Buying Groceries

Sadly buying food is something we all have to do whether we like it or not. A lot of us including me waste money on food, and then often wonder why there is nothing to eat when I was the one who did the shopping in the first place.

How can you be the one who buys that box of fish fingers, but find they are still sitting in the bottom of the freezer months later, looking lonely and no-one wants to eat them. You bought them! Why? Surely there must have been a reason?

Is that you? It's me quite a lot of the time, and I have been taking steps to change my shopping habit, which will hopefully change my cooking and eating habits along the way.

There are a few hard and fast rules when it comes to shopping for food;

• NEVER go shopping when you're hungry as you buy random rubbish that looks good, and you don't really need it. You just think you do because you're hungry.
• NEVER go shopping when you're full up because everything you look at makes you feel sick as you're sull up. This results in you buying less and then having to make another trip to the supermarket another day.
• WATCH OUT FOR OFFERS. Very often a buy one get one free (BOGOF) offer isn't as good as it sounds. Would you have bought the item anyway? Will you eat two before the best before date? Are you only buying it because it's on offer? More than likely and if you are then you are making your shopping bill more expensive just because you think you're getting a bargain, but really you're not, you're just doing the supermarket a favour by buying their surplus stock.
• TRY SHOPPING ONLINE. This way you have an idea of how much you have spent before you pay for it, without the embarrassing moment at the checkout where you realise exactly how much you've spent and don't want to make yourself feel small by putting some back. It's much easier to empty a virtual shopping basket than a real one. More often than not you can get good deals on the delivery charges to offset the cost, and you will also save yourself time and petrol by having someone else shop for you.
• MEAL PLAN before you shop and then you may stick to your list better, therefore only buying what you actually need for the week or month, and not randomly throwing food into the trolley because you need to think of extra meals to make up enough for the week. This is where that lonely packet of fish fingers will come from.

Hopefully these few tips may help you get started on your road to lowering your supermarket costs. Also remember that basic ranges may not always be cheap and horrible, sometimes it's just a case of the packaging being less or different. You have to try brands to see if they suit you and your family.