How to Save on Shopping 10 Tips not to be missed

Find out how to buy food for the whole family without emptying your wallet and save on monthly shopping

How to save on shopping? This is one of the most frequently asked questions at home. At least in ours. It will be that the bills always seem to increase and the monthly costs to be incurred seem to never end.

Still, food isn't a joke thing. It is the basis of our well-being and our health. So yes, it is okay to cut on unnecessary things but without, for this reason, giving up the quality of the foods we eat. But how to do it?

Here are some tips that can be very useful for making ends meet in the family. Without giving up good things of excellent quality.

Prepare a weekly menu

If you want to know how to save on shopping, know that a great tip is to prepare a weekly menu for the whole family. For example, on Friday evening I start to take the calendar for the following week and prepare a draft of what to prepare for lunch and dinner for everyone.

In this way, I already have clear ideas about what I have in the pantry and what I need to get from the supermarket. But most importantly, I will find myself spending money only on foods that will actually be eaten, without losing myself on foods that will not be cooked.

Set a budget

A good way to be able to save some pennies is certainly to set a weekly budget for shopping and try as much as possible not to exceed it.

To get an idea of the ideal amount, you need to evaluate several parameters. Like, for example, how many of you are in the family. If you have children and what age they are. Let's not forget, in fact, that a two-year-old eats much more than a 15-year-old.

Prepare food in large quantities

Once you have identified a seasonal vegetable, you can buy it in large quantities and cook it as soon as you get home. And then away from airtight containers and put everything in the freezer or pantry divided into single doses (so it is ready to use).

This system, in addition to allowing you not to completely empty your wallet, also helps you to always be well organized with the preparation of meals. Think, for example, how different it is to prepare a pasta with homemade ragù compared to the one purchased ready-made.

Avoid ready-made foods

Ready-made foods, whether they are first courses or side dishes, are certainly comfortable. Do not mention it. Sometimes it happens to me too that I don't have the time or the desire to put myself in the kitchen. And certainly a dish of pasta ready to put in the microwave for 5 minutes is definitely an advantage in these cases.

But don't forget that, in most cases, ready-made foods have exorbitant prices. Especially if we compare them to the cost of raw materials.

I'll give you a simple example. A bag containing two portions of ready-made amatriciana pasta costs about 5 euros (the price, however, may vary depending on the supermarket of reference). By purchasing the ingredients individually and preparing it yourself, two people eat the same amount for at least a couple of times.

Check the offers

The offers certainly allow you to save on shopping. But be careful. Promotions are done with the express purpose of attracting customers. I often consult the various flyers I find in the mailbox but, leafing through the pages, I also realize that a food sold as on offer on one side, perhaps in the supermarket where I usually go, costs even less.

My advice, in these cases, is not to get carried away and focus only on products whose price is really affordable. For the rest, go straight and pretend you don't see them.

Prefer draft food

Draft food is a lifesaver for the wallet. Some hypermarkets have areas dedicated to distributors on tap of pasta, rice, cereals and legumes on tap. Just take a bag and fill it with the quantity you are interested in.
The price is calculated by weight. But it concerns only and exclusively the reference food. This way you can avoid spending money on packaging or the brand. And, believe me, these two elements have a significant impact on the total expenditure.

Check the price per kilo

When we have to buy something, be it rice or a bag of mozzarella, it happens to be misled by the price shown on the tag. Still, that amount can vary a lot based on the brand and type of packaging used.

If you want to save money, however, it is best to check the price per kilo. You will soon realize, in fact, how a 500 g stick of butter, perhaps, costs less than a half the size. And if you don't use it all right away, it doesn't matter. You can always put it back in the fridge for next time. Or, at worst, in the freezer.

Look for discounts on expiring food

The first time I noticed this opportunity, I was living in Austria. There it was close that fresh foods approaching their best before date would be sold for up to 50% off. And, fortunately, even here in recent months they have started to do so.

Nothing strange, then, if you happen to find sections in the refrigerated cabinet with the discount sticker applied on it. These promotions are usually found more easily in the yogurt and dairy department. But I advise you to throw an eye also among the meat fridges (in many cases I have found packages of cutlets or meatloafs that expired after a few days).

Don't forget to go to the deli counter, especially if you arrive at the supermarket an hour before closing in the evening. Very often fried or spit-roasted chicken cooked on site on the spot will be offered at half price.

Buy seasonal products

Never and I say NEVER underestimate the expense of the greengrocer or the butcher. Of course, the choice may not be the same as that of the large hypermarket. But, sure enough, the things you find always taste great and are in season.

This means, for example, that if you have to prepare meat sauce, three or four carrots are enough to give flavor to a kilo of minced meat. But above all, it also means that vegetables will be sold only in season, that is when the earth produces them in large quantities and, therefore, they have a lower price than at all other times of the year.

Use apps against food waste

A few weeks ago I talked about Too Good To Go , one of the best apps against food waste. Thanks to applications like this, in fact, it is possible to buy food of all kinds with a discount of up to 70% compared to the normal price.

Just keep the offers monitored during the day and buy the Magic Boxes that interest us most. Thanks to it we save a lot of money on family spending. Every week. The promotions, in fact, do not concern only restaurants, bars and pizzerias, but also bakers, greengrocers and fishmongers. Not bad, right?