How to stretch that food budget

by Ally Hunt on 06 August 2009  |  5 comments
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I'm about to start an experiment - can I manage to stick rigidly to a menu and make as many meals from store cupboard ingredients as possible? And importantly, how much money could we save?

I watched a great programme on BBC2 last night. "Economy Gastronomy" as you can probably guess, is aimed at helping us eat well while on a budget.

And although the recipes themselves weren't overly-inspiring ("hot dog hot-pot" for example) the ideas behind them were.

Make a store-cupboard meal

For a start, it recommended actually trying to make a meal from store cupboard ingredients when you think you've run out of fresh food (hence the hot-pot). Ensuring you have items like mustard, sherry vinegar and Worcester sauce stocked as they can liven up most things. And importantly, how vital it is to list exactly what you have in the fridge/freezer/cupboards before heading to the supermarket.

While I'm generally very frugal, I'm as guilty as anyone for occasionally playing Old Mother Hubbard, dramatically declaring "the cupboard is bare" and flouncing off to the supermarket (or worse still, the corner shop).

In reality, there's usually something lurking that would make a good meal - I just don't take the time to look. And we always have staples such as tinned tomatoes, pulses, eggs, rice, pasta, and frozen vegetables that could be whipped up into a frittata or veggie curry.

What's more, the garden is providing a bounteous supply of courgettes, cabbage, rocket and brand new addition - apples. I need to really start planning meals according to what we have, not what we fancy.

Next week's plan

So what's my plan for next week? First up, I'm going to list the food items that we have in the house and work out how many meals I can create from them.

Then I'll devise a menu for the week that I'll actually stick to (rather than plan it all when I go shopping and promptly lose the list). I may even go the whole hog and stick it up in the kitchen. I'll do the grocery shop, avoid going off-list, obey the menu - and see how much money we can save.

Hopefully in my quest I'll also find some new ways to use the courgettes we're producing in such abundance at the moment (we've already made vegetable lasagne, ratatouille; next up is soup!).

Hmm it may be time to talk to lovemoney.com chef Paul and see if courgettes can feature in one of his feed five for under a fiver recipes...