With food prices the way they are right now, it seems like our weekly shop is costing more and more every week. Today’s post is a reminder of something I’m sure you do but not so sure that you actually do to save money on your supermarket shop each week!

Honestly, we love corned beef hash in our house but the cost of a tin in the main supermarkets seems to have rocketed to over £4 a can for the branded products. We have a little farm shop where we get a lesser known brand for £2 a can luckily so I didn’t notice the price hike as much until recently when I thought I’d save myself a trip to the farm shop – needless to say that we didn’t have corned beef hash that day. 😁

The prices are on the up across the board though – a quick Google tells me that the price of coffee, chocolate, butter, cheese, eggs and meat have all gone up at least 15% just in the last 12 months.  

Careful meal planning means that we can save money by planning meals and batch cooking but today I want to remind you about another supermarket trick that you could use to save around £20 a week! 

Switch to supermarket own-brand products to unlock big savings!

Most of the time, your family won’t even notice the difference – I’m sure I did a taste test with the kids when they were younger to test whether they could identify own-brand products because they complained that they preferred the big brands. I can’t remember exactly what we tested but I remember biscuits, pasta, some dolmio type sauce and ketchup for definite. 

They genuinely didn’t notice the difference with anything other than the ketchup. They wouldn’t touch any ketchup other than Heinz so I picked my battles and switched as much as I could other than that and they accepted it happily. 

It’s all about what works for your family though, and you might want to try just a few things here and there at first.

Here’s my top tips to help you make easy swaps without compromising on taste, quality, or those family favourites like ketchup was in our family.

Why Own-Brand?

Supermarkets spend millions developing their own versions of big-name products and if Google is to be believed, they’re often made in the same factories, just with different packaging. That means you’re paying extra for the logo – not the food.

You often find that there will be different ‘levels’ of products you add to your trolley – there’ll be your branded version that costs the most, a supermarket own brand which is cheaper and then a basic or savers version that is generally much cheaper. 

When we first swapped to own brand for lots of our shopping, we went from branded to the supermarket range and didn’t include any of the savers products. I did add in a few savers products over the years but not many if I’m honest as the savings that the regular supermarket own brand gave us were enough.  

Easy Own-Brand Swaps

All of these savings pretty much depend on how much of each item that your family would get through in a week. 

1. Cereal

Swap branded cornflakes or rice crispies for supermarket own as they’re usually half the price. My two never noticed the difference but they weren’t big breakfast eaters so a box lasted us ages. 

💰 Saving: £1–£2 per box

2. Pasta & Rice

These are often identical across brands with a 500g bag of supermarket pasta costing as little as 50p compared to £1.50+ for branded.

💰 Saving: £2–£3 a week

3. Tinned Tomatoes & Beans

Branded baked beans can cost £1.50+, while supermarket own-brand are around 50p. Same goes for chopped tomatoes which are essential for bolognese, chilli, or curry – cozy comfort food staples at this time of year!

💰 Saving: £3–£4 a week

4. Yoghurts

Swap kids’ branded yoghurts for supermarket multipacks. They’re usually just as fruity, sometimes with less sugar.

💰 Saving: £2 a week

5. Cheese & Butter

Cheddar is cheddar – own-brand blocks are often made by the same producers. Same for butter and spread which have shot up in price in the last few years.

💰 Saving: £3–£5 a week

6. Cleaning Products

Supermarket sprays, washing-up liquid, and bleach are a fraction of the price of “premium” brands – and do the same job. Even better – make your own products!

💰 Saving: £2–£3 a week

7. Snacks & Biscuits

Swap branded chocolate digestives, crisps, or cereal bars for own-label versions. They’re usually around 30–40% cheaper.

💰 Saving: £3–£4 a week

8. Bread & Wraps

Branded loaves and wraps can cost £2+. Supermarket bakery bread and own-brand wraps are usually under £1.

💰 Saving: £2 a week

9. Drinks

Branded drinks can cost £4 for an 8 pack of cans whereas own brand are around £2.00 and taste almost as nice.

💰 Saving: £2 a week

Total Weekly Saving: Around £20

Over a month, that’s £80 back in your pocket – or nearly £1,000 a year just for making simple swaps. Surely it’s worth a try…

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