11 savvy supermarket shopping tips!

Once your student loan comes in, it's often a bit too easy to indulge in eating out and splurge on convenience food for dinner. London is an amazing city for students, but its no fun when you have to be the one to stay at home because you spent all of your loan on Starbucks and a Tesco's finest steak. Here are my top 11 tips to make your food shopping habits smarter to give you more money to enjoy the best of London with!

1. Don’t shop when hungry – everyone needs a reminder of this one. You’ll buy less on a full stomach!
2. Never buy a 5p plastic bag! This one’s dead easy. Rummage around for reusable bags at home, and you’ll save so much money (and the planet!) in the long-term. 
3. Go online – you’ll be less tempted by expensive impulse buys at checkout.
4. Shop at weird times –often first thing in the morning, just after lunch and later in the evening, you can grab a reduced bargain – just look for the yellow or orange stickers!
5. Try the brand challenge – observe the following levels: 1. Premium brand: luxury and organic brands e.g. Tesco Finest, Taste the Difference 2. Manufacturer’s brand: classic home brands e.g. Heinz, Bird’s Eye, Walkers… 3. Supermarket own brand 4. No-frills value products. Challenge yourself to shop a level down from your usual, or even two. You can save hundreds of pounds a year and a lot of the time you are just paying for the brand rather than the quality!
6. Bulk buy - but compare with smaller options. Mainstream supermarkets are infamous for catching out customers by making their “multi-buy” offers seem cheaper when in fact they are not! 
7. Less meat, more veg! - meat is probably going to be the most expensive thing on your shopping list. Try switching up your diet and incorporating more vegetable into your meals - your body and wallet will thank you! 
8. Make it last – meat, that is. Unless you’ve already cut it out completely, buy bigger cuts and let it last the week. Your freezer is your friend here. 
9. Seasonal shopping – we’re spoilt for choice now, and can buy any fruit and vegetables all year round, but try to stick to fruit and vegetables in season as they’re often cheaper!
10. Price match – some supermarkets such as Asda and Tesco offer price matching services and if you find your purchases were cheaper elsewhere, they’ll pay the difference or offer vouchers.
11. Plan - your meals, and shopping lists in accordance with your budget. Stock take your cupboards before you go to the supermarket, then you won’t overspend on unnecessary products!

Last revised:8 September 2021

Suriyah Rashid, UCL student, BA Language and Culture