Food

Food, glorious food – the average person spends six years and ten months of their 70-year allotted span eating. When times are tough, good, healthy food is often one of the compromises we make but great food does not need to cost the earth – there are lots of ways to save when you are Shopping or Cooking.

Shopping

• Monitor supermarket price comparison websites – they will tell you what bargains are available each week.
• Investigate your favourite supermarket’s budget range or switch to a budget supermarket – you will soon learn which items are just as good as the top brands.
• Get to know your local market, greengrocer, fishmonger and butcher. The people who work in these specialist shops know what they are talking about and can point out the bargains, what is seasonal and what is local. You will get a warm glow from supporting smaller traders – and it is good for your health, your budget and your carbon footprint.
• Beware of buy-one-get-one-free offers (commonly known as bogofs) and three-for-the-price-of two (three-fers). Buy if they are a staple that you will use, eat or freeze or club together with a friend to share them out. Otherwise, ignore them.
• Supermarkets mark items down immediately before they close, so shop late and bag a bargain.
• Think ahead and bulk-buy the basics. Even better, get together with friends and head to the cash and carry or sign up with wholesalers.
• Farmers’ markets can offer good value, high quality food, as they cut out the middlemen.
• You and your friends could split the cost of an entire pig, cow or lamb from a farm or wholesale market – buying meat this way is much less expensive. Make sure your freezers are big enough.
• Dried food is cheaper than tins, frozen is cheaper than fresh and loose is almost always cheaper than packaged. Vegetarian products such as soya mince are also less expensive than real meat.
• Do not buy bottled water. If the tap water in your area is hard, invest in a water filter. You will recoup the cost in weeks.
• Many supermarkets accept manufacturers’ discount coupons, even if you are not buying the item the coupon covers – but not all, so ask.
• Before you go shopping, check your cupboards and freezer to see what you can use up. Then make a menu plan, set a budget and write a shopping list. Buy only what you need and see how much you can save.
• Do not go shopping when you are hungry – you will buy more.
• Junk food eats into a budget like a termite. Home-made burgers, pizzas, chips and curries are all easy to make, much cheaper – and much tastier.
• Ordering online is cheaper from some supermarkets and helps prevent impulse buys. Some specialist sites feature very low cost goods where a supermarket has over-ordered and sells the surplus at a loss or food that is near its sell-by date, even though use-by date is well in the future. Search for clearance food online.
• Check whether supermarket loyalty cards are worthwhile – they can tempt you to overspend, rather than gain useful reward points.
• Avoid getting into the habit of stopping off for a coffee and Danish when out shopping. Just one a week at £2.50 means you are spending £130 a year on a snack that would cost you less than a quarter of that at home.

Cooking

• Do not forget leftovers. You need not have fish one day then chicken the next. How about a lamb curry or shepherd’s pie to follow a Sunday roast?
• Do not waste the bones – boil them up to make stock, which is ten times nicer than a stock cube and a great base for soup and gravy. Soups and stews are nutritious and a great way of using up leftovers. A big pan of soup can be frozen into meal-sized portions for when you are tired.
• Take a packed lunch to work and make sure the kids take theirs to school – you will save hundreds of pounds over the course of a year.
• Calculate your portions. Every year, UK households waste more than 2.5 billion slices of bread and nearly 1.9 billion potatoes. Stale bread can be turned into breadcrumbs or bread and butter pudding, invest in a spaghetti measurer and remember that one mug of rice is enough for four people.
• Peelings, coffee granules and other biodegradable items can go on the compost heap. Your garden will love the nutrient-rich food. Some councils collect food waste as part of the recycling.
• No garden? There is nothing to stop you growing herbs and even some vegetables on your windowsills (inside or out). Hanging baskets are also an option. Cooking and eating is always a lot more rewarding when you have grown your own.
• Swap what you grow with gardener friends and neighbours.

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