One month down, eleven to go. Frugal eats lie ahead…
I’m sure that we’re not alone in feeling the pinch at the moment. I’m planning to get more creative in the kitchen and put frugal eats back into our meal plan. With an almost one year old, working four days a week rather than five and now nursery fees high enough to make even the richest person’s eyes water, plus the price rises in basically everything, it’ll come as no surprise when I tell you we’ve got to tighten our belts. I’ve got no doubt many of my readers are having to do the same.
So, I thought perhaps it was worth collating my thoughts on how to eat frugally and some useful links related to money saving too.
Meal planning
If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that this is something I’ve been doing for years. I find it’s a really good way of reminding yourself what you have in stock already and then forming meals out of stuff you have before going shopping.
I try to do a stock take on on a sunday evening. This means going through cupboards, fridge and freezer and writing down everything we have. From there, I like to sit down with my cookbooks and find meals that I can cook from what we have BEFORE going food shopping.
This is mostly successful but since the boy came along, we’ve definitely slipped back into takeaways and quick dinners like pesto pasta and egg and chips. Cooking has always been a relaxing activity for me and I need to carve time for it in this new busy life we’re living.
Useful links on meal planning:
Using the freezer
My dream in life is to have a house big enough for a second freezer. One day that utility room will become a reality! For now, I’m using my freezer as much as I can. We’ve been scouring the aisles for yellow stickers and batch cooking frugal eats at weekends. I also tend to make the baby’s food in batches so there are usually a couple of portions ready to go in there too. One misconception though, is that a full freezer is more efficient. It’s true that it’s better full than empty but not too full. Air needs to circulate around the items in there for it to be optimal.
Useful links on using the freezer:
Rescuing surplus food
We used to use Too Good to Go a fair amount, alongside shopping at independents but somehow over the last few years (partly covid, partly laziness) we drifted back to supermarket shopping. Such a great way to guarantee some frugal eats! Essentially, if you don’t know what it is TGTG is an app that allows you to buy reduced price food that would otherwise go to waste. It’s usually at its sell by date or on the turn so needs eating quickly but you can pick up some real bargains.
Since the new year, we’ve done a couple of pick ups from local greengrocers and enjoyed both the savings but also the challenge of cooking something from what we get. Last week I picked up a veg box from Hugo’s Greengrocers in Bedminster near us – a gorgeous place – and found I had a huge bag of mushrooms and some baby plum tomatoes. I ended up turning them into a sort of curry, with coconut milk, turmeric, garam masala, ginger, chilli and garlic. It was actually really delicious!
Before and for a while after mini bites arrived, we were attending our local midwife centre for various appointments. They had a community larder – basically a fridge and some shelves where people could leave unwanted food and take items they could make use of. It was always really well stocked and we often took things there and picked a few to take away. I’ve been meaning to find another one to go to now that we no longer visit the midwife centre!
Places to find surplus food:
Cooking budget recipes
Aside from reduced price items, cooking in bulk and picking up items that are destined for the bin, there is one big way to cut your food bill and that’s choosing to cook with cheaper items.
One thing I’m keen to do this year is cook more unusual, unloved cuts of meat – those that are cheaper to buy but perhaps need more cooking to get them tender. And at the opposite end of the scale, going back to basics with cheaper ingredients – lentils, beans, potatoes and seasonal veg.
Budget recipes to try at home:
