Food is one of the biggest expenses after accommodation in Australia, and over the last few months the cost of living has been rising rather high.
In this article we are going to talk about some key money-saving tips on grocery bills in Australia.
1. Sign Up for Loyalty Programs
There are four major supermarkets in Australia
- Woolworths
- Coles
- IGA
- ALDI
Woolworths and Coles being the most popular supermarket.
If you are going to shop at one of these supermarkets, which is either Woolworths or Coles, it makes sense for you to sign up for their loyalty program.
Most popular supermarket loyalty cards:
- Woolworths – Everyday Rewards
- Coles – Flybuys.
Once you sign up for these loyalty programs, every time you scan your loyalty cards when shopping you get some points, and once you have collected a certain number of points, you get some rewards back.
For example, if you are shopping at Coles and you scan loyalty card regularly and get around 2000 points while shopping, you can get up to $10 back as a reward.
It may not seem like a lot, but if you are shopping there anyway, then it just makes sense that you save some money by signing up for these loyalty programs.
Plus, they usually send some special deals and offers for people who sign up for these loyalty programs.
And again, these programs are free to sign up for, so the question is: Why Not?
2. Wait For Weekly Specials
All the major supermarkets in Australia always release their weekly specials.
Every week they come up with new bargains, discounts, deals, and offers.
If you are planning to buy things, it might be worthwhile for you to go through these weekly catalogs. If the item you really want to buy is not available this week, the chances are that it might be available in next week’s special.
It makes perfect sense to wait for those weekly specials and then plan your shopping accordingly.
Check our popular guide on student discounts in Australia here
3. Buy Generics or Home Brands
Most of us prefer to buy branded items, but when it comes to certain items like sugar, salt or cleaning products, it makes sense to buy some generic brands or home brands.
These home brands or generic brands pretty much have the same quality product but just cheaper than branded ones.
The only difference is that they are made by the supermarket and are usually packed in very basic packaging, and they turn out to be cheaper than the branded products in many items.
If you are thinking well, the quality can be an issue, then consider that these supermarkets won’t be able to sell things that are not consumable or are dangerous to consume.
So it can be said that these home brands or generic brands are safe to use.
They’re just cheaper because they may use lower quality ingredients as compared to the very expensive high-quality branded products.
4. Use Gift Cards Instead of Cash
Instead of cash, you can look for some discounted gift cards.
If you are a member of certain organisations like RACV, Optus, AGL etc., they may have some special deals for buying these gift cards.
For example, being a member of RACV insurance entitles you to a 4% discount on Woolworths gift cards.
In essence, you can buy these gift cards and then use them instead of cash to do your grocery shopping, saving you 4%.
There are services like CashRewards and ShopBack, which are basically cash back services that give you cash back on your gift card purchases as well.
These cash backs can range from 2% to 5%, and they occasionally have special offers.
Signing up for these services is free, and if you sign up using these services for cashback or rewards for the first time, then you can get some referral bonus as well.
Sign up for Shop Back here :
https://app.shopback.com/zKZrSeoc9qb
Sign up for Cash Rewards here:
Make sure to follow all the steps in the apps to get a referral bonus.
5. Shop In The Evening Time
If you can go shopping in the evening instead of morning, that would be great.
The reason is that some fresh produce and bakery items usually get discounted at this time of the day, that you usually won’t see in the morning.
The thing is, supermarkets need to clear some of these items by the end of the day because they are not as fresh as they were in the morning, so they’ve to put some special prices in order to clear these items out.
If you’re not fussy about the highest quality possible, then these clearance items are pretty good to eat as well.
6. Look For The Clearance Section
Some supermarkets have started creating specific aisles for clearance items.
Before you shop around, make sure you look for this clearance section and see if any item you really want to buy is available there.
If you’re not sure, you can ask one of the team members if they have a specific clearance section in the supermarket.
7. Check out Ozbargain regularly
You should definitely sign up and check this website, ozbargain.com.au
This is one of the most popular websites for finding deals in Australia. We check not only for grocery shopping, but for other shopping items as well.
They usually have information on what the weekly specials are and some specific specials available from online retailers as well.
Just a word of caution, the website is very addictive as you will keep checking it regularly for deals.
8. Make a shopping list before going grocery shopping
Create a shopping list before heading to the supermarket.
It will not only save you time for your shopping, but also will help in staying focused on what you need to buy, rather than just choosing random items on the shelves.
You can download shopping list apps on your phone or generally, supermarket apps have inbuilt shopping lists as well.
Read 60+ money saving tips for students here
9. Check your fridge and pantry before heading shopping
There are chances that some items are just hidden behind other items or available in your pantry or in the fridge, so you don’t need to buy them again.
10. Don’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach
Going for the grocery shopping with an empty stomach is a very bad thing.
As you tend to buy more items than you need when going on an empty stomach. Usually you will end up buying more snacks than actual ingredients as well.
11. Bring your own bag from home
If you’re going to buy bags from the supermarket, it will cost you some extra dollars.
Bringing your own bag is not only an environment friendly act, but also pocket friendly as well.
12. If possible, buy in bulk
If you’re living in shared accommodation, it might be worthwhile for you to buy in bulk rather than buy single items, because sometimes buying in bulk means saving you additional money.
If you are living in Australia and you do your grocery shopping on a weekly, monthly or whatever basis, we would love to hear from you as well.
What other tips do you have for others to save some money on their grocery bill?
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