupboards, fridge and freezer and make a list of everything you have and how many meals you can make with what you’ve got.

Do the same for toiletries and sundries.

Try not to buy anything that isn’t essential until you actually need it (unless it’s on a really good offer and you’ll be saving money in the long run).

If you like using budget envelopes, putting the money in a separate envelope can really help you keep track of what you’re spending and what you have left for the rest of the month. You can find out how I write my weekly shopping list in this post. 

How Much Should I Budget For Groceries?

How much you need to budget for groceries will depend on a lot of factors including how many people there are in your household and how many meals you need to buy each week.

While you might be tempted to try to cut your food bill in half, it is unlikely this will be sustainable in the long run. It’s easy to then end up overspending and feeling like you’ve failed.

A much better approach is to cut back gradually, reducing your spending by £10 or £20 until you find an amount you are happier with but that also leaves a little bit of wriggle room for any occasional extras you might need.

Which Is The Cheapest Supermarket For Groceries?

According to Which? Lidl has been the cheapest supermarket for the majority of this year so far (2022) and was only beaten by Aldi in June. Asda is the cheapest traditional supermarket.

Shopping at the cheapest supermarket is one way to save money on groceries, but there are other things to consider. It’s all very well Lidl being the cheapest, but if you have to travel 40 minutes to get to one, you’re probably going to lose all of those savings on fuel or bus fare.

Knowing how to save money on groceries no matter which supermarket you shop at is a much better way to go.

This is something I’ve written about a lot, so if you want ways to save at a specific supermarket, take a look at these posts:

Saving Money on Sainsbury’s Groceries

Could you Save Even More at Lidl and Aldi?

Save on Groceries at Waitrose and M&S

6 reasons Co-op is My Favourite Supermarket

How To Spend Less On Groceries: Shopping Online Vs Shopping In-Store – Which Is Cheaper?

You might be wondering whether it’s better to shop online or in-store when it comes to saving money on grocery shopping. The first thing to remember is that the U.Ks two cheapest supermarkets, Lidl and Aldi don’t offer an online food shopping service.

But what about the rest?

Here are some quick reasons it might be better to shop instore:

• Easy to see the availability of all items including special offers.
• Can check the quality and dates of fresh produce.
• You can shop for yellow sticker items.
• Use coupons for a discount on some items or your whole shop.
• Many cheap own brand/value items are not available online (although supermarkets are said to be working on this because of the cost of living crisis)

Of course, there are downsides to shopping in-store too. You may not have transport or you might be prone to impulse buying. And grocery shopping with children in tow can be tough.

Here are some quick reasons it might be better to shop online: 

• Easy to budget and see how much you’ve spent before checking out.
• Many stores have a first online shop incentive (eg Ocado currently has £20 off your first shop)
• Great for convenience and saving time.
• Stops impulse purchases.

Downsides of shopping online include delivery charges, strange substitutions, fresh produce being short-dated or not in great condition and not being able to use coupons.

Overall, I think both shopping online and shopping instore have their merits for saving money and logistically, you need to do what’s best for you.

How To Compare Prices On Groceries

There are several websites that allow you to compare prices on your groceries. This can be handy if you want to compare offers or have several supermarkets nearby and you’re not sure which will be the cheapest for the items you’d usually buy.

It’s worth noting these sites don’t usually include Lidl (who, according to Which? are usually the cheapest supermarket) and offers online might be different to those available instore.

Trolley.co.uk

Priceable.co.uk

MySupermarketComapre.co.uk

MySupermarkets.uk

How To Spend Less On Food Shopping

Budget Food Shopping: Coupon Cutting

Coupons can be a great way to save money on the weekly shop, but you might be wondering where to find them and how much they could really save you.

There are also lots of different types of coupons.

Till Spit Coupon – These are the coupons you get when paying for your shopping, very common in Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

Conditional Spend Coupon – This coupon will have a minimum spend and is usually specific to one supermarket eg. get £5 off a £40 shop.

Newspaper Coupons – These are found in newspapers, sometimes free and sometimes paid. The most common example is the £10 off £40 Lidl shop voucher, which is the Metro (free) and other newspapers such as the Mail on Sunday a couple of times each year.

Free Magazine Coupons – Many supermarkets, including Tesco and Asda, produce a free magazine which you can usually grab at the tills when paying for your shopping. These sometimes have coupons so it’s always worth grabbing a couple to double your savings.

