Could you budget better and cut your weekly shop by 25%?

Monday 15 February 2016

Don’t shop on an empty stomach – that’s one of the tips from Jersey’s Consumer Council who are challenging you this Lent to give up buying food you don’t really need and cut the cost of your weekly shop by 25%.

They’ve launched a campaign on social media to get you sharing your money saving tips and to help those struggling to keep costs down.

Jersey Consumer Council Executive Officer Anne King said: “As far as we can tell, there doesn’t seem to be any up to date figures on how much Islanders spend on their weekly food shopping. 

“A quick straw poll around our office revealed that we spend between £150 and £220 a week on our family grocery bills and we began sharing tips on how we try to keep those costs down.

“We realised that we each have some great tricks up our sleeve for minimising our shopping costs. We thought it would be helpful to share these with local consumers and ask Islanders for any other inventive ideas they have for feeding a family on a budget – we know that it’s something many people are very good at in Jersey, but others really struggle.   

“We decided to throw down the gauntlet to Islanders to ask them, through our Facebook page, to tell us how MUCH they spend each week on their grocery bills and then to see if they can reduce that figure by 25% over a week. We hope that this exercise will help to set them off on a new pattern of reduced spending behaviour!

“Twenty five per cent sounds a lot, but we think it’s very do-able.  We are hoping that people will give it a go and give us their feedback on how they got on.  We are keen to know how difficult they found it, as well as hearing about HOW they managed it."

The team at the Council have got together with Caring Cooks of Jersey, the charity set up to help local families to eat better, and come up with these tips to help you spend less each week:

• Use what you’ve already got:  For starters, why not plan your family meals for the next week around all the food you ALREADY have in your kitchen?  Go through your cupboards, the fridge and the freezer and plan your next week’s meals around what’s in the house.

• Plan ahead; write a list and stick to it:  Think about what’s on your family’s schedule each day next week; come up with a meal plan that works around those timings; write a list of what you need and then shop for it.  If you pin your plan on the fridge or a noticeboard, everyone can see what they’re having and you are more likely to stick to it! 

• Slowcook: This time of year in particular, slowcookers can be an easy way to cook healthy, cost-effective one-pot meals, for a family that is coming and going at different times.

• Eat before you shop:  Shopping when you are hungry invariably leads to you buying heaps more than you intended to, because that rumbling stomach finds everything too tempting!  

• Buy supermarket own brands:  In many cases, they are just as good as the expensive branded items, but they are cheaper.  

• Remember that the supermarkets are not your friend:  They are TRYING to get you to spend more money!  Don’t be lured by ‘special offers’ on products you wouldn’t normally buy.

• Shop in the evening:  When the supermarkets reduce fresh items that are nearing their sell-by dates.  Put these in the freezer as soon as you get home.

• Make friends with your freezer:  Also freeze leftovers and bulk cook foods like bolognaise or chilli to freeze in portions – it will save you money and time!

• Pay with cash:  Paying with hard currency helps bring home to us just how much we are spending on our food and can make us stop and think about which items we REALLY need.

You can get some more tips and recipes from the Caring Cooks team here  and more moneysaving tips here.

Mrs King said: “We hope that Islanders will get in touch via our Facebook page and keep us posted on their experiences and any budgeting advice they can pass on.”

“We hope that Islanders will get in touch via our Facebook page and keep us posted on their experiences and any budgeting advice they can pass on.”