Frugal Friday: Your Top Shopping Tips

This week, our Frugal Friday series brings you some of the best tips for saving on your food shopping. One of the best is to head to the supermarket just before closing time, and you’ll find a range of reduced to clear bargains. Of course, the best way of saving cash is to check CheapEats for special offers…

Feel free to add your own top food shopping tips to this list!

From Ciara:

Leaving meat out of your weekly shop is the most economical and healthy thing you can do. It sounds extreme but your body and your wallet will thank you! It used to be that people rarely ate meat- just a roast on Sunday, and then stretching the leftovers for soup, sandwiches, etc.- and they were healtheir for it! It could be the most painless cut from your shop. Also, don’t get conned into buying “finish” brand- or any other brand- dishwasher salt at €6 a bag. IT IS JUST SALT! Tesco do an own-brand one for much cheaper.

From Megan:

A good saver must be one with their freezer. These days, it’s not uncommon to find half-price deals on meat, so stock up and freeze right away as opposed to buying only what you’ll use that week. Plus, the more you have in your freezer, the less work your freezer has to do, so you’ll save a little on electricity, too! Also, keep any kind of bread fresh longer buy popping it in the fridge. A half pan costs more per slice than a full loaf, but if you won’t use it before it gets moldy, just keep it in the fridge – you’ll get much longer out of it. Great for wraps, too.

From Kathy:

I never buy tins of beans or pulses. By buying dried beans, planning ahead and soaking them overnight, then boiling them for about 10 minutes in the morning and continuing to leave them soak in the hot water, they cook very quickly when you are ready to use. They are much cheaper and actually much better than the tins of beans, which I think are always undercooked.

From CBB:

Stock up on all of your spices, coconut milk, soy/fish sauces, curry pastes in Asian shops. Particularly good for big fat chillis, rather than prepackaged skinny ones in Tesco at twice the price!