It has been really apparent in recent months that the cost of living has gone up exponentially.  With the cost of petrol/gasoline and heating fuel, and groceries, it is getting harder and harder to make our hard earned cash stretch to meet our needs.

There are certain costs that a person has no control over. I have read of people, especially those on fixed incomes, having to make some very difficult choices, such as heating their homes or eating.

One way a person can always save money is on their food budget.  This is something which is well within our control and something we can play with a bit. A small change here and a small change there can add up to big savings overall.    Today I am sharing my sure fire hints and tips for making my food budget go further.  

It may be things you already know how to do, but it never hurts to be reminded.  

1. Take an inventory of what you already have in your cupboards and refrigerator/freezer.  Write it down and keep it in a place that you can refer to before you go shopping. Determine to use what you have rather than go out and buy new.

2. Read the flyers and make up menus for your weekly meals.  Make a list of the things you need and buy only what is on the list. Try not to be tempted by two for one and other "false" deals. These deals are a false economy and are engineered to make money for the grocery shops and not you.   What is the point of saving 50 cents on something if you are going to pay more to buy two of them, and then one goes to waste before you can use it up anyways?  The only time these things are really bargains is if they are things you use often anyways and you know you will easily use them before the use by/sell by dates.  Remember, its not a bargain if it is going to end up in the tip.

3. Never shop when you are hungry.  Make sure you are well fed before you go. It is a well known fact that if you try to shop on an empty tummy you are more prone to impulse buying. 

4. Leave the husband and the children at home. It is too easy to give in to the demands of others.

5. Choose the time of day you go shopping carefully.  Early in the morning or late in the day are the best times.  I find that if I go first thing in the morning quite often I can take advantage of the shops Use today and get 30% off deals on fresh ingredients, like meat, that is right on it's sell by date.  

There is nothing wrong with this food. You can often wrap it up and pop it into the freezer when you get home, ready to use at a later date. Today, for instance, I bought a pound of bacon that was already on offer, but because this was its sell by date I got it for a cheaper price and then a further 30 % off of that.  Normally  it sells for $7.99 but was on offer for $5.99 and I got another $1.80 off. You often see meat reduced in this way.  You want to snap it up.

The end of the day is when baked goods like breads are marked down for a quick sale.  This is also when items that are near their sell by date are marked down. You can often snag a bargain. These can often be wrapped tightly, frozen and then refreshed in a low oven when you want to use them.

6.  Whenever possible buy store brand/own brand items. Quite often these are produced by the same companies that produce the more expensive brands.  Same product, different label. Remember the most expensive brands/products are usually placed at eye level, so that way we see them first and are more likely to pick them up.  I only pop for brand names when the article I am using is the main ingredient in something and the quality is more apt to show.

7.  Read the labels.  Grocery shops always place the freshest goods, or goods with the longest sell by date at the back, with the shortest sell by date at the front. Yes, I am one of those cheeky people who reach to the back and get the freshest goods, even cans, as I possible can. This is true for cheese, sliced meats, etc. I don't consider it cheating. It is my right to be able to purchase the freshest foods possible. Make sure you have given yourself enough time to use the article before the use by date as well.

8.  Read the flyers before you shop and take advantage of  the weekly bargains and offers. Try to plan your menus around the specials, and for use of leftovers.  Also, use coupons if possible. If a store has a loyalty card which allows you to save up points that you can use to reduce your grocery bill at a future date, use it. I like to save up my loyalty points until Christmas and then I use them when I know I am going to need to spend a bit more than I do on my weekly shop.

9.  Prepare as much food as you can from scratch, avoiding prepped and convenience foods as much as possible.  The more your food has been handled, the more money you are going to have to pay for it.  When whole chickens are on offer, buy several and cut them into smaller pieces at home. Wrap the pieces tightly and freeze, breasts with breasts, legs with legs, etc.  Don't throw away the backs either.  These are great for making stocks. 

I have noticed that premixed salads, fruit platters, etc. have gone up on average $2 per platter/salad. That might not seem like a lot, but it all adds up.

10. Eat seasonally and locally. Not only is this better for the environment, but it is cheaper as well.  Take advantage of You Pick farms during the growing season and pick your own fruits and vegetables, freezing and canning what you can for the future.  Not only is eating seasonally cheaper overall, but your carbon footprint is reduced and the stuff just tastes better!

11.  Pasta, rice and potatoes are great meal extenders. Hard cheese if you are watching the carbs, but if you have a growing family, they are great ingredients to use that will help fill up the family and stretch your more expensive ingredients such as meats and cheeses.

These are only a few of the things you can do, but I guarantee that even if you implement only a few of them you will see a difference over all.  One thing I have always done is to make great use of things like a roasting chicken or a roast of beef, etc. I learned that from my mother.  

