So by now you’ve taken down the last Christmas decoration, gone up a notch on your belt and after a sideways glance at your bank statement gone into a state or mild panic, or is that just me? Anyhow January is the perfect time to reign in the spending after the expense of Christmas so if you’ve never joined in the Credit Crunch Munch linky (which I run with Helen of Fuss Free Flavours) or are a regular contributor now is the perfect time to join in and share your thrifty dishes. I’d love to see some leaner dishes this month as I think I may have eaten a year’s worth of chocolate over the festive period and really need to get back to some healthy eating.
In recent month’s I have become a bit of a bargain shopping expert sharing my spoils over on Instagram and Facebook with the hastags #CreditCrunchMunch and #FabFoodBargains. If you like to share your bargain finds with me then do tag me – @fabfood4all – I’d love to see them! I’m often asked for my shopping tips so I thought I’d share a few with you today!
10 Money Saving Shopping Tips
- Most serious bargains appear on the shelves after 4pm and in many cases around 7pm. Get to know your local supermarket’s reduction habits as they all vary. On a Sunday 2pm onwards is a good time.
- Don’t buy more than you can eat over the next few days or freeze. It’s not a bargain if you end up throwing it away!
- Always check the world food aisle before buying any spices, tinned beans/tomatoes or grains or any sort plus more exotic ingredients like sriracha or tahini paste, they are always cheaper here!
- Don’t go shopping when you’re hungry.
- Don’t take your kids shopping with you, nine times out of ten they will want to try some new yogurt/cereal/drink that after one mouthful they will tell you they dislike intensely!
- Have a shopping list for your basics but be flexible, have an idea of what you’d like to cook over the following days but if you see cheap fresh ingredients then adapt your menu! If you don’t know how to cook something or it’s new to you then Google is your friend and you may discover a new ingredient that you love!
- Try to stick to the healthy raw ingredients that are on offer or discounted, bringing home all the cheap donuts and cream cakes is tempting but stay focused!
- Watch out for 3 for £10 type offers as you’ll often still get the discount at the till even on reduced items (but not always so check your receipt). This way you end up with mega bargains.
- Get to know your fellow bargain hunters, be generous with them and they will return the favour. No one likes a hoarder! I like nothing better than letting other shoppers know where there’s a fabulous bargain to be had!
- Finally don’t ignore the “Value” brands in your supermarket, staples like basmati rice, pasta and flour are far cheaper with no tangible difference in quality.
So back to this month’s Credit Crunch Munch, things you might like to consider could be:
Dishes using cheaper ingredients – cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian
Meals using leftovers
Meals using up the ends of packets
Substitutions of cheaper ingredients
Packed lunches
Meals that use less energy to cook
Pressure cooking
Slow cooking
Faster cooking – less oven time for example
Batch cooking for the freezer
Sustainable foods
Food you have grown yourself
Meals from reduced food in the supermarket
CREDIT CRUNCH MUNCH
To take part, simply blog about any money saving idea or recipe that is vaguely food related. We do a full round up so I will be mentioning all the recipes that are submitted.There are a few rules
Please link to this post, and the Credit Crunch Munch page on Fuss Free Flavours
Please use the Credit Crunch Munch Badge
Tweet using #CreditCrunchMunch and tag @FabFood4All & @FussFreeHelen
Closing date – last day of the month – 31st January 2016
You are welcome to link up one or two old posts, but please republish them
By entering you are agreeing to let us use an image from your entry on this site, and to pin to Pinterest
If blogging a recipe from elsewhere on the internet or a book please be mindful of copyright
But feel free to send to as many other events as you like, let’s help everyone save money!
Please visit a few other blogs who take part plus comment and share
This is a blog hop so please grab the code and share the linky on your site too.
We look forward to seeing your entries!
Judi Chadaway
Top tip no.11. If you have a fruit and veg market near you, go at the end of the day and see what the stall holders are planning to throw away. I’ve done this on a regular basis at both Portobello Market in North Kensington and Ridley Road market in Dalston. It’s truly amazing what you will either be given for free or pick slightly bruised avocados, fruit etc etc. There needn’t be food waste
Camilla
Thanks Judi, great tip. Wish I had a market locally, I have had some great bargains over in Kingston on ocassion;-)
Wheelie Good Meals
Great post with some excellent advice.
Camilla
Thank you:-)
Anne Wallwin
if you order on line from Morrisons they do a ‘flash sale’ list before you check out and i’ve picked up a few bargains here as well.
