How to save on food?

tippingng

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Since food bills have been rocketing up in price again, does anyone have any tips or tricks on saving money on food?
 

Jon

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Since food bills have been rocketing up in price again, does anyone have any tips or tricks on saving money on food?
We've found alternating our weekly online food shop helps. Some weeks Tesco are cheaper, other weeks Morrisons are etc so we flip and flop between them. Staying loyal to one supermarket doesn't really help, especially if you are just buying branded stuff anyway so it's a case of whoever is selling them cheaper basically!
 

homie

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if you are just buying branded stuff anyway
Well my tip is stop buying branded stuff. I don't think I have a single branded item in my kitchen. In fact, let me check........

Ok. Quorn is a brand. Other than that, everything else is Aldi, Morrison or Tesco own brand.

By way of illustration of cost Saving:

Kingsmeal 50/50 loaf 800g £1.10 (14p per 100g)
Tesco Both together loaf £0.65 (8p per 100g)

Tetley Teabags 240 £3.49 (47p per 100g)
Tesco Teabags 240 £2.90 (39p per 100g)

Sunpat Peanut butter 400g £3.00 (75p per 100g)
Tesco Peanut butter 700g £2.00 (29p per 100g)

I can't believe its not butter 450g £1.25 (£2.78 per Kg)
Tesco Stockwell & Co Soft Butter Spread 500g £0.85 (£1.70 per Kg)

Andrex Toilet Tissue 9 rolls £4.70 (31p per100 sheets)
Tesco Toilet Tissue 9 rolls £3.30p (17p per 100 sheets)

Even if you only bought these 5 items you would save £3.84 by ditching the brands and going with the cheap stuff.



 
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Jon

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Yeah I have cut down on how much branded stuff we buy

We also use Costco every few months which saves money of bulk (household, drinks, toiletries etc.) items a LOT
 

EdibleDormouse

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A lot of places seem to be doing £15-20 off a £60 shop at the moment - in the past few weeks, we’ve had Co-op through Amazon and Ocado offering that deal. I’m sure others will follow suit, then hopefully it’ll be time to go around again…

I’ve been using those for things that will batch cook in the slow cooker and freeze, so pound for pound the savings will end up being even greater.

I’m going to be using the slow cooker and the dehydrator a lot (to make sure fruit and veg don’t get wasted), and probably the halogen oven as it will be cheaper.
 
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Jon

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ah yeah we've taken advantage of the ocado deal you've mentioned above!

I also use the slow cooker a LOT for making weeks worth of chillis, spag bol etc.
 
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Jute

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A lot of places seem to be doing £15-20 off a £60 shop at the moment - in the past few weeks, we’ve had Co-op through Amazon and Ocado offering that deal. I’m sure others will follow suit, then hopefully it’ll be time to go around again…

I’ve been using those for things that will batch cook in the slow cooker and freeze, so pound for pound the savings will end up being even greater.

I’m going to be using the slow cooker and the dehydrator a lot (to make sure fruit and veg don’t get wasted), and probably the halogen oven as it will be cheaper.
Halogen ovens. I've been wondering about those, since there's only 2 of us. Are they any good? Or is it a bit of a faff. We're hoping to extend the kitchen year, so would have the room for one as they look a bit bulky. Thank-you.
 

EdibleDormouse

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Halogen ovens. I've been wondering about those, since there's only 2 of us. Are they any good? Or is it a bit of a faff. We're hoping to extend the kitchen year, so would have the room for one as they look a bit bulky. Thank-you.
They’re not bad - very quick, so worth it for roasting a chicken etc. I don’t use mine nearly enough. I’m determined to make more of it in future.
 
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Jute

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They’re not bad - very quick, so worth it for roasting a chicken etc. I don’t use mine nearly enough. I’m determined to make more of it in future.
Thank-you. Will definitely be looking at one of those.
 

