10 more ways to save on your grocery bill

Whether you’re saving for a house deposit or you’re struggling to make ends meet, cutting the cost of your groceries is a legitimate way to make a significant difference to your overall finances. And there are a multitude of ways to go about it. Come at the task from a new angle and gain some fresh enthusiasm with this second line up of suggestions.  

1  Minimalise the chance of impulse buying. Pack snacks and drinks, especially for sporting activities, so you don’t have to make emergency spends. If you’re not well prepared you’ll require ridiculous levels of self-control – so don’t put yourself in that predicament in the first place.

2  Shop online Sure there’s a delivery cost, but avid online shoppers swear they’re more likely to stick to their list, and less likely to impulse buy.

3  Get creative in the kitchen. Just because the recipe calls for it, it doesn’t mean you can’t try a substitution. Start to consider a recipe a suggestion, and you may discover you’re more of a chef than you thought.

4  Memorise a few basic recipes. I’ve memorised the recipe for scones, pancakes, brownies, chocolate cake and pesto. It happened by osmosis. Now I’m twice as likely to whip up a quick afternoon tea, as I’m twice as fast at doing it.

5  Know what you value, and make peace with the sacrifice. We’re all trying to save money, but we all do it in different ways. I’m not prepared to compromise on my mayo brand, but when the kids were younger I was more than happy to put them in budget nappies, and that saving really added up. I’m not quite prepared to leave that bottle of wine on the shelf, but generally we don’t buy any other drinks, except for special occasions. Some people can’t start the day without their designer muesli. We’re happy with Weetbix and cornflakes.

6  Consider your cleaning products. I’m not fussy in this department. I buy budget. But I’m told vinegar and baking soda are super effective, and super economical to boot.

7  Create a savings account for Christmas and birthdays. It saves the strain of trying to keep your weekly spend on target. When you’re at the till, consider separating special party items from your usual products, and make two different transactions, so you can keep track of what’s what when you’re reflecting on your budget.

8  Homemade ‘takeaways.’ We all want a Friday night treat. Homemade fish and chips are super quick and easy, and kids love building their own burgers from a smorgasbord of fillings. And just because you made it at home doesn’t mean you can’t take it away to the park or beach or wherever.

9  Do some coffee calcs – then brew your own. Three bought coffees a week at $5 per cup adds up to $780.00 a year! And as for that tempting bit on the side … for the cost of one slab of caramel slice at café you could make about a third of a batch at home.

10  Waste not, want not. This is my Granny’s expression. She’s 97, and lived through The Great Depression, and has a full appreciation of the value of a knob of butter. It became my Mum’s catch phrase (who brought up four children on a tight budget) and now I hear the words on my own lips when my kids are wasteful.  Sophie Gray, Kiwi author of Destitute Gourmet (well worth checking out) is a huge fan of turning tonight’s leftovers into the basis of tomorrow’s lunch or dinner.

I’ve saved the last word for my old Plunket nurse in Sunnynook, Auckland. When my youngest was a baby – another naturally large and very hungry baby, off the charts like his older siblings – she looked at me with empathy, and spent most of the appointment passing on tried and true advice. “My three boys are all over six foot now. They had an insatiable appetite, and it only grew with age. What you need to do is get extremely efficient at baking scones. Scones, scones and more scones, every day for afternoon tea. And plant fruit trees, now. Go home and plant fruit trees, to get you through their teenage years.”