20 ways to eat well & spend less
By John Lister
johnlisterwriting.com
Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive. Here are some ideas on how to feed you and yours great food on a budget!
Drop the fridge temperature
We waste 3.1 million glasses of milk every day at a cost of around £15m, mostly because we just don’t use it in time. Keeping fridges under 5C (rather than 7C which is more common) means milk stays fresh for up to three extra days.
Try helping yourself
Try putting your cooked dish in the centre of the table and letting people help themselves - you are more likely to get leftovers. Cooking and serving too much costs the average household £130 every year.
Save your salad
We waste over a million bags of salad! To make it last longer, try popping a piece of kitchen roll in your open bag before it goes back in the fridge.
“Freeze your carrots - grate unused carrots and pop them in the freezer. Use them for cakes, in soups or as part of an onion-celery-carrot base.”
Freeze your own lollies
Fruit on the turn and yogurt past its best? Make frozen yogurt lollies by blitzing fruit, yogurt and a little honey or maple syrup together, then pour into lolly moulds to freeze.
Think about your lunch box
If you are working from home, use leftovers to make your lunches healthier and more interesting. Save a little portion of curry and take a naan from the freezer, or try a portion of chilli with some green salad. Who said lunch always had to include sandwiches?
Save the dregs
We personally rarely have leftover wine or beer, but if you do, freeze it in ice-cube trays for the next time you want to make a slow cooked casserole.
Wrap it up
There are very few leftovers that won’t work in a warmed flatbread with some mayo or yogurt and nice crunchy vegetables - roasted meats, meatballs, roasted vegetables and even curry or pesto can be repurposed to make a lunch or lovely taco.
Save offcuts
Set aside smaller offcuts and rinds of cheese. Add them to milk and blend till smooth, then pass through a sieve into a pan with some cooked diced bacon. You will have an amazing carbonara.
Batch cook
As well as the obvious curries and soups, make batches of dips for speedy toast or jacket potato toppers and toasted nut-and-seed sprinkles for the week, which can be added as a topping.
Make arancini
Crunchy and crispy balls of yesterday’s risotto (you could always make extra!) are fabulous studded with cheese and coated in crumbs before deep-frying.
Label up
Whenever you freeze something, label it with a date and name (not a water based pen!).
Go whole
Using the whole ingredient means you get more for your money. Discarded cauliflower leaves wilted into a stir-fry mean you don’t have to buy extra greens. Brocolli stalks add a little crunch and make your dishes go further.
Fill your freezer with fruit
Frozen fruit is very cost effective, plus there is literally no waste. Use it to make delicious and healthy smoothies in the morning for the whole family or add it to porridge or yogurt.
Speed up your soups
For a quick, cheap meal, slice two spring onions and a 5cm piece of ginger, then add to 1 ltr of vegetable stock in a pan. Cook for a few minutes, then stir in chopped greens such as pak choi, or kale. You could add dumplings, and cook for a few more minutes - that’s it!
Make it last
Scotch bonnet peppers are perfect for freezing, as they go off after a few weeks in the fridge. Lovely added to simple chicken and rice.
Sort the fridge
Keep anything that needs using first at the front of each shelf - the last thing you want is to find furry pots of anything hiding at the back. Good stock rotation is key!
Pack in the flavour
Keep flavour-filled, long-life products to add a bit of oomph to plainer foods, anchovies to melt into a pasta sauce or enrich slow-cooked stewing lamb, chipotle paste and smoked paprika to swirl into yogurt or smother over warmed chickpeas.
Love the small things
Frozen peas are a top ingredient, healthy, cheap and so quick to use, they are a great source of plant-based protein.
“If you buy a big squash and roast it you can put some in soup, some with a roast dinner or another protein for a main meal. You could also use it with noodles and miso for lunch or in a lunchbox.”
FAMILY COOKING
Bake better biscuits
Soft cookies with oats, camomile, butter and eggs are a real treat but so easy to make and great for lunchboxes. Home made biscotti are great too and so much cheaper than ready-made.
Plump for pulses
Tinned pulses are very convenient, but it is much cheaper to cook pulses from dried - you just need to soak them overnight first. You can cook a big batch and freeze them in the cooking liquid.
Pan fry a pizza
Pizza ovens are quite popular, but if you have a really good dough and cook your pizza in a frying pan before popping it under a hot grill, it can be as tasty and good as a pizza from a restaurant!
Make your own smoothie
You can buy smoothie machines for as little as £15 which means the children can make their own smoothies for breakfast with oats, yogurt and banana. It’s a huge saving compared to shop-bought and fun to make.
“Bulk it out - instead of pulses, add extra veg to sauces like courgettte, mushrooms or carrot.”