Can I Save Money on My Food Bill?

All of us have to buy food and it is often the case that we will find that we spend a lot of money on it. Although these days, we spend a much lower proportion of our earnings on food compares to previous generations, we may still feel like we would like to find a way to reduce the cost of the food that we are eating. There are things that we might be able to try to help with this.

Switch Supermarkets

The first thing that you could consider doing is switching to a cheaper supermarket. We all know that there are the higher end places such as Marks and Spencer and Waitrose and the lower end ones like Aldi and Lidl with others in between. We could probably work out a hierarchy of where they stand price wise. It is therefore worth thinking about whether you could change to a different supermarket and save money. It is worth being careful though as sometimes, we may not be right about which is cheaper. This is because it will depend on exactly what we buy. So, make sure that you do some price comparisons to check that you will be saving money. Also think about the distance that you are travelling and whether you have to allow for the cost of extra petrol or public transport costs.

Compare Brands

It can be worth checking whether you could switch brands on some of the things that you buy and save some money. You could find that you are already buying the cheapest, but there may be some items which you could buy for less money. You may find that they are not so nice and so you will want go back to what you were having before, but you may also be surprised and find that some of the items will be as good or even better and you will want to stick with them. It can be well worth trying, particularly with items that are expensive as you may be able to make bigger savings on these.

Buy Less Luxury Items

Although food and drink are essential, we still tend to buy luxury items in this category. For example, we may buy alcohol, fizzy drinks, sweets, snacks, puddings, cakes, biscuits, ready meals and things like this which are actually not necessary for us to eat. Obviously, we do like them and the idea of cutting them right out can be rather daunting. However, cutting back on these items could not only save us money, but also help us to be healthier at the same time.

Buy Less Items

We may also just be able to cut down on the quantity of food that we are eating. Perhaps having less food on our plates could help us. Obviously, this will depend on whether we normally pile up our plate or eat a small amount of food anyway. We should also be careful though, that we are not buying food and then letting it go off. This can cause problems because you will be spending money on items that you might be throwing away. So make sure that you only buy what you know that you will be able to use.

These changes will add up. So, if you choose a few things to try, you could find that you can make quite a difference to your food bill. Some will be harder than others, but you will be able to choose the ones that you feel will be the best for you to suit you and your lifestyle and that will make the most significant difference.