A general merchandise store at first, Coles is now among the 20th biggest retailers in the world. They sell just about everything, and the supermarket has become people’s choice when it comes to even petrol, hardware, and convenience shopping altogether.
Coles isn’t the cheapest supermarket, but you can still cut your food budget down a few notches just by tweaking your shopping habits. Don’t know how to do that? Check out the following three easy strategies that may help you change the way you shop and save real.
- Look for Coles Private Label Items
If the idea of buying store brands scares you off, you should know that even master chefs stock up their pantry shelves with generics, at least when it comes to staple items such as spices, sugar, salt or pastas. However, there are also other store-branded food items – the milk, the cereal, the frozen and canned vegetables, and some of the beverages – which you may want to explore for yourself and decide on the quality.
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Many times, when you’re paying for branded names, you’re actually paying more for the marketing and not necessarily because the product is qualitatively superior. Often times, generic products and brand names come from the same manufacturers, meaning you can shop for the same product quality but cheaper. Pick-up a Coles branded product on your next shop and just give it a test. It might end up surprising you.
- Shop for branded items on sale
So there are a few favorite items that you simply want to stick to, and that’s fine. We all have our verified name-brand foods that we trust and like, and it’s not that easy to give them up. This is why you may want to keep an eye on those weekly ads to check for deals and bargains. And when you find your brand name item on a good deal, stock it up generously.
You’ll find that some brand names go on sale repeatedly every couple of months or so. If you make a habit of browsing through the Coles weekly specials periodically, eventually you’ll pick up on the best times to shop for your favorite brands.
Some of the best name brand items that you should stock up when they’re on sale at Coles are non-perishables. But make sure you’re only shopping for those that you normally use, and you’re not just buying name brands because they’re on sale.
- Request manufacturers’ coupons
Ask manufacturers for coupons by emailing them every month. Try this out even if it seems like too much trouble at first. Run it out like an experiment.
This is actually a very good strategy also because it is going to help you build the grocery list according to what coupons are available and you’ll be more determined to stick to it this way. You might even receive coupons for everything that you normally buy from those manufacturers, which might help you cut down your grocery bill by usually 10%.
15$ off for a grocery bill of $135 mightn’t seem like much at first, but if you add that up to every shopping you’ll eventually see that savings are real. You have to be wary though about using coupons only for products already on your list.
A little extra something for vegetarian and vegan enthusiasts
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Coles Australia has a good range of vegetarian and vegan-friendly items that aren’t going to leave your pocket quite empty either. If you shop vegan and/or vegetarian, meat and dairy substitutes at Coles are quite affordable. They go on sale occasionally too. And the retailer also have organic and vegetarian store brand items, so be sure to check those on your next visit.