The Cottage Smallholder

Photo: Laptop screen

“I usually shop at Sainsbury’s.” Sam confided. He likes good food. He’s a great chef. But was it really worth motoring over to Cambridge or Bury to shop?
“Oh no I don’t have time to do that. I buy online. I’ve done it for ages. Initially my neighbours all thought I was mad. But gradually, one by one they are all doing it. Go for it – you can save time and money, Fiona. And the delivery rates are much cheaper now.”

We don’t have brilliant local shops in Newmarket. No green grocer, no fishmonger. There are several good butchers. Because I’m time rich at the moment I visit the market each week towards the end of the day to scoop up vegetable and fruit bargains. We also shop in the local Waitrose and Tesco. I enjoy the physical process of shopping. I want to see what I’m buying. I’m addicted to Condemned Food Counter bargains. It’s fun to compare prices and goggle at the offers. Yesterday I discovered that you can do all this with the exception of the CFC bargains on line. I found the supermarket comparison site mySupermarket. I was feeling so tired and couldn’t face doing the weekly shop so thought that I’d investigate. And I’m so pleased that I did.

When you enter your post code the website reveals which of four online supermarkets can deliver to you. In our case it was all four Asda (Bury St Edmunds) Tesco (Newmarket) Ocado (Waitrose) and Sam’s favourite Sainsbury’s (Bury St Edmunds).

I wrote out my shopping list and started shopping. Which ever supermarket you choose the same products are selected from the other supermarkets and a rolling bill total appears for each supermarket. This is fascinating stuff. You can jump between supermarkets in seconds with just one click. There is a great downshift button which points to a cheaper alternative product. The website also flags relevant voucher codes too. You don’t even have to buy online. If you are time rich with a penchant for bargains you can print out your shopping list which pin points the best prices at each of the stores. Then hike round the stores – far cheaper than going to the gym in our case as Cambridge and Bury are both fifteen miles away!

Thank you Sam. I now regret not taking up your tip sooner. This is the answer to a much cheaper weekly shopping bill and saving on petrol too. Shopping at mySupermarket is fun and if you are on a tight budget you can guarantee that you are au fait with all the latest supermarket offers and bargains.