Ordering food delivery saves time while offering convenience and variety, but it can add up.

That's why I've always been on the lookout for deals and promos whenever I order food or groceries online, and I recently discovered a hack that'll save me $5.50 on average for every order - here's what I did.

Setting the table

As the youngest in the family (and the tech 'expert'), I order foodpanda at least three times a week for everyone.

Like many savvy Singaporeans, I habitually scour Telegram groups, personal finance blogs and forums to find promo codes and discounts to save money.

Recently, I've also started factoring in yuu Rewards. It just rolled out on foodpanda last month, allowing shoppers to earn yuu Points through the app whenever they order food or groceries.

In fact, I was able to redeem some free pastries with the yuu Points I accumulated - but more on that later.

The real icing on the cake was saving a total of $72.02 in two weeks, which I achieved by pooling orders, applying discounts and occasionally, picking up my food.

Step one was to link my yuu ID to the foodpanda app to start earning yuu Points at a $1 = 1 yuu Point rate. The reward for entering my yuu ID into foodpanda was a point booster, as my first foodpanda order after linking my yuu ID granted me triple the yuu Points.

For the month of November, you will score a bonus of 500 yuu Points on your first foodpanda order after linking your yuu ID.

And because you can never save too much, I decided to boost my savings with the existing vouchers and discounts I had within the foodpanda app.

A quick peek into my 'Vouchers & Offers' page on the foodpanda app revealed that I had 12 discounts and vouchers I could use. $8 off, 12 per cent off, 10 per cent off pick-up - these were just some of the attractive deals I could take advantage of.

Beyond the amazing discounts, vouchers, and yuu Rewards, foodpanda also has its very own rewards system - simply complete stamp cards with your foodpanda orders and you'll be eligible to claim some attractive vouchers or stand to win monthly prizes.

Preparing the feast

This discovery called for a celebration, and what better way to celebrate than a good ol' fashioned pizza party with the family?

To put the triple booster to use , I decided to order a family set and some sides from Domino's. Fortuitously, I was granted 25 per cent off for ordering through a surprise pandabox flash deal.

Spent: $33.35
Saved: $9.45 (pandabox 25 per cent off flash deal)
yuu Points earned: 100

As if sensing that I was in a party mood, foodpanda also sent me a surprise pandamart voucher, which I immediately utilised to order some swanky-looking pale ales.

The ales, originally $20, cost me less than $8 after applying the voucher. Save for the delivery and platform fees, the beers were practically on the house!

Spent: $7.90
Saved: $12.40 (pandamart surprise voucher)
yuu Points earned: 7.9

The personalised surprise discounts and vouchers were a pleasant bonus, and one of the many reasons why using foodpanda could help keep my expenses to a minimum.

Bolstered by these savings, I made use of various promotions within the app over the course of the week. This included the pick-up promo code TAPAUNOW which gave me 30 per cent off my orders.

Scoring savings just by picking up my orders? Count me in.

All that was left was just to drop by the store to collect my bubble tea order and enjoy every sip.

Spent: $21.55
Saved: $2.16 (30 per cent off with TAPAUNOW pick-up promo code)
yuu Points earned: 21.55

By the end of the week, I was saving close to $45 just from applying the discounts and picking up my food.

foodpanda made it really easy for me to treat myself too. Having accumulated some yuu Points over the past few days, I used them to redeem this Cheese Boat from BreadTalk (150 yuu Points) via the yuu App.

Grocery shopping

To stock up on groceries for the month, I ordered my necessities from Cold Storage - not forgetting to check out the special offers tab to score myself some sweet deals.

My efforts weren't in vain, as Nutella and Red Peak wine products were on promotion.

The rest of my usual items cost the same as in-store and delivery was even free thanks to foodpanda grocery vouchers.

Grocery delivery via foodpanda is a serious game changer. Now, my mum and I can order groceries every Sunday from the comfort of our home. Since delivery takes an hour tops, we make sure to catch up on our K-dramas while waiting for the delivery. Even without the free delivery vouchers, I'd willingly pay the delivery fee to avoid lugging heavy groceries home myself.

Spent: $93.79
Saved: $1.99 (free delivery voucher)
yuu Points earned: 93.79

After two weeks of ordering food delivery and groceries, I could redeem something again from the yuu App. For my breakfast the next day, I picked out this Sliced Banana Cake from Toast Box (300 yuu Points).

Two weeks' worth of orders also allowed me to complete two stamp cards on foodpanda. After completing eight orders, I could redeem a $3 voucher for food delivery, shops or pandamart orders.

The savings were two-fold as I still had 140 yuu points for future freebie redemptions. Aside from grabbing more pastries for myself, I would also be able to redeem yuu Points for $10 or $15 Giant and Cold Storage vouchers to offset my future purchases.

At the end of my two-week food delivery journey, my savings racked up to $72.

Going back for seconds

While I had saved more than I had expected within these two weeks, I figured there had to be a way to boost these savings for myself and my family.

My next step would be to sign up for the DBS yuu Card, which would grant me up to 36 times the amount of points earned by ordering from yuu Merchants, which includes foodpanda.

With the DBS yuu Card, I would be ordering foodpanda more often. Considering my usage, it would make sense for me to also get a pandapro subscription. As a subscriber, I can bid farewell to delivery fees on my food and groceries orders and enjoy a wider range of perks, such as discounts on dine-in and pick-up.

If you're following suit, new pandapro subscribers can get their first month at just 10 cents with the code NEW10 (applicable on the monthly plan only).

Beginning a new rewards journey

With living costs increasing in Singapore, such rewards programmes can be helpful for those with a budget to stick to. To save yourself some money the next time you're ordering food delivery, be sure to check out the promotions and deals foodpanda has to offer.

This article is brought to you in partnership with foodpanda.

sophie.kuek@asiaone.com

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