This morning I had a bit of a treat. It wasn't a spa day or even a trip to the theatre. No I got to go to the supermarket on my own. I know its not much but it was nice to peruse the aisles without dealing with an emergency nappy change, or trying to open some crisps to appease the crying children and pretending not to notice the judging eyes of the elderly.
Anyway all the peace and quiet gave me a chance to have a real look at the prices of things rather than just doing the Supermarket Sweep style mad dash that I usually do. Since I started blogging I have been quite inspired by the thriftiness of Pret-a-Mummy and Everyday Life on a Shoestring so I decided to see if there really was a big discrepancy between brands and the supermarkets basic range. What I found was quite shocking. Now I'm the first to admit to being a bit of a brand snob but really how much difference can there be between Sainsbury's basics orange squash or between own lable rice crispies and Kellogs ones?
So I made a pledge! Next weekend is going to be Super Supermarket Saving Weekend (how many S's did I get in there?). I'm going to try and do my whole shop buying only the "basics" range and see how much money I can actually save. I'm also going to test the products that I get and see if they really are value for money or if buying cheap actually gets you an inferior product.
Recently our shopping bill seems to be astronomical so my husband is also very excited about my new project.
If you would like to join me you just need to do the following:
I will send the details of my shop onto my blog on the morning of Sunday 22nd July along with my final shopping bill and what I thought of the products I brought.
If you want to blog about this please feel free to add your blog to the linky I will put on my page
If you don't blog I'd still love to hear your comments - just add them to the blog!
I shop at Sainsburys so I will be buying the "basics" range.
I'm looking forward to saving some money...I wonder what I can spend it on!
Good luck - finding out what you're spending is a real eye opener. Can I suggest you make your shopping list using www.mysupermarket.com? I use it to create my list before I go shopping as it recommends the cheapest options for you. This way sometimes you can get a deal on a higher level or product which will drop it den below the cost of a (in my case) Smart price item. But totally agree, very often the basic items are just the same in taste.
ReplyDeleteGood idea - I'll try it thanks
DeleteIt's amazing how big the differences between brand names items and 'own' brands are isn't it. I lookeed into this the other week on my blog http://rinwriting.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/when-living-economically-isnt.html - and just by changing a few elements of my monthly shop such as making my own bread, buying own brand products and cutting back on the amount of meat we eat I'm already seeing a considerable saving. Just by making my own bread in a bread maker I'm saving about £20 per month - that's a months worth of nappies for my son! I will certainly be checking back to see how you get on with it - and I agree with the comment by Stacey, MySupermarket.com is a fantastic site to use. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou are right that meat is very important. I think I've been brought up to think you need to have meat everyday but actually you can get by with a lot less. Thats a fantastic saving of £20 a month!
DeleteI have been buying lots of own brands for a while. I make my own bread using a breadmaker and our own yoghut using a yoghurt maker from Lakeland. We also bake our own cakes and biscuits. We buy our meat from a good local butcher and it is really good. By doing all this we eat much better for less. Will be interested in your linky.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of making my own yoghurt. I'm a bit of a Lakeland addict so might have to get a yoghurt maker (with all the money I'm going to save on my shop!)
DeleteLoved the article. I'm a vegetarian, so at least I save on meat there, but you are right, some of the prices are shocking. I saw Martin Lewis on TV last week saying that we should all try to buy one brand under our usual. So if you buy Kellog's buy the Tesco version, if you buy the Tesco version, buy the basics. Trouble is we tend to buy a lot of basics, so I guess it's the bargain aisle!
ReplyDeleteI actually love the bargain aisle! I also discovered that shopping on a Friday seems to be better for offers as they are all gone by Sat (I think the oldies snaffle them)
DeleteFab post! I have learnt to shop monthly (with the exeption of fruit and veg - which we buy at a farm shop) and bread and milk. We save LOADS of money. I normally do the monthly shop in one day when my son is at nursery school and normally it is between 2 supermarkets and Costco. I only every buy whats on offer (not always including nappies and other baby stuff as these really are essentials)We are a family of 3. On average (not including baby milk and nappies) our monthly shop is £90 for 2 adults, 1 preschooler and a baby! People are shocked when I say this but it really is true I even took my aunt with me one month because she didnt believe me! She has now changed her shopping habits too!
ReplyDelete£90 a month is amazing (please don't tell my husband!). At the moment we are spending around £100 a week on a family of four - 2 adults/4 year old and 2 year old. If I could do about £60-£70 a week I'd be pleased. I don't even know where the money goes as we don't really buy luxuries.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to my blog! Interesting blogpost and great comments too! I'm never very good at costing out my thrifty measures so it's good to know that making my own bread is saving so much! I'm sure you'll make savings, and I look forward to hearing how you get on!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. I'll definitely be following this as i'm always looking for ways to reduce the food bill. Also have you tried My Supermarket . Com. Great website for comparing prices and checking out unit prices. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI used to be such a brand snob but these days with prices going up and wages doing down we've converted to some of the supermarket stuff and I really cannot tell a difference! There's some stuff I wont shift on like my bread and my beans but when it comes to squash/biscuits and even port we've not noticed a difference! :)
ReplyDelete