Top tips for saving money on groceries without sacrificing too much.

[Lougle]

Groceries are going up in price all the time. I love the tips about cheap meals, but it isn't always what people can/want to do. I was doing a quick shop online at Sainsbury's yesterday because I was too disorganised to drive to Lidl/ALDI and I started thinking about ways to economise without necessarily resorting to beans on toast (although have you seen the price of Heinz baked beans now? £1.40 per tin! I'm not buying those).

So, I'll start:
Chicken breast 1kg is £6.49, which makes 2kg £12.98
Chicken thighs, skinless and boneless 2kg is £12.29
Chicken thighs, skin on and bone in 2kg is £4.50

Roast the chicken thighs in the oven, remove bone and skin, and you've probably saved £6 per kg by the time you account for the skin and bone.

Butternut squash is £1.50 per kg. Frozen butternut squash is £1.98 per kg, which is actually cheaper by the time you've accounted for the pith/seeds and skin, and it is really nutritious and useful for curries, stews, etc.

Obviously, bulking out curries and stews, etc., with lentils is good.

I buy whole milk rather than skimmed or sem skimmed then if I'm running low I top it up with a bit of water. This is due to disorganisation of not going to buy more rather than money saving but it does save money albeit not much!

You're right about the chicken thighs. I needed boneless chicken thighs the other day and I saw in Asda that it was £5.42 for 650g, but only £3.44 for 1.1kg with bone & skin. I have a sharp knife at home, so bought the bone in ones. Took me 15 minutes to remove the skin and bones and it yeilded just over 700g of meat. I have frozen the bones to make stock with later. Plus some receipes I have you actually want the skin on, so I shall be doing that in future!

Buy your spices, herbs, lentils, rice etc at an Asian store rather than in tiny overpriced jars from Tesco.

Chicken thighs also taste much better, and the dark meat has more iron. Whole chicken may also be a good option, I haven't compared the price but surely cheaper as doesn't have to be chopped up.
We bulk out with lentils and tinned beans, you can easily make double the quantity of something like bolognaise using these, much cheaper and healthier than using more meat.

or even the "international foods" aisle or whatever it's called in Tesco / Sainsburys. They do things like chickpeas and lazy garlic that are a fraction of the price of the next aisle!
I've just discovered our chinese supermarket, things like soy sauce are a fraction of the cost.

When did chicken thighs get so expensive? They always used to be so much cheaper than chicken breast.

I went to a cookery school last year and the Michelin starred chef there told us to always use chicken thighs only - more fat means better taste.

I've switched to thighs now for everything though I can't be arsed with de-boning and skinning. And if you think about your time as having monetary value, it doesn't actually save money either.

Buy M&S own brand beans, they're 45 p a tin and nicer than Heinz, which are shit.

Never pay full price for non perishables, they're always on offer somewhere (canned goods, tea and coffee, cleaning products, toiletries etc)

If you shop online, rotate around as you could get discount vouchers if you go a few weeks without buying from a particular place.

Roast a whole a chicken and shred - easier than faffing with loads of thighs. I get two meals for 4 from a roast chicken that way and if you’re inclined you could also make soup from the carcass. You can also roast several at the same time and freeze to be ultra efficient with your oven costs.

I do a lot of things with chicken thighs in the slow cooker, which means they fall apart and you can just fish out the bones.

I feel like my economising tips are all pretty well-known - always make and freeze stock from bones and scraps, grow herbs in pots, freeze parmesan rinds to add to soups and sauces, buy in bulk where you can, be sensible about stuff you buy for lunch boxes (could easily be a massive drain for us with two pre-teens so I make cakes and biscuits and freeze them sliced/ready to defrost in a lunch bag), boil loads of eggs at once and leave them in the fridge with the date written on them with a marker, don't be a slave to a meal plan otherwise you won't be able to make the most of what's cheap that day, buy frozen fish instead of fresh, leverage your slow cooker, freeze bacon scraps to fry from frozen when you need a bit of umami, make the most of local Asian supermarkets, and if in doubt - make soup.

I think my main tip actually is don't start planning every meal thinking about the meat - think in terms of veg, fibre, and protein instead.

Organise your self to get to Aldi or Lidl for all the essentials - milk, veg, tinned stuff etc.

There a few things that are not up to snuff - Aldi's brown sauce is my example - and luxury items that still need one of the other shops bit you can save a chunk.

Aldi beans are particularly nice as well - that seems to be a popular consensus.

Personally, I find a few brands to be significantly better imho than the own brands - Kellogg's for one; but most are indistinguishable from many own brands; and some of them - like Heinz and McCain - are noticeably worse.

In general, you can either pay the price of the goods that you're getting OR you can pay the combined price of the goods and of the endless expensive advertising.

Also if looking for walnuts etc check out the cake making section where they are often slightly cheaper than the munching bags.

Walnuts are soo much cheaper (about £5/kg) if you buy slightly bigger bags, even in the cake making aisle.

Another tip - pay attention to pricing. Supermarkets often switch from £/kg to p/100g and if you aren't paying attention, you can think you're getting a better deal than you are.