Cheap ideas

[ermintrude]

Dont buy your veg from the supermarket - its extortionate, try a local market if you have one, or even the corner shop if you dont. My corner shop is almost half the price of Tesco on loads of things.

If you have to use a supermarket try Aldi/LIDL, like some other people have said. At the very least you can buy the Value packs of veg, theres nothign wrong with them except the shape.
fruit is tougher as supermarket stuff generally tastes cr@ppe unless you buy the expensive stuff

 

[mollymooz]

I know this doesn't reduce the cost of fruit and veg but one way to save a bit of money is to reduce the quantity of extra-lean or Quorn mince used in a recipe and replace it with lentils (either tinned if you can pick them up cheap or dried red ones). I do this with spag bol and cottage pie. For chilli or curry, I add extra kidney beans or chick peas, again, depending on what I can pick up cheaply - the 'world food' section of the big supermarkets seem to have tinned pulses that are far less expensive than those found in the normal aisles.

 

[ermintrude]

Yeah lentils and beans are great but even these are often cheaper in my corner shop than in Tesco, or you can buy nearly anything like this online somewhere like SpicesOfIndia or TheAsianCookshop or loads more places.

 

[Rosielea]

Look in your local green grocer for bargains. There is a grocer about a good half hour walk away from me which has offers every week and they turnover stuff so fast that you always know it is fresh. I bought 3 punets of strawberries (250gr each) for 99p. Same ones in the supermaket were £1.99 each (buy 2 for £3). Going to the grocers makes me walk so good body magic and I can get bargains.

 

[lanugowife]

There's a thread on here called Frugal February & we're all trying to cut our shopping bills - loads of great money saving tips & bargains so I'd def check it out x

 

[sarah5298a1]

I only buy fruit that is on offer and mostly in season i always check out the super 6 at aldi and try to plan my meals before i go shopping, oh and i got some frozen fruit from herons and it was 2 packs for 2 pounds i use this in my breakfast rice pudding. if a buy a whole chicken i usually get about 3 meals (for 2 adults and a toddler) out of it.
i grow my own herbs and lettuce all year round, lettuce is really easy to grow and can be grown on a windowsill as can things like cress which are great to add to salads to add flavour, and i always buy the supermarkets own brands of pickled onions and beetroot etc good for snacks, and i do at least 3 or 4 green days a week to keep costs down, i love chips, thats why i like green days - just had a big plate of sw chips, fried eggs n spaghetti.
in any recipe where i use mince i usually also add quorn mince, red lentils, baked beans, grated carrots, grated courgette, chopped peppers and a couple of onions this doubles the portions that you can freeze
check out my link for yummy recipes there is a recipe on there for red lentil bolognese- very cheap and can be frozen or kept in the fridge for about a week x

 

[sarah5298a1]

I know this doesn't reduce the cost of fruit and veg but one way to save a bit of money is to reduce the quantity of extra-lean or Quorn mince used in a recipe and replace it with lentils (either tinned if you can pick them up cheap or dried red ones). I do this with spag bol and cottage pie. For chilli or curry, I add extra kidney beans or chick peas, again, depending on what I can pick up cheaply - the 'world food' section of the big supermarkets seem to have tinned pulses that are far less expensive than those found in the normal aisles.

i always used to buy tinned lentils but i find the dried ones are much cheaper and you can sometimes get them in the pound shop x

 

[kaz200581]

Really useful tips here, thank you x

 

[littlelegs170411]

our local market does big bowls of fruit and veg for £1, could be worth having a look.. or Aldi does cheap fruit an veg too. x

 

[itsGCbaby]

Unfortunately, I don't get to do this very often cause I work Saturdays, but go to your local market on a Saturday afternoon and they are practically GIVING fruit and veg away!! You can get massive amounts of anything for just £1 or £1.50! And most of it you can freeze! I'd do this every week if I could! xxx