SLASH spiralling grocery bills by finding ways to get free food and supermarket essentials.
Households are paying £677 a year more due to rising prices, according to market research firm Kantar.
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From supermarket vouchers to free food, shoppers can find ways to ease the price hikes. Lucy Alderson explains how.
CHEAP FOOD CLUBS
JOIN a food club near you and save hundreds of pounds on your groceries.
They are usually run by local community groups or charities. And unlike food banks, you don’t need to be referred by a GP, school or community organisation.
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These clubs link up with local supermarkets, who donate food nearing their sell-by date. They are usually run from public places, such as church halls.
What you can get, and how much you’ll pay for it, varies.
Some charge a small annual fee or a few pounds on the door, while others are free.
For example, charity BS3, which runs a weekly food club in a community hall in Bedminster in Bristol, charges £1 for an annual membership, plus £3.50 on the door. For this, you’ll get a bag of food worth between £10-£15.
Elaine Wilshart, who uses Bedminster’s food club, said she saves around £1,000 a year.
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She added: “There’s always tinned goods like tomatoes and chickpeas, and a good selection of fruit and veg.
“Sometimes there’s protein like chicken and lamb koftas. There’s even been sea bass a few times.”
Ask your local Citizens Advice branch or council if you have one in your area.
You can also look on social media as many have Facebook pages posting regular updates.
GET APPY
SAVE money at the click of a button by downloading receipt scanner apps.
GreenJinn, CheckoutSmart and Shopmium are popular ones.
CheckoutSmart says shoppers can save hundreds of pounds a year on its website, GreenJinn says you can save up to £1,500, and Shopmium says you can make £624.
The free apps list offers on products you can buy from supermarkets.
You then take a picture of the receipt, upload it to the app and you can get cashback on your shopping.
The money will be paid back into your PayPal or bank account, but it could take up to two weeks to process.
Download all of them, and you may find you can get the same deal multiple times.
Money blogger Charlotte Jessop, who runs the Looking After Your Pennies site, said: “I pick up healthy snacks, like dried fruit bars, and drinks, like tonic water, from Shopmium, while I usually get yoghurt and fresh fruit and veg from GreenJinn.
“On CheckoutSmart, I like to get cereal bars and lunchbox snacks, like fruit Winders.”
FREE OR SUPER CHEAP FOOD
THERE are apps and websites shoppers can use to pick up food for free.
App Olio lists food nearing its sell-by date, available for free.
You can often get bread, fruit and veg, pastries and more. You don’t pick up the food directly from the store but collect it from an Olio volunteer.
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Volunteers pick up the food from shops and take it home and can keep ten per cent of the haul themselves.
The rest is listed on the app for neighbours to pick up.
App Too Good To Go works in a similar way. It allows you to find local shops and restaurants, including Greggs, Burger King, Morrisons and M&S, selling surplus food at big discounts.
You can buy a “magic bag” of food through the app for around £3 and then pick it up directly from the store. You don’t know what’s inside though, so you can’t guarantee you’ll have what you need.
Big boxes of food nearing, or past, their best-before dates can be bought through the website Approved Food.
A “lucky box” costs £1 but, again, you won’t know what’s inside. They can contain crisps, fizzy drinks, chocolate and cereal bars.
GET CASH FROM YOUR COUNCIL
IF you are struggling, you can apply to your local council for free cash or vouchers for food from the £421million Household Support Fund.
What you can get varies, as each council decides what to do with the money.
You’ll usually need to be on a low income to qualify, but local authorities may have different eligibility criteria.
Luton Council is awarding up to £500 in supermarket vouchers.
Some councils also have a separate welfare assistance scheme.
You can get top-ups for energy, white goods, furniture and clothing as well as food vouchers.
Again, what you can get will vary, and not every council will have a scheme — but in some cases, you could get hundreds.
North Somerset Council, for instance, will pay out up to £600 a year to struggling families.
Anna Stevenson, senior benefits specialist at Turn2Us, a charity that helps people in financial need access money available to them, said: “Be sure to contact your local council to find out what support is available in your area.
Find your local council at gov.uk/find-local-council.
HELP FOR FAMILIES
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PREGNANT mums or families with small children can get up to £442 a year for fruit, vegetables and other healthy food essentials.
Under the Healthy Start scheme, you get £8.50 a week — £442 a year — for children under one or £4.25 a week — £221 a year — for children between one and four years old.
Expecting mums can get the same amount for each week of their pregnancy, starting from the tenth week.
People can apply by emailing [email protected] or they can call 0300 330 7010.
‘I SAVE £500 AT FOOD CLUB, I COULDN’T COPE WITHOUT IT’
SINGLE mum-of-two Vicky Johnson saves nearly £500 a year thanks to her local food club, where she picks up family essentials for free.
Money is tight for the 47-year-old mental health worker from Alton, Hampshire.
She gets up to £600 a month in Universal Credit and £145 child benefit, but struggles to make her cash stretch.
Vicky visits the Alton Community Cupboard, run by a charity that collects leftover food from nearby supermarkets including M&S, Sainsbury’s and Aldi.
Food is given out to residents, but they can make a donation.
Vicky tries to go twice a month and picks up about £20 worth of food per trip. Items include bread, cheese, meat and fruit and veg to feed her and kids Luis, 16, and Sofia, 12.
She said: “This saves me a lot of money and I wouldn’t be able to cope without it. It takes the pressure off. I can put the money towards other vital things or to pay bills.”
