Tips for eating healthy but at a low cost

[HappyKite2067]

I know there must be others in a similar situation so all tips and tricks welcome! We are a very healthy household and we prioritize healthy food, we always have fruit, veggies, meat, potatoes etc. However, with cost of living the cost of our weekly shop is just astronomical. All the extra veggies and fruit I try to put into recipes just seem to add to the cost.

We are an active family, so we eat ALOT, which is where the cost comes from I suppose. Any tips for calorie heavy healthy cheap food? Or am I just going to have to scrimp elsewhere? We also can’t have dairy and I try to stay away from bread because it hurts my stomach.

Less meat, more lentils, beans and pulses

Make your own humous and falafel. They’re cheap, calorie dense and healthier than shop-bought.
Tinned mackerel and sardines are very cheap. About 60p for a tin of sardines and 80p for mackerel in Aldi.
Buy frozen veg. In Aldi, you can get 1kg bags of mixed veg, sliced carrots, cauliflower florets or spinach each for less than £1. And being frozen, you don’t have to worry about using it all before a certain date.

I make homemade tomato soup with frozen chopped onion, 2 carrots, small potato, stock cubes, 2 tins tomatoes, water and have it with bread and butter. Sometimes add in Mozarella balls for extra protein. Very easy, quick and good value. Trying to keep costs down and be healthy at same time too. Try and find other recipes to inspire you.

I saw in The Times online some great £1 recipes yesterday which I'm going to try.

Long term, try an allotment or planting fruit and vegetables in your garden.

Agree on lentils and beans - plus, they're yummy! For meat, get tougher cheaper cuts and make braises rather than roasts or quick-seared tenderloin. Buy veggies in season or check out frozen/tinned. If you buy good quality bread or gave a bakery near that has discounts on yesterday's, use it for cooking - pappa al pomodoro costs pennies, tastes lovely and fills you up.

Would you recommend a slow or pressure cooker for those tougher meats?

I think it depends a bit on the type of fruit and veg you're buying. Root veg tends to be cheapest. Try and eat seasonly where possible. I also tend to buy the Aldi super 6 or equivalent. I'm not opposed to the frozen sofrito pack for use in bolognaise or cottage pie and Sainsbury's also do a great pack of frozen stewing veg, which I use as a base for quick soups or casseroles. Where possible avoid fresh pre-prepped veg or leaves as they are expensive and won't last as long.

Try making your own bread that gets time to prove and rise properly - often people who can't get on with commercial bread are fine with properly made bread.

Less meat. More pulses. Frozen fruit for cakes/crumbles/smoothies/porridge/overnight oats.

It is really difficult isn’t it? I’ve had to completely readjust where I shop and the types of meals I make. Are there any local cheap fruit and veg markets near you? Not the fancy organic farmers markets, but the type where they sell the veg by the bowl for fairly cheap.

I've got both, & use them regularly.

Depends on your lifestyle.

A SC will need to start cooking from, say, 14.00 to 15.00 to have dinner ready by 18.00 -20.00.
A PC can have dinner ready in about an hour, but needs immediate attention if you're at work all day.

Lots of eggs and cheap fish like basa, sardines, tinned mackerel and tuna, etc.
Shop at the end of the day, lots of 30-50% off stickers where I shop (Aldi) at 7 o click and make meals with their weekly super six fruit and veg. Their nuts are cheap too. Bulk rice, pasta, flour etc. is often much cheaper on Amazon, often with free delivery. For cooking, UHT milk is cheaper than fresh.

Lidl grass fed beef is excellent quality, delicious and cheap.

This type of site might be useful as it has budget recipes and also meal plans.

https://www.budgetbytes.com/category/recipes/vegetarian/

It isn't just veggie, but I've used recipes from that section.

I echo use of pulses and other grains to keep costs down, if you buy pulses dried a pressure cooker is very useful to speed up the cooking process and IME from dried tend to taste better and be cheaper than tinned (although tinned are not a bad option).

What sort of fruit and veg?

Carrots, onions, turnip, swede, UK greens/cabbages, celeariac in season beans, potatoes = cheap

Asparagus, 'kale', washed spinach, rocket, salads, fancy toms, mange tout etc = more expensive

Same with fruits, you cant expect to have things that are fancy fruits and it be reasonably priced.

