Caitríona Redmond: How to save big on your weekly shop in the long term
Caitríona Redmond: "Keeping on top of the weekly shopping budget is vital household management."
According to the CSO the cost of food and drink is increasing at a higher rate than the consumer price index, I am not shocked. To me and you, that means that the price of our weekly shop is steadily rising. I know you’re not astounded by this groundbreaking news either, because I receive messages every week about the cost of food on the increase, and how people are struggling to make ends meet.
Keeping on top of the weekly shopping budget is vital household management.
Supermarkets in Ireland are constantly evolving. Let’s look at some of what the retailers offer us consumers, and whether their additional benefits can benefit us in the long term.
Last year, Aldi decided to stop offering a click and collect service so that they could focus on providing quality and value for their customers. They’re also the only major supermarket that doesn’t have a loyalty scheme for the same reasons. It’s an interesting stance when looking at their competitors, but it’s fair to say that Aldi does offer good value to shoppers on their products alone.
Regular Tesco customers can guarantee regular deliveries and book slots well in advance with “delivery saver”. Even better, the plan is free of charge for customers aged 65 and older with a minimum spend of €50 to qualify. This is a brilliant example of providing a service for older members of our community.
It's interesting to see at what the major grocery retailers offer their customers across the channel. Lidl have started to roll out a reservation or click and collect option for certain ‘middle aisle’ products in the UK. For anybody who has queued patiently outside of a Lidl store on a Monday or a Thursday morning to bag that coveted special offer, will know how handy this could be.
When I asked Lidl Ireland, they told me that they have no plans to offer this to Irish customers at the moment. They went on to remind me of their app, weekly deals on fresh food items, special campaigns on the app, and their holiday website, “Lidl Breaks”.
A dedicated holiday website for customers, offering discounted breaks is something that both Lidl and SuperValu have in common. Pre-covid I used both at various times for family hotel breaks in Ireland and saved a fortune. An excellent reminder for myself, if not for you.
In the UK, Tesco has a premium loyalty scheme called ‘Clubcard Plus’. For the monthly subscription fee of £7.99 (STG), customers can receive a 10% discount on two shops per month, plus permanent discounts on clothing and other branded items. However, Tesco Ireland says they have no intention to roll out this offering in Ireland for now.
They have launched “Whoosh” a new rapid delivery service in three stores in Dublin so far, which can delivery groceries within in an hour of ordering. More stores will be added in the future.
Regular readers will know that Dunnes Stores recently amended their shop and save vouchers. If customers get a voucher in person, it can now be applied both in-store and online. Those shopping discounts can be significant and can reduce a weekly shop by as much as 20% once a €10 off €50 voucher is applied to the cost of a shopping trolley. There are plenty of other benefits for shoppers, such as Value club deals and discounts.
Across all the supermarkets, there are benefits for signing up to using either an app, which can get you an immediate discount for use in store, or first online shopping discount in the case of SuperValu, which amounts to €20 off your first online shop over €80. For those of us counting our cents, it’s worth joining every single membership club to benefit and save money again and again.
In fact, no matter the shop, from electrical stores to pharmacies, many offer membership discounts and benefits from free delivery to collecting points to spend later. I’m a huge fan of the Boots app, for example, I save up my points for the New Year sales every year and pick out something nice for myself. We all deserve a reward for the hard work it takes to keep the household budget on track!
If you are bothered by frequent emails about special offers and deals, set up an email filter to automatically send promotional emails to a separate folder that you can check once a week. Googlemail and Outlook make this easy to set up and use.
You can see that there is no point in being loyal to any one supermarket. Chase the value where you can and reap the rewards and/or savings to your weekly grocery shop. When you see the price drop, pounce and celebrate the savings.
- Shop your cupboards first
- Use a shopping list, but also a wish list
- Stick to your budget
- Lose your loyalty - shop for value
- Check apps and websites for coupons
- Be prepared to pounce on special offers
With all the talk about food prices lately, you may be considering growing your own food. GIY Ireland has a brilliant starter GROWbox, priced at €39.99 which will give you all the knowledge and seeds you need to get underway.
Depending on where you are in the country though you may be able to pick up GIY seeds for free from your local library. Libraries are not just a resource for books.
Over 200 public libraries in Ireland hold a Codema home energy saving kit for rent. The kit contains five tools including a thermal leak detector, a plug in energy monitor and an essential radiator key.
All of which will help you measure how energy efficient your home is, where energy may be escaping and how you can make easy changes to make immediate energy savings.
