Economising

[Hedonista]

I could do with reducing my food bill. Please inspire me! What are your favourite bargain items, or cost cutting tips please?

 

[LooperCat]

Work out what time your local/favourite supermarket reduces its produce - husband came home the other night with a load of salmon fillets from Asda for 50p each

 

[Deleted member 308541]

Buy the store brands of food instead of the producers.

Example: Store Brand tins salmon instead of John West tins of salmon.

 

[AllieRainbow]

Eating one meal a day to lower my blood glucose has dramatically cut my food bills!!

We shop at Aldi for meat and fish, much cheaper than the main supermarkets. Also always check out the bargains in supermarkets for food that is close to its sell by date - lots of things freeze well and you can save a lot if you have room in your freezer.

If you like salad, use things like cucumbers instead of lettuce - much cheaper and a lot more fibre.

 

[Mbaker]

I have assumed you are in the UK. You can either ask a friend or get a Macro card, they often have deals such as 50% off of prawns. Shop at a farmers market, items such as chicken breasts are twice the size of supermarket basics, so go further (are noticeably less watery). If you can like the taste eat more liver, especially with bacon.

 

[Goonergal]

Buy multiple things you like when they are on offer and freeze what you don’t immediately need - or use them to cook extra portions and freeze for a quick meal another time.

Cook with cheaper cuts of meat - excellent for a low carb high fat diet.

Eat less - as @AllieRainbow said, intermittent fasting with one or two meals a day cuts down bills and improves blood sugar levels.

 

[Jenny15]

Great suggestions above! I make good use of my freezer, stocking up when something is cheap. Beef mince can go a long way. Bacon ends are cheaper than whole rashers. I probably find eggs more satisfying than meat a lot of the time.

Buy a frozen whole chicken, when it's on special, cook and remove all the meat from the bones to use in dishes. Make stock from the bones. Turn stock into jus (gravy) using the reduction method, with no added carbs.

Buy direct from the factory shop if there are any near you. Join forces with friends to buy things when someone is passing the outlet instead of each making a special trip.

Before the internet I owned a book with money saving tips, and you could also get these books from the library. Look for websites with tips and even access to special deals.

It's a longer term project, but you could grow vegetables, even if you don't have much space. There are websites devoted to that. It can work out cheaper as long as you plan carefully.

When I was first diagnosed with T2 9 years ago, I found that LCHF eating was actually a lot cheaper than the large quantities of high carb prepared foods and drinks I was using, and buying my lunch in the city every day.

Healthy, enjoyable food, that was also cheaper for me - what a bonus!

 

[Engineer88]

Swop meat for Quorn a couple of nights a week its £1.50 for a 300g bag in Aldi and great in things like curry or satay sauce (that's at least 2 meals for me)

 

[mountaintom]

Smaller portions!

 

[Brunneria]

My current favourite bargain items are high fat content beef mince, whole chickens and cream cheese.

The beef mince is endlessly adaptable, from homemade burger patties to meatballs, LC cottage pie, chilli, moussaka, stuffed peppers, etc. etc. I try and get at least 20% fat, which has two benefits - more fat (lol) and lower price.

Likewise whole chickens, or chicken leg quarters are soo adaptable. Coq au vin, roast, baked, with or without herbs, spices, sauces, curries, skin on/off, boned or not... I mean, we all know how endlessly varied we can be with chicken, but with a whole chicken, the dogs then get the cartilage, which they love, and the bones go to make bone broth with a splash of vinegar.

On Saturday morning, my local butcher has bags of 'chicken carcasses' for £2 (it used to be £1 but he has wised up, ).
Inside the bag can be up to 9 chicken carcasses! These are basically the bits left over after they have taken the legs and breasts off to sell separately. Raw. Bones, feet, wings, oysters, wingtips and giblets included, with enough meat left on the bones that I would be ashamed of the wastage! I come home and put it all into the slow cooker (you could roast them too), then take the meat off and use the bare bones and cartilage for bone broth. The first time I did it I put all the meat into a measuring jug to see how much it yielded and was astonished to find the jug filled to more than 500ml.

Depending on how we feel, we use the chicken for sandwich fillings (for Mr B) mixed with flavoured mayonnaise, or add it back into the bone broth to make soup, or drop it into stir fries or curries.

All for £2!

The cream cheese is a good buy too. I buy Tescos own, which is much cheaper than the famous named brand. You can stir in herbs, spices, chilli oil, wasabi, cheese, etc. Make no bake mini cheesecake fillings, and tip over meat to make a 'cream' sauce. A couple of days ago I pan fried sliced sausage (dry italian sausage) with chopped up chicken, added a tablespoon of cream cheese, a dash of balsamic and a dash of pomegranate syrup - delish!
Those last two ingredients are comparatively expensive, of course, but you only need v small quantities, so they last a v long time.

 

[Hedonista]

Many thanks everyone, lots of food for thought (see what I did there?!).