Anything ready wrapped, normally more pricey. Having said that, our greengrocers is extremely expensive, we only shop there when we want to spash out.

Bulk out with pearl barley, rice, potatoes, lentils, chickpeas etc etc

And as others have said, make massive stews, slow cooker, very slow cooked casseroles.

The "Feed Your Famy for £20 a Week" website and sister fb page are full of great ideas, and have lots of meal plans - healthy, veggie, vegan etc, including one actually costed at £20.

But basically, pulses are your friend.

Very difficult! I’ve got a great routine, where I buy everything from and what I eat, but it just needs to be a bit cheaper!!! And I’m not expecting lobster, just Whole Foods and I’m more than happy to eat in season.

I’m sure you already do it but I make up lots of soups (especially this time of year) great for lunches or even dinners if they’re hearty enough. Can also be frozen.
i use up any leftover veg, sometimes frozen veg, and often put lentils in to thicken and bulk it out.
can either blend it or keep it chunky. If you have left over chicken, gammon etc then can make a chunkier soup.
I made a delicious carrot and lentil curry soup last week.

I also batch cook Bolognese /pasta sauce and again add any bits of veg I can get my hands on, pork or beef mince if I have any, and often the packs of cooking bacon (usually £1 for a big pack) and a few handfuls of red lentils as well. It makes a huge amount that I freeze.

My allotment has cost way more than we brought in this year. Granted it's the first year and set up costs, but also I'm told this year was the worst year for slugs. I'm giving it another go next year anyway.

For me the cost savings hasn't been on food but a family friendly activity which I guess is something.

Go to Lidl/aldi - much cheaper for nuts, dried fruits, cured meats etc
Buy more in bulk online
Frozen veg are cheaper and good for many dishes

pulses +++++. Mostly can batch cook and freeze which is handy. Bean chilli, Dahl, lentil bolognaise, baked beans, black beans in quesadilla/burrito whatever, gigantes plaki

Make anything involving cheese with the strongest cheddar you can get - uses much less for the same taste
Big jacket potatoes - or sweet jackets - are healthy, cheap and filling
Porridge for breakfast some days

I just made 8 portions of Bolognese with a pack of mince, bulked out with courgette, carrot, mushrooms and pepper. Add in the tinned tomatoes and herbs and stock cube etc it works out about £1 per portion and has lots of healthy veg.

When making a curry we also bulk out with chickpeas and other veg.

We also use all and any leftovers for soups, stews or frittatas/ omelettes.

Eggs and Uk grown veg as the main base of 40% meals
We keep chickens which helps even more!

Wholemeal toast - nicest if home made - and peanut butter = very nutritious breakfast or lunch, ideally with a fruit in season such as an apple or orange.

Don't forget veg such as those in jars. Although I say it myself, I made rather nice soup yesterday: onions, carrots (elderly), lots of red peppers from a jar (Lidl) all softened in olive oil, then red lentils (boiled separately in a small saucepan with some water for about 10-15 muns, while other veg cooking), garlic, tomato puree (a tin of tomates would also have been fine), dried oregano, sweet paprika, and a little bit (too much is overpowering) of Marigold vegan stock powder.Parsley on top would have made it even nicer, but I did not have any. Serve with bread and cheese.

By all means use a slow cooker but I prefer stuff - even the soup above - freshly cooked in a stainless steel saucepan. The soup took barely half an hour. I've never had a slow cooker because - to my mind - they give everything a similar rather stale taste. And it's so easy for a pressure cooker to turn everything to mush.

Lots of frozen veg....

Egg fried rice with cheapass frozen mixed veg.

Stir-fry using red and white cabbage is yum

If you are doing anything mash (bangers and mash, cottage pie etc), mine don't notice frozen cauliflower cooked with the potatoes and mashed in. Mine do object to fresh Suede and carrot added in, yours might not.

Frozen cauliflower and spinach to dhal and curries.

Milk is fabulous for protein on a budget.

I'm vegetarian. I make lentil or Moroccan soup. Tofu stir-fry, sweet potato wedges, five bean chilli, roasted chickpeas, chickpea curry, paneer curry, lentil curry, dhal, spaghetti Bolognese and so on.

Sorry I missed the no dairy!!