FEELING the stretch this week? Your weekly food planning might look a little different at the moment but there are lots of ways to save by stretching out your store cupboard ingredients.
Get the family involved and get creative. Here are the ways I’m making my food go that little bit further . . .
Cupboard inventory: Have a clearout and write a list of everything that is in your kitchen. Divide your list into dried goods, tinned, frozen and fresh. Get the kids involved and ask them to help. Knowing what you have means it is easier to know what you can make. This is a big help with meal planning.
Going off? If you have fresh food that is near its sell-by date, it might be an idea to freeze it. For example, cheese can be grated and frozen. Meat can be frozen in portion sizes (for two people, freeze two chicken breasts in clingfilm together). Herbs can be put into ice-cube trays with water, and the frozen cubes added to dinners. Stock can also be frozen in smaller portions to add flavour to dishes, and stale bread can be whizzed into breadcrumbs for bulking. Clip it! Make sure crackers and biscuits are in airtight containers as well as nuts and raisins. These are good for snacking and will keep for ages.
Use less, save more: Using 75 per cent of what is recommended in the recipe can help stretch out meals, as can bulking out dishes with dried goods. Add lentils to pasta sauces. Oats can bulk out a bolognese, and up the quantity of rice in meals.
Extra help: Some items double up in ways you might not realise. I have a jar of sundried tomatoes that I add to pasta, but I can use the oil they come in to cook with. Anything in brine can be used as an extra way to salt your dishes. Save the liquid from a tin of chickpeas instead of using eggs in baking, it’s a great substitute.
Keep clever: Make sure your root vegetables are in the dark, as potatoes and sweet potatoes keep for longer and will not sprout that way.
Share: We all need to pull together and there is no reason you can’t offer a neighbour a tin of something or swap ingredients.
- Prices correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability.
Cheap treat
GET 12 individual Müller yoghurts at Tesco for £3, including the Müller Light Hot Cross Bun flavour. Usually 70p per pot.
SAVE: £5.40
My Sun Savers fiver
LAURA SNEDDEN from Bo’ness, West Lothian, says: “I am saving up my Sun Savers fivers to treat my mum.”
- Send your Savers fiver stories to sunsavers.co.uk/fivers and you’ll get 28 codes worth £5 if your tip is used. Please include your name and town.
Top swap
SNAP up this denim jacket, below, at La Redoute. It’s just £28.60, far cheaper than this similar one, above, sold at Boden for £85.
SAVE: £56.40
Reader’s saving tip
KATHRYN SMYTH, from Belfast, says: “If you use cotton pads to remove your make-up, split them in two, so they last twice as long.”
- Send your tips to sunsavers.co.uk/tips and you’ll get 28 codes worth £5 if your tip is used. Please include your name and town.
Shop & save
JAMESON Irish Whiskey is reduced to £15, down from £23, at Asda.
SAVE: £8
Hot right now
YOU can get 25 per cent off orders at Boohoo via Vouchercodes.co.uk for the rest of this month.
Play now to win £50,000 on the Sun Savers Raffle
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- PRICES correct at time of going to press. Deals/offers subject to availability.
