Money saving tips on food

[Sarahp]

I batch cook a base meal, and freeze it in portions.
Say chicken thighs, slow cooked, with veg and stock.

Frozen in portions, then I can add spices, tinned chick peas etc to make it a curry, or thicken it with gravy to make it a stew, or a white sauce.
The same with pork, beef cubes or mince, and I can prepare very quick meals with no waste.

I do this with veggie mince or pulses in a very similar way, same for my husband’s meat meals and just season when he decides what he fancies that day.

 

[Sarahp]

We’ve literally just started doing this. Such a simple idea, but so effective!

We are also portioning up things like Harissa paste in frozen ‘teaspoons worth’ as historically we have struggled to finish the jar once opened.

Ice cube trays are really good for freezing small amounts of herbs and spices and once frozen you can pop out into a plastic food bag or small box.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Ice cube trays are really good for freezing small amounts of herbs and spices and once frozen you can pop out into a plastic food bag or small box.

Exactly what we do!

 

[Nayshiftin]

you get sheets on a roll for ice cubes or ice lolllies . Both i have used for herbs snd sauces for the freezer. Especially when I have a glut of something its easy to
put apple sauce and just have a sachet. You can add their sugar after or sweetner. . Or now I have to make things just for him. I've done it with baby food too instead of an ice pop its been baby food and then you just defrost n hear and use asap. An ice pop would defrost in boiling water and took mind to heat in the baby warmer. Just had to know roughly when you needed it. It was cheaper and better than tinned or packet baby
food. Soups i use margarine or take away pots. as long as you wash them out. paper n selotape works fine for me.

 

[debinfrance]

My tip when buying nuts walnuts almonds etc is to check out the baking section in the supermarket. Often cheaper and bigger packs ( so the walnuts are broken, you’re probably going to break them up anyway. The german style spermarkets also do big packs but I generally go for individual varieties rather than mixed.

 

[zuludog]

My tip when buying nuts walnuts almonds etc is to check out the baking section in the supermarket. Often cheaper and bigger packs ( so the walnuts are broken, you’re probably going to break them up anyway. The german style spermarkets also do big packs but I generally go for individual varieties rather than mixed.

As with anything, shop around for the best prices on nuts

Standard full price items at Holland & Barrett are a bit expensive, but they have frequent sales, offers, BOGOFs so it's worth keeping an eye out at your local store, if you have one, or their Website
They have a loyalty card so you get money back with that

 

[zuludog]

LIDL supermarkets sell a bargain box of fruit & veg for £1-50, available each morning, but not first thing as they need time to sort & pick the stock, so from about 09-30
it will be older & surplus items but there's usually a good choice of veg, salad items & fruit, though you might need to pick & trim some items, or soak them in cold water overnight
I've bought them a few times and been happy enough, they are good value, though you might find you end up making a lot of veg stew, or at least stew base; I dispense both into plastic bags and freeze them

ALDI do something similar but I think you need an App to buy them, called Too Good To Go, so I haven't used it

Iceland frozen food stores give 10% discount to over 60s on Tuesdays, and that's on everything, including sale items

Canned fish such as sardines & mackerel are cheap, but shop around ALDI & LIDL, & discount stores and you can get them very cheaply, say about 60p

 

[Leadinglights]

Grape Tree usually have good prices on nuts, seeds, spices etc if there is one close to you or they do mail order.

 

[harbottle]

Grape Tree usually have good prices on nuts, seeds, spices etc if there is one close to you or they do mail order.

There's one in Leamington now, which means no more trips to Rugby or Solihell!

 

[Leadinglights]

There's one in Leamington now, which means no more trips to Rugby or Solihell!

Yes we discovered it on Saturday, apparently they had only been open 5 weeks.

 

[Pandora71]

All of the above:
Freezer
Leftovers
End of the day bargains
plus
Find your local seller of game and you will find amazing bargains re deer, pigeons (wood pigeons not flying rats) and pheasants or even geese. My husband loved finding out how to pluck and butcher these animals and as a low carber its really helped me.

 

[trophywench]

There's only the breasts worth bothering about on a woody - so you only need pluck along the breast bone, then cut the flesh along the same line and fillet the breast meat either side - bin the rest of the carcass, feathers and all. (Better set fire to really (cos of normal rats) but depends where you live and whether you can have a bonfire of course)

 

[WillyG]

This is a very simple tip: eat all of the cauliflower.

People usually eat the florets and discard the stalks and leaves - but steamed or stir fried these are perfectly edible and quite tasty. I find myself increasingly mixing together varieties of green veg - sprouts, cauliflower, beans, kale - too much of any one type gets dull.

 

[rebrascora]

This is a very simple tip: eat all of the cauliflower.

People usually eat the florets and discard the stalks and leaves - but steamed or stir fried these are perfectly edible and quite tasty. I find myself increasingly mixing together varieties of green veg - sprouts, cauliflower, beans, kale - too much of any one type gets dull.

My horses would not forgive me if I ate the core and leaves of the cauliflower or the thick stalk from a head of broccoli and the core and thick leaf ribs from the cabbage and of course the carrot and swede peelings! We have a sort of Jack Sprat and his wife agreement, They won't touch the bits I like and I don't touch the bits they like but between us we lick the platter clean!

 

[Felinia]

It's great to make hearty dishes that also last for multiple meals.

I'm very much into making multiple meals in my slow cooker, or large pots of soup in my nan's old jam saucepan, then freezing individual portions. In the last week, that's been 4 x pork and mushroom casserole, 6 x chicken thigh and pepper casserole, 6 x sausage, tomato and onion casserole and 8 x yellow vegetable soup. It will keep me going for a month

 

[Mark72]

I do this with veggie mince or pulses in a very similar way, same for my husband’s meat meals and just season when he decides what he fancies that day.

My first try batch cooking was with the veg & lentil chilli recipe off of this website. Made 8 portions of which I froze seven. I'll definitely be doing it again and will make that recipe again as well. I used mild chilli powder but a pinch or two of chilli flakes when reheating can adjust upwards if it's too mild but was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed it.

 

[Sarahp]

My first try batch cooking was with the veg & lentil chilli recipe off of this website. Made 8 portions of which I froze seven. I'll definitely be doing it again and will make that recipe again as well. I used mild chilli powder but a pinch or two of chilli flakes when reheating can adjust upwards if it's too mild but was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed it.

So glad you enjoyed it!