Expert's clever hack for saving money on the most expensive grocery item

Finder's Rebecca Pikehas revealed the clever way she reuses an item that would normally be thrown out to save money on one of the most expensive grocery buys.

She has been trying to "get really smart with making groceries last longer", particularly with olive oil which has increased in price by at least 47 per cent over the past two years.

"One of the things that I've started doing is I've washed out a couple of my soy sauce bottles and I pour my oil in there. So now my oil drizzles – it doesn't pour, and it means that it will last much longer – you know how expensive oil is at the moment," she tells 9honey Money.

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"There are a lot of little hacks like that that can just make your groceries last longer, using smaller amounts and then you don't have to keep buying it [as often]."

Another hack Pike uses to save cash on groceries is taking into consideration ingredients she will use more than once when meal planning. This means getting plenty of value out of what she buys instead of wasting money on something she only uses a tablespoon of.

"So I'm not just going, 'I'll buy this Chinese cooking wine [for this recipe] that I'll keep in the fridge for two years'. I'm only going to buy ingredients that are gonna be repeatedly used."

Similarly, you can also pick recipes that use pantry and freezer ingredients you already have and that way the only thing you're spending money on is fresh produce.

Pike also recommends getting creative with expensive groceries like fish by making a dish that will last longer, particularly if the leftovers are freezable.

"If you buy two fish fillets, it lasts you two days. But actually, if you cut it up and put it into a dish with sauce and you know, you could make a a salmon curry or a salmon pasta that can end up lasting you four days instead of the two days," Pike explains.

Pike shared her supermarket savings hacks with 9honey Money after new research from Finder revealed 4.2 million Aussies have experienced their card declining at the checkout.

These people have either had to put the shop on their credit card, return some items or abandon the shop altogether.

Pike's advice for people in this situation is to start by taking a deep breath to give yourself a moment to think rather than panicking.

Then you can ask the shop assistant for time to consider your options and look at what groceries you can leave for now so you can afford what you desperately need.

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