Jon

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I keep seeing those Food Ninja cookers advertised EVERYWHERE at the moment. I'm not sure if it saves you money though when it comes to your food!
 

Katiemc

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For me the big saver has been meal planning. I had a tendency to buy more than I needed and not use my inventory.

I have found the app ‘meal board’ to be helpful. There’s a one off fee - think about £9 for the full features but you can add recipies to your heart’s content from books, online, that you made up etc can also share with others, add your stores and aisles to make shopping easier etc

The feature i find most helpful is categories for meals, you can set your own so I set it with items I found I wouldn’t use all of and end up throwing away, like dairy products or salads and pastas.

Now i meal plan around those items. It took a bit of set up but it’s definitely helped me sort my spending. I eat food that like, minimise waste and have the extra spend power for a ‘treat’ if I want it. So the meal planning doesn’t feel boring or like a chore.
 

Jute

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I keep seeing those Food Ninja cookers advertised EVERYWHERE at the moment. I'm not sure if it saves you money though when it comes to your food!
Never heard of those (although I love my Ninja chopper - missus) I will take a look...
 

Chammy

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I keep seeing those Food Ninja cookers advertised EVERYWHERE at the moment. I'm not sure if it saves you money though when it comes to your food!
We have one and love it. It's the all singing all dancing one so great for a 20 minute stew rather than hours in a slow cooker. I think the biggest advantage is it's an instant thing so no waiting 20 minutes for an oven to get to temperature - you throw your chips in and they're done in 20 minutes rather than 40 including oven warming time.
 
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louisevarney

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Good Evening. I would like to encourage as many people as possible to join up with Olio.com. I have recently become a Food Waste Hero, which involves me collecting local food from Tesco and then advertising it on the Olio site for other members to come and collect.

Tips the food goes very quickly so in order to take advantage of the free food you need to set your alerts on your Account profile so as soon as something is listed you can request it.

Be on the ball, as a Food Waste Hero the collections are either 7am in the morning or around 8/8.30pm so you need to keep an eye on the Food Tab.

My regular collectors are also helping me clear out all unwanted items from my store cupboard as well as stuff sitting around the house. I have a lady collecting an item tomorrow and I have just informed her I have a collection at 7am in the morning and will be listing from about 8am.

There is always more bread than you can image available for free - so request this and fill up your freezers with it.

When I collect from a large Tesco (I mostly collect from Tesco Express) I get a large amount of food that is use by the day of collection, collect this and again put in your freezer.

I also notice that I am getting a lot of food that is past it's use by date, but I cannot list it, so you need to be creative here - if it is fruit or veg you can cook it into an item etc. Or I have neighbours that keep chickens so those dreaded packets of prepped lettuce, I had 10 packs last week and could not distribute - so they went to my neighbours hens. Alternatively you can compost.

Please take time to join Olio.com - it completely free and the aim is to stop unwanted food going into landfill which gives of gases.

I usually distribute around 3 items to each person, as you need to get into a routine, it is not carbon effective to come and collect one item, and a lot of people come on their way home from work etc.

Its a good way to help save the planet and make an input yourself.
 

EdibleDormouse

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Good Evening. I would like to encourage as many people as possible to join up with Olio.com. I have recently become a Food Waste Hero, which involves me collecting local food from Tesco and then advertising it on the Olio site for other members to come and collect.

Tips the food goes very quickly so in order to take advantage of the free food you need to set your alerts on your Account profile so as soon as something is listed you can request it.

Be on the ball, as a Food Waste Hero the collections are either 7am in the morning or around 8/8.30pm so you need to keep an eye on the Food Tab.

My regular collectors are also helping me clear out all unwanted items from my store cupboard as well as stuff sitting around the house. I have a lady collecting an item tomorrow and I have just informed her I have a collection at 7am in the morning and will be listing from about 8am.

There is always more bread than you can image available for free - so request this and fill up your freezers with it.

