Below I share a proven strategy for saving many hundreds of euros per year on groceries. It just requires looking a little further ahead than the daily or weekly shopping. The savings per person – of course depending on your eating habits – can easily amount to 400 to 600 euros per year.
Once a year in the run-up to the summer holidays, we largely empty the freezer. On the one hand, to prevent an unexpected long-term power outage or freezer failure during our holiday from leading to large-scale spoilage. On the other hand, because with a full freezer you cannot optimally stock up on attractive offers.
This also prevents the quality of frozen products from deteriorating too much fat oxidation (first part article). Finally, it offers the option of defrosting the freezer once in a while – depending on the amount of ice build-up.
Hard cheeses
Hard cheese lovers can easily save 30 percent. Hard cheese – provided it is sealed and kept refrigerated – usually has a shelf life longer than the best before date. Moreover, hard cheeses will not spoil easily and if some mold spots unexpectedly appear, these will not cause any harm, as long as you remove the mold spots. It is better to throw away soft cheeses that have mold spots completely. An upcoming expiration date easily results in a 30 percent discount in the supermarket. We never store hard cheeses in the freezer, but this seems to be possible?
In addition, many supermarkets regularly have ‘buy 2, pay 1’ offers within their range of hard cheeses. If you are not very tied to one specific cheese brand, you can regularly find cheese on sale. Because of the relative shelf life, you can safely stock up on extra. This way you save between 30 and 50 percent on relatively expensive hard cheeses.
Meat, fish and meat substitutes
In terms of meat and fish, there is little room with regard to the TGT date (last part article). Spoiled meat and fish pose a serious threat to health. That is why we always use at least one remaining day until the expiry date for discounted meat and fish products in order to avoid any risk. Discounted meat and fish products are then consumed that same day or go straight into the freezer.
The same applies to offers of meat, fish and meat substitutes. In particular, ‘get 2, pay 1’ offers are going into our freezers in large numbers. The great thing is that they take up relatively little space. In practice, this means that we save between 30 and 50 percent on meat, fish and meat substitutes throughout the year.
Frozen meals and frozen pizzas
Although frozen meals and especially frozen pizzas take up a relatively large amount of freezer space, you can save a lot of money by stocking up on attractive offers. We therefore only buy frozen meals and pizzas when they are on special offer. This saves us between 25 and 50 percent.
Fermented dairy products
Spoiled dairy is downright inedible due to acidification long before it can harm health. You can therefore be quite flexible with the best before date (ie looking, smelling, tasting). We often find that yoghurt, custard or cottage cheese that is a few days out of date even tastes better. You can therefore safely purchase dairy close to its expiration date with a 30 percent discount.
It is best to do your shopping between 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Dairy close to its expiration date is sometimes not yet discounted before 4 p.m., but after 7 p.m. it has sometimes already disappeared or been removed from the shelf. If you are not very tied to one specific type of dairy, there is always a fermented dairy type that is on sale. Go ahead, I’d say. This often results in a 25 to 50 percent discount. If you are real dessert monsters like us, then this will add up quite a bit on an annual basis!
Pasta base sauces
If you regularly use pasta base sauces for pasta meals, you can easily save 50 percent. Pasta sauces usually have a shelf life of more than 1 year and they regularly come on offer according to ‘get 2, pay 1’. In that case, you better stock up on plenty of it. This way you save 50 percent on relatively expensive pasta base sauces for pasta meals.
Stew vegetables
Stew vegetables can often be purchased both at the beginning of winter (just after the harvest season) and at the end of winter (decreasing shelf life of winter stock) according to ‘get 2, pay 1’. The only disadvantage is that vegetables take up a relatively large amount of freezer space. Nevertheless, you can eat various stew meals throughout the winter at 50 percent of the cost of stew vegetables.
Shampoo, shower gel, deodorant, toothpaste, toothpicks, toothbrushes, etc.
At many drugstores, frequently used care products come on sale at some point according to the principle of ‘get 2, pay for 1’. The shelf life of such products is usually much longer than 1 year. By immediately stocking up for about a year, we save up to 50 percent on our frequently used care products. You are literally stealing your wallet if you do not purchase frequently used care products for a maximum of 50 percent of the cost price.
Small household or administrative supplies
It is better not to buy small household or administrative supplies at the supermarket. The relatively limited shelves for such items already indicate that they are relatively expensive. For this it is better to visit the Action once in a while.
Choose private labels as standard
Many house brands are completely comparable in quality to A-brands, but a lot cheaper in price. This is because many A-brands supply their products in private label packaging on behalf of supermarkets. After all, it usually costs more to make a different quality product than to fill the private label packaging with exactly the same product that also fills the A-brand packaging.
In some cases, however, you do notice quality differences. This may be the case if there are no A-brand products in private label packaging. At least you will know this for the next time.
Finally, you may find these additional tips and tricks useful for saving.
[Fotocredits – © monticellllo – Adobe Stock]
