Money expert Gemma Bird, known online as Money Mum, has shared four tips to help households cut the cost of their weekly food shop, including a simple swap that could save hundreds of pounds a year.
In a recent Instagram video, she compared the prices of 10 everyday items, including Weetabix, Rich Tea biscuits, ready salted crisps, tuna chunks, butter, crumpets, beans, tomato purée, oil and custard, opting for both branded and non-branded versions of each product.
Savings from switching brands
By choosing the cheaper versions in her recent shop, the total came to £17.09, compared with £31.66 for the branded products. "If you saved that per week, over the year that's a massive saving of £757.64," she noted.
Speaking to The Mirror about a previous shop, she said: "I talk about it all the time, I did 10 items and I think I saved £13.50 on 10 items switching from branded to non-branded when I did do that."
"Imagine that over 20 items, a week we probably buy like 50 to 100 items, right? So we're talking like it could go into the thousands just by switching branded to non-branded," she added.
Using scanners and sticking to lists
Gemma also advised shoppers to use supermarket scanners to keep track of spending as they shop. "Also use scanners in supermarkets, that's a really good one, because it physically shows you the amount and when you can see it, it does make you think, 'Do I need that?'" she said.
She recommended sticking to a list, giving the example of a Bolognese: "And try and stick to your list. So for example, if you're having a Bolognese, and you've got the carrots, you've got the mince, you just need the spaghetti, just buy the spaghetti, because you don't need 1,000 packets of spaghetti."
Leaving the basket behind
For her third tip, she suggested leaving the basket or trolley behind for those who struggle to stick to a budget. "If you're not good at sticking to a budget and you only need a couple of things and you are a grabber, don't pick up a basket, don't pick up a trolley," she shared.
"Go into that supermarket with just you, because you can only hold a certain amount of things," she added.
Checking multipack prices
Another tip from Gemma is to check the price of multipacks, as buying in bulk does not always mean getting the best deal. While shopping for Oreos, she noticed a double packet containing 56 biscuits was priced at £1.98 in Asda, while two single packets containing the same number of Oreos cost just £1.70.
Speaking to her Instagram followers, she said: "28p on 20 items over the week, over the year, [£291.20] is how much you'd save, so never think it's a small amount."
Alongside the video, she wrote: "We often think bigger pack it must be cheaper so we just pop it in the basket! But where they’re on offer it wasn’t. Now this wasn’t just on one double pack of biscuits, I found it on a couple of them so check, check, check."
"Look at the price tag then under the price your see the small print price (per gr) or it may say the price per biscuit etc That’s the true price," she added.
