Eating local or British food need not be more expensive. Here are our British Food’s tips for shopping and cooking on a budget:
- Buy British and seasonal. If you buy strawberries in December from California you will be paying more for them. When food is in season there is usually an abundance of supply and therefore seasonal produce is often on special offer. Go to our What’s in Season When page for a useful, colourful chart to download and keep in your kitchen.
- Shop around. Supermarkets are convenient, but it can be cheaper to shop for other ingredients elsewhere. If you live near a street market or small independent shops it may be cheaper to buy from them. For the best deals, shop often and look for reduced produce or end-of-the-day specials.
- Buy loose ingredients rather than pre-packed. A couple of loose carrots cost around 10p but a pre-pack can cost up to 90p!
- Waste not, want not! If you have fruit, veg or herbs in the house that’s due to expire, cut it up and put in a zip-lock in the freezer for using later.
- Can it. Canned fruit and vegetables count towards your 5 A DAY and can potentially be cheaper than fresh varieties.
- Buy it whole. Joints or full carcasses of meat and use all of it imaginatively. Buy a whole chicken rather than chicken breasts. Use the bones to make stock for soups and the left-over meat in sandwiches, curries and stews. And remember, the brown chicken meat is as delicious as the white.
- Community Food Co-ops. There are Community Food Co-operative Programmes across Britain providing quality, affordable fruit and vegetables to communities through sustainable local food distribution networks. For information on food co-ops, click here.
- Pasta sauce. Use a can of tinned tomatoes as a pasta sauce base opposed to pre-made sauce as it is not only cheaper but also healthier.
- Potatoes. King Edward potatoes are the only variety you’ll need. They do everything from chips to mash, and they’re easy to find in the shops.
- Become a Feastarian. Feastarians only eat meat or fish as a treat or a feast two to three times a week. Eating this way is more affordable and it means you can enjoy quality meat or fish that may be more expensive but tastes so much better!
- Buy together. If you’re living in student accommodation think about communally shopping some, if not all, your weekly food. Bigger packs last longer and cost a lot less when shared and it also means you can make the most of offers such as ‘Buy two get one free’ without feeling as if you’re spending a fortune.
- Plan ahead! If you only have the ingredients for meals you plan on making, you’ll throw less away.
- Batch it up. Making your food in batches at the start of the week is cheap and convenient. If you cook Sunday night’s pasta dish for three, you can save and store two for later in the week. Not only is a jar of sauce for three cheaper than three individual ones, but you won’t spend unnecessarily on lunch if it’s already made.
- Make a list. Shopping lists are essential for avoiding costly and unnecessary purchases when in the shop.
- Make sure you use up your leftovers! That stale loaf of bread could be used to make bread and butter pudding, the beef from your Sunday Roast could be used to make cottage pie and the leftover roast potatoes can make gnocchi.
