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Anyone think it's worth sharing tips on saving money on food?
My first one is never binning anything.
Any leftovers, veg, meat, gravy, stock, ( I don't eat puddings), all gets saved throughout the week, then recycled in a chilli or curry at the end of the week, with anything else that needs using, plus whatever else I have to use up, and other ingredients to finish it off.
The second one is an app called "Too good to go"
Which I only found today, but seems to be an app that lets you buy a mixed bag of short dates food items.
As it's a mixed bag it may not suit everyone, but could be good in a mixed diet household.
I have been using the too good to go site for some years now...I always find the Morrison boxes amazing.
It's a bit of a pain having to go out in the evenings but well worth it, especially when grandkids are coming for tea and my dogs love fruit.
Our local co op has just been added to the list and that's just around the corner. Well worth investigating.
Hey guys!
I'm new to Diabetes UK and I'm both a big food lover and big saver!
Hopefully I'm not repeating what someone else has said, but if you go shopping somewhere where you've got options e.g. you're at Asda but there's an Aldi around the corner, you could keep track of prices of food in different shops. Milk may be cheaper in Asda but maybe spices are cheaper in Aldi!
I am always astonished how a few sticks of celery, an onion or leek and a courgette can make a pot of soup for 6 portions. and 300g mince with some veg, kidney beans will make 6 portions of chilli.
I'm the exact opposite.
I buy the yellow labels, the offers, and freeze everything.
Then I make a meal from whatever I have in.
I also buy some wholesale items, 24 packs of tinned chick peas, kidney beans, tomatoes and things like that.
Going off topic, but it's a rant for me - offers in supermarkets really do annoy me.
Today for example, cup a soup, £1.15 each, three for £3.
Toilet roll, buy 2 get the third half price.
I feel fortunate I can afford to buy the three this week.
But other can't, so they are penalised into paying full price for one.
It's chronically unfair.
It's penalising the very people that need the offers. It would be fairer to say, "sell them all for £1.05 or £1.10 or similar"
Rant over.
I go for old fashioned cooking is best. There used to be a baking day A boiling day and. roasting day. Its easy to do a Roast and use that for a roast dinner. The. chicken once cooked can be taken off the bones and frozen in portions easy for stir fries , curries etc. Beef and lamb you can mince the cooked meat which was the original cottage shepherds pie oragain use in curry . All meats are lovely cold in salad . I love homemade soups and again its easy to use up left overs in this . I try and batch bake fir less time in oven as cooking is expensive too.
The biggest thing i saved on was saying i have this amount to spend. if you look online ypu get prices it soon jumps out when you see Tuna £5.60 for four when £3.50 is what you would normally be willing to pay. If say i want to spend a hundred i look and think well thats £35 on fruit and veg at the market. £15 on flour and bits then £50 in the supermarket. I don’t buy what I don't need and i do make a list. Also if like this month there is five weeks . I have bits in the freezer as well as tins that i can go too if there is too much month at the end of my money. i have not got to go a whole fifth week. So i went ti market last Tuesday instead of Saturday snd will again this week just making it stretch those few mire days helps.
Looking now at using frozen soft fruits as they are getting less tasty and more expensive at the market.
However my rant at the moment is when buying things are smaller. i used ti get four pieces of salmon in the bag now there is three. So the two meals has gone. I now have salmon and team the other with white fish and make a pie. i top with cauliflower cheese. Not diet food but thanks yo low carb its yummy and sugars lowered obviously helps weight loss too.
Happy Shopping however it is meant to
get worse with all the bad storms and wars .
Lobbies. Northern delicacy. Basically lob anything in the pot i.e leftover meat from the sunday roast. Then whatever you fancy goes in. The norm is spuds,carrotts,onion, can use corned beef if you like. Stock cube salt and pepper to taste. Simmer in a large pot . Can dip crusty bread in it if you wish!
Lobbies. Northern delicacy. Basically lob anything in the pot i.e leftover meat from the sunday roast. Then whatever you fancy goes in. The norm is spuds,carrotts,onion, can use corned beef if you like. Stock cube salt and pepper to taste. Simmer in a large pot . Can dip crusty bread in it if you wish!
