NOW CLOSED: Tell Sainsbury's your top tips for cooking on a budget - you could win £200 of Sainsbury's vouchers

[AnnMumsnet]

Mumsnet have been asked by Sainsbury's to find out your top tips on cooking for your family on a budget. They have put together a basics range to help families who are looking to cut back on costs without compromising on quality and taste.

Sainsbury's want to know what are your tips for cooking good food for your family and watching the pennies.

Please post your tips below. Everyone who posts a tip on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky winner will receive £200 of Sainsbury's vouchers.

Many thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

buy 'basics' frozen white fish - it's usually coley or pollack which is just as good as cod despite being cheaper and, as an added bonus, it's more sustainable.

Meal plan round supermarket offers.

Make double and freeze half (this is the tastiest ready meal of all) Don't forget to label the freezer bag!!

Buy herbs at your garden centre. They cost the same as supermarket potted herbs but are better quality (sorry Sainsburys!) As they don't wilt after a day or two you don't have to but expensive packets. I also grow my own chilli plants. It takes time until they fruit but it's really easy to do and I think that they look great.

Don't go to the supermarket on an empty stomach.

Supermarket recipe cards often have just a few ingredients and easy instructions so I can get my 10 year old to cook the food.

Go around the supermarket slowly and compare goods. The cheapest option might not be the most obvious.

Invest in a flask, travel mug and Tupperware so that when you go out you don't have to pay for overpriced food and drink when out and about.

Buy a big, whole chicken, not bits.

Either:

Roast the whole chicken but reserve one piece / breast on serving.

Boil the carcass with celery, onion, carrot and potato.

Pick meat from the carcass and make chicken soup with some of the stock (can make baby a puree and freeze small batches from this).

Boil baby pasta shapes or vermicelli with the rest of the stock to make a pasta soup. You can add beans or vegetables to this too.

With the breast, either make a sandwich for work or make a thick bechamel sauce, stir in the minced breast, cool mixture in the fridge until set. Make this into fingers or patties, roll in egg, then breadcrumbs, and fry.

Meal plan and slow cook. Casseroles are cheap and cheerful.

Shop online so no extras slip into your trolley, but check out the offers page first for BOGOFs. (But only buy BOGOFs if you would BO anyway!)

Try and wait as long as possible until your next shop. The store cupboard is there for a reason. No point in having stocks of pasta, rice, tinned toms, kidney beans 'just in case'. Use them all up before you get the next shop in.

Buy some value/own brand but not all. Will just make you too depressed. (For eg, value baked beans are never nice.)

If you have flour, butter, sugar, eggs you can make cakes, biscuits, crumble toppings for tinned fruit, sponge puddings....

Chuck any overipe fruit in the blender and use as basis for icecream toppings, cake ingredients, mango mojitos....

Encourage your teenagers to go and eat at a friend's house.

shop the offers - actualy i find sainsburys just as good as Tescos or asda with selective shopping. with much better provision of parent and child parking!

shop at supermarkets that aren't enormous - thus avoiding piling my troley with stuff i didn't think i needed before i went..

always try the cheese counter - often they do really nice cheese at a lower price than the aisle cheese.

monday/tuesday nights best time for reductions, but don't be tempted to buy things you don't need.

set a specific budget e.g £1 for a main, 60p for a pudding - and stick to it

Eat lots of veg - potatoes and carrots are really cheap by weight, kids love them, and they're easy and quick to cook.

don't cook more than you need, unless it is something you want to put into potions and freeze for usage later in the year.

don't get takeaways. or eat out.

At every other weekend we cook an entire chicken. It lasts us 3 days easily. You can have it with vegetables or as curry for example, so you would not have eat the same food every day.

I go for inexpensive but good quality cuts of meat and good quality veg, though a lot of the "basics" stuff is great. If I'm cooking something like a lasagna, spag bol, stew, chilli, curry or anything that takes long slow cooking, I always make enough for 2 or 3 days. That way, I'm not left wondering what's for dinner.

Doing that also helps with menu planning. It's always possible to freeze a portion of a cooked meal if you don't fancy it for 2 days running.

Pulses are a great way to stretch the protein in a meal and also add a portion of veg. They're such a bargain food in so many ways.

I also intelligently shop the special offers. I buy things that I'd use anyway, rather than buying it just because its cheap.

Plan at least 2-3 days ahead for meals.
Use any left overs and put into a meal for the following day or freeze any excess meals in the freezer that night if you aren't going to use the following day.

