Plan cheap meals
Sometimes we don’t even know what is cheap because we don’t have any idea how the cost of the ingredients adds up. Search New Zealand websites for budget meals that use ingredients that are reasonably priced here. I get that cheap meals often mean rice and pasta. If you’re avoiding carbohydrates, search for “low-carb budget meals”.
Cook in bulk and freeze
Why cook one meal when you can cook two at once and just reheat later in the week? Simple good food is almost always cheaper than takeaways. If, like me, you don’t like eating the same thing two days in a row, keep more than one option in the fridge or freezer.
Make lunches
You will either need a stock of bread and spreads, or simply cook larger meals at night and parcel them into lunch containers for the next day or days. When I’m out without lunch and just need to fill a hole I’ve been known to buy a baguette and banana and fill up for less than $3 until I get home. Save expensive lunches for special treats.
Have a restaurant night at home
Choose a special recipe and all cook it together. Food prices were 10.3 per cent higher in January 2023 compared to a year earlier. According to Statistics New Zealand, the second largest contributor to that annual increase was restaurant meals. If you can cut a few of those meals out, and takeaways, the cost of eating plummets.
Grow easy herbs and vegetables
I don’t have a green finger. But I still manage to grow idiot-proof vegetables that save me money. Perpetual spinach and kale are two such items. So is mint, which grows like a weed and can be substituted very well for basil in meals. If you’re buying seedlings or seeds, look for vegetables such as courgette, butternut, and tomatoes that are very prolific.
Make your own
There are so many gourmet ingredients you can make yourself for a fraction. Some of those I make include: hummus, onion jam, chutney, pesto, dukkah, crackers, biscotti, dulce de leche, lemon curd, sauerkraut, and many more. As soon as fancy foods come packaged, they’re 10- times the price or more, most times.
Preserve your own
Last week I talked about freezing. If you have an abundance of in-season fruit and vegetables, consider preserving them. Lemons can be salted Moroccan style and kept in a jar. Many vegetables can become fridge pickles, ready to cook when you need them. Fruit can be dried in the oven. Just be aware that fruit and vegetables are often considerably cheaper at veggie shops or Indian or Chinese supermarkets.
Meal prep
This is about preparing key ingredients for a meal in advance to simplify cooking. Maybe prep a few meals on Sundays. It might just be measuring out the ingredients. Or mixing the spices. Or chopping the veg. Some people put everything in containers ready to whip up in a hurry.
Keep a stock of semi-instant meals
Boy do I know what it’s like to get home and not want to cook anything. When my children were small, on occasion we’d eat baked beans or eggs on toast with whatever else we could rustle up out of the fridge easily. The cost of that compared to Uber Eats is infinitesimal. Or we’d just eat leftovers from the freezer. A friend of mine calls these dinners “freezer surprise”. One pot of pasta with some frozen veg thrown in and a jar of pasta sauce will also keep the family from starving. Baked potatoes are unbelievably easy to make in the microwave for those nights where you just need to collapse. Slow cookers are good. Have meals prepped in plastic containers to throw in the slow cooker as you head to work.
Avoid meal kits
Please don’t fall for the urban myth that meal kits are cheap. If you’re buying only what you need, shopping in season and on sale, using up leftovers, planning meals around what you already have, and pricing out the protein, you’ll spend less than a meal kit.