Lobbies. Northern delicacy. Basically lob anything in the pot i.e leftover meat from the sunday roast. Then whatever you fancy goes in. The norm is spuds,carrotts,onion, can use corned beef if you like. Stock cube salt and pepper to taste. Simmer in a large pot . Can dip crusty bread in it if you wish!
I make soup with the last of the vegetables and its sometimes the best tasting . Hubby loves it I usually add beans n spices but have to watch blood sugars . lol Has ruined most of my fast cooking this reduced carb malarky still i experiment lol.
Lobbies. Northern delicacy. Basically lob anything in the pot i.e leftover meat from the sunday roast. Then whatever you fancy goes in. The norm is spuds,carrotts,onion, can use corned beef if you like. Stock cube salt and pepper to taste. Simmer in a large pot . Can dip crusty bread in it if you wish!
As you might expect, there are several YouTube videos about saving money on food and by other means
One of them is Frugal Queen in France, in which she mentions making a meal from 'freezer gravel'
Yes, I'm sure we all have some of that - all the odds & ends of leftover packets & bags that you can hardly remember what they were.
LIDL supermarkets sell a very cheap mixed fruit & vegetable box, available each morning, but not absolutely first thing as they need time to pick & sort their stock, so from about 09-30
It's obviously short life or surplus items, and you would need to pick through and eat some stuff quickly, or soak it in cold water overnight
I have had peaches/nectarines, sweetcorn cobs, beetroot, onions, peppers, leeks, turnip, carrots, potatoes, oranges, lemons, aubergine, radishes, bananas, apples, cucumber, lettuce, and probably other things that I've forgotten
I've listed them to show that it's not just a load of old spuds, you can get quite a good selection.
It's just completely pot luck on what you do get, but there is usually a reasonable variety.
Obviously some things might not be suitable, so you need to be careful, or pass things on to a friend or a neighbour, or just throw them out
But the point is that, for the moment at least, it is only £1-50 for a large box full, and worth trying.
By adding a few things at a normal price, and a can of beans or lentils, I make batches of veg stew; my freezer is full of the stuff!
I'm told that ALDI do something similar but I haven't used that
These use food and other items that have been donated by, or purchased very cheaply from, supermarkets and wholesalers.
The difference is that -
Food Banks provide a standard bag full of items for free, but you have to be referred by a doctor, social worker, or similar
At Community Shops you can choose yourself from a wider range of items, though still less than a normal shop, and you pay a small amount.
Also you pay an annual membership fee to satisfy the law, so the shop is no longer a normal retail store, it is a private club
These arrangements are typical, but there will be variations depending on who runs it.
In the town where I live you pay £5 pa membership then £5 per visit, and you are allowed one visit per week
For that £5 you can choose 12 items, called a 'pick' which includes fresh fruit & veg, chilled and frozen items, packets, cans, bottles, bread.
Besides food there are household items such as cleaning materials and soap & shampoo
Again there is a limited stock, but it's usually adequate, and variable - at one point they had so many onions & tomatoes you could take as many as you wanted for one pick.
Besides the standard items there are usually a few higher value items - ie higher for this sort of shop - for which you pay separately, but the prices are still good value
There are these sort of shops in most towns now, but they tend not to advertise too widely, so ask around.
There used to be money supermarket where you coukd see what was the cheapest in store. At one time when in a tight budget i coped that way.I feel privileged I have never needed to ho to a food bank. However, it has taught me to look sometimes the brand names are cheaper than shop brand. Same with carbs in sauces the cheap brand often cones up lower. Its worth reading labels . Also get used to a ball point figure I seen tinned x4 Tuna for £5.75 now i know i dont oay more than £4 so i refuae to pay £1.75 more.
Most supermarkets get rid of old stock at say 4:30 go and find out or ask at the customer service usually they will say yes we do times and also if they do bags for less or free to certain customers. At least i have read that.
Sorry I know it hurts when you are poor to feed yourself and family it should not be . We got through it. It will get easier.
I’ve started to do a lot more batch cooking and freezing of individual portions of different foods, to the extent that I’ve invested in a second freezer. I find it’s cheaper to bulk buy, time-saving and the freezing process can increase resistant starch which is kinder to our BG.
Could you get some stickers to put on the tubs, so maybe red for savoury meals and green for sweet ones, or write on the tub with a marker pen?
I've also found mystery tubs of stuff in the freezer, so clearly don't take my own advice about labelling them!
