A SAVVY mum who saved £25,000 by doing a ‘no-buy’ year has revealed how to cut your weekly food shop in half in 2022.
Lara Joanna Jarvis, who found fame on YouTube thanks to her budgeting tips and tricks, committed to buying no luxuries in 2019 – only spending money on essential purchases.
It forced her to limit her food shop to the bare essentials, stretching fresh ingredients over the weeks and adopting a zero waste approach to her kitchen.
And now, in a three-part special, Lara is sharing her need-to-know money secrets exclusively with Fabulous, revealing how you can cut down the cost of your family food shop with a few simple changes.
According to data research site, Nimble Fins the average UK family can spend as much as £151 a week on food, but Lara says you don’t need to spend anywhere near as much.
Lara, 37, who lives in Hampshire with her husband Stuart, 40 and two young sons, says: “The food shop is by far one of the most expensive outgoings families have.
“But there are plenty of ways to shave hundreds off your monthly food bill while still eating tasty and healthy meals.
“And I promise you will barely notice the difference.”
Most read in Fabulous
NO GOING BACK Harry faces 'final nail in coffin of Royal life' if he's AXED from this role
We bought a £750 Amazon returns pallet & made enough to cover mortgage payment
Wedding guest fuming over ‘insulting’ meal and people agree they have a point
Mum of triplets shows off GIANT baby bump which had her in ‘severe pain’
Take an inventory
I always do an inventory of my kitchen before I leave for the supermarket so I don’t end up shopping for things I already own.
Go through all of your cupboards, the fridge and the freezer and simply make a note of what you already have and adapt your shopping list accordingly.
So for example if I have a packet of spinach in the fridge I will be sure to include a meal during the week that will use that up.
And shop your freezer! I got into a really bad habit of filling my freezer with dozens of leftovers and never actually getting round to using them up.
Take stock of what you’ve got frozen and incorporate it into your meals for the week.
Multitask ingredients
So many of us are guilty of buying fresh ingredients with the intention of only using them in one meal, only for them to make their way into the bin.
But there’s no need for this to happen -it is not about going without when you’re making cheap meals, it’s just multitasking what you’re buying.
For example, I will always buy the whole bird if I’m buying chicken as it works out so much cheaper than buying bits separately and it will easily stretch across three or four meals and you can even use the scraps for sandwiches at the end of the week.
There are some great resources for coming up with cheap and easy recipes online, including the Facebook group Feed Your Family for £1 if you’re running low on dinner inspiration.
Make fresh ingredients last
With every will in the world, even the best laid meal plans will often leave you with surplus fresh ingredients.
Some 40 per cent of our household waste is fruit and vegetables and bags of spinach are often stuffed so full even the biggest family would struggle to get through it before it wilts and no one wants broccoli with every meal.
But there are ways to keep even the most temperamental ingredients fresh for longer.
When it comes to leafy greens, take them out of the bag and wrap them in a paper towel so that it absorbs some of the water.
Chop the ends off your broccoli and stick it in water to prolong its freshness for a week or two.
The same goes for spring onions, not only do they then last longer but they actually start to shoot off new shoots of spring onions which you can either grow or just eat them once they’re big enough
With fruit punnets, wash them and then put some paper towel under the fruit in the punnet so that it doesn’t go mouldy from the water it’s sitting in.
HOW TO MAKE FOOD LAST LONGER
ADD BUTTER TO CHEESE After cutting a piece of cheese, add a dab of butter on the cut surface before popping it back in the fridge. It will stop a cut piece from drying out.
WRAP YOUR BANANA’S CROWN Take some cling film and wrap it around the “crown” of your bunch of bananas – the place where the bunch joins.
This slows down the ripening process and can make the bunch last up to five days longer.
STORE ONIONS IN STOCKING Onions and garlic can stay fresh for up to six months by storing them in a pair of sheer tights.
Tie a knot above each veg and hang in a cool, dry place.
STORE APPLES WITH POTATOES Doing this will help to prevent the potatoes from sprouting as apples release ethlylene gas.
The theory was put to the test by the American Test Kitchen who found that the trick helped the tubulars last up to eight weeks sprout-free.
