GROCERY BILLS
USE A MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE
‘I typically expect to spend around £150 per month on food, but my shop is now creeping up to £200. To tackle this, I’ve switched to a meal delivery service Monday to Thursday as this helps to reduce food waste and save money. It costs £51.99 but there’s almost always a 25-40% discount. I order enough for four and, as a family of two adults and two young children, there’s usually enough leftovers for the next day. I also shop locally for fruit and veg. Our local market stall is so much cheaper than the supermarket and it feels good to support local businesses.’ Lisa Conway-hughes
EAT LESS MEAT… ‘Switching out meat-based meals for cheaper veggie dishes a couple of times a week will be good for your finances and introduces more fibre into your diet, too. Or look at reducing the amount of meat you cook instead. Swapping half the mince in a Bolognese sauce for lentils or using beans to bulk out a stew are great ways to do this. Go for cheaper cuts of meat, such as breast of lamb, which is perfect for stews – and use a pressure cooker, if you have one, to cook them faster if you’re pushed for time.’
…AND MAKE THE MOST OF WHAT
YOU HAVE ‘My mother taught me so much about being efficient and using everything in the fridge. She still keeps all the ends of her veg – tops of carrots, the ends of asparagus when it’s in season or the green parts of spring onions or leeks – and makes vegetable soup. So many of us chuck away things that are delicious, such as the core or the more tender leaves of a cauliflower or the inner part of a broccoli stalk. Now’s a good time to rethink that. Don’t buy chicken pieces – buy a whole chicken instead and make a stock with whatever you don’t use. Put it in the freezer and you have the base for a delicious home-made soup or a risotto.’ Thomasina Miers, founder of Wahaca. Her latest book, Meat-free Mexican (Hodder & Stoughton), is out now
PLAN AHEAD… ‘I always know what I’m cooking every night. I have a month’s worth of seven-day meal plans and I rotate them. I always write a shopping list and it stays pretty much the same every week. I shop online because when I go to the shops I get distracted by the offers and go off-list!’
…AND NEVER WASTE FOOD ‘My parents were immigrants; they originally grew up on a farm in Bangladesh and they lived off the land. I grew up being taught not to waste anything and I still cook that way now. I save every scrap; when my kids eat clementines I will even dry the peel for baking! I had a load of sad-looking lemons recently, so I made a massive lemon pickle, which I’ll give to family as a present. If I have any leftover salad leaves, I make salad-bag pesto with pine nuts and some cheese. You can put it in a jar with a little oil on top or freeze it. I mix it with pasta, put it on pizza and
use it as a spread on my children’s sandwiches.’ Nadiya Hussain, TV chef and author of Nadiya’s Everyday Baking
MAKE LOYALTY PAY ‘Food is an essential expense but being a savvy food shopper is a great way to cut back on costs. If you regularly shop at the same supermarket, make sure you sign up to its loyalty programme as supermarkets will often offer special promotions and vouchers to regular shoppers – which could help you save money.’ Caroline Siarkiewicz, CEO of the Money And Pensions Service