Recession Busters: Groceries

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We used to do the one, big, weekly shop, but new research shows we now go to the supermarket 2-3 times, with the average shopper spending $35 - $40 each trip to bring home about 10 items.

More: make savings with our Recession Buster features

Going to the shops several times each week means you can capitalise on the price cuts as they appear, but how do you know when it is the best time to go to make the most of supermarket specials?

There are 3,000 - 4,000 specials each week at the supermarket. Out of 30,000 product lines - that's more than one in 10 items discounted every day.

But 'professional budgeter' Cath Armstrong says some of the biggest money-savers can be found outside of supermarket specials.

"If you shop on certain days you can slash at least 50 per cent off your grocery bill, that's a lot of money," Mrs Armstrong says.

Mrs Armstrong runs a website called Cheapskates where about 70,000 members exchange information on how to save.

Today Tonight asked the cost-cutting guru to go shopping for us to show how much you can save, and what are the best times to shop so you get the red-hot specials.

Her number one tip is to shop for products that are marked down.

"These are the impromptu bargains that might only be available for a couple of hours, or only on certain days," she says

"They're marked right down to the bone because the supermarket wants to get rid of them."

Mark Howie of Richies Super IGA says early in the morning, and late in the evening, are the prime times to get price cuts on meat.

But he says consumers can make savings across the entire store, not just in the meat section

"If you find out the times they do the mark-downs you can come in and grab a bargain most times, and rarely pay full price for anything," he says.

Andrew Hall of Woolworths agrees: "f you want bargains in bread... It is 20, 40, and 60 per cent off (later in the day) usually after 5pm is the best time."

"Every day at 3 (or in the middle of the afternoon), the price of finger buns tumbles…usually early in the morning (is the best time) for yesterday's cakes and pastries."

Mr Hall said shoppers can also clean up on roast chicken because the store does not like to hold onto them for longer than 3 or 4 hours.

He says that the item will be marked down by 20 per cent until it sells.

Supermarket catalogues can also be a great way to save at the check out.

The Woolworths catalogues land in your letter box on Mondays, while Coles arrives on Thursdays.

Woolworths also brings on another round of bargains on Thursdays.

You should also look for the biggest price-cuts in prominent positions at the end of the supermarket aisles.

Cheapskates' Mrs Armstrong says savvy savers can make a killing on different items each day.
"Wednesday, for perhaps juices and dairy products, (you can) save more than 50 per cent," she says.

"This (she points to a juice carton) was $5.09 marked down to $2.49.

"Ski yogurt was $7.19, marked down to $3 - that's 60 per cent off."

Andrew from Woolworths says the cheapest time for fruit and vegies is towards the end of the week.

So what did our expert shopper save through buying these items at the right times, on the right days at Coles?

Instead of $64.20 she bagged her goodies for $42, which is a saving of 34.5 per cent, or $22.40.

Mrs Armstrong advises people to be flexible, switch to what's cheap to make the most of reductions, and to freeze what you can't use that day.

"Shop with a list, look for the mark-downs, don't be afraid to try the generic products, shop once for the week, the fortnight, the month, and stick to your list," she says

And with the latest bureau of Statistics figures telling us all food prices have gone up yet again, with the exception of milk, these tips on how to buy cheap are very timely.