When I collect from a large Tesco (I mostly collect from Tesco Express) I get a large amount of food that is use by the day of collection, collect this and again put in your freezer.

I also notice that I am getting a lot of food that is past it's use by date, but I cannot list it, so you need to be creative here - if it is fruit or veg you can cook it into an item etc. Or I have neighbours that keep chickens so those dreaded packets of prepped lettuce, I had 10 packs last week and could not distribute - so they went to my neighbours hens. Alternatively you can compost.

Please take time to join Olio.com - it completely free and the aim is to stop unwanted food going into landfill which gives of gases.

I usually distribute around 3 items to each person, as you need to get into a routine, it is not carbon effective to come and collect one item, and a lot of people come on their way home from work etc.

Its a good way to help save the planet and make an input yourself.
Thank you - my mum has recently gone into residential care and since I’m a coeliac, there’s half a cupboard full of food she never got around to eating that will otherwise go to waste. Good to know I can give it away and it won’t get chucked in the bin.
 

Kingsavvysaver

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Just to add to the discussion of saving money on food. I have recently got into Gardening, growing herbs and actually see if growing your own food works out cheaper then purchasing.

I bought the materials from the 'side hustles' and I am very much in the midst of experimenting, but do people on here to grow or attempted to food whether it be indoors or outdoors?
 
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Lemonade23

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Just to add to the discussion of saving money on food. I have recently got into Gardening, growing herbs and actually see if growing your own food works out cheaper then purchasing.

I bought the materials from the 'side hustles' and I am very much in the midst of experimenting, but do people on here to grow or attempted to food whether it be indoors or outdoors?
I bought some little lettuce plants and honestly I have more lettuce than I can eat. Very worthwhile. I'm growing courgettes too, as they always seem to produce a lot and cherry toms on my windowsill. What are you growing :) I want to try potatoes but I think I am too late this year. Oh and I have just been given some chives so put them in my border.
 
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Jute

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Just to add to the discussion of saving money on food. I have recently got into Gardening, growing herbs and actually see if growing your own food works out cheaper then purchasing.

I bought the materials from the 'side hustles' and I am very much in the midst of experimenting, but do people on here to grow or attempted to food whether it be indoors or outdoors?
I do carrots, french-beans and peas every year and usually have enought peas to freeze. And we're doing spuds for a change as well this year. I don't bother growing herbs from seed now - I just buy those living pots for about 75p from the supermarket and dump in a bigger pot outside the back door. They last all summer and sometimes will overwinter. I'll also sling a few lettuce/rocket seeds into the veg patch for summer.
 

Kingsavvysaver

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I bought some little lettuce plants and honestly I have more lettuce than I can eat. Very worthwhile. I'm growing courgettes too, as they always seem to produce a lot and cherry toms on my windowsill. What are you growing :) I want to try potatoes but I think I am too late this year. Oh and I have just been given some chives so put them in my border.

Oh wow :) Nice! I have planted some lettuce seeds in a pot nearly 10 days ago and they are growing. I am a newbie though. I am also collecting rainwater to water my plants when possible to save money on water.

Are courgettes easy to grow?

I have started growing also bell peppers from seeds from a bell pepper that I bought to see if it will grow aswell as a chilli pepper.

I bought two store bought Basil and Coriander plants and put in some multi -purpose compost over a week ago. The basil looks really healthy which I think will grow bigger. I can't say that much for Coriander though lol.

I am growing spring onions too from chopping the end off and leaving it on the windowsill. I am going to plant that too when the roots go bigger too :)
 
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Kingsavvysaver

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I do carrots, french-beans and peas every year and usually have enought peas to freeze. And we're doing spuds for a change as well this year. I don't bother growing herbs from seed now - I just buy those living pots for about 75p from the supermarket and dump in a bigger pot outside the back door. They last all summer and sometimes will overwinter. I'll also sling a few lettuce/rocket seeds into the veg patch for summer.

Are peas easy to grow?
 

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