Ever drop into the supermarket for a few things and somehow manage to spend your entire week’s grocery budget on a filler shop? Me too!
A lot of what we buy is overpriced, unnecessary, or just a marketing trick.
To help you cut back on your regular food shop, here are 20 things you should avoid buying at the grocery store. Avoiding these can halve your food bill.
Things to avoid buying at the supermarket
Magazines
The magazines are one of the reasons I try to avoid taking my kids with me to the supermarket.
They are drawn to the plastic rubbish attached to these kids publications and wow they are expensive.
The trouble is that the kids are bored within minutes of getting them and then you’ve just got some really poorly made plastic junk to find a home for in your home.
It’s a similar story for myself. Years ago I would often buy Heat and OK magazines or one of the women’s magazines. Now, even though I hate to say it because I like to support the printed word where I can, I prefer to save my money to spend on books and my news subscriptions.
Seasonal decor/gifts/tat
I feel like the seasonal tat being sold every year has really ramped up a notch.
Take Valentine’s Day for example. It used to be a card and a box of chocolates, maybe some jewellery if you were splashing out.
Now it’s banners, plates, clothes, PJs, themed cookware and plates, the whole shebang.
It’s exactly the same with New Year, St Patrick’s Day, Easter, summer, Halloween and Christmas. As the season changes the supermarkets bring out new ranges of seasonal stuff for you to decorate your home, cook with and gift.
I am fully on board with decorating for Christmas and we put some stuff up for Halloween, but do we really now have to have a whole set of home decorations and themed clothing for every single holiday in the calendar? I hate to be a downer on this but who has the money to spend hundreds or thousands a year on decorating for every single holiday. And so much of this stuff is disposable so you can’t even use it for next year.
There are even sofa throw pillows for every time of year now, which are going to really take a big chunk out of your storage.
Stick with the Christmas decor you already own and try to avoid decking your home out for every holiday. If you cannot resist, then try getting your kids to make posters and bunting instead.
Pre-cut meat
Any product where the supermarket has done something in order to aid the preparation process for you is going to cost you more.
Wherever possible buy whole cuts of meat. With things like burgers and meatballs, you will spend less if you bulk buy mince and make them yourself. If you batch prep the food, you can then freeze it for later.
It’s not that hard, you just need breadcrumbs and egg plus whatever herbs and seasoning you want to add.
Pre-cut fruit and veg and cheese.
It’s exactly the same story with pre-grated and cut cheese, fruit and veg. The markup on pre-cut fruit and veg is 10 to 40% compared to just buying them whole.
One exception I would just add is if you head to the freezer aisle for stuff like herbs. You can get bagged frozen garlic which generally speaking is cheaper than fresh and of course will keep longer than fresh garlic so hopefully cuts back the risk of wastage.
Salad kits
Salad kits are put together for convenience but you will spend more on a bagged mixed salad with dressing and croutons than if you buy everything separately.
And just to add, making your salad dressing rather than buying it pre-made in jars will also work out way cheaper.
Produce out of season
When food is in season it means it’s in greater abundance, may be more likely to have been grown locally and so getting it to the supermarket shelves costs less.
When it’s out of season, it’s harder to produce, rarer and may take longer to transport to the supermarket and that cost gets passed on to you.
Try to keep an eye out for the veggies and fruit that are in season. Usually supermarkets will display these more prominently but sometimes you have to have an awareness. Sometimes doing pick your own at a local farm can work out cheaper than buying from the supermarket.
Organic produce
I don’t feel particularly strongly about organic foods. I get there are environmental benefits that go into producing that, but some of them also seem a bit overblown.
Because these products are invariably more expensive, I just always give them a swerve. It’s not that I don’t care about the environmental benefit, but from what I’ve read the health benefits are overblown so I am sticking with the purse-friendly options.
Single serve snack packs
Our kids now have a packed lunch most days and the struggle to make them interesting is real, especially at 7 in the morning when I am still half asleep. I get why these little snack packs where stuff has been conveniently pre measured into a lunch box friendly container are appealing. But you pay for the convenience.
Rather than buying pre cut veggies for dipping or little handfuls of crackers with dip we have small plastic snack pots where we can put carrot sticks, chopped up peppers and humus or cream cheese. It does take a few extra minutes, but the mark up on those single serve snack packs is huge.
