You can save money by buying certain items in larger quantities. This is an example of economies of scale, the more you buy the cheaper things become. This saving can be due to the following:
If something you usually buy is on sale (% off or 3 for 2 offer), as long as it meets the criteria below then it is probably worth stocking up!
For example, if you drink a lot of tea, buying a 240 box usually makes more sense than an 80 box.
There are some things to bear in mind when buying in bulk:
If hot sauce is on sale but is something you don't like or do not use often, then it is probably not worth stocking up on it!
If a lettuce is on sale at 1p each, although you could get 100 for a £1, most of them would go off before you could use them all! Something like toilet roll though, is always needed and will keep for years.
⚠️ Note due to special offers, sometimes smaller packs can work out to be better value! Always check first! ⚠️
This is a good example of an item the everyone uses and does not have a best before date. With this in mind, it makes sense to buy as much as you can store for the best price. Prices are from the Tesco website.
| Pack Size | Pack Cost | Cost Per Roll |
|---|---|---|
|
(6 Pack) 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 | £3.75 | 62p |
|
(12 Pack) 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 🧻 | £6.90 | 57p |
In the example above, buying the larger pack saves you 5p per roll!
This is an interesting example. Singularly, they are poor value unless you use the offer in which case they are much better value than the multipack!
Prices are from the Tesco website, offer may have expired by the time you read this.
| Quantity | Cost | Cost Per Pot |
|---|---|---|
|
(1 Pack) 🥫 | £1.10 | £1.10 |
|
(1 Pack Loyalty Offer) 🥫 | £0.75 | £0.75 |
|
(4 Multi-Pack) 🥫 🥫 🥫 🥫 | £4.20 | £1.05 |
Generally the multipack option is the cheapest way to buy most items, however in the above example, this particular offer means it is much cheaper to buy the individual pots! This sort of offer is worth keeping an eye out for!
Being a UK site, let's check out tea bags:
| Box Size | Cost | Cost Per Bag |
|---|---|---|
|
80 Tea bags 🫖 | £3 | 3.75p |
|
120 Tea bags 🫖 🫖 | £3.35 | 2.8p |
|
240 Teabags 🫖 🫖 🫖 | £4.95 | 2p |
The above clearly shows that if you regularly drink tea, it works out cheaper to buy the biggest box you can get!
The advantage of bulk buying online is that someone else does the leg work and it is easier to compare which shop has the best deals. For an added bonus, many of the big name supermarkets offer existing customers discounts when going through TopCashback
Created : (14/06/2025)