Fight Back Against Rising Food Prices!

Most important one - never do a supermarket shop when you're hungry.

My freezer is full pf mark down items. The supermarkets have to seel goods before/on sell by date but the products have at least another weeks shelf life. They have to have a safety margin. So freeze those items that are freezable and use those that are perishable in your daily diet.

The best way to reduce your food bill while also getting the freshest, most nutritious food possible is to grow your own - organically. If you can't do that, join a local organic box scheme, and they'll do the growing for you. Find these by going to the Soil Association website - the Soil Association has the highest possible standards for organic growers, so you can be sure that the meat, eggs and veg are produced with the highest respect for the animals and the environment. The next most important step to reducing your food bill is to avoid processed foods ... this means you'll need to cook, which has the advantage that you know exactly what's going into your food, and can choose quality ingredients. For using up left overs, soups and casseroles can't be beaten ... and if you can't eat all those, put them into smaller portions and freeze them. Tip 3 is - invest in a fridge thermometer, and make sure your fridge is keeping your food suitably cool to increase shelf life - most fridges are way too warm! And finally, f you're enthusiastic about good food, join the "Slow Food" organisation to meet like-minded people.

2 tips:

Switch from the big supermarket chains (you know the ones I mean without mentioning names). We switched from the big one beginning with T to the German one beginning with L and not only saved around 20-25% but found the food quality to be better as well. Watch out for all those bargain items in the middle aisle though.

Grow your own, we're lucky in having a side garden which has become the allotment but your can grow an amazing amount in pots and small plots - my folks do.

" If you must go shopping by car, consider getting together with friends and neighours to share travel costs.
Don't take any of the family with you if you can avoid it.You might be able to stick to your list of needs, but can they?"

All very valid points if you want to save money, but i seriously believe if we're saving money on mortgages, utility bills, phone bill etc - can't we just enjoy food! I like driving my own car, in my own time to town and local markets to buy quality food. I've given up smoking, drinking and every other vice to save money and get healthy - i do however love cooking, more importantly eating, fresh seasonal food. In my eyes it's worth spending the money on quality food - anybody else agree? We are what eat!

One of the reasons people are panicking over all these rising costs is that they've forgotten what's important in life. Should you spend money on housing, feeding and clothing yourself and your family or on the latest gadget, car and foreign holiday? Cut out the rubbish and centre on the vitals. If, however, you've already done that and need to make other savings then here are my tips for cutting the food costs.
Firstly, learn to cook seasonal foods and make the time to do it (do you really have watch every episode of every soap or go out as often or could you do something more satisfying with that time?)
Secondly, I believe that supermarkets exist solely to make you spend more money! Last year we cut our food bill by 30% by using the supermarket less. The more you visit, the more you spend.
Thirdly, eat less if you're overweight! Extra food costs extra money and extra waste (or should that be waist!). If we saw obesity as a sign of wasted food, we might do more about it.
Fourthly use a box scheme. We've saved about £200 per year by using ours. After concern over food safety from chemicals used in growing, washing and prolonging the life of fresh produce, we approached our local box scheme - it's been great. The farm where ours comes from also has its own cattle, sheep and turkeys so we can order meat too!
Lastly, grow your own, you don't need a lot of space. Last year we used a 2m x 1m patch of garden to grow our own salads, which were great so this year we've dug up a fifth of our lawn so also have a veg patch 2m x 4m for other veg. We thought we didn't have the time, but found that in the summer evenings we'd rather be out in the garden than inside watching TV. We both have hectic jobs (and I'm a catering manager) but find the veg producing very relaxing. And the exercise is great too.
As things have gone so far this year, it looks as though our food bill will be cut by a further 15 -20% this year. With a bit of effort, it can be done.

Your allotment sounds extremely expensive - mine only costs £25 pa plus £5 for my polytunnel ( built by the guys on the site for £100). Ask your other plot holders to swap excess seed etc, current bush cuttings can be just pushed in the soil and will usually grow - lots of ways to get free plants

Apologies for those typos. That was my fault. And thanks for you help.