The cost of a good, nice sized, roasting chicken might seem overly high to begin with, but when you consider that you can often get at least three or four meals from it, it becomes quite an economical expense. 

Cooking something like GRANDMOTHER'S ROAST CHICKEN & GRAVY on the first day means that you have a lovely roast dinner for the family. With careful planning, you can feed the family a tasty dinner, using just half the chicken, along with a variety of tasty vegetables on the side.  

I would normally cook some roasted potatoes, carrots, peas and maybe even some swede (rutabaga) to enjoy with this and sometimes even a good homemade stuffing such as my recipe for MARY BERRY'S SAGE and ONION STUFFING.

Plenty of sides mean that the family will not be filling up on the meat. Make sure you cook plenty of vegetables, as well as extra gravy.  That way the next day you can make the family a nice Chicken Pot Pie to take advantage of the extras. Just chop everything up, including the potatoes, mix it into the gravy and pop it into a casserole dish popping a pastry crust on top, or even a scone/biscuit topping. I guarantee nobody will be complaining.

Hot chicken sandwiches (sliced chicken in gravy ladled over slices of bread) are also very nice, served with a vegetable and oven chips.

You could also use some of the leftover chicken to make your family some really delicious FRUITY CHICKEN SALAD  ready to pop into sandwiches, or to serve on its own on a bed of lettuce. I would make a nice potato salad to serve along side and maybe even some coleslaw. 

 

And then you can make a delicious soup for the family with the carcass and what meat is left on the bones.  CHICKEN AND STARS SOUP is a real favorite of mine. You don't need to use star shaped pasta if you don't have it, or even pasta. Just use any noodle or even rice. I promise you it will be delicious. Add a few homemade STIR AND ROLL BISCUITS and your family will be a nice group of very happy campers!

In any case, I hope I have given you some food for thought here this morning. Every little helps as they say!  If you are looking for additional ideas for how to use up your leftovers do check out this post I did on DELICIOUS LEFTOVERS.  There is no waste in my house if I can help it!

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com 

335ml of beef stock (1 1/2 cups) 1 small jar of marinara sauce (1 1/2 cups) 1/2 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and black pepper to taste
splash of hot pepper sauce 1 bay leaf 1/2 pound of uncooked spaghetti noodles, broken into bits 1 cup chopped leftover roast beef or browned ground beef or turkey a handful of grated mixed mozzarella and cheddar cheese finely grated Parmesan cheese




Put the beef broth and spaghetti sauce in a large skillet ong with the seasonings and the broken spaghetti.  Stir to coat the pasta well.

Bring to the boil, then reduce  to a simmer, cover and cook on low for about 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times.  Stir in the cooked meat and cover again.

 

Let it cook for a further 5 minutes or so to heat through, adding a further 110ml (1/2 cup) of water if need be. Remove the pan from the stove.

Cover with the cheeses.  Place lid on for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese and serve.

 

Lately I have been really astounded at the rate that the cost of my weekly shop is going up.   When I first moved over here 12 years ago, I had a weekly budget of £50 for the two of us and two cats . . . that seemingly paltry amount gave me a grocery cart filled with all that I needed to keep us going for a week.  These days, I am lucky if I can get away with spending any less than £100, and most weeks that doesn't even include such basics as  meat.  I am relying more and more on my food storage, and even then my grocery costs have virtually doubled.  I  just don't know how family's are doing it.

Something's got to give . . . there are only two of us in this house, but we live on a fixed income and there just isn't a lot of extra funds in the budget for all of these increases in costs.  The cost of our heating and electric has gone up, petrol for the car.  These are things we haven't got really a lot of play with . . . kind of out of our control . . . it's become quite evident that the only way I can manage to try to make ends meet is to try to trim my grocery bills . . . not an easy task, in today's economic times.  Everyone is feeling the pinch.


This means a lot more planning on my part.  I need to make up weekly menus now, compile grocery lists and then stick to both . . . the menus and the shopping list.  I can't allow myself to be swayed by two for one offers, or "bargain deals" for things I wasn't going to buy in the first place.  I need to find the best deal for all of the ingredients which I use every day, vital staples and toiletries . . . and also for those little extras . . . because we all need a little treat once in a while.

I recently discovered a site called My Supermarket, which is an online supermarket comparison site.  IT's a great place to find the best supermarket deals here in the UK, and I've been using it lately to help me find the best prices for all of my needs.

My Supermarket  is the UK’s leading independent food & grocery shopping and comparison site. By using it you can find the cheapest prices at the top supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Waitrose and Ocado. What's more, it's a completely FREE and easy to use service.