Brand Coupons – These are coupons that come directly from the brand. The advantage here is they can usually be used at any supermarket. You might find these in magazines and newspapers, at trade shows, or you might be given them if you write to a brand to compliment or complain about them.

Where Can I  Find Coupons For Money Off Food?

Once you start looking for them you might be surprised how often you find money off coupons. Sometimes they can be found on food packaging, on Facebook, and on leaflets, you get through the door.

There are also places online you can find vouchers to print at home.

FarmFoods

Super Savvy Me

Caring Everyday

Money Saving Grocery Apps

There are several mobile phone apps available that can help you spend less on groceries.

Simply buy the product listed then upload a photo of the receipt for a partial or full refund on what you have bought. This is great for stocking up on items at half price or less and it’s a bit like a coupon except you apply it after your shop rather than before.

Remember to ensure that you buy the item from the correct supermarket and that you grab the correct size and flavour. Some apps have a barcode scanner that allows you to check you’ve got the correct product before buying.

The CheckoutSmart App

Checkoutsmart is one of my favourite grocery shopping apps as it seems to have the most offers and is the easiest to use.

I have recently had the following items FREE from this app; baby food, crisps, yoghurts, dessert pots, cider, sugar and spices.

Find Checkoutsmart here and download the app.

Clicksnap App 

I also use Clicksnap which is linked to the cashback site Quidco. The offers on this app are usually the same as on Checkoutsmart but it does mean you can get double the freebies. The only downside is that you’ll need a separate receipt for each app.

You can sign up to Quidco here.

Topcashback App

The Topcashback app used to have weekly offers for savings on your shopping, but that’s no longer something they do. However, they will occasionally have offers such as £2 off a supermarket shop or a free box of chocolates.

There are also seasonal offers such as a free pumpkin at Halloween or a free Easter Egg at Easter.

Sign up to Topcashback here.

Save Money On Food With Shopmium

Shopmium works in the same way as the other apps listed above and you can use my code KMFUKCCQ for a free tube of Pringles when you sign up (registration must be via the app and not the website) Shopmium pay refunds their payments via Paypal.

GreenJinn Grocery Shopping App

I feel like GreenJinn has really upped their game in the last year or so, with lots more offers across many more supermarkets. They also tend to have more healthy foods and vegan food than the other apps. Once your receipts have been checked, you need to request payment, the minimum for which is £1.50.

As well as using the apps for reducing our spending on groceries, they are also great for picking up items that can be used as gifts or that could also be passed on to charities or food banks.

I love picking up items I can stash away for  Christmas, such as free chocolate from Shopmium or ciders from CheckoutSmart.

If you’d like to know more about the individual cashback apps and how they work, take a look at some of the posts below.

• Free Food Apps
• Checkoutsmart Review
• Shopmium Review
• GreenJinn Review
• Coupon Shop: 12 Boxes of Cereal for £4.80+ Free Bananas

Save Money With Supermarkets Own Apps

As well to the apps above which tend to have offers or a range of supermarkets, you can also download apps for each individual supermarket.

For example, the Lidl Plus App has a range of money-off coupons you can activate and also doubles up as a loyalty card that gets you money off the more you shop. So if you spend £200 over the course of a month, you get £10 off your next shop.

There is also the Nectar app for Sainsbury’s which lets you activate in-store offers and Nectar point bonuses.

How To Spend Less On Groceries Without Coupons

So, while cashback and coupons can be a great way to spend less on groceries, they aren’t the only way to save money on the weekly shop.

Find The Best Yellow Stickers

Shopping from the reduced shelf is the biggest way I spend less on groceries, get my shopping bills down and save money on my weekly shopping.

I love buying yellow stickers!

I find the best time of day for reductions is usually about an hour before store closing time.

If you’re unable to leave the house this time, you could also try shopping around 3 pm on a Sunday afternoon. I’ve recently found meat and fruit reduced by 75% at 9am in Morrisons, so there are bargains to be had no matter what time of day you shop.

• The Best Time of Day for Yellow Sticker Bargains
• 10 Misconceptions about buying Yellow Sticker Food
• Reduced Food and why you should be buying it
• The Difference Between Best Before and Use By
• 10 Things To Do With A Reduced Food Haul
• M&S Yellow Sticker Haul
• Does Reduced Food Go Off Quicker?

Yellow stickers aren’t just on fresh produce either. You might find yellow stickers elsewhere in the store when packaging is being changed or a product is end of line.

