"Minimum basket" sounds dull, but it is very useful. It is a set of products from which you can feed a person all week without excess: bread, milk, eggs, vegetables, grain, oil, chicken, tea. If you know what goes into it and how to buy it, you can spend noticeably less on food without going hungry.

What is in the basket and why

The make-up is simple. Bread and flour are the base of dough and sandwiches. Milk and eggs are protein and breakfast. Potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage and apples are the vegetables and fruit that keep long. Sunflower oil and sugar are what no kitchen can do without. Grain is the cheapest fullness. Chicken is the meat that suits both soup and a main course. And tea.

There is nothing exotic in this set, and that is the point. Every product is inexpensive, keeps long or is needed daily. Below is the basket with current offers: you can see where each product is cheaper now:

What it costs: Minimum grocery basket: where it is cheapest

The whole set at the best prices452.15 leiFound 16 of 17 items

Where to get the set

  • METRO12 of 17 itemsMost items
    626.90 leiMissing: Eggs, Cabbage, Sunflower oil, Buckwheat, Salt
  • Kaufland10 of 17 items
    457.40 leiMissing: Eggs, Apples, Sunflower oil, Sugar, Buckwheat, Rice, Pasta
  • Linella8 of 17 items
    275.92 leiMissing: Bread, Eggs, Potatoes, Onions, Cabbage, Apples, Sunflower oil, Buckwheat, Salt
  • Nr18 of 17 items
    356.05 leiMissing: Eggs, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Cabbage, Apples, Flour, Buckwheat, Rice
The whole basket

What to buy monthly and what weekly

Split the basket in two. Perishables: bread, milk, eggs, vegetables, chicken. You take them every week, sometimes more often. Stock: grain, oil, sugar, flour, tea. You take it every two to four weeks and, above all, on offer.

That split saves both money and time. You go for the big set less often, and on other days you only pop in for bread and milk. But stock must not become a warehouse: take as much as you will use before the next offer. How to work out the price of stock is in the article on price per kilogram.

Bread: the most frequent purchase

Bread is bought most often, so the price difference over a year adds up. Compare bread in three shops near home. If you have a freezer, buy more and freeze it sliced: it thaws in a couple of minutes in a toaster.

Here is how bread looks in different shops:

Where it is cheaper: bread

All offers

Remember: the minimum basket needs ordinary bread, not sweet enriched loaves. Sweet bread is a joy of its own, but not the base.

Milk and eggs

Milk and eggs are the base of breakfasts and baking. Milk is bought in packs of different volumes, so count the price per litre. Count eggs per piece, not per pack: a ten and a pack of six are compared that way.

Milk in the catalogues now:

In the catalogues now: milk

All offers

Do not buy more milk than you drink in four or five days: an opened pack spoils fast. Better top up in a couple of days.

Oil, sugar, flour: stock on offer

These products do not spoil, so it pays to take them when they are on offer. Work out how much you need for a month and buy that much. Buying for half a year is already a warehouse: money is frozen, and the next offer may be better.

Here are sugar offers by shop:

Where it is cheaper: sugar

All offers

Check oil and flour the same way. If the offer is on one-kilogram bags and you need a big stock, work out the price per kilogram and compare with the others.

One trip or several

The minimum basket has a trap: the hunt for the lowest price on every product. You spend an evening and petrol to save on a single item. Think what your time and the trip are worth.

A simple rule: the main shop is near home, where prices are acceptable overall. You go there every week. And once a month you drop in at another for stock on offer: grain, oil, meat. You do not need more than two or three shops. General habits are collected in the article how to save on groceries.

How the basket becomes food

The basket is only raw material. To make it work you need a menu. From the minimum set come porridge, potatoes with egg, soup, vegetable stew, chicken with a side, pancakes, sandwiches. Ready ideas for a family are in the weekly menu, for a student in the article on the student basket, and for dinners in ten dinners.

If you need more than the minimum, compare with the weekly family basket.

Checklist

  • Split the basket into perishables and stock.
  • Take stock on offer and for no more than a month.
  • Compare bread and milk in three shops nearby.
  • Count the price per kilogram and litre, not per pack.
  • Do not drive across town to save on one product.
  • Check what you already have at home before you go shopping.