They allow you to search the database and find the cheapest prices for food and groceries. You add all the products you need to the basket and My Supermarket will transfer your basket to the relevant supermarkets website to process payment.

In short . . . they do all the legwork so you don't have to.   It’s a great tool to compare prices across the big supermarkets. They display all the latest special offers like buy 1 get 1 free or discounted products, making it easier to save money in one of the few areas we are able to make differences and savings.

I have taken several of my recipes here this morning and I will show you how I was able to economize, not only in the choices I have made for my weekly meals . . . but in how and where I do my shopping. 



For my purposes I will show you the results of one of the ingredients of  the first recipe which I wanted to cook.  Macaroni with Bacon Sauce.  The above slide show shows you all of the options for bacon and the prices which I was able to find at each of the shops.  I was able to see which shop had the bacon I needed at the cheapest price.



*Macaroni with Bacon Sauce*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

This is one of those old fashioned dishes that just never go out of style. Economical and easy to put together, it uses ingredients I always have in my larder, and best of all, it’s delicious! It’s also a good way to get some vegetables into kids that balk at eating vegetables, I’ve never had one turn their nose up at this yet! I like to serve it with a salad and some crusty rolls for mopping up all the sauce. I make short work of all the mincing by using my food processor. It works a treat!

¼ pound of lean bacon, cut into 1 inch squares
3 medium carrots, peeled and finely minced
3 medium onions, peeled and finely minced
1 large green pepper, de-seeded and finely minced
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
¼ cup of tomato paste (puree)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1- 1 ½ cups of hot vegetable stock
1 pound of macaroni
Grated parmesan cheese*

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the bacon and cook, until it starts to crisp up a bit and the fat begins to run. Add all the vegetables, mushrooms and the garlic and cook, stirring from time to time, until quite tender. Drain off any fat, if present. Add the tomato paste, seasonings and enough of the hot vegetable stock just to make a sauce that is thick enough to coat the pasta, but not runny. Let simmer for about ten minutes.

In the meantime bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cook your macaroni according to package directions. Drain well when done and stir the hot macaroni into the sauce, mixing well to coat. Let stand a few minutes before serving. Serve hot with a healthy dusting of grated parmesan cheese on top.

*Note: if you are not fond of Parmesan Cheese, a nice cheddar goes very well also.

 

This screen shot shows you the results of price comparisons at each of the shops for all of the ingredients I added to my shopping basket.  Note:  I chose the store brand ingredients, and did not opt for special offers, as I could certainly have done, saving even more money.  I kept it simple though so that I could show you how very well this site works.  From the price comparisons on this recipe alone, there was a vast difference in prices for the whole list of ingredients, from as low as £11.20 at Sainsbury's to £12.74 at Waitrose.

 

*Cheese and Onion Soup*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This may be quick and easy but it's not short on flavour. Proof positive that you don't need complicated or expensive ingredients to make something quite, quite tasty!

4 medium sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
16 ounces boiling water (2 cups)
16 ounces whole milk (2 cups)
a knob of butter
a couple of handfuls of grated strong cheddar cheese (I like to use a good Farmhouse cheddar)
4 slices of buttered toast (I like a hearty whole wheat)
seasalt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
a pinch of grated nutmeg
2 spring onions, finely chopped for garnish

Place the chopped onions into a large saucepan along with the boiling water and some salt. Simmer until tender. The onions should be quite translucent and very tender. This should take about 20 minutes. Add the milk and bring back just to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 15 minutes. Add the knob of butter and season to taste with some salt, pepper and a p9inch of nutmeg.

Put a slice of buttered toast into the bottom of each of four heated soup plates. Top each with some of the cheese. Ladle the hot soup over top and sprinkle each with a garnish of chopped spring onions. Serve immediately.





*Tomato Dumplings*
Serves 4 - 6
Printable Recipe

Light and fluffy, and wonderfully savoury, these dumplings float on a delicious sea of a robust and tasty tomato sauce. What’s not to like about these lovely taste tempting babies?

½ cup peeled and finely chopped onion
¼ cup finely chopped green pepper
¼ cup finely chopped celery
¼ cup butter
1 bay leaf, broken in half
28 ounces of tinned chopped tomatoes, in their juices, undrained
1 TBS soft light brown sugar, packed
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the Dumplings:
1 cup plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp of Italian garlic seasoning
1 TBS cold butter
1 TBS snipped fresh parsley
2/3 cup of milk

Melt the butter in a large skillet (with a lid) over medium high heat. Whenit begins to sizzle add the onion, pepper and celery. Cook, stirring, until they are tender. Add the bay leaf, tomatoes, brown sugar, basil, salt and pepper. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

Make the dumplings as follows.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and garlic seasoning together in a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the parsley and then finally stir in the milk, mixing it only until mixed together and all the dry ingredients are uniformly moist.

