How to save money on food shopping using advice from real people

In 2022 food prices rose 16.9%. Costs are up but with some crafty tips you’ll learn how to save money when food shopping.

Recently, members from the LifePoints shared some of their best money saving hacks on Facebook and Twitter. We’re highlighting some of our favourite ideas below, including:

• Buying in bulk
• Cutting down
• Growing your own food
• Plan ahead
• Cooking at home

This is the next in a cost-of-living series, so read how you can beat combat inflation with more tips from the LifePoints community.

Different ways to save money food shopping

Buy bulk items to save

Buying food in bulk will always be cheaper than buying a normal amount of something. And it’s simple to do. If you find yourself buying the same over and over again – but it in bulk and see how much it could save? You have a lot of shops to choose from including eBay, Costco, or Amazon.

Mini, a LifePoints community member from Facebook, buys things in bulk to save on their food bill: “I bulk buy on items which we use more often”.

If you are an avid home cook or a novice, buying your ingredients in bulk can help you save. Once you have some bulk ingredients, cooking things in batches – literally called ‘batch cooking’ – will be easy in no time. Sheryl does exactly this, as she explained on Facebook: “cook meals that would last for a day or 2.”

Food isn’t the only area you can save money on when you buy in bulk. This is an especially good idea for stuff that has a long shelf life or is not a food item – loo roll comes to mind. Start by making a list of the things you buy a lot like printer paper, spices or mouthwash then investigate what options are available to buy them in bulk near you.

Cut down on food waste

If you cut down how much food you waste, you can buy less and save money of course. Did you know every year the average household in the UK throws away £800 of food. Avoiding food wate is always going to be challenging. But how do our members tackle it?

Jai finds one easy way to cut down on waste is to look at the expiry date: “Always check the expiry date.”

This will help you avoid buying something that’s about to go off or give you more time to eat something before needing to throw it away.

There are other ways to cut down on waste and save too. Sandy has found that preserving her food allows her to save some money: “Can and freeze fruits and veggies when in season.”

If you do have some fresh food that might go bad you have a lot of options to store it like making pickles, freezing it in Ziploc bags, and turning fruit into jam. These will all allow you to throw out less, and lets you enjoy fruits and veggies that aren’t in season throughout the year

Some of the best options to cut down food waste include:

• Plan ahead
• Find recipes that use leftover ingredients
• Get food that takes the longest to go off
• Only buy essentials
• Buy canned or frozen foods instead of fresh foods so you can save them if you don’t want to use them straight away

Grow food yourself

You can greatly reduce how much you spend by growing fruits and veggies in your garden. Cecile explained on the LifePoints Facebook page how she gardens: “I planted vegetables in my garden. Get something free instead of buying.” You’ll be saving money and gardening can be a rewarding hobby.

RN, a LifePoints member from Facebook, has found ways to save money by growing her own produce. Not only have they saved on their own money, but they have also found gardening allows them to earn some cash by selling the extra: “Do gardening so you can eat or sell for your benefit.”

If you have grown too much food but don’t want to sell it why not consider giving it to family or your neighbours? They’ll appreciate the fresh food and you’ll be able to help them save too.

Plan your food ahead and save

Planning your meals ahead allows you to save by only buying the ingredients you need. There are a few ways to plan ahead like an excel spreadsheet, writing your plan out in a notebook or even memorizing your plan, whatever works for you. There are a few reasons why you might be interested in making a meal plan: The reason or need for starting a meal plan can be different for every person, for instance there is:

• Meal planning for dietary requirements
• Meal planning for families
• Meal planning for students
• Meal planning for nutrition
• Meal planning while on holiday

Planning your meals can help you save in a few ways. One of these is that you can make the most of sales. Christine plans and uses coupons to save some a lot of money on food: “Plan ahead a week’s worth of meals a use as many coupons and find the best price for items”

You’ll save money by cooking in advance, and you’ll save time by cooking less often.

Save money by cooking

Cooking at home was the most popular way that LifePoints community members saved money on their food bill. OpenTable estimates that 25% of our salaries is spent on eating out per year. Eating out and takeaways can cost more than cooking at home, and it’s estimated the average person can save £760 a year by cooking at home.

Priya explains it simply, saying: “Cut down on online food delivery and enjoy home cooked healthy food”

As Priya says, this also allows you to eat more healthy food, so you’re saving money and getting additional benefits.

Fernando, a LifePoints community member from Facebook, also explains it well: “Eat at home by cooking own food will cost a lot cheaper”

Earn some extra money as well as saving money on food

The tips from LifePoints members are a great way for you to save money on food. If you’re finding you’re getting great savings on food, why not put that little extra money into your bank account? There are a lot of side hustles out there too to get some extra cash. One of the easiest and quickest will always be earning gift cards and PayPal cash by taking surveys through LifePoints.

You can take our surveys on phone, tablet, or PC, including on the LifePoints app from wherever you want. You simply sign up, take some surveys to have your voice heard on everyday products and services and get points that you can swap for your choice of reward.

Find out what rewards you can earn by visiting the LifePoints rewards page. And to see what our LifePoints members enjoy about taking surveys – watch their review videos now.

Get ready to earn and save money

With the tips from the LifePoints community you’re now ready to save money on food. Whether you buy in bulk, cook at home, or grow some veggies, you’ll quickly see the savings in your bank account. We want to give a big shout out to all the fantastic ideas and money hacks shared by the LifePoints community. Share your own money saving tips on Facebook and Twitter pages.

Come back again soon for more LifePoints articles on how to save money while inflation is high.

Have your voice heard with LifePoints today

With LifePoints you earn points which you can swap for gift cards and PayPal cash.

Sign up to LifePoints today and you can get 10 free points!

Amazon sells everything you want, so why not learn how to get a free Amazon gift card and eat for free?