With the cost of living crisis on everyone’s minds, we single parents need to hack ways to save on food shopping and meal planning.

Here are Frolo we know how tough the last 12 months have been for single parents, so we wanted to do a little something to help you save money on food shopping. As browsing the supermarket aisles is one of the only pleasures open to us at the moment, alongside the obligatory walk around the local park of course, we thought we’d share some money saving tips to maximise your weekly shop.

First up though, we got five ways to save money at the supermarket.

Switch to frozen

While frozen food may have had a bit of a bad reputation in the past, there are actually loads of benefits to switching to frozen, not least that it’s often cheaper.

Fish and vegetables are fantastic, because they’re often frozen within hours of picking or catching, so can actually be a lot fresher than fresh! When you switch to things like frozen berries, you save an awful lot of waste and money as a single parent, because you can just use small quantities at a time and not have to throw anything away.

Get yourself a shopping buddy

At the moment we can’t actually go shopping together, but do you have a friend or family member locally who you could team up with for an online shop? When you shop with a friend you can take advantage of buy one get one free offers without having to buy more of something than you need, effectively meaning you both get things for half price.

Sign up for supermarket loyalty schemes

Joining things like the Sainsbury’s Nectar card and Tesco Clubcard allows you to earn points back on your shopping, which can be redeemed for some really good offers.

Tesco Clubcard holders currently also get special prices on a lot of products, and the Tesco Clubcard Plus scheme might be worth joining if you tend to do big shops in store – for £7.99 a month you save 10% off two big shops every month, meaning you only have to spend over £80 altogether to make it worthwhile.

Meal plan

We know, you’ve heard this one before, but seriously, it’s one of the best ways to save waste and therefore save money on food shopping. If you’re not sure where to start, get yourself one of these free printable meal planner templates and check out the supermarket websites or the BBC Good Food cheap family meals section for inspiration.

Don’t shop when you’re hungry

Research from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management shows that hunger can have a massive impact on our propensity to spend, even on non-food items! In one study they compared receipts from shoppers in a department store and asked shoppers questions about how hungry they were. The hungrier shoppers spent on average 64% more than those who weren’t hungry.

Just imagine how this translates in Asda when you get to the crisps aisle.

‍