You can also find frozen reductions, usually after Christmas or at the end of summer when supermarkets are trying to get rid of seasonal stock.

Buying Wonky Fruit and Vegetables

Buying wonky fruit and vegetables is a great way to save money on fresh produce. Wonky veg might not look perfect or all be the same size but as it’s often used in soups or stews or smoothies it doesn’t really matter.

It’s also much better for the environment as it stops imperfect food from going to waste.

Personally, I think Morrisons has a great wonky range, especially as it includes wonky avocados!

However, the absolute best offering when it’s come to wonky fruit and veg is the Lidl £1.50  veg box which contains up to 5kg of fruit and vegetables that are either wonky or close to being past their best.

You’ll find the £1.50Lidl veg boxes just after the tills (this is so extra veg can’t be added to them as you shop) so check if there are any there while packing your bags and ask the cashier to add it to your bill.

Meal Planning Using Weekly Offers

I’ve found that meal planning is one of the best ways to save money on groceries. It ensures that I use any leftover bits from the previous week and means I don’t fall into a trap of ‘I don’t know what to cook tonight, let’s get a takeaway!’ as there’s a list of pre-planned meals to choose from.

One thing I always do before we go shopping is checking to see what special offers are on that week. This means I can meal plan around the cheapest meat and vegetables and then supplement that with yellow stickers and items from the value ranges.

As we shop at Lidl, I use the Lidl plus app for this, but as most supermarkets have a website with their prices it’s pretty easy to check, although do be aware online and instore offers don’t always quite match up.

You may also get leaflets from your local stores showing you what’s on offer and you can follow supermarkets on social media where they often post deals of the week.

Go Meat Free (Just Not On A Monday!)

Reducing meat consumption is a great way to reduce grocery spending. You could cut meat out of your meals for two or three nights a week, or use half the amount and make up the difference with pulses or vegetables.

Also, meat-free doesn’t have to be on a Monday. In fact, Monday is the best day of the week to use up any leftover meat from your Sunday roast!

Switch To Frozen

There can sometimes be a bit of snobbery when it comes to frozen food but as it’s frozen as soon as it’s picked, it can be just as nutritional as fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s also much cheaper and as it’s frozen there is likely to be less wastage.

The co-op have a regular frozen meal deal which is great value, usually around £12 for a fiver!

Buy Cheaper Cuts of Meat

There are some cheaper cuts of meat that do really well cooked low and slow in the slow cooker. They are often cheaper too and using the slow cooker is more energy efficient, so this saves money all around.

Best Cheap Slow Cooker Cuts of Meat

• Oxtail
• Beef Shin
• Brisket
• lamb neck

You can also buy large packs of cooking bacon which are perfect for use in quiches, pasta dishes etc.

Reduce Food Waste

Spend Less On Groceries: Finding food for free

Who said there’s no such thing as a free lunch? There are loads of places to find food for free which could help reduce the cost of your groceries.

Foraging for Food

Foraging, especially for fruits such as blackberries and apples could save you money. The best time of year for this is, of course, Autumn. See my full guide to foraging here.

Freecycle / Facebook Marketplace

I find people are often giving away homegrown fruit and vegetables they have an over-abundance of, especially towards the end of summer.

Free Samples

Lots of companies give away free samples of stuff, try googling ‘free sample of …’ or write to companies whose food you love, they will often send samples or coupons back to you.

You can also ask Alexa to ‘Send me a sample’.

Get Food For Free With Olio

Olio is an app that puts you in touch with people locally who are giving away food, for example, if they are going on holiday and not going to eat it.

I really hope this post can help you reduce your grocery spending and save some cash, especially as inflation continues to rise.

More Grocery Shopping Content:

The cost of groceries continues to skyrocket, with items seemingly increasing in price week on week. These guides cover lots of tips for reducing costs.

• Save Money On Groceries: 40 Frugal Food Hacks
• Spend Less on Groceries For Vegans
• How To Spend Less On Groceries
• How To Start Meal Planning And Save Money
• 9 Grocery Delivery Hacks To Save Money
• Saving Money On Your Online Food Shop
• Beat Rising Food Costs: 10 Awesome Tips
• How I Find Cheap Food Every Week
• How I Write My Weekly Shopping List To Save Money
• How To Reduce the Cost of Your Weekly Shop
• 11 Easy Ways to Save Money on Food

Looking for more ways to cut costs? Take a look at my Money Saving Hub where I’ve brought together all of my best tips, tricks and guides to help you spend less and save more.

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