Bottled water and ice
We have a cupboard shelf full of water bottles plus an ice machine and cold water tap from the fridge freezer. This is just something I’ve never felt the need to spend money on.
With drinks generally I’m quite boring and just have some water, squash or milk during the week. For a treat I might have a smoothie.
Bottled smoothies
I am obsessed with making smoothies at home. For just a few pounds you can buy frozen fruit and mix them up yourself with some ice, juice or sorbet. I’ll also use fresh fruit that’s gone a bit too squishy to enjoy in there too. It costs a fraction of what you’ll pay for bottled smoothies.
Pancake mix
Pancakes are one of our favourite meals, I love having breakfast for dinner. I always make them from scratch because I always have the key ingredients in – flour, eggs, milk, butter. And it works out way cheaper to put it together from scratch.
Breadcrumbs
I’ll admit panko breadcrumbs have a superior crunch to them, but when I am putting together something like homemade chicken nuggets then I will just get a piece of bread, pop it in the oven at a low heat for a few minutes and pulse in a blender. Cheap and easier than rushing out to buy them last-minute.
Pasta sauces
When we have pasta I try to make it myself from jarred passata or chopped tomatoes. Then I can add seasoning and herbs to make it how the kids like it.
Buying pre-made jarred pasta sauces tends to cost more than making a large amount of homemade pasta sauce in bulk and freezing it.
Pre made Yorkshire pudding
I think you can buy packs of frozen Yorkshires for about £2 for 10, I can make 4 for about 30p, and they have a way better rise on them than the frozen ones.
Pre-made sandwiches
This is an easy swerve for me because I hate mayonnaise and it is almost impossible to find a sandwich that does not contain mayonnaise. If it doesn’t have mayo then it has horseradish or something like that. I am a very boring sandwich kind of person.
I like to make our sandwiches with leftovers from a roast dinner, or I’ll cook a little extra meat and slice that up cold the next day.
Fresh stock
Fresh stock in the chilled section is way more appealing, but it’s going to cost a lot more than just using stock made from the cubes.
Branded spices
The price of herbs and spices by weight is just insane. And if you look closer you’ll see there is a huge difference in price between the spices you get in the ingredients supermarket aisle compared to the world food aisle just a few feet away.
Another great place to get cheap herbs and spices is your local independent Asian food store.
Stuff that’s not on your list
The supermarket is filled with impulse purchase traps you have to try and avoid. For larger supermarkets there is often clothing which is pretty great value and can be a big temptation.
Plus there are beauty products, foods on offer and then the area around the checkout is usually filled with stuff the store is trying to push you to grab. Just try to hold firm and stick only with what’s on your list.
I would add I’ve found when I shop hungry I am way more susceptible to offers on foods.
Go in with the list and stick to that list.
Non perishables at full price
I never buy non-perishable stuff like deodorant, the kids bath products, laundry detergent, washing up liquid and cleaning products at full price.
The trick is to stock up when you see it on offer and try not to become committed to just one brand. Be prepared to switch in order to get the offer.
While we’re on the subject of non-perishables, the cleaning aisle has grown in size in recent years but try to remember there are really only a few things you need to clean your home. A decent glass cleaner, multi purpose cleaner, bleach and vinegar.
Stuff worth buying
Now that we’ve talked about the stuff I avoid buying, let’s talk about some things that are definitely worth buying from your supermarket.
Own brand nappies and wipes
Pampers nappies in bulk from Amazon cost around 15p per nappy, whereas Tesco own Fred and Flo cost just 4p per nappy. Aldi’s own brand are even cheaper at 3p per nappy. You don’t get the indicator strip showing when it’s full, but it’s not too hard to figure out it’s soiled by giving it a prod and a whiff.
The supermarket own brand nappies are in my experience just as effective as the branded ones and cost less than a third of the price.
Ready meals instead of a takeaway
Sometimes we are just not in the mood to cook on a Friday or Saturday night and that’s OK. But getting a takeaway every single week would really add up.
So to give myself a break and a bit of a treat I will get a ready meal from Waitrose or M&S on a Friday night. It means I get a nice meal for minimal effort, but it comes in at less than a quarter of the price of getting a takeaway delivered.
Ready made, rolled pastry
For me personally there are some shortcuts worth taking. I’ve tried making my own puff pastry and it’s quite hard. And actually I think the store made stuff is pretty nice. So I will happily save myself the time in this instance and buy it pre made when making pies and other recipes that require pastry.
