Make Supermarket Shopping Pay You! by Val Harrison

A Personal Article in Allotment Growing

Make the Supermarket Pay You to Shop!

Despite growing nearly all our own vegetables, there's still a lot of things we need to buy from the shops. Being in to frugal living I've learned how to get the best possible deals from the supermarkets and save a lot of money

The rise in online shopping has benefited the supermarkets in that it is perfect for time poor, money rich people who just don't have the inclination to travel to a shopping centre and queue at checkouts.

I'm a bit of the opposite as I've more time than money and I enjoy the thrill of a bargain.

The best bargain I've ever had was at our local Sainsbury's. We arrived at the checkout with two large trolleys full of smoked salmon, organic beef, Stilton cheese and so forth only to be told that they owed us money and could we buy something else to the value of £3.59!

OK, how you can save money at the supermarket.

First you need to realise that supermarket offers run in cycles, usually 2 week cycles. Things will be on offer for the period and then off offer. Things tend to come around again in about 3 months. So plan ahead and stock up on the offer stocks. Much of what we buy isn't perishable and doesn't have a shelf life so buying a three month supply of half price toilet rolls means we have 13 weeks supply for the price of 7!

BOGOF - Buy One Get One Free offers are usually worth checking out. They are usually jointly subsidised by the supermarket and the manufacturer so they are worth keeping an eye out for.

Check carefully before you buy though, sometimes you can find it cheaper to buy a large pack than 2 smaller packs even though they are on offer. If you check the shelf label it often says, in the small print, the price per litre or whatever size measurement is appropriate.

If you're not great at mental arithmetic then take a calculator and don't be afraid to use it. With careful buying and thinking ahead I think you can literally save a third off your shopping bill.

Shop around. We're lucky in that we have 3 major supermarkets near to each other. If something is not on offer at one store it may well be on offer in another one. When you get a feel for their offer cycles you might decide to just wait until next week if it's not desperate.

Even if you are working full time you can make this system work for you. You might add an hour to your weekly shopping time by going to more than one supermarket but you are going to save more than an hour's wages. Unless you earn a packet, in which case you won't have read this far anyway!

Now for those of us with a bit more time, how to get food for next to nothing or even less than nothing. I'm serious, I've been paid to take smoked salmon out of the store, even better than skip diving!

The supermarkets find themselves stuck with food that is about to go out of it's shelf life so they reduce the price. I've had an organic chateaubriand (fillet steak joint) reduced from £25.00 to less than £5.00.

The trick here is to know when the shop will put the bargains out. This will vary from store to store and is often a couple of hours before closing time. Even fresh meat counters find they have overstocks and will reduce. I've negotiated with them. I'll take the lot if you halve the price has worked for me. Just make sure you always check the reduced shelf whenever you go into the store and you may find a surprise.

I had a regular hospital visit and called in to Morrisons around 3pm on a Thursday only to find it was a great bargain time. Why then? I've not a clue but it was regular in that branch. Always worth checking out if you're passing.

Make Sure it is a Bargain

What you do need to do is to ensure that the bargain is something you actually want and is going to be worth stocking up on. Look for 'Home Freezeable' on the label. If it is not suitable for home freezing then don't buy it - unless you will be able to eat it that day.

Money saving tip

Now, here is the clever thing and this works in some branches of Sainsbury but not in Tesco. Have the nerve to put things back or argue if it doesn't work. If something is on BOGOF then usually the system notes 2 items purchased and applies a credit to the full value of one item.

So you buy 2 packs reduced from £1.00 to 50p and the system deducts £1.00 at the checkout. Your cost is ZERO, NOTHING. Even better is when things have gone from £1.00 to 20p. You buy two and they deduct £1.00 so you paid 40p and they credit you with £1.00. Yes! They pay you to take their food home.

This has worked where they have two things for a set price. £2.50 each or two for £4.00 so they deduct a pound at the checkout. Now if they are reduced to say, £1.00 then you get the extra discount for buying two it makes the true price just 50p.

So, a bit of time and thought applied to your shopping can save you a lot more than you may have thought.

Val's Recipes

Val runs the recipe section of the website and is busy posting recipes for real food, pickles and chutneys onto it. These are the latest recipes to go online

Battered Stuffed Peppers Recipe

Recipe for Battered Stuffed Peppers.

Gazpacho Soup Recipe

Recipe for Gazpacho Soup - Serves 4 - No cooking at all.

Avocado Soup Recipe

Recipe for Avocado Soup - Serves 4 - No cooking whatsoever.

Chicken Stuffed Peppers Recipe

Recipe for Chicken Stuffed Peppers - Serves 4.

Sweetcorn & Potato Soup Recipe

Recipe for Sweetcorn and Potato Soup - Very filling.