Cheap meals and shopping on a budget

[Icanseewhyichangednyusername]

Following on from the brilliant nothing in the cupboards thread..... I wondered if people were interesting in listing your tips for keeping food costs down..... I’m a single lady and most shopping comes from Marks and Sparks or Waitrose as I like the quality and ethical stance but it’s adding up a lot.

I only eat free range/organic meat and dairy and try to eat lots of fresh veg.

Any tips how to cut this all down?

Thank you! Xxxx

I recommend the Miguel Barclay One Pound Meals book, everything is per portion so there's much less waste when you're cooking for one.

to cut costs down forget M&S and Waitrose very expensive forget organic free range meat

most of us on a fixed budget shop at Aldis Or Lidl

Agree with pp, M and S and Waitrose? switch to Aldi or Lidl. That in itself will save you a significant amount!

Not unless you give up organic / free range.

organic is just a marketing ploy so don't fall for it.

Buy larger size things and plan your meals

Don't buy ready made food

East less meat/fish and more beans and lentils

Buy frozen vegetables instead of fresh - nutritionally they are the same

Buy in season fruits

Buy supermarket own brand instead of other brands

Hi Op, I’ve literally just been watching a YouTube channel called Il Rifugio Perfetto, which has an abundance of inexpensive recipes using fresh ingredients which could easily be purchased at Aldi or Lidl. The lady doesn’t seem to use much meat but lots of veg, potatoes, tuna and cheese. Even though it’s not in English, the recipes seem easy to follow and there are always subtitles. I’m going to try the potato, courgette and cheese dish.

@TheDuchessofDukeStreet

I watch that channel too...it's fantastic isn't it?!

Aldi free-range chickens are about £5, I think, and that makes three meals, soup and stock. Their tinned fish, parmesan and mozzarella is way cheaper than any other store I know of, too. I think their quality is better than Waitrose on things I've tried, and when I've checked their ethical stance on individual products it's been good. I eat tons of veg & buy seasonal, mostly British, from a greengrocer, making homemade soup with it when it starts to go soft. I pick berries in the summer & freeze them, eating them all winter. I buy spices in big packets from a cornershop.

Buy in bulk e.g. 1kg mince and divide into small portions. Much cheaper than buying e.g. 4x 250g mince.

Try your local butcher for meat as will be good quality and may be cheaper than waitrose.

I agree about local butchers - you can have a good chat with them about where the meat comes from & how the animals are kept. We cook a brisket from ours & then freeze most of it in portions for curries, cottage pie & pasta dishes. The quality is amazing.

@formerbabe, I’ve just discovered it this afternoon but I’m going to give some a try. Do you have any favourites of hers?

@Icanseewhyichangednyusername can you link to that previous thread please?

Duchess, she makes a simple dough and fries it with a filling of Parma ham and cheese...I have it for lunch quite a lot! Her cakes are nice too...when i get round to it I'm going to do the one which is like two discs of choux pastry filled with a custardy, pastry cream!!

My main tip would be yellow labels! Find out when the shops you like discount food & go shopping then! The M & S near me discounts most fresh things (on their date) to pennies around 7pm. You can then freeze a lot of it.

Yum, will bear those in mind, thank you!

[quote JingsMahBucket]@Icanseewhyichangednyusername can you link to that previous thread please?[/quote]
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4050819-something-you-cook-when-you-have-no-food-in

Does that link work? Very helpful and interesting suggestions

@Icanseewhyichangednyusername yup, it does work. Thank you!

I’d agree with those saying switch supermarkets, Waitrose and M&S are always going to be more expensive. Although a limited range Aldi do sell organic produce.
If you must stick to m&s and Waitrose yellow stickers would help. Also buy ingredients not products, the Waitrose essential range is usually fairly competitive.
Also consider some of their frozen products, their special offers can be quite good so stock up on favourites then. Mainly I would focus on eating a lot of vegetarian dishes particularly those with plenty of beans and pulses and root veg, curries, Dhals, vegetable tangines, chillies, stews, savoury crumbles. She less of stronger cheeses, plenty of herbs and spices, garlic etc to boost flavour.
Meal plan to eliminate food waste.