The weekly supermarket shop can be a hefty bill at the end of each month depending on how many mouths you need to feed and so any money-saving techniques are welcomed by most families.
A number of TikTok accounts and experts have revealed some of the lesser-known tricks you can spot in stores across the globe.
Whether your weekly shop is done in Tesco, Supervalu, Dunnes, Aldi, or Lidl, these hacks can be used across all of them.
So, here’s what you need to know before heading to the supermarket this week.
Avoid subliminal supermarket tricks
Next time you head to your local to grab a few bits, you’ll notice the first things you see are fruit and vegetables laid out alongside flowers and freshly baked goods.
Irish Times Pricewatch editor, Conor Pope explained: "There's a couple of reasons for that - the bright colours of the flowers, and fruit and veg, stimulate the brain and they make you feel slightly more exhilarated.
"And when you're slightly more exhilarated, you're more inclined to spend money.”
You will now also notice that the regulars on your list like bread, milk, eggs, etc are all at opposite corners of the shop, a move Pope says is done very “deliberately.”
This makes you pass more products on your journey through the store, making you more likely to pick up extras.
Over the years, the size of supermarket trolleys has also increased because according to scientific data, the bigger the trolley the more you will want to fill it.
The move to make them bigger has been done because “they've actually done the maths on it.
"They reckon if you double the size of a trolley, people spend 20% more."
‘Pink Tax’
No matter where you shop around the world, a feature known as ‘Pink Tax’ has been in effect for years.
This is where brands charge more for products simply because they are a popular shade of pink.
Companies often claim that women’s products contain better quality ingredients compared to men's in order to justify the price change.
A great example of this was pointed out to TikTok users by ‘Holly Vlogs Official’, who showed the cost of orange Bic razors in a UK store, compared to the pink version.
They were entirely the same product with the only difference being their colour, but the pink version cost £1.30 while the standard orange option cost £1.
So by opting for the more plain coloured products, you could save money over time.
Aisle price change
Oftentimes items will be placed in aisles with slightly different prices on them, due to clever placement.
So, when people will opt to buy things like dips in the crips aisle and so on, they may be spending more than they need to.
However, one TikTok user revealed that if you were to head to another aisle that has the same products, you could bag a great bargain simply because they're further out of the way.
For example, TikTok star Dominic Bargains used Sainsbury's as an example to his 114,000 followers.
He said: "Coconut milk by Sainsbury's in the regular aisle is £1.50.
"But then get yourself down the international aisle and the [branded] stuff is only £1. Always check the international aisle!!"
So next time you look to get the likes of your salsa next to the tortilla chips, head to the main aisles and you might notice the same product for a lower cost.
Buy alternatives with longer-lasting expiry dates
When you’re doing your weekly shop, opting for frozen alternatives can save you a fortune.
According to nutrition expert Heather Leeson, with Glenville Nutrition, although people often think that fresh veg is better for you than frozen, this is in actual fact a myth.
With the flash freezing that is done by food producers within hours of picking, the frozen option often has more vitamins and minerals locked in as a result.
As well as this, things that you can buy uncooked like bread, poppadoms, or tinned items like certain pulses and veg will last longer in the press than buying the ready-to-eat versions.
