Tricks to save in the supermarket and beat inflation, be it Mercadona or Lidl

Whether we like it or not, it seems that inflation is here to stay and that means looking a lot at how we spend and what we spend it on. The supermarket (be it Mercadona, Dia or Lidl), the hypermarket (be it Alcampo or Carrefour), our convenience store or the traditional markets have been in the spotlight for several months through certain increases that are also combined with the increase the price of electricity and the cost of energy.

Phenomena such as stagflation, of which we already explained to you at the time what it means and as used by brands to offer less product at the same priceare the order of the day and looking carefully at what we buy, how we buy it and when we buy it will be key so that the purchase ticket does not go off.

We are no longer just talking about paying attention to possible sales or savings announcements made by large stores, nor about key days to do the shopping of the week or the myth of why not buy fish on the weekend, but how to save and buy in the supermarket to avoid that inflation.

Cooking at home becomes a necessity more than ever, taking into account that restaurants and hotels are also passing on their multiple costs to the final consumer. For this reason, think well how should we make the shopping list and what we have in mind to buy is essential to not spend more money than necessary.

Buy whole products

We have already explained this dilemma to you when it comes to saving to buy a whole chicken, a much more practical way to consume this type of birds and not spend a bundle on its cutting.

In the end, if we value each product separately, such as breaststhighs or thighs, we found that chicken, despite being a relatively cheap food, can be much more expensive than we think.

This too it will happen to us often with fishespecially if we intend to buy loins or supremes of certain fish such as cod, hake or salmon, which are usually the most common in this type of quartering and which, however, can also burst our shopping list.

Is about calculate the unit price of the product and see if it will pay off for us to work on it at home or, on the contrary, it is unmanageable for us to take it with us in its entirety.

In any case, remember that certain products can always have one or two liveslike a chicken that we make, it can be turned into croquettes or like a chicken quartering, it can allow us to later make a broth with it.

Avoid precooked

It is true that they save us in more than one hurry, but the reality is that if we are in a hurry for pasta, it is best to try resort to the freshest kitchen possible because it will be the least expensive to buy.

The example can be found in a heap of precooked and prefab such as already packaged vegetable soups or creams, bagged salads, and other types of Dips such as guacamole or hummus, which are also much more expensive when we buy them already made.

Obviously, this can be extrapolated to almost any type of precooked or prefabricatedincluding the typical stews, lentils or bean stew.

In any case, always keep in mind that we have to pay pay attention to the money that we are going to spend and the investment in time that these dishes entail. If it is a matter of time, pay attention to these easy recipes for stew, stew, lentils or beans to enjoy eating at home thanks to the express cooker.

Watch for size/price changes

It is very possible that more than one product from those that are usual on your shopping list will end up surprising you and suddenly cheaper.

Before trusting that brands have become super friendly and want to make your shopping basket cheaper, check that they have not changed the size of what they are offering. Therefore, it is important that you look at the amount of real weight that what you are buying carries.

It can happen with coffee, with cocoa powder, with milk, with creams and everything that goes in a brick, generally any type of product that has a little air and play with that margin where the packaging allows the manufacturer to include less quantity for the same price.

Lean on frozen

Now more than ever frozen foods are our best allies when it comes to shopping. Whenever we are talking about frozen foods of a certain quality and that they are as little processed as possible, such as certain vegetables, certain meats or certain fish.

Always check that your option is cheaper than the option of buying a very similar product freshIn addition, this way we will be able to afford to stock the freezer with a functional wardrobe that makes it easier for us to shop and cook at home.

Familiarize yourself with immediate consumption products

In all supermarkets or hypermarkets there are usually showcases or refrigerators for immediate consumption, find them and check if they fit the type of cooking you want to do.

There are many supermarkets that allocate a showcase to products for immediate consumption, usually with discounts of between 30% and 50%, because these products are perishable and have a very close expiration date or preferential consumption date.

Also lean on this type of products to try minimize the costs of your shopping list. It is not, on the contrary, that you buy everything that ends up on this shelf, because there may be things that do not really convince you or are useful for your kitchen, but those with small things that can come in handy on time, such as cheese , a fresh pasta, a butter or even a sheet of puff pastry.

The Growing Option of Buying in Bulk

Buying in bulk can allow us to acquire the quantity we want of certain products.

We are very used to certain products come marked in quantities of half a kilo or kilo, but it is quite possible that our houses or those amounts will fall too long or fall excessively short.

With the rise of bulk buying, especially claimed in legumes and non-perishable or dry productswe can save some money if we take into account the quantities we want to buy.

Also when buying bulk, we recommend that you pay special attention to the consumption of vegetables and fruits, abandoning the abstract concepts of grams and kilos and betting on unitary concepts.

Actually, when you prepare any type of recipe, it is very unusual for us to use precise amounts of grams or kilogramson the contrary, the most frequent will be to cook by units.

there is very few fruits or vegetables that are precise in the concept of unit or gramsThat is why buying 450 grams or half a kilo of apples can mean buying three apples or two and a half apples.

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