Supermarket shopping has to be the absolute WORST part of my week. Nobody tells you when you’re a kid that adulthood (particularly for women with children) involves deciding what every person (and pet) in your house will eat for every meal, every day, for the rest of your life. It is a soul-destroying task that is sadly unavoidable and which, with the bare essentials now requiring the selling of one’s firstborn, is also beyond stressful.
So, these tips are for you if you want to get the weekly shop done in record time without selling a kidney or surviving on
vegemite sandwiches.
1) Make a list. Yes, I know it sounds simple, and I know we all have good intentions, but I often run out of time, and before I know it, it’s Saturday morning, and I have no list, and my cupboards are bare. However, it is a great tool and prevents impulse purchasing of items that wind up in the bin because they’ve gone manky as you didn’t buy anything to go with them and now can’t think of any meal to make with a pack of tortillas, a zucchini and a bag of limes.
If possible, arrange to get fresh produce for meals later in the week, a few days after you do your main shop, to prevent them from going off. I know it’s tempting to go one day and get everything for the week, but it is counterproductive if half the stuff goes off before you need it. Often, fresh produce is reduced towards the end of the day, so it’s worth going as late as possible. Frozen veg is excellent if you can’t face two weekly trips. It’s cheaper than fresh, and although it might not hold quite the same nutritional value, it’s better than having a side of hot chips because you couldn’t face the supermarket again.
2) Have staple meals. It seems tedious, but we are all creatures of habit when it comes to food and tend to eat the same few meals week in, week out. So why not take advantage of that? Even if that means you eat the same thing every Monday and the same thing every Tuesday, etc. Have a bank of meals and only buy ingredients for those meals. Many free recipes are online, including Jamie Oliver's Five Ingredient Meals, which are healthy and economical, so use them to minimize the amount of food you buy. Make double the amount if you’re making meals that freeze well (Bolognese, chili, curries, and the like). That way, you’ll quickly have good, wholesome nutritional meals ready for subsequent weeks.
3. When it comes to lunch, rather than spending $10+ per day on takeout or buying sandwich fillings that end up in the bin because you didn’t have time to make a sandwich, you really can’t go wrong with good old tuna and rice (unless of course, you don’t like either which is going to be problematic). From a health perspective, it’s a combo with good nutritional value and pretty cheap. I tend to go for Coles' brand (Woolie's own is too mushy for me) and Aldi’s brown rice pots. Add some avo for an extra hit of good fats. To make it even more economical, you can cook dried rice and make enough for a few days. It will cost you a couple of $ per day with practically no prep required: winner-winner tuna dinner.
4) Buy in bulk when items you eat regularly are on offer, especially meat. Then, stick it in the freezer when required. Do the same with cupboard staples like passata and canned veg. Do NOT do the same with fruit and veg unless you know you will eat them. It might seem a good idea to buy 2kg of bananas because it’s 50c cheaper than purchasing the amount you want, but unless you’re a family of apes, the likelihood is that they’re going to go off, and you’ve wasted more than you saved.
5) Don’t be a snob. Undoubtedly, some branded items are better than others, but most of the time, the same people make branded and unbranded items. It’s just different packaging. Seriously, how many pasta sauce factories do you think there are? The same goes for buying fruit and veg, all nicely packaged in trays, wrapped in cellophane, and tied up with a bow. ‘I prefer them because they look nicer.’ Sure, they do, but do they taste better? Nope, they’re likely the same ones that are sat loose. You’re paying as much for the packaging you’ll throw away as you’re paying for the stuff you’re eating.
Snobbery also applies to supermarkets ‘Ooh. I don’t like how it looks in Aldi’. The old saying, don’t judge a book by its cover, applies, so shop around. I like to go to Aldi and then pop to one of the other major supermarkets for anything they don’t have. It’s worth the extra time when you’re making good savings.
For my family of 3, I was regularly spending $200 - $300 per week by shopping in one supermarket and being totally unprepared, and that was before the cost of living went through the roof. Now, I try my best to follow these five tips, and my weekly shop is consistently below $200 with a meal plan that generally looks something like this:-
Monday Chicken with potatoes and veg or salad
Tuesday Tacos (coleslaw salad bag with chicken schnitty or fish, depending on the cost)
Wednesday Chicken (or Haloumi) with veggie rice
Thursday Baked potato with tuna and salad
Friday Pasta with homemade tomato/veg sauce
Saturday Homemade chicken curry with rice
Sunday BBQ
So why not give it a go and see if you save not only $$ but also time and a little sanity?
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