- Buy a large pack of meat, split it up and freeze. Usually the cost of meat is cheaper per kg if you buy a larger packet. When it comes to chicken fillets or pork chops I always buy more than I will need to make a meal and then wrap the fillets or chops up individually or in twos and freeze them until needed.
- Less meat, more veg. Vegitables tend to cost less than meat so add more veg to your dishes and keep the meat content down, this will make your food healthier too. When reading my recipes you'll notice that I sometimes only use one chicken fillet for 2 adults and a baby.
- Cook in bulk. It's the same principle as in tip one, bigger packs tend to cost less per g/kg. Cooking in bulk and freeze individual portions or family sized meals will save time as well as money, and who doesn't need more time?
- Plan ahead. Each week when I write my shopping list I plan out the meals we will be eating in advance and then buy what I need. Planning your meals, writing a shopping list and sticking to it will save you money. By planning ahead you can also group meals together to use up fresh ingredients before they go off. For example if you're cooking a whole chicken think about what other meals you could make with the leftover chicken, such as pizza, pie or soup. You should be able to get at least two meals from a whole chicken, I once managed four.
- Keep it simple. I alot of the time when I look at recipes I dispair at how many ingredients are needed and a lot of then not things you generally have as standard in the kitchen. I try to keep my recipes simple but tasty, you'll notice a core set of ingredients popping up time and again in my recipes, such as red onions, sweet potatoes, cheese, garlic, paprika and cinnamon.
- Utalise the freezer. I've already touched on this in some of the other tip but freezing extra ingredients and leftovers will keep costs down. There's also nothing wrong with using frozen veg if you know that you're not going to use enough of a fresh pack in a short amount of time before it goes off. Personally I find it really useful to freeze fresh herbs, you never need a full pack for any recipe so why not freeze what you don't need for next time? Herbs defrost instantly if you run them under cold water and are a great way to add flavour to cooking.
- There's nothing wrong with value brands. Most of the things I buy are either value or own brand. I find the quality and nutritional content is generally just as good or better than branded.
- Shop around? Or not. This one depends on how much you value your time Vs saving a bit of money. Personally I don't shop around but if you do have the time then you can get some good deals on fruit and veg at some of the discount supermarkets, but do look out for best before date and how generally healthy the produce looks. In the few occasions that I've shopped at a discount supermarket I've found that I've been caught out by things going off really quickly such as next day, dispite the BBD.
I hope these tips help you make a few savings. Why not share your own money saving tips in the comments below?
