The grocery shopping habit that is costing you the most

How often you grocery shop can greatly impact how much you spend. Over the years I’ve tried out different schedules for my family, including weekly and fortnightly.

I’ve never been one to shop every few days as some people do. As a working mum with three children at home, this just wasn’t a viable option.

Currently, I do one big online shop fortnightly and a smaller top up shop every other week, with the occasional trip to the farmer’s market and Costco thrown in. This seems to work for my budget, but with grocery prices the way they are, there’s only so much I can do.

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I decided to dig a little further for this week’s Supermarket Sleuths, to find out how often Aussies are grocery shopping and if there is an ideal schedule that helps save.

More than 41 percent of Australians, approximately 3.8 million households, say their grocery bill is one of their “major financial stressors in June” according to Finder’s Consumer Sentiment Tracker.

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So my first port of call was Sarah Megginson, Finder’s personal finance expert, who confirmed what I already suspected.

“We know that you are more likely to spend more on impulse shopping every time you go to the shops,” she told me.

“So if you’re the type of person to go every day or every other day when you need a few things, you’re likely to add more to your basket or trolley than you need it”

Megginson suggests “once a week is kind of a sweet spot” when it comes to keeping grocery costs down.

“But the other thing about doing one big shop a week is you’re more likely to plan what you need,” she explains.

She says while sticking to your list is a money-saver, leave a little wiggle room to take advantage of those products that are on sale or better still, half-price.

“When I see ricotta raviolis are half price I will get one of them and add it and that’s one dinner done for my kids during the week, but I wouldn’t ordinarily buy that if it wasn’t on sale because when it’s not on sale, it’s $11. When it is on sale, it’s $5.50.”

Megginson also suggests shopping at night to “get more bang for your buck because after about seven o’clock at night is when they start to discount everything.”

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“So meat and fresh fruit and veggies and things, they start to get discounted towards the end of the night because they want to get rid of it all and whatever they don’t sell that night, you know, if close to the end of its expiry, it’ll get binned overnight.”

She also explains that shopping when it isn’t as busy as it is on weekend mornings will allow you to “actually think and process a little bit more.”

An Aldi spokesperson explained the discount supermarket releases a range of Special Buys on Wednesdays and Saturdays, making a weekly shop on either of these days the perfect time to grab a bargain.

They also suggested customers “shop and plan recipes that include fruit and vegetables that are in season.

“They are not only more affordable but also more delicious,” they added.

A Coles spokesperson told 9honey: “The majority of shoppers are doing their major grocery shopping about once a week on average” however “our research suggests that 1-in-4 people are doing more smaller, frequent shops for the things they need.”

“We are also seeing some growing trends in the e-commerce space, as customers increasingly use digital tools to seek out the best value possible when navigating the current cost of living environment.”

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Those tools can include price comparison apps such as Shopfully and Half-Price.

“Temptation and impulse purchases are the enemy of the household budget when it comes to supermarket shopping,” Consumer Psychologist, Behaviouralist and Brand Strategist Peter Resanceff explains.

“I think that everyone can relate to the idea of popping in for a litre of milk and a loaf of bread and coming out with a whole lot more than they intended,” he explains.

He suggests shopping online, either home-delivered or direct-to-boot pick up to avoid these impulse purchases.

“I think that being purposeful, focused and undistracted is easier when grocery shopping online compared to wandering the supermarket aisles trying not to stray from the shopping list in hand!” he says.

“So, supermarket shopping online has not only been adopted for time-saving and convenience but also as a means of reducing supermarket spending as a part of the household budget.”

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