Yeah, go on, BOGOF!

Credit-Crunch Supermarket Shopping

It’s official – the credit crunch is affecting the way we do our weekly shop. Bulk buying to stock up the freezer is out. ‘In’ is huddling around the marked down section at the end of the day. And another thing, I’ve seen more people than ever counting out small change at the checkout who only last year ago would be waving the biggest note they could find for fear of looking well, hard up.

I’ve been a single mother and a freelance writer, so I’m well used to the financial lean times, when meat starts to look like a luxury and the carefully selected bottle of wine casually thrown into the basket makes a thirsty disappearance.
For those of you who are new to feeling the pinch, here’s a light-hearted look at how you can make those visits to the supermarket a bit less costly:

 

   1. Don’t go – thin is in haven’t you heard?

   2. Make a list.

   3. Take the xx%$**^ list with you!

   4. Don’t be tempted by the BOGOFs (buy one get one free), it’s a cruel marketing ploy as you probably weren’t going to buy ‘one’ anyway.

    5. Leave the children (yours or anyone else’s) even if you have to  pay someone to mind them, you’ll still be saving money on the random toys, sweets, games etc. that they’ll nag you to buy.

   6. Leave children – it’s just so QUICK without them! Less time in those gaudily lit places equates to less money spent.

7. Buy wine/spirits – getting drunk will take your mind off being hungry. I know this contradicts what I said earlier but you need to decide: yummy food + water OR meagre food + wine?

8. Pay with cash – this focuses the mind in a way that one s-w-o-o-s-h!! with the switch card doesn’t.

9. Limit the purchase of readymeals or chilled foods – are you kidding, cooking is the new sex! (Jamie Oliver said so).

10. Only set foot inside the supermarket one day a week (see point 2) as frequency of visits means more trips to the cash point.

11. Use the money you save on grocery shopping to buy essentials – like SHOES or GADGETS!!!

By the way, this is just our little secret ok? And when we’re all rolling in cash again, just tuck this list away, until the next time.

If you want some more serious information or advice about healthy supermarket shopping, contact the Nutrition Society. http://www.nutritionsociety.org/

Or you could enlist the services of a dietitian. http://www.dietitiansunlimited.co.uk/

 

Concerned about your local economy, read http://tinyurl.com/3yyav65

© Suzy Rigg