by Rachel Alessi

Created on: September 09, 2010   Last Updated: September 25, 2010

A recent survey by Sky News revealed that people in the UK would rather cut back on their food expenditure than their broadband connections. Well, with the credit crunch tightening and the price of food on the increase, cutting back on food expenditure is now becoming a reality for most of us.

Food prices have risen by 10% overall and, according to figures released last week by the Office of National Statistics the price of fruit, vegetables, fruit juices and mineral water have shot up, particularly over the past month. The price of wheat is at a two year high. And the bad news is that the experts are forecasting that global food prices will increase even further this year.

So, with all that in mind let’s explore some options for cutting your household food bills.

Plan

Before you even set foot out of the door make a menu plan for the week. That way you won’t over or under estimate the amount of food you are going to need. If you buy too much then the chances are that anything fresh will perish before it gets eaten, too little and you may find yourself having to run to the local shops to top up, which could work out more expensive.

Look For Offers

Check out the weekly bargains that supermarkets offer. BOGOFs (buy one get one free) are always a pretty good deal, particularly if it’s tinned goods, or produce that can be frozen. Eight tins of tuna for the price of four for example is a pretty good deal  – tuna is versatile, tasty, a good source of Omega 3 and will last a long time in your store cupboard. The key to this is to not get sucked into buying anything you don’t need. And this is where online shopping comes into its own...

Compare prices and Shop Online

There are plenty of websites around which that will allow you to compare prices from a variety of supermarkets and do your weekly shop at the same time. Mysupermarket.com will compare the price of good in your virtual trolley to the identical products from a variety of other supermarkets. The site also features a ‘swap’ facility which enables you to replace an item in your trolley with a comparable product which is less expensive. You can complete your shopping from the comfort of your armchair – saving you time, petrol and money you may be tempted to spend on those  little ‘extras’ that you would see if you were wandering around the store. Mysupermarket.com also offers online voucher codes, which could save you even more.

Ditch the ready

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