It’s all very well being savvy with your food shopping and keeping the prices down for your weekly shop. But how about the way you use the food that you buy - how can you make the most of it, and stretch it to go as far as possible? Here are some of our tips:
If you have a freezer, and you are able to buy larger quantities of the necessary items, make double of dishes likes bolognese, curry or stew and freeze them for a nutritious ‘ready meal’ when you don’t have time to cook - or take a portion with you the next day if you take lunch to work.
Don’t assume food has gone off if it’s past its ‘best before’ date - it’s is just a guide, so smell it, taste a bit, and use it if possible. ‘Use by’ dates are different and should be adhered to for food hygiene reasons, especially for meat, poultry and fish. The Food Standards Agency have a helpful video to explain the difference in these dates on food and what they mean.
Leftover veg that don’t look very appetizing are perfect for a quick soup or stew - check out this article for some inspiration!
Aim to take a packed lunch to work if you don’t already (it’s much cheaper than buying, and you can make that sandwich exactly how you like it!) - or how about linking up with a colleague and making lunch for each other once or twice a week?
Check out some of the thrifty chefs suggesting tasty recipes that won’t break the bank - for example Jack Monroe’s Cooking on a Bootstrap or Thrifty Lesley’s website.
Finally, here’s a tip from one of our recent Money Course guests - experiment with Chat GPT tools to get ‘artificial intelligence’ suggestions for specific meal plans - you can try asking for a week of gluten-free, vegetarian meal suggestions, for example, with the AI producing recipes, shopping lists and a budget on request!