Save more with gift cards over the likes of Chase and Amex
This discounted gift card hack will save you money every time you spend money at the supermarket, potentially adding up to hundreds of pounds each year.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
How to earn cashback at the supermarket
There are a handful of ways to make money back on your grocery spending:
- Cashback debit or credit card
- Go via a cashback site (online orders only)
- Use a cashback app that links to your bank cards
- Use a discounted gift card
A cashback debit or credit card is probably the easiest, as you just tap with a card that offers this feature, potentially as much as 1%. While online orders can generate a slightly higher amount if you go via a cashback site.
But the most lucrative option for the long term is to pay with a gift card that has been discounted or boosted in some way. Sometimes, the apps that offer these will also allow you to connect your bank cards to track spending that earns cashback, such as with Cheddar or Airtime.
Although this type of saving has been around for a good few years, I think most people still only think of gift cards as gifts. But you absolutely can use them for your own shopping.
Now there’s no point doing this if the gift card is full price. In fact, there are a number of downsides, including losing section 75 and chargeback protections. But with up to 5% on supermarket shopping available via this route, you’re on to a winner.
Where to get discounted supermarket gift cards
There are more and more services offering this discount, from dedicated apps to banks and work perk sites. The key ones are listed below. If you click on the hyperlinks you’ll be taken to our reviews of each one, along with a link to get a welcome offer the first time you buy a gift card.
- Cheddar – £2 welcome
- Jam Doughnut – £4 welcome
- HyperJar
- TopGiftcards – £20 welcome
- Verve
- Complete Savings
- Airtime – £2 welcome (cashback paid to your mobile phone bill)
- Sprive – £5 welcome (cashback paid to your mortgage)
You can also get a boost, rather than cashback, if you use your TopCashback and Quidco earnings to buy a gift card. This is how I always tend to cash out, rather than paying it directly to my bank.
You can buy gift cards from these apps for other retailers and business, though I tend to only use them for supermarkets and a handful of others. I’ve explained why further down the article.
Which supermarkets can you buy discounted gift cards for?
You sadly won’t find Lidl or Aldi, but the other core supermarkets are on all, if not most, of the apps.
- Asda
- Iceland
- Marks & Spencer
- Morrisons
- Sainsbury’s
- Tesco
- Waitrose
You can use John Lewis gift cards at Waitrose (and visa versa) and often they have higher cashback rates, so do check both.
How big are the supermarket gift card discounts?
How much you’ll get will depend on which supermarket you shop at, and the rate on offer from the app when you buy. The latter in particular can vary, with short term boosted promotions meaning you’ll want to check a couple of them before buying.
The list below is from 2 December 2025 and gives you an idea of what’s available.
| Jam Doughnut | Cheddar | TopGiftcards | |
| Asda | 2% | 2.5% | 2.7% |
| Morrisons | 2% | 2.5% | 2% |
| Sainsbury’s | 2% | 2.5% | 2% |
| Tesco | 2% | 3.5% | 2.5% |
| Waitrose* | 2.5% | 2.5% | 1% |
How much can you save on your groceries?
The average UK household spends £508 a month at the supermarket which adds up to £6,096 a year. Here’s what that would look like based on different cashback rates.
| Cashback rate | Annual saving |
| 1% | £60.96 |
| 2% | £121.92 |
| 3% | £182.88 |
| 4% | £243.84 |
| 5% | £304.80 |
Using a discounted gift card
When you have a gift card for a supermarket you can use it like any other payment method, either at a self-service or standard till. Most will also be fine to use online, but do double check – and vice versa.
Buying the gift card from these cashback apps is quick and easy, and often the gift card is sent instantly for you to use. That means you could even be standing at the till and buy one for the exact amount you owe – helping you avoid smaller amounts left on cards. However, I’d initially order in advance until you know for certain that this can happen for the supermarket and app of your choice.
Most of the time you’ll be able to access the digital gift card from the app wallet, though some will email it to you. The easiest way to use the gift card is to scan it at the till. Printing should be possible, though most people will need to transfer the gift card from your phone to your computer to do so.
Get the best of our money saving content every week, straight to your inbox
Plus, new TopCashback customers get a high paying £18 welcome offer
What to watch out for
You’ll generally get the cashback in your app pretty quickly. You’ll need to withdraw your cashback to your bank, and some have restrictions, such as a minimum payout level. Each app operates slightly differently, so do check our reviews for the wider details. In addition, in some cases, the cashback earned may expire, so keep an eye on your cashback in the app.
Technically you can’t use a gift card to buy a gift card, so if you are stocking up at the supermarket on gift cards for a different brand (such as Netflix), that could be an issue. Though often you’ll be ok.
Remember, gift cards expire so you need to make sure you use them before this happens, or before you forget you’ve got it in the first place. And if you lose it, you’ll lose your money.
Finally, if you were to return an item you purchased, you’d get a refund as a gift card. That shouldn’t be an issue for supermarket shopping. But it can be for a retailer you use regularly. For example, buying some expensive tech or white goods worth a few hundred quid. If that’s not right for whatever reason, you’d potentially have a few hundred quid still to spend, and you might not want or need to do that with the same shop.
Of course, if you’re certain you won’t return the product then go for it. And there are other services, like tickets (via Ticketmaster or cinemas) and restaurants, which offer gift cards that it’s very unlikely you’d be need a refund on.
