According to the Office of National Statistics, UK families spend between £43.10 and £56.80 on the food shop every week.
That’s quite a big part of the monthly outgoings, but that cost soon multiplies when the kids are home for the school holidays – especially the summer holidays.
So just how can we budget during the school holidays? Here are some tips to help you save:
Plan ahead
Shopping for food without a list is just asking for trouble, whether you do it in store or online. Go shopping armed with a detailed list and stick with it.
You can also buy long life ingredients in bulk to save money – tinned vegetables, pasta and rice etc. got a very long way.
Use technology
One of the best ways to stay on top of what you need before you hit the shops is to keep an up-to-date list. You can do this on your mobile phone; they’ll have notes functionality these days, and since you carry your phone everywhere with you anyway, you won’t forget.
Cook your own meals
One sure way to save money is to reduce eating out and cook your own meals. It doesn’t have to be food that children find boring – make a healthy homemade pizza together, or make an activity out of it by getting out your cookbook and choosing something to make together.
Watch this video for some inspiration:
Recycle food
Leftovers don’t always need to be put in the bin. Leftovers can be incorporate into dinners for the next couple of days. Separate meat from veg, put them in sealed containers for freshness and to avoid cross-contamination.
Know when a deal is a deal
Not every deal is made the same. Some supermarket deals are to get rid of products before they expire on the shop floor. So, you must get wise to supermarket shopping tricks. Deals that get you to buy more short-life products when you won’t use them leave you spending more money overall, and the food expires before you’ve even had a chance to use them.
Shop around for deals
Even if you have an allegiance to one supermarket, you should still shop around – all supermarkets are competing against each other so don’t be surprised to find that the most ‘expensive’ stores may have deals that undercut the more ‘affordable’ stores.
