Food Economy

Saving food saves money as well as packaging and food miles. It’s obvious really, but we can all get carried away or stuck in a rut when it comes to the lure of convenience foods, yummy offers and piles of delicious-ness. Here then are fourteen waste-saving tips to make your food and your money go further.

In the shops:
1. Don’t shop when you’re hungry! You’ll only be tempted to buy all those hunger-busting snacks that you don’t really need. Take a list, planned out for a week’s worth of eating, and stick to it. Unless you see…
2. …bargains. If the bargains involve food that your household munches its bodyweight through then stock up but don’t be drawn to the dark side of consumerism by exciting offers that you know aren’t good for you or won’t be made full use of once you get home. You’ll only regret it later…
3. If, like me, spending a little extra to get organic is important to you then save money on other products by choosing supermarket’s own brands instead of pricier named brands. The cost will then balance out to a nice, acceptable total. Obviously, if you can grow your own veg or make your own household cleaners, all the better.

Unpacking:
4. Here’s a tip for dealing with those bargains you grabbed: hide them! If they’re on show on the usual kitchen shelves, your family will see an abundance of food and just eat it twice as quickly (well, mine will anyway!). Stash the bargains in an out of reach cupboard or at the back of the freezer and only get them out when you would normally have re-stocked at full price.
5. When filling your freezer, make sure that bags of frozen veg are sealed securely. You can buy purpose made clips but pegs are effective and you may already have some lying around spare. It’s amazing how many peas and sweetcorn kernels you’ll save by not having them spill all over the freezer drawers. You’ll also need to clean the freezer out less frequently – reduced electricity wastage and more time for you to eat all that lovely food!

Make it last, waste less:
6. If you have windowsill, patio or garden space, grow herbs instead of buying packets of ready-cut fresh herbs. You’ll get much more leaf for your money, they won’t be dying in the fridge while they wait to be eaten and you won’t be contributing to all that plastic packaging production. Try to grow herbs from seed or buy ready-started plants from proper plant sellers. The potted herbs in the supermarkets are grown so that they are short-lived. The only potted herb that I’ve found to survive well from a supermarket is basil.
7. Pop celery sticks, spring onions and radishes straight into a cup of water and leave them there until you use them. They’ll stay plump and tasty for longer, especially if you keep the cup in the fridge.
8. Don’t bin over-ripe fruit and veg! It’s amazing what use they can be put to. Split or soggy tomatoes can be added to bologneses, soups and other cooked tomato dishes. In fact, most vegetables looking a little sorry for themselves can be used to make a healthy and filling soup. Over-ripe bananas are perfect for making banana milkshakes and banana cake (either a big family sized one with lots of cinnamon and sultanas or little cupcakes with chocolate chips). In fact, the riper the banana, the better the result. Wrinkly apples and squishy pears are great for cake making, pie fillings or stewed fruit. I’m getting hungry…

Serving it up:
9. Serve up smaller portions. It sounds silly but it works well! Either use smaller plates than usual or don’t fill your plates to the edges. It’s amazing how much more many of us eat than we actually need. Ideally, we should finish a meal with our stomachs only three quarters full. Stick to smaller portions for a few days and you may find that you soon only want that much. There’ll be more food to save for another day and you may even drop a dress size!
10. Drink a glass of water instead of snacking. When I stick to this rule, my shopping list visibly reduces and I often realise that I wasn’t really as hungry as I thought I was. Again, good for the budget, the planet and your waistline.
11. If your kids enjoy drinking lots of fresh juice, try diluting it with up to one third water. A carton will last a lot longer this way and they’ll be consuming less sugar – although fruit juices are healthy, they are high in natural fruit sugars. They may fuss that they want the full flavour, but I got away with it with my daughter until she was about seven.

More for another day:
12. Think before scraping the plate! Before binning left over lumps of mash or ignored vegetables, consider saving them for another meal. Good old bubble and squeak is really rather tasty as are many soups. Speaking of which…
13. …Many blended homemade soups thicken up when left in the pot. Make more than you need, store the remainder in the fridge and keep thinning it down until (a) it’s all gone or (b) you can’t stand the sight of soup any more.
14. Make your own ready meals. When cooking sauces, stews, risottos, soups, Bolognese, chilli, etc make extra portions, leave them to cool then store them in lidded pots in the freezer. Et Voila! – homemade ready meals for another day. Avoid freezing cooked pasta or potatoes though as these lose some of their texture and flavour when de-frosted.

So there you go, plenty of ideas for making your food (and your money) go further. Happy eating!