Make your own bread, as it can save a fortune making your own bread, it is time consuming but the costs of the flour and yeast outweigh the time and tastes better fresh and hot from your own oven.

Buy fruit and veg. that is in season as it is often a good pricw and buy value ranges.

Most of my shopping is purchased if on offer. I don't purchase many treats in my weekly shop as the treats often add the cost of the bill up. If my little ones want a treat then I make my own cakes/scones and biscuits.

Set yourself a budget as to how much you will try and spend and shop to that budget. I try and feed a family of 4 for £40.00 a week and try and not go over that budget.

Also (1950s house wife vibe) try and eat your cheaply yet lovingly prepared casserole and basic yet wholesome crumble together around a table with no distractions - eg no telly.

If you eat 'on the hoof' or while doing something else (even reading) you won't notice what you are eating as much and won't feel full, leading to extra snacking later.
(And cries of 'I only did a shop yesterday! I don't understand where all the food goes to in this bloody house!')

I think people have said most of these already but:

• Don't shop hungry

• Definitely don't shop with hungry DC or (even worse) hungry DH

• "trade down" on all non-perishable essential ingredients until you notice the difference, and then go back up one - for example, we buy 'basics' tinned tomatoes, sweetcorn, and flour, own brand pasta, and branded biscuits.

• buy smaller portions of better meat - cheap meat (as in cheaply produced, not cheap cuts of meat) is a false economy, for us at least, as no-one eats it (in all honesty, this applies to all supermarket meat nowadays - I would rather eat veggie meals with occasional meat from local farm butcher).

Merrylegs - can't we turn that one round:
eat your food in front of the telly so you don't notice what you're eating and can use cheaper ingredients?

That's a bit annoying - I typed up a whole lot of ideas last night, without the incentive of vouchers, and that thread has now been deleted, with my suggestions and I guess I'm not eligible for the vouchers?

Ha, Yes. Good point, seth!

Meal planning is the only way I get to be near our budget for the week.

When I cook Spag bol or chilli I always make double the amount and bung half in the freezer. It means I know I have an meal that just needs heating up when I don't feel like cooking. It really helps us stop ringing the takeaway.

learn to love liver

use unfashionable cuts of meat
chicken thighs are so much cheaper than breasts and IMO the dark meat is tastier anyway. pork belly, lamb neck, and beef skirt are all great for slow cooking.

Hi all,

I'm just going to copy and paste all the tips from the old thread here so you don't have to post them again!

PrettyCandles

Don't we usually get offered a 'sweetener' (all-natural, of course) in exchange for our contributions to such things?

dreamingofsun

good idea prettycandle. when i'm broke we eat lots of eggs (please excuse the pun).... onlettes, pitza, poached, scrambled

arentfanny

UNfortunately out of all the supermarkets I can get to Sainsbury's is the most expensive so tend not to shop there.

TitsalinaBumSquash

We eat a lot of Eggs when we are skint, also Rice as it swells in the stomach and is filling and cheap, you can easily make it more interesting with herbs and spices.

I also make Soup when things are tight, a few cheap 'basic' veg and stock and voil'a a hot filling meal.

I check out reduced to clear food and mealp plan around it and serve pretty much everything with a plain geen salad or steamed 'basic' veg again to 'pad out' the meal.

HalfCaff

Haha yes, shop at Asda and LIDL!

BikeRunSki

Regardless of where I shop -

I freeze every leftover in little pots - amazing how quickly I have enough pasta and veg for another lunch!

All little bits of left over fruit go in tommorow's porridge.

Check out the "whoops" shelf.

Lentil stew is cheap and filling and tasty (how I make it anyway!).

Meal plan, then only buy what I need.

HalfCaff

Seriously, if you live MUCH nearer to Sainsburys than any other supermarket, as I do (only one I can bike to) then I have loads of tips.
Tinned tomatoes are really cheap- make your own sauces for pasta etc instead of buying readymades.
Only buy BOGOFS of things which won't GO-OFF!
Menu-plan and have cunning ways with leftovers.
Many ways with potatoes.
A whole chicken is much better value than chicken pieces.
Beans, pulses, homemade soups, British veg in season.

BlingLoving

To cut back on expensive foods like meat, use things like Chorizo or even bacon in pastas/risottos or to flavour simple dishes like roasted vegetables.

Good stews can be made using very little meat and using beans, lentils or chickpeas to bulk it up. Cheap cuts of meat - eg lamb shoulder - go a very long way as part of a stew or casserole made in this way. Similarly, things like spaghetti bolognaise can be made with a much higher ratio of tinned tomato to meat than most people use (we use 2 - 3 tins per 500g easily).

Similarly, if planning to eat sausages, use them in casseroles or pasta dishes, chopped up - you don't need as many per person as if you're serving them whole with potatoes.

Look for special offers on things you use a lot and freeze the extras. Eg mince.

Where possible, buy seasonal fruit and veg. It can be very reasonably priced in the cheaper ranges from supermarkets, or from your local farmers market.

Plan at least a few super cheap meals in a week - baked potato stuffed with tuna and cream cheese; roasted vegetables on pasta; lentil soup.

Use up leftovers as lunches for the following day or in new meals. Or freeze them to use elsewhere. eg I used some old leftover roasted butternut I had frozen in a risotto on the weekend.

taffetacat

BOGOF also good if you have freezer space.

Cans of things ( eg baked beans, sardines ) or eggs ( scrambled,poached ) on toast is good as a once a week or so bargain meal.

Pasta is great, with a rich sauce made by emptying a tin of chopped toms in a large sauceapn with 3 whole garlic cloves and a few glugs of olive oil. Simmer for 20 minutes to reduce, fish out garlic and then blitz for a smooth sauce. Keeps in the fridge for a week. Makes a brilliant base sauce for pasta ( add mushrooms, bacon, chilli etc as needed, or nothing ) you only need a little to toss pasta in and then top with grated cheese. Or also good as pizza sauce.

Make your own pizza using bread flour and fast yeast, with some olive oil, sugar and salt. Can also make your own dough balls with the dough.

Definitely as many have said Meal Plan - all meals not just dinner. My shopping bills reduced immediately once I started to do this as last years new years resolution.

Weigh ingredients like pasta & rice before you cook them - I know how much my family will typically eat & it saves the wastage of estimating

I also agree with those who said shop on line it cuts out a lot of impulsive buying especially if you leave yourself time to go back & change your order ;)

If your life is not as predictable as some, meals made of long-lasting food are a godsend.

I'm talking about whole meals made of stuff that lives in the cupboards, in the freezer, or long-lasting fridge stuff. Stuff that you can buy weeks or even months before and keep in 'just in case'.

Meal planning is only good if you know exactly how many people (and who) will be sitting down to dinner every day of the week, and you know that you won't be too busy to make the meal planned for that day or you won't go out or you won't have a better offer.

I shop when food on it best before date is being reduced. I stock up on meat if there is any, freeze and pan my meals around the bargins I have bought.

Trillian - glad that's not just me, then - I keep thinking all these people with meal plans that work must live in a different world to me, as every time I try and meal plan the week shifts under my feet - so in order to make it work, at least three one day's meals need to be 'optional' in as much as nothing will go off if not used - so if things change, then the perishable meals can be shifted around, IYSWIM.

Chose what to spend your money on wisely.

If certain items that you would normally buy are on special offer then buy and freeze what you don't need.

Fresh fruit and veg are rarely on offers but these are more important for your family so if you have to spend more of your budget on these items then you can find other food items for less. Strangely free range organic chicken goes so much further than unhappy chicken so buy spending more you actually get much more! It is all about choices.

Like everyone says, if you plan your meals, or at least have a rough idea of what you want to make for the week, then there is no expensive waste.

make a list - stick to it

buy what's on sale/offer - don't get sucked in by bogoffs unless you genuinely need them and/or can store them for a long time

spend £££s on the central ingredients - meat, fresh fruit/veg etc. save on basics like onions/garlic/tins/pasta/rice - who can really tell the difference???!!!

Look for the more obscure wines and some lovely sainsbos own labels for day to day consumption

When do the vouchers come through

Trillian No menu planning here either.
Don't buy as much as I use too!
That's why we live on soup during the week. On Friday, I shop with the thought we are going to have two main meals Saturday & Sunday and stuff for soup. If plans change and others offer to cook at their house, I never turn them down. One lot of meat goes in the Freezer. Soup making is done later in the week and the Sunday meal turns into a Monday or Tuesday Meal. If the soup is made on a Thursday or Friday then it becomes Saturday and Sunday lunch. The following Friday I don't need to buy meat as I would have it from the previous week. I often make a Veggie meals to use up all the veg too. I think I plan my meals the day before and shop on the way home from work for the bits.
One weekend meal might be the pre-frozen stuff from a month before. DH happy to eat left over too.

me too re menu planning!
I have wasted so much food when I've menu-planned and then dh has had to cook instead of me because I've been ill or too busy with dcs. Much better in our house to have a good stock of versatile staples rather than things for specific meals.