How smart shopping can save you money at the supermarket

Have you been feeling the pinch of inflation in your supermarket bill lately?

You’re not imagining it — food prices are eight per cent higher than a year ago, according to recent inflation data. 

While we can’t escape rising prices, there are things within our control when it comes to spending on food.

Here are some ways you can try to save money on your next shop.

Plan your meals

When it comes to cutting down your food bill, the simplest and biggest thing you can do is to eliminate waste.

If you can cut this down to zero, or thereabouts, you're going to save yourself a lot of money (and help save food from landfill too).

Research suggests the average household can save around $40 per week just by eliminating food waste.

There's a simple way to do this: plan your meals.

Look, I get it. Meal planning is dull and a chore. It also means you can't be as spontaneous in the kitchen. But if saving money is the goal, meal planning is likely the highest impact thing you can do.

Finally, a tip from a meal planner: it can be tedious to sit down with your partner to try to figure out what to eat, especially when you're both tired at the end of the day.

Instead, we've found it works better if one person does the shopping and the other the meal planning.

In our case, I do the shopping, but I have less input into what we eat. We split the cooking and washing up evenly. It's an arrangement that works for us, but you do you!

Get bang for your buck at the supermarket

Now you've planned your meals, you're ready to head to the supermarket (with list in hand).

Instead, we're going to be savvy shoppers. This means:

• Sticking to your shopping list. If you didn't need the item when you left home, you don't need it now.
• Comparing different products using unit prices, rather than sticker prices. This means looking at how much products cost per gram, kilogram, litre, etc.
• Looking to buy more expensive, non-perishable items on special (if you have the money). For example, I try to buy big bags of rice or bottles of olive oil when the supermarkets are selling them for 50 per cent off.

Most supermarkets offer online shopping now, which can be a handy way to avoid the time and energy spent at the supermarket.

However, just like they do in their stores, the supermarkets use tactics to try to get you to buy more — so be on the lookout.

When money is tight, look for substitutes

Frozen vegetables are often much cheaper than fresh, and they're still high in nutritional value. For example, frozen spinach is cheap and healthy and works just as well as fresh greens in a filo pie.

You can use legumes and pulses to bulk up meat meals, or as a substitute protein. Canned lentils are a great way to stretch out a spaghetti bolognaise.

Eggs are another cheap and healthy alternative to meat. With eggs, rice, frozen vegetables and seasoning (such as soy sauce and sesame oil), you can have a simple and delicious egg fried rice. 

Before you shop, check your pantry

Even if you plan your meals, you might find yourself staring into the fridge wondering what to cook for dinner.

There are even websites that can generate recipes from a list of the ingredients you have lying around. 

One of my favourite pantry meals is spaghetti puttanesca, a simple pasta dish made with tomatoes, olives, capers, chilli, garlic and anchovies (which I leave out). 

I’ll often make it when there’s nothing in the fridge and I’m feeling exhausted — saving an extra trip to the shops or money spent on takeaway.