SPRAY AVOCADOS WITH COOKING SPRAY If you’re left with half an avocado or a half eaten bowl of guacamole you can keep them from going brown with a bit of cooking spray.
This will create an oxygen barrier on the fruit which prevents it from oxidizing and turning brown.
And there’s a use for everything
When your fresh ingredients do inevitably go bad, believe it or not they still have a use!
If you do have some tired looking veggies at the end of the week there is no need to bin them as they can easily be whizzed up into a soup or pasta sauce.
Or even just roast them up with a lump of feta as this makes a really delicious pasta dish.
A browning banana and a mushy raspberry make a great smoothie and don’t chuck out those wilting herbs as they can make a wonderful pesto.
There’s nothing wrong with frozen
If you do find yourself binning your fruit and veg every week, then there is nothing wrong with switching to frozen, and it could actually save you a lot of money.
Because it’s frozen straight from picking it’s really fresh and often locks in a lot more flavour than the fresh stuff, it’s so much more affordable and you really can’t taste the difference
Frozen spinach is a Godsend for chucking straight into a pasta dish or curry without even needing to thaw it.
I also find frozen vegetables are great for whipping up a fakeaway as a bag of stir fry mix only needs noodles and a sachet of sauce to replicate chow mein.
Meanwhile edamame beans, defrosted with a little chilli, salt and garlic will easily rival the ones you’d fork out £4.50 for at Wagamama.
Cupboard staples
Aside from planning meals for the week, I always make sure I have a few cupboard staples to hand for days when the cupboards are bare or you’re feeling the pinch.
I always have tinned tomatoes, chickpeas and coconut milk in the pantry.
Those three ingredients mean that I can whip up a curry in the slow cooker, it’s just packed with flavour as well as being a really good source of protein.
Tinned tuna is another excellent cupboard staple as it can be added to dried pasta or a jacket potato and a mixed tin of beans is a great base for a chilli.
Root veggies such as sweet potato or butternut squash are also really good in curries and they last for ages.
It is important to find veggies that last a long time so that when the fresh stuff is gone at the end of the week you still have nice healthy food to make meals out of.
Bulk it out your portions
Cheaper ingredients such as pulses, lentils and beans are great for bulking out meals, making them last longer and reducing the expensive meat content.
Not only that but it will really fill you up because it is full of protein.
It’s always worth looking at your portion sizes to see if you can take a bit off your plate and save that for your lunch the next day
This way you’ll also save money in terms of electricity as you’ll only be using energy for one meal.
Budget lunch boxes
Sending kids to school with a packed lunch can leave you short when it comes to the food bill but there are ways to cut the cost.
Never buy individually wrapped cakes, crisps or fruit as it will always work out more expensive, instead buy in bulk and separate it yourself into a bento box.
Fruit pots for example often work out about £3 per portion whereas £3 could buy you enough apples to last the school week and beyond.
You can even buy a share bag of crisps that you can then pop into a sandwich bag.
But if you are struggling please do ask for the free school meals if you need them, they’re there to be used. You can apply for free school meals at gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
Free school meals can also cut your food bill down further as your kids will need a smaller dinner if they’re having a hot dinner in school.
Don’t fall for supermarket ploys
Supermarkets design the shops to make you spend as much as they can and it’s important to remember that.
All of the own brand and cheaper brands are going to be stored up high or down low with the pricier branded items in the middle, so make sure to look up and look down rather than just at eye level.
Equally if you’re looking for specialist ingredients such as coconut milk, herbs, or spices, it is usually far cheaper to get them from the world food aisle rather than picking up the supermarket’s own brand.
For instance a can of Blue Dragon coconut milk will set you back £2 but Island Sun coconut milk from the world food aisle is just 79p.
If you require free-from products be sure to check whether you couldn’t get them for less as a standard product.
I think they put gluten free on things like ketchup now which hasn’t got any gluten in it anyway but they’ll charge you an extra 50p just to put the label on there, so be savvy to that.
End of the aisle deals are often extremely tempting but it is important to remember that a deal is only a deal if you wanted it in the first place.
As with many things supermarkets will often hike the price point of products up so that when the price comes down it seems like they’re discounted when really cheaper versions already existed.
