How to eat well for less

Inflation is (if you’ll excuse the pun) biting. So how can you keep down the cost of the weekly shop and get maximum bang for your buck in the kitchen without compromising?

I have always shopped by the yellow sticker and the discount aisle. When I first started getting creative in the kitchen as an early teen, I wanted to try searing scallops and practice filleting Dover sole, French-trim a rack of lamb, and prepare artichoke hearts – and none of that comes cheap. So, I went to the supermarket an hour before closing and bought from the man in the hairnet who I knew and who I liked to think knew me: I took home whatever was most reduced from the fresh counter and then tried to work out how to cook it.

This approach – starting from the ingredients that are on discount, or just in season and therefore good value, and then working out dinner from there – is one way to keep costs down. There are other approaches besides. So, without wanting to teach any grandmothers to suck eggs (which are, incidentally an excellent-value source of protein), one can look to use tougher and less-loved cuts of meat, cooking them long and slow; or pad out expensive proteins with cheaper ones (like lentils) and carbs.

Saving money on ingredients and reducing food waste are two sides of the same coin. Instead of tossing out the Parmesan rind you can pop it into a minestrone to enrich and flavour the broth. There is no excuse for failing to use parsley or coriander stalks – they are a boon to a curry (add them at the start when frying off the onions and garlic) or a Chinese stir fry (added in to wilt right at the end). You can even turn banana skins into an alternative kebab. Who would’ve thought? And interesting garnishes or crispy bits for textural interest can be created by toasting the seeds of a butternut squash or baking the skins from chicken thighs until crispy.

Some of the best dishes use leftovers of course – bubble and squeak being a case in point. Leftover rice today can make tomorrow’s egg fried rice, leftover roast chicken can be used in a risotto and stale bread turned into a Panzanella salad. And to take the zero waste approach a step further, you could try one of the many apps now proliferating. The most well-known, Too Good To Go, lets you buy food – at a great price – from shops and restaurants that hasn’t sold in time and would therefore otherwise go to waste.

To make more expensive ingredients go further, go for big-flavoured options: think extra mature cheddar instead of mild. To make a satisfying fish pie even with an economical amount of fish, use boisterous smoked haddock rather than more delicate seafood. To make a meaty pasta, you can eschew large amounts of mince or sausage and opt instead for the most piquant and garlicky chorizo on offer: a little will go a long way.

It is worth considering when to use a prime ingredient and when a cheaper alternative would do just fine. I am a sworn devotee of Maldon sea salt but the beautiful pyramidal crystals are wasted in salting pasta water: save them for seasoning dishes just before serving where the crunchy salt will really shine. Likewise the grassy, peppery notes from good extra virgin olive oil is lost when heated in the pan. Save the good stuff for drizzling at the end and use a cheaper light olive oil for cooking, or just plain vegetable or sunflower oil. And while celebrity chefs have made it fashionable to buy fresh stock from the supermarket’s refrigerated section, it’s mightily more expensive. Nothing wrong at all with using an Oxo stock cube in my book (indeed I love the stuff, simply drunk hot from a mug), nor indeed with using Bisto granules for your gravy. And while a crème anglaise made with eight egg yolks is an occasional treat at a dinner party, I secretly just want my custard made with Bird’s. Your wallet will thank you too.

Bulk cooking enough for several meals in one is another obvious but effective approach to saving dosh. Go for slow-cooked meat stews or lentil dishes that won’t become overcooked – if you throw in some spinach when reheating, the whole thing will taste as vibrant as when cooked fresh. Talking of spinach, the frozen chopped spinach which comes in bags of (admittedly odd) dishwasher-style pucks is a cost-effective way of getting your greens, costing a fraction of the price of fresh. If you are making a spanakopita you would be mad to use anything but frozen. And while you will probably want to use fresh berries in an Eton Mess or atop a pavlova, there is nothing better than a bag of far cheaper frozen berries for your breakfast smoothie. And as for breakfast, I have always thought crumpets a marvellously luxurious thing for such a modest price. And of course it is hard to think of anything more economical than porridge to start the day and keep you full and fuelled throughout it. A rather banal conclusion maybe, but like a culinary Occam’s Razor, the simple solutions really are often the best: when inflation hits, reach first for the porridge.