As we all look at tightening our belts amid the cost of living crisis, rising inflation and soaring bills, food shopping is one area where it helps to look for a bargain. Many shoppers are looking at how to do their food shop for less by making the most of special offers and price comparisons.
Navigating the world of supermarket deals and reductions can be tricky business though, and you need to be savvy to make sure you’re actually getting a bargain. With inflation still at more than nine percent in the latest figures, it can make a huge difference if you can keep food costs low.
Sainsburys recently introduced new special offer signs, which are more prominent than they used to be, as more shoppers seek a bargain. Our colleagues at BirminghamLive went to Sainsburys to check out how the store’s discounts work. Read on for their experience.
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Yellow stickers
There are usually a fair few items with a yellow 'whoopsie' sticker on them, but I soon spotted that although prices can be cut drastically, there's a good reason the products are on offer in the first place. It mostly consisted of microwaveable bags of mixed veg and ready meal curries and you can see why shoppers are generally avoiding them - they may be convenient, but they are expensive ways to make a meal. It’s much better to get fresh loose veg and to make your own curries. The lesson here is to not get a yellow sticker just for the sake of it.
Meat
With security tags on meat in most if not all supermarkets, and shoplifting warning signs nearby, it's obvious some people have been trying all sorts of illegal ways of saving money. Peering more closely at the weight of a pack of chicken thighs I picked up, I ended up causing a security alert, with an alarm going off in the section and also in the back of the store.
I had another shock when I saw chicken thighs (640g) were now £5.75, even more expensive than the chicken breasts at £5 for a pack of the same weight. Thighs are usually the cheaper cut but that seems to have created such a demand that they are now more pricey. It might be time to check out the local butcher or meat wholesaler. Overall, I noticed very few people buying meat at all and it must be down to the higher price.
Canned food and sauces
Two shoppers were in the midst of a blazing row in the canned foods aisles, which encapsulates the cost of living nightmare and how we are all now driven to comparing price labels. Heinz baked beans are an eye-watering £1.55 a tin, though they were on offer at £1.20 - still way more expensive than Sainsbury's own brand at 55p. Nearby, a couple were getting their groceries and one had reached for Heinz beans before the other raised their voice and jabbed a finger at the price. After an argument over which to buy, they settled for the own-brand version going in their basket. I'm a big fan of the Sainsbury's beans and I would agree, especially as the price makes them even more appealing.
Sacrifices must be made and this applies also to sauces. I'll gladly opt for Sainsbury's tomato ketchup at 90p over the Heinz version at £3.75. Similarly, I've switched to Sainsbury's £1.05 brown sauce when the other option is HP Sauce at £3.75. We probably all have brands we refuse to compromise on - or some picky eaters at home who won't eat anything else - but when you compare buying two bottles of sauce (one red, one brown) for £1.95 next to the big brand equivalent total of £7.50, the price difference of almost six quid is staggering and well worth considering. For that saving, you could add those chicken thighs to the basket and feel far less stressed about it.
Bread
I still remember the day when I recently saw a loaf of supermarket bread soar past the £2 barrier and land at £2.15. That's still the supermarket price for Hovis Seed Sensations. My eyes were drawn to Sainsbury's own white bread at just 95p - even if you're a fan of wholemeal, brown or seeded loaves, a cheap white loaf is fine for freezing and using as toast. In the end, I chose Sainsbury's Taste The Difference wholemeal seeded bread for £1.45, a reasonable compromise that stayed well under the top prices on the shelves.
Cereals
If porridge is your thing, a box of Quaker oats is now £3.15. But there was a far cheaper option with a Sainsbury's bag of oats for £1.40 and I've seen even cheaper brands at Tesco. Similarly, Weetabix was £4 compared to the Sainsbury's Wheat Biscuits version for £2.15. The best deal of all to be had in this section was 90p for Sainsbury's Choco Rice Pops compared with Kellogg's Coco Pops at £3.50. The budget-priced alternative is the clear winner on every level.
Toilet roll
The run of cheap choices seemed to grind to a halt here. Among the prices, Sainsbury's Super Soft was £4.50 for nine rolls but you can find much cheaper products in other places - I bought two 18-roll packs of Softesse rolls at Poundstretcher for a total of £7 in a deal they have on and that's easily the best bargain I've seen on the high street.
Conclusions?
Sainsbury's is not the cheapest supermarket in the UK but it came second in the latest Which? survey on the checkout bill of a large trolley at all the major chains, so it's not doing too badly and there are some bargains to be found, helped by the new special offer signposting. But the weekly shop, or even just a quick top-up dash around your nearest store, now means a far greater focus on swivelling your eyes from one price tag to another and deciding what compromises to make. You start to feel like you're on some sort of price-busting game show.
Supermarket shopping has always been a balance of cost versus convenience but it's clear that has turned into a battle - and cost has easily won over convenience. There's a point now where some goods just feel too expensive, meaning we are all faced with going to multiple stores to bring down our weekly shopping bills to something far more manageable. While some might already have been doing this for a while, it's now the new norm.
In the end, I left feeling confused, with my head in a spin over what I still needed to get from somewhere else to make an actual meal in this new cost-cutting reality show we are all trapped inside. A list of all the stores to visit is now needed as much as a shopping list of what to buy.
For more of today's top stories, click here.
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