With global food prices forecast to remain high for the next ten years, I thought I would put together the most effective ways I find to save money on our food bill.
(1). Menu Plan
This recommendation would be no surprise to anyone who reads this blog regularly. But by planning what meals you will have through out the week you can save on wastage, additional trips to the supermarket and on take away food as it is too late to get the ingredients required for the meal.
(2). Shopping List
Even if you don’t menu plan, you should never go to the shops without a shopping list. On the rare occasions that I have done this, I come home with things that I don’t really need and without essential ingredients.
(3). Markets
Buying fruit and vegetables at markets is so much cheaper than from the supermarket or the green grocer. Just check out the savings that I make weekly by (Mr Infrastructure) making a weekly trip to the market.
- 4kgs Apples at supermarket = $19.92 (my kids eat lots of apples 
)
- 4kgs Apples at market = $10.00
- .75kg red capsicum at supermarket = $7.27
- .75kg red capsicum at market = $2.99
- 2kgs carrots at supermarket = $5.34 (they also eat lots of carrots!)
- 2kgs carrots at market = $2.80
- 2kgs butternut pumpkin at supermarket = $7.92
- 2kgs butternut pumpkin = $4.00
On these items alone we saved $20.66. This week’s shopping list had another seven items of fruit and veg on that we would have made savings on. Even if you deduct the extra petrol it costs (approx $3.00) to drive to the market, we are still so much better off.
(4). Specials
Supermarkets in Australia have weekly specials where items are reduced quite often significantly. When things like our favourite cereals, pastas, crackers etc come on special I will buy a large amount of these items. Mr Infrastructure for example eats Just Right Breakfast Cereal every day. Usual price is $8.71 for 890 grams. When on sale the price can reduce to as low as $5.
(5). Do some math
Quite often some items although on special will not necessarily be the cheapest item of its type. Calculate the per kilo price or price per unit and see what is really the cheapest. Ask yourself do you have to have that particularly brand. (Mr Infrastructure will accept no substitutes on his cereal!)
(6). Buying the generic version.
This is not as easy as it once used to be. The supermarket that I shop at now has a number of different generic brands for the same item. I have test run a few and depending on the item, I may a different brand of the generic range.
The price difference is significant and I find that on the basics there is no difference in the quality and you can make savings like this:
- 2kg generic brand self raising flour = $2.00
- 2kg premium brand self raising flour = $5.48
- 2kg generic brand sugar = $1.61
- 2kg premium brand sugar = $3.33
- 60m generic brand plastic wrap = $2.26
- 60m premium brand plastic wrap = $4.44
Total savings of $7.38
(7). Emergency Items
In our house the food budget includes any monies we spend on food including take away. I like to have supplies of some handy quick feed items, for those emergency situations when you need to find something for the kids to eat in a flash.
Three cans of Spagasaurus (dinosaur shaped spaghetti in sauce) cost me $4.50. This is very cheap compared to the minimum of $20 it would cost me if I was to buy fish and chips for the kids. And the other bonus it that I don’t have to leave the house for it.
(8). Toiletries
Shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, nappies can all be more expensive at the supermarket. If you have a discount chemist or like store near by, try and purchase them from those stores instead of the supermarket.
(9). Online Shopping
I use online shopping and to reduce the impact of the delivery fee I make sure that it is always for a fortnight and stock up on cheap items. The advantages of on line shopping are that you can manage the total as you go along and it is very easy to make cost comparisons of the different brands. It also saves me time and as they say “time is money”!
(10). Try New Supermarkets
This is one that I am only doing myself this week. ALDI have been within 10km of me for sometime yet, despite all the rave reviews I have heard from friends, I have still been either on line shopping or using my regular supermarket. They have amazing specials and their standards prices are apparently much cheaper. I am looking forward to checking out ALDI this week.
How do you keep the family food bill down?
13 comments...read them below or add one
Now you’ve really inspired me to make the effort to get to the market. I figured it would cost us about $10-15 dollars to drive there and wasn’t sure the savings would cover that. Thanks for the saving figures. They make the trip worthwhile for us.
