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Money Saving Tips Part 2 : How to save money on your food and shopping bills
Do a shopping list – This will save hundreds! Plan your week’s meals and list the ingredients. As long as you stick to the list you will never have a surplus of any one ingredient and you can make sure no food gets wasted.
Make your lunch for work – If an average lunch costs £5 you will save approximately £1,200 (given you have 4 weeks annual leave). Make your own sandwiches or take some of the left over dinner to work (this works if you can heat your food up at work).
Coffee for the morning commute? – If you are like hundreds of others who buy tea, coffee or hot chocolate on your way to work, why not make your own and take it in a thermos flask. This could save you approx. £500 every year.
Take away? – Having a take-away every once in a while is no big problem but if it becomes a habit and replaces a cooked meal every night you could be in for some trouble. Why not take your lazy Sunday and make it a day to prepare yourself for the week ahead? You can cook two or three main meals (large enough for two portions each, cook bigger portions if you are feeding a family), freeze them and take them out during the week when you are too tired to cook. This will ‘take away’ the temptation for fast food.
Read the label! – When out shopping make sure you check the labels on your food for the use by date and do not get large supplies of things that will go off quickly. Also check to see if your supermarket has a ‘reduced’ section, where food going off soon will be placed…it’s a good place to get dinner or lunch for tomorrow. Or if you find a lot of something you like, take it home and freeze it!
Cheese lover? – If you are a cheese lover like me and you don’t necessarily need your cheese sliced, here is a great tip for you. When your supermarket has huge offers on cheese like ‘buy one get one free’ or if you buy bulk cheeses you can always make sure you use all the cheese by grating it and putting it in the freezer. You can store the grated cheese in a freezer bag or small tupperware.
What’s in a name? – When buying groceries you don’t always have to buy a brand product. Things like: bleach, toilet paper, kitchen towels, canned vegetables or fruit, bread, cheese, butter, tomato sauce, fresh juice, tea etc. In fact unless you absolutely love the brand or the quality make the change.
Buy in bulk – If you are lucky enough to live anywhere near a cash and carry or wholesaler like COSTCO or MAKRO take advantage. Even though the initial cost may seem large, the pay-off is huge. Buying things like rice, pasta, herbs and spices, cereals, toilet paper, laundry detergent and other cleaning products (unless you use soap nuts!) can save you quite a bit. You just need to make sure you have somewhere to store it all.
Invest in a Chest Freezer – Buy yourself a chest freezer and go crazy on wholesale fish, meat, poultry and anything else you can freeze! Visit the big ones: Spitalfields, Smithfield’s and Billingsgate (if you are in London) and get your bulk items. If you can’t manage the amount you get in one purchase go halves with someone and split the cost as well.
Bottle your own water – your approach here depends on whether you want to save in the long-term or short-term and also how much water you drink.
For short-term savers invest in a BRITA filter and re-use old water bottles. Check the plastic bottles you use have a little number inside a recycling triangle, usually at the base of the bottle. 1 being the worst so don’t re-use these too many times and 5 being the best. Bottles with a 1 rating means that the plastic can break down and enter your water on a chemical level without you realizing.
For long-term savers invest in a water filtration system. You will also need to be in the group ‘big time water drinkers’. It will cost £1000 to set-up and them £100 maintenance every year. In the long-term this is the best for your health and your pocket. The filtration system will take out any harmful chemicals that are found in your water (tap water isn’t all it cracked up to be) and make it generally taste better.