Everyone in the UK is currently impacted by the inflation issues of food prices. The record inflation rate of 11.1% in October 2022 had dropped to 2.6% in April 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics.
However, despite this significant decrease, prices are still rising, which has surprised some shoppers. In fact, lower inflation doesn’t mean a cheaper weekly shop; on the contrary, it means prices are still going up, only not as quickly as before.
Food inflation alone is expected to hit 5% later in 2025, according to projections from the British Retail Consortium, making life even harder for already struggling consumers.
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How are people managing?
The number of people in the UK applying for loans for everyday living expenses grew in 2024 for the fourth consecutive year, according to research published by Mintel.
The UK Personal Loans Market Report 2025 reveals almost half of all households have borrowed money to cope with rising costs over the past 12 months. This represented a significant increase in lending in 2024 compared with 2023, when the figure was only around 43%. Many borrowers chose short-term unsecured loans with a value of under £1,000 and a repayment term of less than one year to cover general living costs.
Consumer confidence in being accepted for a personal loan by a high street bank is low, as the economic crisis has led to a dip in people’s creditworthiness due to missed repayments, leading to applicants seeking alternative lending sources.
If you’re wondering how to save money on your weekly shop to keep to a tight budget, there are multiple ways to make your money go further. Prices are never going to go down to pre-2022 levels again, so the key is learning how to balance the budget to cope with the economic crisis.
Switch to own-brand items
The supermarkets’ job is to make customers spend money, so the layouts of aisles and shelves are geared up to place more expensive products in prominent positions. However, buying store’s own brand products and value ranges is almost always cheaper. A study by The Sun newspaper found shoppers could save a massive £500 a year simply by switching to own-brand ranges.
There has been ongoing debate about whether they all taste the same, and people often ask, “Is there any actual difference between normal brands and own brands?”
Quite often, they’re made in the same factories, hence the ongoing debate, the Disguised Own Brand Great Hunt, is currently trending online. Plenty of food factory workers have joined the conversation and suggest there’s no difference between branded and “store’s own” products.
An interesting post suggested that in one factory, there was “one massive block of cheese, but five wrapping stations for different brands”. TV’s consumer champion, Martin Lewis, tested stores’ own brands against expensive products and claimed they all looked and tasted very similar.
Meal planning and shopping lists
Never go to the supermarket hungry, as it encourages you to buy more things that you don’t need! When you walk through the door, the delicious aroma of fresh bread is often in the air, as the bakery is strategically placed near the entrance. This makes us hungry and we tend to spend more.
Write a meal plan for the month or week ahead before you go shopping to make your list more effective, as it enables you to work out exactly what you’ll need, incorporating existing ingredients in your cupboard. If you have leftovers that can be “recycled” into another meal, freeze them properly until required, such as buying cooking sauces to turn the remainder of a Sunday roast into a stew or curry, for example.
Use loyalty cards and cashback apps
Shoppers who don’t use loyalty schemes could be missing out on discounts of up to 50% off in the supermarket. Signing up to a cashback app for free is a no-brainer if you already shop at a particular supermarket, as it’s literally a two-minute task to sign up and then scan the barcode at the till.
Popular schemes such as Tesco Clubcard and Sainsbury’s Nectar card give customers points that can be converted into money off future shops, or other rewards with partner organisations. Tesco offers instant savings of up to 50% off items bought in store simply by scanning your Clubcard at the checkout. Recent savings have included McCain fries reduced from £3 to £1.50 and Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Squares down from £2 to £1.
Morrisons runs its own loyalty app scheme, enabling customers to redeem 5,000 points for a £5 voucher that you can spend in-store or online. You can also earn points when buying fuel from their petrol stations.
Asda Rewards’ app enables you to save money, rather than points, so as soon as you’ve spent the target amount, convert it in the app to a voucher that you can spend instantly by scanning it at the checkout. They also run regular promotions for a “free spin” in the app to win an instant shopping voucher up to the value of £10.
The Lidl Plus app offers up to 30% off selected products via digital coupons that can be scanned at the checkout. Recent promotions have included 30% off bakery items and 15% off coffee and salmon.
Shop at budget supermarkets
Find the cheapest supermarkets through the online free comparison tool, Trolley, to check out the cost of items at different stores. You can even set alerts for when prices drop at retailers such as Asda, Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Iceland, Morrisons, Co-op, and more.
There are mobile apps available for Apple and Android phones so you can compare the prices as you shop. Find out which is the cheapest UK supermarket on the day by looking at real-time data to ensure you never miss the best bargains.
Time your shop wisely
Most major supermarkets run the “yellow sticker” reduction scheme when items are reduced to clear, meaning the prices will be continually reduced throughout the day, usually on fresh foods nearing their sell-by date. In most supermarkets, the yellow stickers are usually slapped on mid-morning, when prices may be reduced by around 25%. The reductions continue throughout the day and you may make savings of up to 75% by the end of the day.
Buy frozen instead of fresh
Frozen foods tend to be cheaper than fresh, mainly due to reduced waste in production and transportation and their longer shelf life. Stock up on frozen foods at lower prices so you have something on standby in the freezer in the event of being hit by a large bill that may temporarily reduce your weekly shopping budget.
Bulk buying and batch cooking
If you’re a fan of batch cooking to save money so you can freeze cooked meals individually to eat at a later date, bulk-buy shopping can help. Generally, you’ll pay a lower price per unit when buying a larger quantity due to volume discounts and less packaging costs. This can be effective for non-perishable items with a long shelf-life, such as pasta, rice and canned goods. However, be mindful of false economies, such as “multibuy” deals that don’t save you anything and are simply there to grab your attention. You could also be landed with items you don’t really need if you’re swept up in the hype.
The average UK household spends £72 on the weekly shop, equating to £3,744 per year, according to 2025 data from the ONS – up from £3,490 annually in 2023 – so with prices continuing to rise, it’s sensible to make as many savings as possible.
