The First of Many Frugal Shops

When looking at the frugal shopping list, one of the key objectives is to cut out all the unnecessary frills and shortcuts. We are all guilty of adding that packet of biscuits or supermarket special offer to the weekly shopping basket, but the reality is that all those little 'bargains' come at a price and lead to an inflated weekly shopping price and don't ensure that you've always got something in and able to rustle up a family meal out of store-cupboard staples.

It is absolutely essential to shop around and to plan your shopping trip and weekly meals, but this doesn't mean that meals have to be dull or boring. There can still be sponteity and creativity when preparing meals on a budget, but things just need to be a little better thought out. Starting with a well stocked store-cupboard and a good idea of what can be made with your ingredients. At times we all lack inspiration and this can lead to the process of nipping to the local supermarket and buying in more groceries at the midweek stage, this can lead to your 'frugal resolutions' going out of the window along with the shopping budget.

Once a good store-cupboard is established a weekly shop will start to look a little bit like the one below:

4			British Butter                                                                   £4.00
	1		Vegetable Fat 500g £2.60/kg	£1.30
	1		Dried Tritional Block Dates 250g £3.80/kg	£0.95
	2		Self Raising Flour,1.5kg £0.40/kg	£1.20
	2		Plain Flour,  1.5kg £0.40/kg	£1.20
	2		British Whole Milk 2.27L (4pint) £0.57/ltr	£2.58
	2		Free Range Eggs x15 £0.21/ea	£6.20
	2		Strong White Bread Flour, Unbleached 1.5kg £0.44/kg	£1.32
	1		Dried Active Baking Yeast 125g £5.12/kg	£0.64
	1		Fairtrade Caster Sugar 1kg £1.01/kg	£1.01
	1		Fairtrade Granulated Sugar 1kg £0.84/kg	£0.84
	1		Lemons, x4 £0.20/ea	£0.79
	1		White Closed Cup Mushrooms 500g £3.30/kg	£1.65
	2		Cauliflower, Single £1.00/ea	£2.00
	1		Extra Thick Double Cream 300ml £0.33/100ml	£1.00
	1		Cox Apples x5 £0.16/ea	£1.00
	6		Cooking Apples (each) £0.35/ea	£3.21
	1		Fairtrade Light Soft Brown Sugar 500g £2.70/kg	£1.35
	1		Coffee, Medium Roast 95g £3.78/100g	£3.59
	1		Macaroni 500g £1.90/kg	£0.95
	2		Leeks (loose) £2.59/kg	£1.67
	1		Vegetable oil  1L £0.20/100ml	£2.00
	1		Carrots,  1.5kg £0.59/kg	£0.89
	1		Desiree potatoes 2.5kg £1.00/kg	£2.50
			2 British Mild Cheese 400g                                                                    £.5.00 £7.25/kg

 

I have done this list up using supermarket prices, because whilst I think it would be wonderful if we could all boycott them and use small local independents, in reality this is impractical for the most people and just a dream for the majority.

 

At the risk of repeating myself frugal cooking does not mean a wartime ration diet nor does it mean a bland and price governed menu, it's all about getting the most out of your ingredients, shopping smartly and minimising the waste coming from he kitchen.