It’s hard being a student. With increasing costs and grants and loans not really stretching much beyond student accommodation costs, it’s vital to seek out those bargains. One of the best ways to reduce costs is to look at your food budget. Aside from limiting takeaways, there is plenty of chap food to be had. Supermarkets are a great place to get cheaper food, but it takes a bit of practice to get the best bargains.
Go Late at Night for Cheap Bread
If your local supermarket is 24-hour, it’s a good idea to plan a visit for 9pm or even later. The reason is that the bread produce is drastically reduced around this time to get rid of it. Food with a short shelf life can be sold after the best before date but few people would buy it. This is why you can get a £1 loaf of bread, bags of doughnuts, pastries and packs of rolls for about 10p. You can literally fill your basked for under £1. If you freeze the bread you won’t use for a few days, it’ll last much longer.
Buy Multi Packs and Discounts
Your local supermarket will always have special discounts going on. Buy 6 tins of soup for £4, or buy one get one half price on other things. Before you go for the brand names, look for lesser-known names presently on a deal. There has been a lot of negative talk about these deals as they can encourage food waste. However, with an effective meal plan and using the freezer to store food you don’t quite need yet, it’s a great incentive for students to stock up cheaply.
Check the Reduced Section Religiously
Bread products are reduced at the end of the day and put out. But with other reduced fresh produce, these are put out at all times of the day. Most stores have one in the refrigerated area, some have two (one in salads, one with other chilled produce such as cheese). Some are reduced by a small amount but as time goes on, they are reduced more. Look out for bargains on meat and fish in particular, and ready meals and pre-made sandwiches.
In-Store Promotions
Ever seen those stands in the supermarket with samples of sausages, cheese, soft drinks, crackers and so on? Check out the products because usually these in-store promotions come with a special purchase offer on the product if you like it. In some cases, such promotions are run as competitions. Guess the flavour and you win a free bottle of soft drink, for example. Sometimes they are offered as a “bolt on”. This means if you buy this wine, you’ll get a free wine glass, this cheese comes with free crackers and so on.