Happy Friday! Let's do some quick maths...

Living on a single income + living in the 4th most expensive country = a biiiig need for bargain hunting!

After speaking with some Norwegian friends, it's pretty much a given that people here try to cut down on food costs, no matter how much they earn. There are supermarket hierachies (apparently you don't go to Bunnpris unless there's an emergency or a special offer, Meny is one of the most expensive but occasionally has some really good bargains, while Kiwi has the cheapest fruit and vegetables 🤔), and sales apps like Mattilbud which round up all the special offers from all your local supermarkets in one convenient portal.

So far, I've managed to come up with two main strategies:

1. Plan meals around what's in season and what's on offer
2. Stock up (as long as it won't go bad quickly)

How does this play out in real life? Well, in a nutshell: onions and courgettes 😂

Onions are normally 24-26kr per kilo. So, when I saw they were on offer for a tenner, I grabbed three kilos immediately. One kilo was sliced, the other two were diced, and both baggies of onions went into the freezer. Easy peasy - cheap onions that are ready to be added to your next meal straight from frozen.

Courgettes are normally 15kr each, and occasionally are on sale for 10kr instead. Those weeks, we make heavier use of the discounted veg in our recipes. Courgette frittata, Spanish tortilla de patatas but swapping out some of the potato for courgette, extra courgette in stir fries, diced courgette in pasta sauce... The possibilities are endless.

For comparison, price per kilo of other vegetables that we use for pasta/stir fry:
Peppers - 65-75kr
Broccoli - around 60kr
Courgettes (~200g each) - 50kr per kilo

We make stir fries often, usually about once a week. It's a great way to use up vegetable leftovers that maybe have gone a little soggy. The Blue Dragon sauces below normally come in at 19-22kr, but occasionally show up for 10kr. They're sealed, so they don't spoil for a very long time - when they're that heavily discounted we'll grab a good few packets to keep us going for a while!


Frozen vegetables are a great way to save - not only are they cheaper than fresh on a regular day, but when they're discounted it's even better! These peas are 16kr per bag, and we picked up a few bags for 10kr.

As for the Skyr yoghurts... firstly, these are so yummy. They're fat free and high in protein, so a great breakfast on the go. The peach and raspberry ones are my favourite. Depending on the flavour, these can cost anything from 16kr, up to 19kr. They were on sale for 10kr (our local Bunnpris had a 10kr week where a lot of products were discounted, which is why you're seeing a 10kr theme!) and the shelves in the supermarkets were empty. I actually saw some Instagram stories where people were flashing their Skyr stash - it was like stocking up for an apocalyse. They have a really long use-by date too, the yoghurts bought in early September are good until mid-October. Although these are really delicious, I wouldn't pay full price for them as they're just too expensive normally - but when they're on sale it's a lovely treat and a nice difference from toast/muesli for breakfast.


My last tip for saving money is just to be aware of what you're buying where. We keep an eye out with the Mattilbud app for grocery offers, buying certain things in certain places, but sometimes you have to branch out and go further afield.

There's a great Turkish market in the city centre - they have products from all over the world. I first went there to look at spices - as R is Indian, we use a lot of different spices in our cooking, and they had large packets of things like cumin and cardamom for a good price. The second time I went there, I spent a long time just browsing through the aisles to see what they had. Noodles, rice, so many types of dry beans! They had jars of Polish food, so many pickled things, and even toiletries for people that don't fit into the Scandinavian norms of blonde hair and pale skin. They also had tea. So many different kinds of tea! I love drinking fruit and herbal teas, so when I saw the prices in the supermarkets here, at around 60kr for a pack of 20 teabags, my eyes almost popped out of my head. In the Turkish market, they stock Loyd teas. These are very popular in Poland, almost like the European answer to Twinings - I've tried a few flavours at my grandma's house, so I knew they were of a nice quality. The price was even nicer - 20kr for a box of 20 teabags. That's a third of the price of Twinings or Pukka in the regular supermarkets!

I'm definitely going to shop more there and see what other bargains I can pick up!