Cost of living: 10 essential tips to stretch your cash in the supermarket

The team at netvouchercodes.uk have explored different ways to save cash doing the weekly shop.

Here are 10 tips to help stretch the food shopping cash further:

Yellow stickers

One of the most sought-after items in supermarkets, reduced labels shine as bright as the sun for some shoppers, with people queuing up for hours to find special discounted food to take home for dinner. Head down to your local supermarket around 7pm on weekdays and at 3pm on Sundays to get the best deals.

Discounted treats from the bakery on a Sunday

While many don’t usually do their food shop on a Sunday, it might in fact be the best time to get exclusive deals. Keep an eye out on the bakery section and listen for announcements, as many sell bread and cookies for 10p to get rid of remaining stock.

Analyse special offers

Some offers are worth it, but some clearly aren’t. Read the label to find out whether the ‘larger’ bottle of fabric conditioner is worth more than the middle sized. Stop and think if you need to get the buy one, get one half price deal on hair products. Do you need to get them right this second?

Don’t head straight for the checkouts

More chains are taking the initiative to use a ‘scan as you shop’ method, so as you collect your grocery items you can check how much you’re spending. Not only is this an efficient way to shop, but it also helps you save each week and stop spending on unnecessary wants.

Use loyalty cards

Check a supermarket's website to see whether they’re using a loyalty scheme which can let you earn extra pennies on every purchase you make. Even on a weekly shop this can equate to an additional £5 every single month.

Turn on your emails for offers

Try not to assume generic supermarket emails are all junk and clutter, some provide very helpful advice on the latest promotions in store. From lowered prices to special deals and how long they may last for.

Make a food shop money pot

Saving is sensible and one of the best ways to budget your food shop is creating a money pot allocated to food shopping. This could be separating food money to household cleaning items and deciding how much you’re going to spend on each different type of product every week.

Freeze your food

Who isn’t starting to meal prep more? Freezing food before it goes out of date can be one of the best solutions to save that extra couple of quid.

Shop around the store

This may only apply to people who have multiple shops in close range of each other but having a little exploration can be made quite fun. Perhaps you can get your meat from one shop, then your cupboard items from another and then guilty pleasures from the next.

Don’t forget to treat yourself!

The essential tips to save are advantageous, but don’t forget in the process of saving to still enjoy the little pleasures of life. Treat yourself and your family every now and again.