Camilla
I rarely do internet shopping but that’s good to know as we do have a new Morrisons in town:-)
Lucy
Great money-saving tips Camilla, I am taking note. Aldi’s in Walton is great as well, I always find my bill lower when I go there.
Camilla
Yes Aldi is great:-)
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche
These are great tips Camilla! I can never believe how much cheaper some things are in the world foods aisle 🙂
Camilla
Thanks Becca, yes the difference in price is staggering!
Adam Warren
Some very useful tips there Camilla, thank you for sharing! I’ll definitely be applying them in my own shopping trips from now on!
Camilla
Great Adam, glad you found them useful;-)
deanna
When I was a student we ONLY had sainsburys or m&s, the former being the closest option. I used to LOVE their reduced times, such amazing bargain for some really delicious ingredients. It’s such a good tip!
Camilla
Thanks Deanna, and I think there are far more bargains around these days as more and more supermarkets keep opening for an audience which hasn’t grown bigger!
Laura @ KneadWhine
These are great ideas Camilla. We are well aware of when the Boots discounts are on sandwiches on a Sunday. Remembering not to buy more than you can use is really important.
Camilla
Thanks Laura;-)
dominika
Great tips here, Saving on food is my only one resolution for 2016 and because I usually never follow them, I made only one for this year. This article is definitely helpful.
Camilla
Thank you Dominika, glad to help:-)
charlotte
My friend used to go to the supermarket at about 8pm and he always got some amazing bargains! Great tips! x
Camilla
Thank you Charlotte. Yes my freezer is just full of bargains:-)
Stella
Great tips. I need to remember these tips when next am shopping.
Camilla
Thanks Stella, hope you can save some money:-)
Rebecca Smith
Ooh some brilliant tips here! Number 5 is sometimes unavoidable but I do try to not take him if I can help it!
Camilla
Yes it’s not always easy!
Ickle Pickle
Great tips – I never shop when I am hungry and tend not to do a ‘big’ shop as I end up wasting so much! Kaz x
Rachel
The bargain shelves at my local are useless, but if you go right to the back of the store where they hide the dented tins, you can find allsorts of things x
Camilla
Yes, it can be pot luck sometimes.
Renna
I follow most these tips. However, I do fail every now and then….especially shopping hungry! That is lethal ! Haha
Or I go at lunch time, and stupidly buy lunch and walk around with it…naughty!
Camilla
Excellent Renna but do sit down when you eat, never good to eat while on the move I was always told:-)
Jacqui @ Mummy's Little Monkey/MLM Life & Style
I LOVE getting a good bargain and have had some amazing ones by shopping late on a Sunday afternoon. A little planning can save a lot of money, can’t it? x
Camilla
Yes Jacqui, I think I used to turn up just before closing on a Sunday and wonder why there were no bargains, it’s a bargain learning curve!
WhatLauraLoves
I’ve really enjoyed your tips today and reading your post. I’m on holiday at the moment but when I’m back in going to put into practice some of your ideas as I’m always chucking away food or spending too much xxx
Camilla
Excellent Laura, that’s so lovely to hear:-)
Kate | The Veg Space
Some fantastic tips here Camilla, thanks for sharing! I’m always envious of your amazing Tesco hauls, but thought of you the other day when I got some incredible post-Christmas veggie bargains in my village’s Co-op – mostly under 10p! Hope 2016 is full of even bigger bargains for you!
Camilla
Thanks Kate! I spread my bargain net far and wide now since Tesco stopped doing their 1p bargains, there are simply too many supermarkets for the number of people around here so there are bargains everywhere:-)
Ana De- Jesus
Haha so true never take your kids shopping as they will completely rinse you. I never did when I was younger I didn’t like to ask for anything.
Camilla
You’re just like me then Ana, I never asked for anything either and just waited to be asked. I haven’t changed much LOL:-)
Eb Gargano
This is so useful!! Especially the one about the world food aisle…so true!! I am always impressed by your bargain spotting ability. I have another tip to add: shop online – I’ve found I can save quite a bit doing my shop online as I am not sidetracked by offers, tempting ‘naughty’ food and things I just don’t really need. Plus I can go and check my cupboards if I’m not sure…thus avoiding buying something I’ve already got. And if I think my spend is too much I can go back over my list and decide what I don’t really need this week. The downside, though, is that you don’t get the reduced offers like you do in the real shop. Hope to have something to link up to #CreditCrunchMunch soon. Eb x
Camilla
Yes Eb an online shop is good in certain respects but as you say you miss out on the yellow stickered items. I also find I spend hours doing an on-line shop as I will get distracted looking at all the offers and then there’s the delivery charge, but I have used this when I’ve been ill and then it’s a god send.
Cathy @ Planet Veggie
Great ideas. That ‘don’t go shopping when you’re hungry’ is one I try to stick to but don’t always manage – then I come home with a bag full of crisps and biscuits!
Camilla
Yep that’s the danger Cathy:-)
Jenni - Odd Socks and Lollipops
Great tips – I am terrible if we go shopping when I am hungry – I just want to buy everything. And I totally agree about the value ranges – we have bought lots of items from them and you save so much and most of the time I can’t taste the difference!
Camilla
Thanks Jenni, you do have to watch out between the brand though as we love Value Baked Beans from Tesco but the Sainsbury’s ones are not like here!
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours
I wished we had a Lidl or Aldi near to us. When I do buy their products I am always so impressed.
Camilla
Yes I went to Lidl in Kingston at Christmas and was totally in love with in particular their fresh baked good, so good and so cheap plus all their other things!
Katie Bryson
Such a great list of tips Camilla, you’re a total bargain queen! I use my freezer a lot which helps me save money, I also shop at Lidl for most of my groceries which saves me a FORTUNE!
Camilla
I am so in love with Lidl after a trip into Kingston at Christmas but it’s too far away to do a weekly shop otherwise I’d be in there all the time! I do have an Aldi in neighbouring town but again not very convenient so only go about once a month to stock up on things like muesli which are far cheaper in there.
StressedMum
I am yet to work out the time my supermarket reduces their items for more than 10p. There are some great tips here
Camilla
Thanks Samantha, you could just ask them. My local one puts out the final reductions at around 7pm every night.
Claire Jessiman
I absolutely love a yellow sticky bargain – so do our Guinea Pigs!!! The timings of reductions seem to be sporadic in our local store so its hit or miss if you get anything.
Camilla
Yes the time can vary according to how much they have to reduce so the later it is the more they’ve had to reduce usually!
Elizabeth
There are some fantastic tips here! Although I don’t live near a supermarket and I can’t check daily for deals like these, I do work part time in our local village shop, shutting up shop three days a week which means I can get all the deals at the end of the day – things going out of date that day are ending up in my freezer, or cooked for dinner that night! After a £2600 car bill on Christmas Eve I’m definitely pinching the pennies for this year!!
Camilla
Thanks Elizabeth, yes working in a shop is a huge advantage when it comes to bargains and you get to know which foods will go way beyond their use by date:-) Sorry about your car bill, always a nuisance when they pack up in such a major way:-(
Heather Haigh
You are really good at this. I’m learning slowly. Thanks for all the tips – really good!
Camilla
Thanks Heather, happy bargain hunting:-)
Sarah
Glad to see you are sharing (some) of your secrets! It was quite late on a Saturday when I got my bargain rhubarb, so definitely after 4pm works. 🙂
Camilla
I like the way you say some LOL, no secrets just a matter of being in the right place at the right time half the time and going back if things haven’t been put out yet! You get to know each supermarkets methods:-)
William Gould
We go shopping early on Thursdays to our local ASDA where they have a lot of meat and chilled products on offer. We always do a weekly menu with a little flexibility to make use of offers and 2 for 1’s etc. We have Monday as a “eat what’s left” day (on the rare occasion there’s nothing left we have soup or beans or something) as my wife goes to a small market town on Tuesdays to shop for fresh stuff for Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s meals!
This works very well and we rarely waste anything!
Camilla
Thanks for sharing William, you and your wife sound very organised:-)
Margot
Those are such a great tips Camilla! I hardly ever see things on sale in the supermarkets but this is probably because I’m visiting in wrong hours… I need to investigate my local supermarket’s habits some more 🙂
Camilla
Thanks Margot, yes it’s all in the timing:-)
Janice
Some great tips Camilla. Sadly our supermarkets probably don’t have as much competition as yours and the discounts are not anything like what you get, even in the evenings. World Food aisle is a winner with me and store own brands with some value brands making the grade.
Camilla
We’ve had 2 major and 1 minor supermarket open within a ten minute drive and it has just reached saturation point around here, so yes there are lots of bargains because the population hasn’t grown in order to need all this extra capacity!
rebecca beesley
that point about not taking the kids shopping is so important – mine love to fill the basket with all sorts of things – often popcorn, kinder eggs, biscuits etc.
Camilla
Yes, Rebecca and I often find at the till I can be so distracted that I don’t notice if I’ve been over charged or even end up leaving my credit card behind!