Food shopping right now is seriously expensive business. In fact, research firm Kantar found households were paying £811 a year more on their grocery shop in February than they were a year ago.
And the sad news is prices aren’t expected to drop anytime soon, either.
If you’ve got multiple kids, chances are you’re feeling the pinch even more right now – especially as we all know just how much children eat.
Between the endless snacking and huge portions they can easily put away at every meal, it can feel like you need to restock the fridge every few days – let alone weekly.
If you feel like you need some help with making your food shop go further, you might want to take a leaf out of this mum’s book.
TikTok creator Rebekah Moyer (@ebbymoyer), who is one of seven kids, interviewed her mother about the ways she shopped frugally over the years.
Her mum told viewers she offered this advice to her son when he went to university, recalling how he and his housemates would throw in £5 each for the weekly shop and then utilise the following tips.
“You want [to buy] carrots, onions, potatoes, celery, cabbage and tinned tomatoes,” she said in the video which has had 6.3m views.
“So you start with those things – and of course it’s helpful to have your dry goods in your pantry so you can just use them, you know your basics like beans, lentils, rice, quinoa, oats.”
But perhaps her biggest and most surprising secret for sticking to a tight budget is that she wouldn’t meal plan.
Instead, she would get her staples (as listed above) and then would go to the supermarket and see what was on sale in terms of meat, fruit and vegetables.
We’re all familiar with the clearance section where food is often covered with a yellow sticker revealing a cheaper price.
Products usually get placed here if they’re approaching their use-by date, the packaging is damaged or the food line has been discontinued.
Shops tend to label items with a yellow sticker first thing in the morning, after lunch (around 1pm) and then just before closing time (3-5pm), according to The Sun.
The later in the day it is, the bigger the discount usually is. Sometimes you can get up to 75% off.
Moyer’s mother added you might want to also stock up on “the basics” like olive oil, plain yoghurt, honey, tuna, tinned beans and apple cider vinegar – and she urged people not to buy salad dressing, as you can easily make your own at home for cheaper.
Where you shop can also make a huge difference. As of April 2023, Aldi was the cheapest supermarket to buy food from, with a basket of 39 items costing £69.99 on average, closely followed by Lidl, whose basket totted up to £70.64, according to price comparison data from Which?.
Sainsbury’s was third cheapest, followed by Asda, Tesco and Morrisons.