If there's one thing we know about supermarket shopping it's that everyone has their own way of doing it. Whether you're a fill a basket every few days type, or you opt for the big shop each week, everyone is different.
But with prices rising rapidly amid the cost of living crisis, more and more people are changing how they shop - and looking for any way they can to make things a bit cheaper. One way the budget experts swear by for keeping costs down is to bulk buy.
Obviously you need the space to store things and the extra cash to buy more than you'd typically need, but if you are able to, there are some big savings to be made by stocking up on those essentials. I took a trip to Tesco's bulk buy aisle to find out just how big those savings can be - and it was way more than I anticipated.
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You obviously can't buy everything in bulk, but there's a pretty wide range of products, at least there was in Walkden's Tesco Extra when I visited late on Wednesday evening. One whole side of the aisle was filled with laundry products - softeners, detergents and capsules - as well as kitchen rolls, toilet rolls and dishwasher tablets.
Elsewhere was everything from coffee and tea bags to cans of pop, Fruit Shoots, cereals, Jaffa Cakes and more. I bulk bought a number of products and checked the prices of smaller packs in store to work out exactly how much I'd saved.
Of the seven items I bought, only two of the savings came in at less than £1 - a 72p saving on Tetley tea bags and an 85p saving on Fairy Non Bio. The biggest saving was a rather impressive £4.28, on the dishwasher tablets, followed by a £3.35 saving on the Cushelle toilet rolls. Overall I saved almost £13.
It's the big brands that tend to make it to these aisles and while not everyone can afford those, or would rather stick to lesser known or budget brands, they are obviously popular for a reason.
And if it's these items that are regularly making it into your shopping trolley, you'd be a fool not to make the most of the savings they offer. Every Little Helps as they say.
Here's what I bought compared with the smaller pack, followed by the bulk buy saving
- Cushelle toilet rolls XXXL 30-pack £11.75 / nine-pack £4.50 (saving £3.35)
- Fairy Non Bio Compact 130 wash 4.55L £16 / 54 wash 1890ml bottle £7 (saving 85p)
- Comfort Pure fabric conditioner 166 washes £6.50 / 85 washes 3L £4 (saving £1.31)
- Fairy Platinum All in One dishwasher tablets XXXL pack 100 capsules £12 / 43-pack £7 (saving £4.28)
- Tetley tea bags 600-pack £8 / 240-pack £3.49 on Aldi Price Match (saving 72p)
- Princes tuna chunks 8 x 145g £5.50 / 4 x 145g tins £3.25 (saving £1)
- Jaffa Cakes 100 cakes £4.75 / Pack of 30 £1.75 on Clubcard (saving £1.08)
Overall bulk buy saving £12.59
If you have a money-saving tip to share - whether it's a way to reduce supermarket bills, or a device or appliance to save energy at home - then let us know in the comments here, or email emma.gill@reachplc.com.
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