The cost of basic food shopping seems to keep going up and up.
And our busy lives mean it's often tricky to do more than grab some essentials - or at least enough for an evening meal - as we pass a supermarket on the way home.
So how can the checkout bill be reduced?
Well, it turns out that people in Birmingham reckon they can save £87 on their monthly shopping bill.
That's according to the new Shopping Habits Survey. It found that people across the UK say they are able to save £66 on average, with Brummies beating that figure by another £21.
It quizzed 1,000 British shoppers and found that value for money (68 per cent) and price (66 per cent) are now the two most important considerations in the supermarket.
And the results of the survey by discount retailer StarBargains shows even 1 in 2 of those earning big salaries of between £75,000 and £100,000 per year say price is a key consideration in their grocery shopping.
But with 39 per cent of the average British shopping basket being made up of big name goods, these savings are not just the result of compromising on branded items.
Instead, the majority (61 per cent) achieve these monthly savings by simply looking for deals and price promotions, while 45 per cent will head to discount retailers. The same number will choose to buy food from the reduced aisle.
The study found that discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl were more and more popular, largely because of their own versions of well-known brands.
How to cut your shopping bill
1. Look at £ per kg on meat and buy the best value (freeze if you have more than you need)
2, Look out for yellow sticker items at the end of aisles to buy and freeze
3. Plan meals
4. Write a shopping list
5. Freeze leftover food or use for dinner the next day
6. Try supermarkets' own-brand versions - most shoppers are happy to do this with baby food, toilet roll, cleaning products, bread, cake, alcohol and washing powder.
But most prefer to stick to the big names for crisps, biscuits, chocolates, cereals, dairy products and sauces.
Just over one in five shoppers prefer big brands and say members of their family won't eat certain items if they are not by well-known manufacturers. Others just prefer to support British food firms.
7. Try to buy branded items only when they are on offer or reduced
8. Shop in different supermarkets to find the best prices and see if you can make savings on some of the more expensive goods (like dishwasher tablets) or on your entire shopping bill
9. Check the Best Before and Use By dates to make sure you're not wasting money on food that will end up being thrown away.
How to save money on shopping
Remember the Use By date refers to safety - do not cook or eat anything that has passed this date because it may contain levels of bacteria that could make you ill.
Best Before refers to quality such as flavour and texture, meaning food is okay to eat but won't be at its best.
You can freeze many foods before their Use By date, to make them last longer.
The study found a huge number of shoppers (81 per cent) are prepared to eat food after its Best Before date, rather than throw it away and waste money.
Those aged 18-24 and those aged 65 and over are most likely to ignore the Best Before dates on food packets.
The majority of shoppers (59 per cent) say they just use the sniff test to see if food is okay to eat, indicating further pressure not to waste the shopping budget.
Supermarket price wars
Karen Gunter, director at StarBargains.co.uk, said: "It’s interesting to see just how universal the quest for good value has become. No one is too well off to benefit from a good price or good value. And who can blame us? Everyone likes the feeling that they’ve snapped up a bargain.
"But what’s especially intriguing is how value for money is starting to take the edge over price.
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"We can see this in the methods people are using to make savings – it’s not about compromising on the brands they love, it’s about sniffing out a good deal. We’d attribute this in part to the rise of discount retailers selling branded favourites for less. These types of shops are more popular than ever.
"Even those who will, to some degree, compromise on brands have found a halfway house between supermarket own brands and their favourite manufacturers, in the form of copy cat brands."
