Student budget: how to food shop Where Unless you've a crush on one of the checkout staff and buy lots to prolong your time together, there's no decent reason to shop exclusively at one supermarket, or even at supermarkets at all. Simple, cheap fruit n" veg shops can be found all over, often with pleasingly punny names like Fruit A-peel. Butchers are sadly becoming little more than memories in some parts of the country, but Google is your friend for finding one nearby. As well as excellent prices, you can buy exactly the amounts needed and hence spare any waste. Occasionally, these local merchants will start overusing words like "artisan." More commonly known as farmers' markets, these tend to offer appalling value. If you happen upon one, read the price tags closely before committing to buy. Ironically, the retailers you may expect to be the most expensive regularly overstock and sell off their products with hefty discounts - so don't ignore the upmarket shops, and watch out for their bright yellow discount stickers. What Your diet is probably regulated by habit but buying the same each week is not only dull, it's uneconomical. Buy to the season and your fruit and veg will be cheaper and generally much tastier. Buy loose, rather than pre-packed. Consider supermarkets as a corporate incarnation of the Artful Dodger; their aim is to pick your pockets without you ever realising. Ever noticed you're treated to the thrill of a complete shop tour even if you're only popping in for milk? They aim to show (read: entice you with) everything on offer. Make a list so you're shopping for things like "Meat for five suppers" and then choose the specifics according to the offers. This is sensible shopping - what you want to avoid is buying biscuits just because they've told you to BOGOF. Meat tends to be the most expensive buy, so try shifting focus to one of the cheaper ingredients for a cost-effective lunch or supper. How A word on brand: the bottom ranges deliberately have unattractive packaging and unappealing names like "Value," "Basic" and "Cheapskate." Your custom is a supermarket's business and they want you to spend more; the midlevel produce is unlikely to be noticeably better. Try the range below the one you usually buy and if you don't taste a difference, stick with it and pocket the change. Head to the shop in time for the reductions, around 7.00-8.00pm, and be sure to look at the whole shelf; the cheaper products are never at eye-level. Remember, reductions are great but deals can be misleading, so download the mySupermarket app to see if the offer is a good price or just appears to be. Scepticism is healthy here - falsely inflating prices to make the saving look significant is still common practice. If a deal has sold out before you could take advantage, you can ask for a "rain-check voucher" which can be found in various incarnations at Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda. You may need to go to customer services to get one and they're given at staff discretion, but they entitle you to buy the item at offer price when it's back in stock, even if the deal has technically expired, or let you apply the offer to a similar product. David Ellis is editor of studentmoneysaver.co.uk