Yahoo Finance Supermarket swaps to cut your own personal rate of inflation
Nobody needs to tell you how much prices are rising in the supermarket. That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach at the tills tells you everything you need to know.
However, for the masochists among us, the Bank of England has released a shopping prices calculator Shopping prices comparison tool - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk), showing just how much the cost of your usual supermarket shop has risen over the past year.
It’s an eye-opening experience, but finding out how much more we’re spending is just the start, because we can use it to make seven supermarket swaps to save hundreds of pounds a year.
The first is simply swapping from a premium brand to a supermarket own brand – or even to the budget range. Some of these items can be 90% cheaper, which is a staggering saving. Unfortunately, there’s every chance you’re already doing this.
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According to Kantar, sales of branded goods are up just 4.4% in a year, and because this is slower than inflation it’s a sign we’re cutting back. Meanwhile own brand sales were up 13.5% and value own brands were up an incredible 46%.
Alternatively, you can switch to a discount supermarket, which can shave 30% off the cost of your shopping. Again, there’s every sign we’re already doing this, as the market share of Aldi and Lidl combined has hit almost 18% – and sales at both supermarkets are up by around a quarter in a year.
You can also trade your usual supermarket for an online shop. Not everyone is keen on this particular switch, but it removes the tendency to browse the shelves and impulse buy, so it’s much easier to make a list and stick to it.
If you’re already done the big swaps, you can try smaller ones – which is where the ONS calculator can come in handy. It will help you identify the things in your basket that have risen the most. In some cases, despite the rise, they’re still cheaper than the alternatives. In other cases, you can save by switching. This can be anything from switching from olive oil to vegetable oil or from butter to an own brand spreadable butter.
You can also switch aisles: like swapping fresh meat, fish, vegetables and fruit for frozen or tinned. Take chicken breasts for example – a switch from the cheapest fresh to the cheapest frozen options can save you more than a quarter of the cost. Spinach, meanwhile, is around half the price in the frozen section. You can also switch from the snack aisle to the baking ingredients section, where you’ll find the same nuts, dried fruit and chocolate – but without the VAT.
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It's worth swapping out pre-prepared items – like grated cheese or stir fry mixes for the raw ingredients. For the time it takes to grate your cheese, you can shave off a quarter of the cost. If you know you won’t get round to cooking without convenience, then check whether there’s a frozen alternative. A frozen stir fry pack can cost a third less than a fresh one.
Finally, there are the slightly more in-depth switches, which can make a dramatic difference but require more creativity. This includes things like swapping out some of the mince in your spaghetti bolognese for lentils, switching chicken breasts for thighs or opting for turkey mince instead of beef in your meatballs.
There’s no getting away from the fact that the price of food has risen spectacularly over the past year, but a combination of all of these techniques could cut your costs in half – or even further. And while not all of them will suit you, just a handful of supermarket swaps could leave you paying less than you were this time last year.
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