Outsmart The Supermarket With Five Easy Strategies

Aussies are busy enough, without having to think about how to stretch our dollars further while still achieving delicious, healthy dinners.

The temptation is to buy a jar or package of processed ingredients from the supermarket for a quick and easy meal. 

Let’s be honest, reaching for processed ingredients like tinned spaghetti or jarred sauce might be a way to cut costs but it certainly doesn’t delight our taste buds and often is not a high quality, healthy solution. 

As supermarket prices increase, Aussies are looking for new ways to feed the family without blowing the budget.

These are my top tips for how you can outsmart the supermarket and avoid a budget blowout.

1. Avoid the packaged fruit and veg

One of the biggest supermarket traps is falling for the pre-packaged fruit and vegetables that convince you to buy more than you need. They look neat and attractive in their packages however you buy more than you need and throw the rest away.  Try your best to buy the exact amount for your recipe, opting for two carrots or a handful of spinach rather than a whole bag. Not only will this help you save money, but you’ll also save on food waste. 

Hot Tip:  One of my recent discoveries is the benefits of using a meal kit delivery services.   Selecting the meals and then receiving a 4 step recipe with EveryPlate, with the perfectly pre-portioned ingredients to ensure you get exactly what you pay for and it all ends up on your plate and not in the rubbish.

• Avoid the Supermarket spending traps

Fron the layout of the store to the music being played, Supermarkets are psychologically designed to encourage you into buying things you don’t need. Keep this in mind when heading into the store.  Stick to your list and make sure you’re aware of the temptations in every aisle and at checkout.

Hot Tip:  Never visit a supermarket on an empty stomach – otherwise you’ll be caught out with a trolley full of snacks, lollies and drinks you don’t need and your grocery budget blown out.

• Avoid the temptation

Because of these temptations, every time you step into a supermarket you’re bound to walk out with more ingredients than you had planned. This means if you’re doing multiple shops each week, you’re spending more than you would by only making one visit to the supermarket. In fact, according to data from Finder, those who shop for groceries twice a week tend to spend more per week than those who opt for weekly visits ($187 and $162 respectively). To avoid a budget blow out, stick to one weekly shop and save yourself both money and time.

Hot tip: If you find it hard to stick to the plan, shop online.  It is an easy way to stick to your list and avoid all of the supermarket instore spending traps.

• Ditch the processed pantry ingredients

By planning ahead and prepping your meals for the week, you’ll save on groceries while serving up a tasty, healthy home-cooked meal for the family.  Fresh tastes best.  The processed items can be a drain on the budget and more often that not sit on our pantry shelves unused.

• Use a meal-kit delivery service

Outsmart the supermarket completely, and swap the aisles for a meal-kit delivery service instead. Opting for a meal-kit like EveryPlate is the perfect way to source quality ingredients for your weekly meals, at a consistent cost with no surprises. As Australia’s lowest price meal kit, starting at $3.99 per plate, EveryPlate is cheaper and smarter than the supermarket when it comes to preparing quick, winning dinners for the family. In fact, Aussies can save up to 57% per plate by using EveryPlate instead of shopping at the supermarket.

What’s even better is The Carousel readers can get access to an introductory discount with EveryPlate, visiting the website: https://www.everyplate.com.au/plans

Regardless of prices increasing, by being smarter in our approach to shopping, we can still achieve delicious meals, eat healthy, avoid the waste and keep a little something in our budget to spoil ourselves.