Sticking to a budget doesn’t have to be a dreary task. See it as a creative challenge. If you’re thrifty you can afford a few luxuries.
Here are a few ideas to inspire you, and hopefully to help you save a few pennies.
1. Stock your freezer – batch cook and snap up offers. We’ve got money off lots of stuff this week, just to prove that point.
2. Shop online. Having the time to think about your shop stops you filling your trolley with junk you don’t need.
3. Plan a few meals so you can be strategic. If you want to make a soup that calls for a dash of cream, make sure you have other recipes planned that also call for cream.
4. Eat a pasta or rice-based meal once or twice a week. Carbohydrates are filling, healthy and a great way to use up leftovers and vegetable odds and ends.
5. Make a weekly roast – it doesn’t have to be on a Sunday. Spending £10-15 on a joint or whole chicken may seem pricey but you can get several meals out of, making it cheaper than buying a single cut in the end. (Put ‘chicken’ in our recipe library for lots of frugal tips.)
6. Ensure you clear your fridge out before you do your next shop.
7. Buy a loaf of bread and freeze half of it (slice it first). You can whip up a cheap but luxurious meal in seconds. Make cheese on toast using a good cheese, a few slices of pear, a handful of walnuts, a sliver of ham or roast beef… Use the frozen end for toast later in the week – or grate the frozen bread to make breadcrumbs for homemade fish cakes.
8. Always have tinned food in the cupboard – tomatoes, beans, pulses, fish. They’re great for quick and cheap meals (stews, soups, salads) to match your veg box.
9. Use your spuds. They’re loaded with potassium and are filling. You can use them as a side or feature them as the main event – colcannon flecked with ham or smoked roast salmon. See loads of recipes here.
10. Buy a treat – it might seem frivolous to suggest, but it’s a bit like dieting; allow yourself a treat and you’re less likely to have an impulsive splurge. A treat could be anything from some moulés frites, an artisan cheese or a gorgeous cake.
Do share your tips below, if you fancy it.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
16 Feb 2012 at 13:50
If, like me, you treat yourself to a monthly take-away, re-use those plastic tubs to freeze portions of stuff you have cooked in batch. Invest in a marker pen and write what it is on the lid (frozen food all looks the same!).
17 Feb 2012 at 21:16
at the end of a shopping week,scrape together all your oldish veg and wack it all together with some lentils in a soup and some homemade dumplings for a wholesome meal
19 Feb 2012 at 14:22
This is so patronising. I am perfectly capable of working things out for myself! It is so annoying that you assume we have a freezer – no room in a studio flat! We rarely waste anything as use “green” bags to store fruit and veg. Never waste money on dead animals or fish as vegetarian.
19 Feb 2012 at 15:54
Of course, some of these suggestions are ones that many people use and have thought of themselves but, personally, I am always happy to learn new ones or be reminded of others. Keep the useful tips coming please A & C, they are appreciated by most of us!
19 Feb 2012 at 20:03
I agree Liz we all need reminding of things we haven’t done for a while and usually can pick up a tip or two. I’ll second the keep um coming A & C.
19 Feb 2012 at 21:31
Yes thrifty cooking is an essential part of a well function kitchen.
Checkout how I turn my leftovers into Chili (copy this URL and paste into google): http://www.thenourishingroad.co.uk/2012/02/cheats-chili-make-meal-of-your.html
20 Feb 2012 at 09:06
Jane, I’m so sorry that this isn’t useful for you.
Some of the points are obvious, I admit, and more valuable maybe for people who are new to cooking from scratch.
Thank you everyone else for your tips.
Best wishes, Claudia
20 Feb 2012 at 09:41
I agree with the chicken one , I can get three meals out of a large chicken , for my family of 5 , I have three teenage boys to fill, so a roast , then a risotto or pasta bake, and a hearty chicken and veg soup. All go down a treat.
20 Feb 2012 at 14:44
All good tips, my daughter learnt many of these ways from me, most of her colleagues at university are sadly clueless, patronising? Nah!
20 Feb 2012 at 15:56
Savvy tips as ever from the helpful staff at Abel and Cole. It is always good to be reminded of how important meal planning is, despite already being aware of this. I was very chuffed to have made a good few meals and frozen my own stock from a chicken roast the other Sunday. I met another Abel and Cole user at work the other day and we chatted throughout lunch sharing recipes to make use of all our wonderful fresh veg. You see, the word is spreading about good seasonal produce!
20 Feb 2012 at 18:56
Shop in the supermarkets in the evening to pick up some bargain food thats reached its sell by date I regularly buy stuff and freeze it and the cheap meat is great for curry
21 Feb 2012 at 12:10
Thanks for reminding me how to shop smarter … sometimes we just get into a rut
@ Jane, if you are so capable, why are you reading this blog post?
21 Feb 2012 at 19:09
I’ve got much better at storing fresh food well – it’s amazing how much longer carrots last if put in a plastic sandwich bag in the fridge. You can re-use the same bag multiple times too! Less waste as a result. I also try to use up all my old(er) carrots by having a vitamin C-hit juice before the new box arrives! And freeze excess bananas in chunks for making smoothies.
22 Feb 2012 at 01:33
I would change your 8th idea into “Try to AVOID having tinned food in the cupboard”. All contain some level of leached BPA, including organics. This toxin has long been connected to a raft of serious health problems.
24 Feb 2012 at 18:14
Hello Moy,
It is correct that the lining of the tins do have small amounts of BPA (Bisphanol A) – a necessary component to stop the erosion of the tin or aluminium, and prevent corrosion contaminating the food. The levels of BPA in the tinned foods that we have are well below both the usual and emergency-reduced levels set by the European Union, and of course we are always on the look out for alternatives.
Best, Emily
25 Feb 2012 at 01:47
As a completely useless cook – and I think the term ‘cack-handed’ might be in order – I am more than grateful for any advice. Despite being a vegetarian for over 20 years, I have never quite managed to work out how to cook vegetables well, leaving me to live off things from pots and takeaways. So I find some of the ‘obvious’ things quite useful. It is actually possible to teach an old dog new tricks. This site might save me from my former life of pot noodle addiction – I really did live off rubbish in the past!
Cheers for the ideas, Tweekie
29 Feb 2012 at 08:26
Invest in a slow cooker and get dried pulses instead of tinned ones. A soak overnight, a rinse in the morning, and let them cook during the day. I make a 3-bean base for chilli or pork and bean stew, refried beans, or sausage and bean stew, or baked beans on toast.
A bit of planning goes a long way, regardless of size of kitchen.
29 Feb 2012 at 19:54
I think the tips are useful especially as a lot of people these days don’t seem to know the first thing about cooking healthy nutritional meals. Gone are the days when we were sent to the shop with a shopping list for cookery lessons at school!, also why has Delia Smiths book on such basics as “how to boil an egg” gone down so well if people know all about food prep and how to cook.
02 Mar 2012 at 14:04
As a new member i’m just starting to remember what real foods tastes like !
Tanks Abel & Cole …..now just have to get other half to rember too !
05 Mar 2012 at 17:03
I’m new to Abel and Cole but I’ve been cooking for 40 years and been a vegetarian for about 25 years. I consider myself to be quite a savvy cook but we can all benefit from clever tips and reminders. Thank you A & C!
22 Mar 2012 at 12:31
Here’s a tip I discovered that might be useful. Broccoli will last much better if you cut the bottom half a centimetre off the stalk and stand it in a mug of water in the fridge. If you don’t have room for this, you can still revitalise it by standing it in water for a bit before using. Much nicer than floppy broccoli!
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