A couple of tips to help you save whilst food shopping…
Draw up a food planner
- Where possible, factor in nights where you’ll be eating out or getting a takeaway.
- Look at food magazines, books and websites for recipe inspiration. Recipes that use fewer ingredients are the most frugal (and usually easiest to make), so keep an eye out for these.
- Plan meals with similar ingredients so you’ll be able to make use of large packet sizes.
- Plan at least one night a week where you’ll eat the leftovers from another night. Better yet, if you’re factoring in lunch on your food planner, make enough so you’ll be able to siphon some off for lunch the next day. Further maximise your leftover potential by visiting LoveFoodHateWaste.com for tips and recipes on how to use up your leftover ingredients.
- Look out for ingredients that make the most of basic, store cupboard ingredients such as spices, oils, flour, rice, pasta and so on, so that most weeks you’ll only be buying the fresh produce at the shops.
Make a list
- Keep a close eye on your store cupboard ingredients, and don’t add these to your list if you don’t need them that week – there’s no need to stockpile unless there’s a special offer on.
- It might sound a bit geeky, and it is, but if you write your shopping list roughly in aisle order (i.e. group all the dairy, meat, fresh produce, tinned goods etc together), you’ll get round the supermarket in half the time and you’ll avoid wandering into tempting territories (i.e. the dreaded biscuit aisle!)
- Check your recipes for ingredients that are expensive but don’t really do much for the final product. For example, you can usually cut out garnishes such as parsley, and substitute something like groundnut oil for sunflower or olive.
- Don’t write ‘treat’ foods such as chocolate and crisps on your list – and try your best to avoid these aisles. If they’re not in your meal planner, you don’t need them!
Please read the full article, Top tips to slash your weekly shop
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