It pays to have a good idea of the average cost and the cost you’re willing to pay before you enter the supermarket.
Shop at the right time
The perfect time to go shopping is during the evening, shortly before the supermarket is set to close as this is when you are most likely to find yellow sticker deals.
When it comes to yellow stickers the rule is as long as you’re going to use it and it’s a really good price I would just buy it and freeze it, particularly meat as it will be a much lower price point.
And above all, don’t shop hungry, it seems obvious but it is so easy to become tempted by unnecessary treats or larger packs you don’t need when you get the nibbles.
Get a loyalty card
It always baffles me when shoppers don’t have loyalty cards, they don’t cost you anything and can help you make huge savings.
Tesco offers weekly discounts across products in store with a Clubcard as well as accumulating points which you can swap for family days out or a meal out that you wouldn’t normally pay for.
Meanwhile the Lidl app has dozens of money-off vouchers for app users, with new coupons added every Thursday.
Grow your own
I love growing my own salad leaves because it is something I eat all the time, but if I was out a couple of nights then salad in a bag would go bad.
But this way I can just go out to the garden, snip off what I need and then eat it there and then it can carry on growing to stop food waste.
Even if you just have a windowsill you can grow some herbs on there, lettuce, tomatoes don’t let a lack of space deter you.
For more information on money saving tips and home life you can follow Lara on Instagram or YouTube, as well as checking out her blogs for further details at larajoannajarvis.com
FAMILY-OF-FOUR £30 MEAL PLANNER
SHOPPING LIST
- Porridge oats – 75p
- Bananas- 69p
- Cream cheese -65p
- Cucumber -43p
- Bread- 36p
- Raspberries – £1.59
- Share bag crisps – 45p
- Cherry tomatoes – 48p
- Frozen basa fillets – £1.99
- Egg noodles – 69p
- Courgette – £1.15
- Baking potatoes – 39p
- Cheddar cheese – £1.19
- Oat bar – 39p
- Whole chicken – £2.75
- Long grain rice – 45p
- Broccoli – 47p
- Raisins – 85p
- Baked beans – 22p
- Fig rolls – 37p
- Cauliflower – 79p
- Chickpeas – 30p
- Curry jar – 55p
- Bagels -79p
- Flatbreads – 99p
- Lettuce – 43p
- Yogurt – 65p
- Sweet potato- 89p
- Malted Wheaties – 69p
- Breadcrumbs – 65p
- Groovy bars – 99p
- Fish fingers – £1.49
- Wraps – 49p
- Eggs – 79p
- Muffins – 43p
- Vegan sausage rolls – £1.19
- Spaghetti- 20p
- Meat-free mince – £1.19
- Pasta sauce – 39p
Total: £30.20
Prices based off an Aldi shop, will require some cupboard staples.
MEAL PLAN
MONDAY
Breakfast: Porridge with banana
Lunch: Cream cheese & cucumber sandwich with raspberries
Snack: Crisps & tomatoes
Dinner: Frozen basa fillets with courgette & egg noodles
TUESDAY
Breakfast: Toast
Lunch: Jacket potato with cheese & tomatoes
Snack: Oat bar
Dinner: Chicken, rice and broccoli
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast: Porridge with raisins
Lunch: Beans on toast
Snack: Fig rolls & cucumber sticks
Dinner: Cauliflower & chickpea curry with rice
THURSDAY
Breakfast: Bagels
Lunch: Cheese flatbreads with salad and yoghurt
Snack: Yoghurt
Dinner: Sweet potato risotto
FRIDAY
Breakfast – Malted Wheaties
Lunch – Scrambled egg on toast with cucumber
Snack: Fig rolls
Dinner: Fish tacos with fish fingers for the children and basa fillets for the adults
SATURDAY
Breakfast: Beans on toast
Lunch: Breaded chicken fillets with tomatoes
Snack: Groovy bar and cucumber sticks
Dinner: Chicken curry with rice
SUNDAY
Breakfast: Egg muffins
Lunch: Vegan sausage rolls
Snack: Crisps & oat bar
Dinner: Veggie spag bol with salad
Source: Read Full Article