SAVE
...yourself from the clutches of inflation with our eight-point guide for the savvy shopper
RELENTLESS pressure on the pound is pushing up shopping bills for families, with inflation climbing to 1.8 per cent. Food prices are being hiked for the first time since 2014 and a host of household staples, from Marmite to Nescafe, are becoming more expensive.
Even the cost of tea is set to rise, with the owners of Tetley and Yorkshire now forced to pay more for imported leaves. These higher bills, combined with ‘shrinkflation’ of beloved chocolate bars such as Toblerone and Freddo, where a manufacturer reduces the size of a bar while charging the same price, mean families need to be smarter than ever with their weekly shop.
So how can you beat the impact of inflation on the family budget?
Take your cue from some of the nation’s savviest shoppers, who are saving hundreds (if not thousands) through little-known tricks and clever short cuts. The Mail on Sunday shares their secrets so you can buy your groceries for less.
GO TO BARGAIN CHAINS
BUDGET supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl and high street stores Poundland, B&M and Savers can help keep bills down.
Market researcher Nielsen recently calculated the cost of a shopping basket of 20 everyday items – essentials such as tea, soft drinks and bread. At Sainsbury’s the cost was £55.85. But if bought at a budget store, they cost £31.28.
They offer around 2,000 lines – much less than the big supermarkets, which sell around 30,000 (including more expensive products that may tempt you).
TRY THE CORNER SHOP
LOCAL stores and off-licences are traditionally more expensive than supermarkets but they can sometimes be cheaper for certain items.
People who mystery-shopped for crowd-sourcing firm BeMyEye identified avocados and Coca-Cola as being cheaper at a local store. Also, the cost of three essentials – milk, eggs and bread – was typically lowest in an off-licence.
So always compare prices to see if you can get a better deal locally.
If you are lucky enough to live near a food market, make the most of it, particularly if you have lots of mouths to feed. Large bowls of fruit and vegetables costing £1 are brilliant value compared to what is on offer in the supermarkets.
TAKE STICKER CHALLENGE
SEE how many items you can buy from the yellow sticker shelf in the supermarket selling goods that are either damaged, about to go off or simply cannot be shifted. One shopper, Tom Church, managed to buy all his household items last year from the yellow sticker shelf. He says it saved him £3,400.
Among his best buys were a £2.99 bottle of champagne and a 29p lobster. He shares any bargains he spots on his website Latest Deals and invites others to reveal any great deals they have found.
Nifties, a shop that sells only reject goods from supermarkets, has gone online after its shelves were cleared within hours of opening last July. Its heavily discounted goods are available with next day delivery for £6.
BECOME A PREPPER
PREPPING – or building up a stockpile of non-perishable goods – is not just a lifesaver in the event of Doomsday. It will also cut your everyday food bills, particularly if you stock up on tinned goods. Clear a shelf – or even a cupboard – and bulk-buy discounted items as and when you see them. Prepping is also a good hedge against food inflation.
FIND BEST DEALS
IT IS easy to compare utility bills and insurance deals online, but the same also goes for your shopping trolley. Website mySupermarket will show you the cheapest deals available for your weekly groceries and you can also earn cashback.
Using apps such as Topcashback will give you more bang for your buck. It will give you money back on items you purchase through the app. Simply peruse the list of offers available, snap a picture of your receipt once you have bought the item and upload it to the app to get your cashback.
USE FREEPOST
SEND a letter to the manufacturer of your most-used food brands, using their freepost address, and tell them how much you like their products. Many companies will reward you for your efforts by sending free samples or vouchers.
Alternatively, you should complain if a product is not up to scratch and demand a refund.
BUY NONBRANDED PILLS
BUYING ‘white label’ medication can save you a fortune. For instance, the hay-fever drug cetirizine hydrochloride costs £8.19 from Boots but the non-branded version around £2 from an independent pharmacy.
GET A SLOW COOKER
SLOW cookers are versatile, save you time and are ideal for feeding family members at different times.
By preparing a curry or stew in the morning, people can simply help themselves later in the day. You can use cheaper cuts of meat, beans, chickpeas and even coconut flakes to pad things out.
RISING food prices are bad news for households, eating into their budgets at a time when wage growth is minimal. So last week’s news that inflation, spurred on by higher fuel and food prices, is at its highest since June 2014 will be greeted with dismay.
It is now 1.8 per cent and, if experts are to be believed, poised to break through the Bank of England’s two per cent target.
One consumer whose interest in food goes beyond cost and the pleasure it brings to the palate is Henry Boucher. For 14 years he has viewed the worldwide growth in food demand from an investment standpoint.
Since early 2008, he has put this knowledge to good use by running a fund targeting firms in the food and agricultural sectors. More than ever, he believes the investment theme is powerful, here to stay and will reap rich rewards for investors.
He says: ‘When I started looking at food as an investment opportunity in the early 2000s, we had butter mountains and wine lakes. These have melted away or dried up. Today, we have a growing world population with an inexorable demand for food.
‘In the 18th Century, economist Thomas Malthus predicted that famine would ultimately result from a fixed land mass and a rising population. But food technology has blown that theory out of the water. It means we can eat strawberries all year round.’
Boucher says opportunities abound. They result from changing diets in emerging economies as people earn more and move off a subsistence diet. This enables companies to come in and meet demand for new tastes, such as processed food.
Or they come from changing eating habits in the developed world, for example people eating less red meat and more fish. The 42 companies he holds in the Sarasin Food & Agriculture Opportunities Fund reflect these trends. For example, the fund’s biggest holding is Marine Harvest, a Norwegian firm that leads the world in salmon farming.
Boucher says salmon prices will continue to rise given the imbalance between growing demand and a cap on supply because the fish can be farmed only in certain parts of the world, such as the Norwegian fjords and Scottish lochs.
Another key holding is Treasury Wine Estates, an Australian producer that owns familiar brands such as Blossom Hill, Wolf Blass and Penfolds. ‘I visited a Treasury vineyard this time last year,’ says Boucher. ‘What impressed me was its relentless use of technology to produce better wine at an attractive price, while earning a healthy margin.’
Chocolate is also an investment theme. The fund holds Delfi, a chocolate maker providing lowprice bars in emerging economies such as Indonesia, where the demand is borderline rampant. Swiss chocolate supplier Barry Callebaut is a top-ten holding.
Boucher has a team of 12 analysts scouring the world for suitable investments. Though he says he does not spend time ‘knitting his own sandals’, environmental issues are always at the back of his mind. ‘We won’t invest in companies that are involved in the wild catch of fish,’ he says.
Sarasin Food & Agriculture is the only fund of its type to have outperformed the FTSE All-Share Index over the past five years. Based in the shadow of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, Sarasin manages £14billion of assets. It is renowned for its thematic global investment approach, as well as running several funds-of-funds.