iPhone swap saving mum $60 a week on groceries

As the cost of the weekly supermarket shop soars, one Aussie mum has revealed the free app that is saving her family hundreds of dollars on groceries and cutting down on food waste.

With two young kids, rising mortgage repayments and rising supermarket bills, Melbourne mum Clare said “every little bit of extra cash helps”.

“We are trying to juggle everything in terms of being really time-poor and really feeling the pinch,” Clare told Yahoo Finance.

“My husband and I are on OK salaries and even then we get to the end of the month and there is nothing spare, nothing in the emergency fund for unforeseen expenses and things like that.”

Do you have a money saving tip to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com

Clare started using the app, Saveful, in November last year and said it had completely changed the way she saw the food she was buying. The app lets users plug in what they currently have in their kitchen and pantry, and then generates dozens of recipes based on those ingredients.

“It used to be I would go through the fridge and be quite shocked at how much I was throwing out on a Sunday. Now I notice it is significantly less,” Clare said, noting that fruit and vegetables often got the toss.

“My previous behaviour was going and grabbing bits and pieces [at the supermarket] and spending $60, $70 for a couple of items. Now, I think more about staple items and consolidating that shop more.”

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The mum has already saved $170 on groceries just by using the app. She’s also stopped buying takeaway for the family, which has added to the savings.

“If you added those things together every week, it would probably be at least $60 a week,” Clare said. “You get takeaway for a family because of the convenience. It’s just as convenient by the time you wait for food to arrive to throw an easy meal together with what you've already got.”

As a busy mum, Clare said she also liked that it took away the decision about what to cook for dinner.

“At the end of a busy day, the last thing I feel like doing sometimes is having to feel creative in terms of getting a meal on the table,” she said.

“With Saveful, I literally just have to open the fridge, type in what I've got, and then get inspired from there. It's that one level of decision-making - while using up what I've got and saving much-needed coins - that I really appreciate.”

Clare has also been inspired to start pickling - including cucumbers and onions - to make sure she is using up all the ingredients she buys.

“I've learned about so many substitutes I never knew I could use – which help me use up odds and ends of ingredients that were otherwise headed for the bin,” she said.

Grocery bill now major stressor

Nearly half of Aussie households say their grocery bill is one of their major financial stressors, with the average household now spending $188 per week on groceries.

The vast majority of Aussies (92 per cent) have now implemented shopping strategies to save money at the checkout, according to a recent Finder survey of 1,002 Australians.

Half of shoppers (53 per cent) are bulk buying to save, 61 per cent are visiting multiple grocery stores to keep costs down, while 38 per cent are using coupons.

Grocery saving apps

Here are some other grocery-saving apps you could consider downloading:

• Frugl - compares prices between Coles, Woolworths, ALDI, IGA and more

• Half Price - shows latest half-price specials at Coles and Woolworths

• ShopFully - shows latest supermarket catalogues on your phone

• WiseList - lets you create a grocery list and compare the prices across stores

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