This comes as six in 10 (59%) households told Which? they have made at least one adjustment to cover essential spending such as groceries, utility bills, housing costs, school supplies and medicines in the last month.
Read on to find out when the likes of Aldi, Asda, Lidl and Tesco discount their groceries, as well as other steps you can take to cut your supermarket shopping bill.
What time of day do the supermarkets reduce prices?
You’ll usually find a section in larger supermarkets, and some convenience stores, with products emblazoned with yellow ‘reduced’ stickers. These tend to be items that are nearing their best before or use-by date.
Some reductions can make the products considerably cheaper than they would have been otherwise.
Aldi marks down perishable products like bread, meat, fruit and vegetables by either 30% or 75% on their last day of shelf life before stores close, and gives a 30% discount on ambient groceries such as cereal, pasta and tinned food if it deems the packaging imperfect.
Find out more:Ways to spend less at the supermarket
Grocery inflation reached 17.3% in the four weeks to 16 April 2023, according to market analyst Kantar, and it estimates this adds around £800 to the average household’s annual shopping bill. But there are steps you can take to reduce your shopping bill.
Shop around
You'll be well aware that some supermarkets are cheaper than others. But the amount their prices vary by can be quite staggering.
Which? analyses thousands of grocery prices each month to find the cheapest supermarket. In April, a basket of 39 items would have cost £69.99 at Aldi, and £87.33 at Waitrose - that's 25% more.
Co-op, Sainsbury's and Tesco all also offer member-only prices on selected items.
Find out more:Avoid convenience stores
Avoiding convenience stores could save you hundreds of pounds a year on groceries.
In the basket of 75 groceries we compared between Tesco and Tesco Express, we found a massive yearly price difference of £817.91. We also compared the prices of 69 groceries between Sainsbury's and Sainsbury's Local, and found you would have paid £477.93 more in 2022 if you only shopped in its convenience stores.
Try own-label or budget ranges
The big brands are often beaten by cheaper supermarket versions. And sometimes, our tasters simply can't tell the difference, which may be because branded and own-label products are often made by the same people in the same factories.
Find out more:Use unit pricing to find the best deals
Unit prices, such as the price per 100g or the price per 100ml, rather than the overall pack price can help you work out the price differences between items.
Be aware of supermarkets' psychological tactics
Supermarkets use various tricks to encourage customers to spend more. But the more aware you are of these tactics, the more you can wise up to them and hone your grocery spending.
For instance, anything that forces us to change direction makes you pay attention, as do signs that move or flash.
Another effective trick is using vertical signs in the middle of aisles, as our eyes naturally scan from left to right, so breaking up that flow encourages us to pay attention to an offer and, more often than not, spend more than we intended.
Find out more:source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/best-times-of-day-to-get-yellow-sticker-supermarket-bargains-revealed-aRzv22f0s7Lt