Money
5 new ways to keep grocery costs down
In this extract from her new book The Weekly Grocery Shop, Nabula El Mourid shares her insider tricks to paying less at the supermarket.
By Nabula El Mourid
Everyone wants to save money on their grocery shop, but recent hikes in global grocery prices have made it a necessity. It’s my mission to ensure that everyone, regardless of personal budget, can have access to good quality food. It’s about shopping smart. These simple cost-saving tips will help you save money without compromising on quality. You may need to adjust your approach to shopping, but by using these 5 strategies, you’ll get the best value.
1. Check the unit price
Every price tag on the shelf contains 2 prices: the promoted price (often large and in bold) and a smaller price (in fine print) that lists the cost per unit (100 g or 100 ml). We are measuring the nutrition of a product per 100 g, so it makes sense to measure the price in the same way.
This means that when you compare prices, you are comparing apples with apples. Otherwise, you’re likely to find yourself instinctively drawn to the ‘cheaper’ price, but you may be receiving less. Here are 2 examples:
2. Buy in bulk
Identical products can vary dramatically in price depending on the total (net) weight. I may be a verified grocery geek, but I was excited by how much you could save on your annual grocery bill by making this simple swap. We are accustomed to planning our weekly shop based on a weekly budget, so we tend to choose the lowest-price option to try to keep the bill down at the checkout. But, as we discovered above, the lowest price tag doesn’t always equal the best value for money.
By buying some items in bulk, you may initially feel like you are spending more, but in essence, you are paying a lot less for exactly the same product. Over the course of a year, this strategy could save you hundreds of dollars. Consider these examples:
3. Buy loose, not pre-packaged
What a difference this makes. The cost per kilogram drops significantly when you buy loose produce or pantry staples.
Not only is this a cost saver, but it is better for the environment as less packaging is required. Consider these 3 items:
4. Plan before you go
Embracing meal planning is important (hello, saving money and time!). If you want to save, you simply need to know what you are going to eat for the week before you go to the grocery store.
Cruising the aisles, thinking maybe I’ll make this or that, is an easy way to over-shop and overspend, along with the added ‘quick’ trips to the store during the week because you forgot to buy an ingredient (which inevitably results in extra, unnecessary purchases).
Help for this: How to stop impulse buying your way into debt
Oh, and plan to eat before you do your weekly shop so that you’re not hungry when you’re making your buying decisions.
5. Check the specials
Once you have embraced the above 4 ways to save in store, the weekly specials become a bonus! They are another reason to move your mindset from weekly spending to monthly, because if one of your essentials is reduced, it’s worth stocking up. While it may increase your weekly spend slightly, your return on investment over the next month will be high. These days, it’s easy to browse specials and compare prices online – or use an app to organise your weekly shop and track specials.
Try one of these: 9 free grocery apps
Know the supermarket secrets
Supermarkets are a billion-dollar industry. Their goal, of course, is to maximise
profits year on year. While it has been positive to see an increase in the healthier
options available to consumers, supermarket ploys to increase your spend are still visible in every aisle. The tactics below will help you see through their secrets.
Look beyond eye level
The arrangement and positioning of products is a calculated strategy that plays on the fact that we are busy and racing through the aisle. Often, the most expensive options are placed at eye level so that we see them immediately. It pays to compare eye-level products with those on the top and bottom shelves, as this is where you may find some well-priced, healthy alternatives.
Stay focused
We’ve all been there: you need to dash into the store to buy a loaf of bread and a carton of milk. These are possibly the top-sellers in store, but where are they located? At the back. Why? Because the supermarket is banking on you being enticed to buy non-essentials as well.
Consider the home brand
A secret I love. The home brand version is often better quality than the premium brand. It has a cheaper price point and sometimes contains zero artificial ingredients. It pays to compare.
Don’t be fooled by ridiculous specials
I’m a fan of specials, but only if they are of high value. When considering a special, ask yourself whether it will actually reduce your grocery bill. Supermarket tactics, such as multi-buys, trick customers into buying more of a product than they need.
If one packet of steak is $8 and two packets are $15, is it worth buying double the quantity (and likely wasting some, unless you freeze it) to save $1?
Save even more: try these simple swaps
Making these simple swaps in my weekly grocery shop has had a positive impact on the quality of what we eat.
This is an edited extract from The Weekly Grocery Shop by Nabula El Mourid, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally from 2 September 2025. Photography by Rob Palmer, illustrations by Evi O Studio.
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Feature image: iStock/Drazen Zigic
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