Remove the lid from the simmering tomato mixture and drop the dumpling batter onto the top of the simmer liquid by tablespoonfuls. Cover tightly with a lid and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes without peeking, until a toothpick inserted into one of the dumplings comes out clean and they look set and somewhat dry on top. Serve immediately, spooned out onto warm plates.



*Spicy Pork Chops With Peaches*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Oh my but these are some tasty. I just love peaches and pork is a meat that goes so very well with fruit. Tender, juicy and spicy these chops please on many levels. I simply served them with rice and a vegetable and it was a meal fit for a king!

2 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS, plus 1/3 cup orange juice
2 TBS soy sauce
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp mild curry powder
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless pork chops
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cups peeled and thickly sliced peaches

Combine the brown sugar, 2 TBS of orange juice, soy sauce, cardamom, curry powder and pepper in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar.

Trim all the fat off of your pork chops. Place them into a heavy plastic bag or between two sheets of cling film and bash them with a rolling pin (gently) until they are about 1/3 of an inch thick and uniform in size. (this also helps to tenderize them) Place them into a shallow glass dish and pour the spice mixture over top. Allow to marinate for at least 15 minutes, or cover and place in the fridge to marinate for up to 2 hours.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. Shake off any excess marinade (reserving marinade) and cook the chops in the heated pan, browning well on both sides. This should take about 2 minutes per side. While the chops are browning, add the peaches to the marinade, turning them to coat them all over.

Add the remaining 1/3 cup of orange juice to the pan and bring to a simmer, stirring. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the chops, turning occasionally,until the chops are cooked through, some 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the chops from the pan to a plate and cover loosely with foil. Keep warm.

Add the peaches and the reserved marinade to the pan. Increase the pan heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring often, until the liquid is reduced to a light sauce. Stir any juices from the resting pork chops. To serve, spoon the sauce and peaches over the chops.



*Gingered Shortbread Biscuits*
Makes 5 dozen ( or so)
Printable Recipe

These wonderful biscuits are perfection personified. Buttery. Short. Crumbly. Melt In Your Mouth. Spicy . . . perfection. Three little bites of heaven.

1 cup of butter, room temperature (225g)
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted (65g)
3 TBS finely chopped candied ginger
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour, sifted (200g)

Pre-heat the oven to 300*F/150*C.

Place the butter into a bowl and cream it together with the sugar until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the ginger and the salt. Gradually work in the flour until it is all incorporated.

Divide the dough into thirds and working with one third at a time, shape into a round and roll it out 1/4 inch thick in between two sheets of wax or baking paper. Cut into shapes as desired. Place on baking sheets. Repeat until you have used all the dough, re-rolling the scraps as need be.

Bake for 17 to 20 minutes until light golden and set. Remove to a wire rack to cool

Optional: Melt about 2 ounces of dark chocolate by breaking it up and placing it into a bowl. Heat in the microwave for 20 second intervals, until completely melted. Using a fork or a small spoon drizzle the melted chocolate over the cooled biscuits. Allow to set and dry before storing in air tight containers.

 

I put into my shopping cart all of the ingredients which I would need to buy, that I didn't already have in my store cupboard for all of these recipes here on this page today.  (I didn't add spices which I had in my spice rack already, or salt and pepper, small amounts of sugar, etc. which I would already have as a matter of course.)  I didn't have to switch pages from one grocery store to the other.  Supermarket.co.uk automatically added my choices to the cart in each grocery store and by that I was able to compare the end total from all of the shops and therefore determine which would give me the best prices for these particular recipes, which I feel are a fair sampling of what I would be cooking for the most part in a week.  Of course I would need to add other essentials to the list, but for this comparison of only these particular recipes I could easily see which supermarket was going to give me the best prices.

I have to say I think this is a brilliant tool and I am going to use it from now on!  They claim you can save up to 35% on your grocery bills and by my comparison shop, I was able to see just that.  The total cost of my shopping was only £31.14 at ASDA, as compared to the most expensive which was Tesco at £36.60 (even higher than the premium shop Waitrose!)

It was easy to use.  I could swap from one store to another with ease. It showed a comparison price total for all of the major shops, and the checkout was a breeze.

So, what's my end opinion of all of this??  I think it's a great site, and even if I don't actually order my groceries online for delivery, I will still be able to compare the prices and then drive to the shop which is going to give me the best all round value for my money, and in this day and age, that is something which is worth it's weight in gold.  I give My Supermarket two thumbs up and a 10 out of 10 for what they offer.