I have been a student for the past 4 years and when I moved out at 18 I had no idea how to cook and lived off Asda's savers meals 24/7. Not. Healthy. Ew. As I started to break out in spots, gain weight and feel pretty shitty I decided I was going to learn how to cook proper meals. So, I bought a recipe book of healthy meals and I soon realised I was spending £60 a week on meals just for myself! It sounds crazy but healthy food is expensive and in order to cook all of these "healthy" meals in my recipe book I needed so many ingredients. Eventually, I gave up and returned to microwave meals and takeaways. However, since moving to Edinburgh and living with my boyfriend who can't cook to save his life, I had to learn. So, my next few blog posts are going to be about saving money on food and how to make yummy healthy meals. This first blog post is going to tell you the smart way to do your food shopping so keep on reading!
First thing I did was I changed my supermarket to Lidl. Lidl is so much cheaper than Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys. You can get a lettuce for 20p! Crazy cheap. Now, don't be judgey. Just because it's cheap, does not mean it isn't good quality. I find that the fruit and vegetables especially is much better quality than fruit and veg you get from local stores. Seriously, buy an onion from Asda and one from the Lidl and taste the difference. Or..just trust me.
I then did a BIG shop. Now, what I mean by a big shop is stocking up on all cupboard foods. Things that you should definitely have in your food cupboard is: tins of chopped tomatoes, pasta, rice and noodles. I love a lot of Asian foods because they're really cheap and easy to make so if you're like me or want to try some Asian recipes then definitely stock up on your spices. Basic spices that you will need are: chilli, tumeric, garam masala, ground ginger, cumin and cinnamon. These ingredients come up all the time so it's really useful to have them in your cupboard at the ready. It's also important to stock up on herbs and basics such as: garlic granules, mixed herbs, coriander, baked beans, kidney beans, salt and pepper, gravy granules and coconut milk. The next part of your big shop is frozen foods. Things you should have in your freezer are: mixed veg, frozen berries, pastry, meat, potato wedges/chips and bread. Now, onto filling up the fridge: butter, cheese, ham, a smoked sausage, milk, eggs, yogurt, tomato puree, chilli puree, onion, potatoes pepper and mushrooms.
Once you've done your big shop, the next time you go food shopping it's most likely you will just need to buy your very basics: meat, milk and bread. My last BIG shop at the Lidl cost me £42.80 and that included sweet treats and other bits and bobs that I didn't mention above. Pretty amazing. If you want to discover how to make 7 easy meals that you can make with all of the above ingredients then follow my blog and keep an eye out for my next blog posts. Here's a little list of what I've been cooking this week! -->
1. Spaghetti Bolognese
2. Seasoned steaks with potato wedges, veg and gravy
3. Chicken curry with rice
4. Chicken pie
5. Chilli Con Carne
6. Smoked sausage pasta bake
First thing I did was I changed my supermarket to Lidl. Lidl is so much cheaper than Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys. You can get a lettuce for 20p! Crazy cheap. Now, don't be judgey. Just because it's cheap, does not mean it isn't good quality. I find that the fruit and vegetables especially is much better quality than fruit and veg you get from local stores. Seriously, buy an onion from Asda and one from the Lidl and taste the difference. Or..just trust me.
I then did a BIG shop. Now, what I mean by a big shop is stocking up on all cupboard foods. Things that you should definitely have in your food cupboard is: tins of chopped tomatoes, pasta, rice and noodles. I love a lot of Asian foods because they're really cheap and easy to make so if you're like me or want to try some Asian recipes then definitely stock up on your spices. Basic spices that you will need are: chilli, tumeric, garam masala, ground ginger, cumin and cinnamon. These ingredients come up all the time so it's really useful to have them in your cupboard at the ready. It's also important to stock up on herbs and basics such as: garlic granules, mixed herbs, coriander, baked beans, kidney beans, salt and pepper, gravy granules and coconut milk. The next part of your big shop is frozen foods. Things you should have in your freezer are: mixed veg, frozen berries, pastry, meat, potato wedges/chips and bread. Now, onto filling up the fridge: butter, cheese, ham, a smoked sausage, milk, eggs, yogurt, tomato puree, chilli puree, onion, potatoes pepper and mushrooms.
Once you've done your big shop, the next time you go food shopping it's most likely you will just need to buy your very basics: meat, milk and bread. My last BIG shop at the Lidl cost me £42.80 and that included sweet treats and other bits and bobs that I didn't mention above. Pretty amazing. If you want to discover how to make 7 easy meals that you can make with all of the above ingredients then follow my blog and keep an eye out for my next blog posts. Here's a little list of what I've been cooking this week! -->
1. Spaghetti Bolognese
2. Seasoned steaks with potato wedges, veg and gravy
3. Chicken curry with rice
4. Chicken pie
5. Chilli Con Carne
6. Smoked sausage pasta bake
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