Saving on a shopping budget

Cinema manager Lisa Rutherford, 32, from Guildford, Surrey, was seeing the balance in her savings accounts squeezed by increases in the cost of food.

But by putting their heads together, Lisa and husband Mark worked out how they could slash the cost of their grocery shopping.

"As the credit crunch broke it seemed the price of everything went shooting up," says Lisa.
"Within a short while we'd gone from putting a small amount into our savings accounts each month to barely getting by - and we realised we needed to tighten our belts fast!"

However, with jobs and two young children, the couple had little spare time in the evenings. "As a result we'd carried over bad habits from days when we had a bit more cash to spend - buying lots of ready meals, bottled sauces and so-on," she says. "When we did the sums, we realised how much extra we were paying for convenience."

Back to basics

The couple bought a "huge stock pot" and started cooking a giant meal from scratch every Sunday evening - stews and soups to start with. "Filling it costs a lot, but we freeze everything that's left and often get several more family meals out of it without having to cook much during the week - and we're spending much less than we did."

Last summer, Lisa traded a pile of apples from her garden for a couple of eggs a week from neighbours with hens. "The rest I made into jam or froze, along with some blackberries I picked from nearby hedges," she says.

She also makes use of sites such as mySupermarket.co.uk to get the best deal on her supermarket shopping. "Hidden bonuses - like Nectar points at Sainsbury's - also help," she adds. The site claims to save users up to 20% on their weekly shop.

Tips to cut food cost

Plan ahead: Write down what you want to eat over the next seven days and what you actually need - include breakfast and lunch too (sandwiches made at home being far cheaper than those bought at a shop). Don't throw leftovers away: what won't freeze can usually be chilled for a day or two or - if suitable - fed to a pet.

Budget brands: These have often been equated to poor quality in the past - but supermarket own brands contain fewer calories and less fat as they restrict the use of "richer" ingredients, according to mySupermarket.co.uk.

Storage: Put new behind old and use things in rotation, and consider a temperature gauge in your fridge - if the temperature is above or below that recommended by the manufacturer, your food will spoil more quickly.

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