One big thing you should do at supermarkets if you want to save

Huge savings can be made at supermarkets by anyone who takes time to compare prices of packaged items. Here’s the simple trick you need to know.

Shrinking packages for some of our favourite supermarket products have been angering shoppers for years.

From chocolates and chips to toilet rolls and soap, manufacturers have been trying to keep their costs down by cutting the amount of product per pack but often still charging the same price. It’s bad enough getting less bang for your buck with any purchase, but when it’s done to your favourite packet of biscuits, chocolates or baked beans, it can draw steam from your ears.

Chocolate giant Cadbury last month announced its family blocks of chocolate were losing a row and would be shrunk 180g.

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It’s not the first time Cadbury bar sizes have moved. Since the 1980s and those famous “glass and a half of full cream dairy milk” television ads, the blocks have gone from 200g to 250g, then to 220g, then to 200g, then back to 220g, and then down again.

These moves and others make it more important than ever to check one key thing at the shops: unit prices.

Rule number one: Always check the unit price when shopping at supermarkets.

A unit price must be displayed on the shelf and it breaks down a product into a price per unit of measurement such as 100g or 100ml.

Chocolate, for example, is priced per 100g, and lets you work out the best value for money. It’s just like comparing petrol prices — you’d much rather pay $1.25 a litre than $1.65 a litre to fill up your car.

I was recently shocked and stunned by a couple of Cadbury chocolate bars next to each other on a supermarket shelf. One was a large 350g block costing $5, while the other was a 180g block costing 4.80.

The big block’s unit price was $1.43 per 100g. The smaller one was $2.67 per 100g.

Same product. Same purple packaging. But one costs 87 per cent more than the other one. Shocked and stunned.

It freaked me out so much I took a photo, then forgot to buy the block I came for.

It’s common for larger packaging to deliver more value but don’t take this for granted. Sometimes specials are for smaller packs, which makes them cheaper per unit than the bigger pack.

That’s why it’s always wise to check the unit price. It may only be a 20c or 50c saving per item, but multiply that for a trolley of 50 items and you’d potentially save $25 a week or $1300 a year. That buys a lot of extra chocolate. However, don’t buy bigger packages based on unit prices if you’re not going to use it all.

Online supermarket shoppers can also see unit prices and the Federal Government is currently reviewing the mandatory unit pricing code, which started in 2009 for large supermarkets.

Consumer groups want mandatory unit pricing expanded to smaller grocery stores that have become more popular in recent years, and to other retailers such as chemists and hardware stores. The current system only applies to grocery stores over 1000sq m.

Anything that helps put extra money into peoples’ pockets is a good thing.

@keanemoney

Originally published as One big thing you should do at supermarkets if you want to save