Great British Savings Challenge 2: Food glorious food

Savings challenge
By Savings challenge Posted in GB Savings Challenge
April 25th, 2017

The information provided in this article was accurate at the time of publishing and should be read in the context of the date it was published. Views in this article are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent the view of Scottish Friendly.

challenge 2

Scottish Friendly’s Great British Savings Challenge seeks to rescue families all over the UK from the perils of the purse. Not just the purse of course: the wallet, the contactless card and the demon credit card are also in our line of fire as we challenge Britons to keep calm and carry on saving ….not spending.

Our first challenge laid the groundwork by asking participants to cut the credit and commit to cash when doing their weekly shopping and as you’ll recall it really opened eyes to the perils of plastic and the pleasures of penny-pinching.

Challenge number two will have supermarket managers nationwide weeping over their weekly sales spreadsheets as we get shoppers to attempt to cut back the cost of their weekly shop by between 10 and 20 per cent.   Oh, the magic of miserliness.

We’ve asked participants in our challenge to write down their shopping list each week, using a handy shopping list and pen provided by us, and to note how much it comes to. Each week we’ve challenged them to try and reduce the cost by about 10-20%.

A shopping list and sticking to it could make you savvier about the purchases you’re buying.

For example, considering supermarket own brands. How much of the food you buy do you regularly throw out? Could you cut back here and so save on wastage and put a few pounds back in your pocket?

One of the Great British Savings Challenge participants has passed across a couple of shopping budget saving tips that you, too, might find useful in trying to keep a lid on your weekly shop spend.

  • Plan your meals for the week in advance and write them down. By only buying what you need for these, you could save lots
  • Using up what you have in the cupboards, fridge and freezer sounds like common sense but how many of us do this before setting off to the supermarket and then end up buying food and other groceries we’ve already got at home

Come on people of Britain! Join us in being a bit more parsimonious at the pleasure palace of the supermarket and you, too, could be quids in.

Photograph: ITV







No advice has been provided by Scottish Friendly. If you are in any doubt as to whether a savings or investment plan is suitable for you, you should contact a financial adviser for advice. If you do not have a financial adviser, you can get details of local financial advisers by visiting www.unbiased.co.uk. Advisers may charge for providing such advice and should confirm any cost beforehand.