I tried four apps and saved £60 on my shopping – but there were drawbacks

FOOD prices are causing nasty shocks at the checkout.

In the past year, the average cost of a weekly supermarket shop has gone from £92 to £108 a week, adding more than £830 to annual bills, according to retail analysts Kantar.

We asked Lynsey Hope, 41, a mum-of-three from West Malling, Kent, to put four popular money-saving methods to the test, then work out the reduction on her usual weekly outlay of £150.

Here’s what she found . . . 

Voucher apps

THERE are tons of apps out there which offer handy discounts or cashback on your weekly shopping.

They often require you to snap a picture of your receipt when you’ve finished shopping.

I gave three of them a go — Shopmium, GreenJinn and CheckoutSmart.

But I struggled to make big savings.

There were lots of discounts listed in the app, but when I got to the shops I couldn’t find the products on the shelves.

Many of the offers on display were on gluten-free, vegan and other special-diet foods that I didn’t want.

Of the three, my favourite was Shopmium, which was much easier to use than the others.

I managed to save myself around £4, getting money off Aunt Bessie’s Duck Roast Potatoes, Evian sparkling water at Sainsbury’s and discounts on Cathedral City cheese and McVities Blissfuls biscuits at Asda.

From GreenJinn I got 15p off a bunch of Fairtrade bananas and £1.98 off a £3.95 Pollen and Grace salad bowl at Sainsbury’s.

But after snapping my receipt, the claim was initially rejected leaving me out of pocket for those items, which I wouldn’t have otherwise bought.

I had to resubmit the pics and should get my money back, but it was fiddly.

I don’t think I’ll be using the apps much in the future as it’s too time consuming and there are easier ways to cut my bill by a lot more.

WEEKLY SHOP: £146, saved £4

Food waste apps

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APPS such as Olio and Too Good To Go help you get food cheaply or free when it’s close to its use-by date and shops are about to chuck it.

I first downloaded Olio, where everything is free, but there wasn’t a huge amount available.

I did pick up Tesco Finest sausages worth £5, a 250g box of Aldi Diplomat Gold Label teabags worth £1.09, and some croissants and pains au chocolat worth around £4, so saved over £10.

But you have to drive to someone’s house to collect, often at short notice and in the evening.

I loved the Too Good To Go app, and saved heaps with its Magic Bags from shops and restaurants.

You have to be on the ball — they came on the app around 9pm and you collect between 9.30pm and 9.45pm.

The first evening I got a bag from Costcutter for £3 with a loaf, salad, two mini pepperoni pizzas and sausages.

Next night I got a £3.30 bag from Aldi with bread, peppers, salad, pots of fresh fruit, two Muller Corner yoghurts, pasta salad, more than 20 bread rolls, custard tarts and oven fries.

The app said it was worth £10 but I reckon it was more like £20.

Later in the week I got a bag from Costa for £3 with two paninis, a toastie and a small M&S pizza, and I got one from Spar including a Meat Feast pizza, bottles of juice, some chocolate mousse pots, frozen roast potatoes and some oranges.

I had so much food I was giving it to friends and I saved at least £60 as I needed to buy far less.

Most was near its expiry so what I couldn’t use went in the freezer.

WEEKLY SHOP: £90, saved £60

Downshifting

One method of saving is to shift to more basic non-branded supermarket food[/caption]

TO beat the never-ending cost hikes, I’ve been shunning the expensive brands as much as possible, trying instead the supermarket own-label alternatives.

But I wanted to go further and test the very cheapest items on the shelf to see if the family noticed any difference in taste or quality.

At Asda, where I shopped for this challenge, its no-frills range is called Just Essentials.

It includes everything from bleach to cat litter to toothpaste, as well as food of course.

I got spaghetti for 28p instead of 95p for Asda’s standard range, and a bag of five apples for 80p instead of £1.50.

A tin of baked beans was 27p compared to the £1.40 that I’d normally pay for Heinz, but I did find them a little sugary.

The pepperoni pizzas were a huge hit with the kids and just 75p each compared to £1.65 for the standard range.

Overall, I was pleased with most of what we tried, particularly the fresh fruit and veg as I usually spend a lot making sure that the children get their five-a-day.

I spent a quarter less than usual this week and it was really so easy to do.

WEEKLY SHOP: £112, saved £38

Meal planning

LIKE most people, I’m guilty of picking up tempting items when browsing the aisles — stuff that I don’t strictly need.

Because I haven’t planned ahead, I end up popping into convenience stores like the Spar at the petrol station, or Tesco Express, which I know are more expensive.

It took me about two hours to map out the week’s meals and all the ingredients, plus everything we needed for lunches, as well as household essentials like loo roll and laundry powder.

My dinnertime meal plan included spaghetti Bolognese, chicken fajitas, macaroni cheese, pork noodles, pizzas and a Sunday roast.

At Tesco, where I shopped for this task week, I stayed strong and swerved the end-of-aisle special offers.

It took less time than normal to whizz around the store and my trolley looked rather bare at the end, but I was pleasantly surprised at the bill.

I wasn’t convinced I’d bought enough to last the week, but I didn’t have to top up at the convenience store as much as usual, saving bags of time and money.

Plus, we ate healthier home-cooked meals more often so it was a win-win.

WEEKLY SHOP: £107, saved £43