Journeyers last blog post..Progress towards my goals – May
Your’e welcome Journeyer. I always knew it was saving us money, but I must admit until I actually added it up, I didn’t realise how much!
Last week at Aldi’s I bought 4 kilo’s of apples for $5.96. 3 kilo’s of Oranges for $3 and 2 kg of banana’s for $2.78.
You’ll find with Aldi’s that some things are similar prices to the supermarket and other things are much, much cheaper. I think some people get put off by the lack of choice as they don’t stock multiple brands of the same product but I have been really happy with everything we have bought. (The kids don’t like their rice bubble bar things, but that’s about the only product we haven’t liked)
Our local Aldi’s is only just starting construction and the closest one is over an hour away (115 kms), but I still save more than double the cost of my petrol on my weekly shop if I have the time in my week to go out of town to go shop there.
Don’t forget your $2 coin for the trolley!
Bettinas last blog post..Screw Up Tuesday
We do a major shop monthly and then only top up on fresh food weekly… that has been the biggest saver to our food budget!
Because we are a long way from any markets we drive to the nearest Aldi once a month for our big shop. You need to know what is cheaper and what is not at Aldi and also what is good and what is terrible… but we get most of our staples there and on the whole it is much much cheaper.
Latley I’ve become the ’1$ bag’ junkie – our local IGA seems to have a lot of bags of fruit and vegies marked down to 1 or 2$ – I can get a whole bag of bananas (8 in the bag last time) or broccoli for 1$ – I usually plan to freeze it if it looks like it won’t last and figure that even if only half of it is good to eat it is still a bargain but I have found every time that it has been perfectly good and has kept plenty long enough for our hungry hoards to eat it fresh. I am now obsessed with buying bargain bags and trying to figure out what to do with them! LOL
katefs last blog post..Speaking of food….
I do my grocery shopping online – saves money as I am not distracted by all the other ‘stuff’ on the shelves in the real store! Why would I want to spend an hour in a supermarket with my three little children, when I can shop online when they are in bed!
I get my green groceries at the local fruit and veg market – much better quality, and cheaper. The little meat i do buy, is from the local butcher – once again – nicer quality!
Aldi is great for staples like nappies and wipes – great quality, and much cheaper!
I’m with Kate – major shop monthly is fabulous!
Kylies last blog post..please come to the office
Aldi’s now has price per 100gms listed everywhere. I am inspired to go to local markets too.
I follow a lot of these things already and I am starting a price book. Have you any information or a guide on this PQ ?
I use a few things from Aldi’s and have found the quality quite comparable to name brands and even better than generic brands.
Trishs last blog post..Eating Safe
Thanks for all the feedback. I am off to ALDI tomorrow and I will let you know how I fare.
Trish – I have never used a price book, so am not much help there sorry.
We shop at Aldi all the time and save heaps. Again a lot of things arent always available and we have to go to Coles or Woolies for the little extras. I dont always get fruit and veg there as I like to pick my own out. BUT the bananas last month were .99c a kg.
Although now I am thinking of going and having a look at our local IGA for those extra little bargains.
Sharons last blog post..A few more blogs and a recipe
I love Aldi, it’s very much a case of “suck it and see” when it comes to trying out new brands (their coco-pops are awesome, their stuffed tortelinis ming!) but so far I have no complaints, and they’re great for stocking up the pantry with canned stuff.
You’ve inspired me to get to our local markets, although I can’t even think where any near to me would be, those kinds of savings would be worth it.
Ferns last blog post..Nothing In Particular
[...] presents 10 Ways To Save On Your Food Bill posted at Planning with Kids, saying, “With higher food prices looking set to stay, here are [...]
[...] 10 Ways To Save On Your Food Bill [...]
Ditto for Aldi, we buy all our staples there. I get the generic stuff at Aldi, then go next door to Coles for those brands that we just can’t compromise on.
Be careful about buying friuit and veg at the markets. I find our local markets has much fresher and better quality produce, but it’s much more expensive than Aldi.
Gin – I know what you mean about some local markets. One close to me is ridiculously expensive. We travel further to go to a market that has great prices. Thanks for leaving a comment on the blog, I love reading tips from others.