*TIP for Irish Shoppers: Bookmark this page to refer to the links when working on your weekly shopping list!
If you’re lucky enough to live close to multiple supermarkets, and have a little time to plan your shopping trips, you can save a lot of money on your weekly grocery bills by shopping around. Competitive pricing and special offers, together with finding store-brand products – can help you make huge savings and allow you to keep extra money in your own pocket for better things!
When it comes to fresh fruit & veg, the bigger supermarkets will have weekly offers where they typically pick 6 or so items that are all priced from 49c to 99c. If you can keep an eye on these weekly offers, you can either make meal plan choices based on what’s on offer, or visit a few stores based on what’s on your shopping list each week.
Even though I had previously been spending far too much on my grocery bills, I have always enjoyed keeping an eye out for bargains and would regularly check in with all of the different supermarkets to see what they had on offer each week.
In order to make things a bit easier, I’m going to include the relevant links to each store’s special offers sections below. My recommendation would be to save this page in your favourites, and refer to it each week as you do your meal planning and write those shopping lists.
Tesco:
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/SpecialOffers/default.aspx
Super Valu:
https://shop.supervalu.ie/shopping/selected-offers
Dunnes Stores:
https://www.dunnesstores.com/c/fresh-food/grocery/in-store-offers
Lidl:
https://www.lidl.ie/special-offers
https://www.lidl.ie/super-savers
Aldi:
https://www.aldi.ie/c/specialbuys
https://www.aldi.ie/about-our-super-6
And it’s not only the bigger supermarkets, very often the smaller shops can have offers. It might be money off your favourite wine, or a good deal on toilet rolls – but keeping an eye on as many shops as possible, is going to save you money.
Spar:
https://www.spar.ie/great-offers/
Londis:
Costcutter:
http://costcutter.ie/costcutter-offers/
Centra:
Lastly, and though it might not be an obvious choice, the influx of discount stores in Ireland can offer a variety of savings when it comes to grocery shopping. Sometimes you will see kitchen staples, in larger sizes, at a fantastic price. Worth checking out if you have one nearby.
Dealz:
https://www.dealz.ie/food-and-drink
Mr Price:
http://www.mrprice.ie/c/food-and-drinks/23
It’s all about being aware of the offers that are out there. It might not suit you to have to visit multiple shops each and every week, but when having extra money in your pocket is a priority, it really does pay to shop around. Be wise about the items you can stock up on, take some time to plan your weekly grocery needs, be aware of what’s in your pantry/freezer and don’t waste anything.