Tip 4: Give your shopping list a money-saving makeover

No more scribbling lists on the back-of-an-envelope

Say ‘so long’ to last-minute lists scribbled on the back of an envelope. A well-written shopping list can reduce your stress as well as your food waste, saving you time and money too.

Once you’ve planned your meals, spend a few minutes working out what ingredients you’ve already got, which ones you need to buy and exactly how much.

Tip 4

Put the time in! Supercharge your savings with a detailed shopping list.

Bonus point for setting yourself a reminder - on your phone or in your calendar - to plan and write your list before each food shop.

Task

1. Choose one of these smart shopping list ideas from Love Food Hate Waste.
2. Before you write your shopping list look at your food tracker, reverse recipe finder and meal plan.
3. Think about what ingredients you already have in stock. Check your food tracker - what needs eating up before it goes to waste?
4. Plug your ingredients into your recipe generator.
5. Use your recipe generator results to plan at least a few meals. How many breakfasts, lunches and dinners are you shopping for? Who in your household will be in for which meals?
6. Write your list including the specific amounts that you need for each ingredient. 

Tool

Use these smart shopping list ideas from Love Food Hate Waste.

Keep going!

You’ve made 4 out of 8 changes on your Food for thought journey.
Make all 8 changes to save up to £83 a month.

How a detailed shopping list can reduce waste and save you money

Writing an accurate shopping list helps you focus on what you need and will  actually use, so you’re less likely to be tempted by impulse buys.

 Here’s the evidence:

1. This ‘Determinants of Consumer Food Waste Behaviour’ study looked at 1,037 households. It found that people waste less food and money when they use a shopping list template.
2. ‘Convenient tools and social norms: Measuring the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce household food waste’. This pilot found that giving people a shopping list template, fridge stickers, date label info and a measuring cup cut waste between 23% to 39%.
3. ‘The Proof Is in the Pudding: Using a Randomised Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Long-Term Effectiveness of a Household Food Waste Reduction Intervention During the COVID-19 Pandemic’. This was a randomised controlled trial. It shows a sustained 30% reduction in food waste when households were given a shopping list template to help them to not over-buy.
4. ‘Review: Consumption-stage food waste reduction interventions – What works and how to design better interventions’  This review found that planning tools lead to significantly less food and money wasted. The tools included lists, meal planners and reminders
5. WRAP’s latest national assessment (2022) estimates that UK homes wasted £17 billion in food - about £1,000 per year for a household of four. Because shopping lists reduce over-buying (see numbers 1 to 4), they directly help avoid part of this cost.