Food stamps

Getting the right balance of healthy and cheap food can be really tricky. I've come a long way from the time when saving meant "Just eat Mi Goreng and Weet Bix for three weeks and you'll be ok". Vegetables and fruit are important, and I like them. Yum yum yum.

I will do a post with recipes soon, but I wanted to share some food shopping tips first.

1. Preparation will be a recurring theme throughout this blog. Food shopping preparation can take a while, but it can be fun. I start by looking for ingredients online that are very very cheap. If you have a supermarket nearby that has an online shop (for delivery purposes), take advantage of that and trawl through the pages. Don't go straight to the specials, they often contain junk food and things that won't go very far in cooking.

2. Look for versatile things that will give you a generous serving/will keep for a while. I like to look for cheap pasta, rice, lentils, potatoes, carrots, onions, and occasionally I'll get some meat to freeze. Tinned foods are also great - most of the time they're less than a dollar. You might not get the best quality, but you tend not to notice once it's cooked.

3. Don't be afraid to be pedantic and compare prices per serve.

4. Once you've found some cheap ingredients, you can go to a website like www.supercook.com. I stumbled across it when I was trying to figure out whether my life changing recipe database idea where you type in the ingredients and the things you can make with it pop up already existed. It did. My thinking is not revolutionary, but that's ok, because it meant someone had already done the hard work for me. It's a fantastic resource for anyone on a budget, just type in what you intend to buy at the supermarket and what you already have in your cupboard, and it will tell you what you can make and whether you need a couple of extra ingredients. If you're already a great cook and rock at improvisation, you probably won't need this, but it's helpful for cooking plebs like me.

5. Adjust recipes to suit what you have in your cupboard. Do you REALLY need to buy that soy sauce just for this recipe, or will you use it again? Do you have something else you can use as a binder? Be careful with this, it doesn't always work - again, it's something you'll get better at with time.

6. Sit down with a calculator and add up the prices of everything you need. Work out how long it will last you for. Are you cooking for two? Is it likely some friends will stop by for dinner? Is it PMS week, and will you eat every grain of salt and sugar in the house? These are all important things to consider in your plan.

7. Stick to the aisles you need to visit. I love the fun aisle too, chocolate and crappy snack foods are delicious, but sticking to your budget = more money for fun and going out with friends, and the ability to pay your bills. I try to get that "Just Don't Look" song from the Simpsons stuck in my head.

8. If you're lucky enough to live near a market, shop for fruit and veg there (near the end of the day, preferably). It's so much cheaper. Huge bags of fruit = stews, pies and cakes, huge bags of vegetables = soups, salads, veggie lasagne. And a million other things. If they're looking a little limp, just cook them as soon as you get home. You'll have food for a week. You can apply #4 to this if you're unsure what to cook.

9. Spices. They'll make things more interesting. Maybe it's just because I'm a filthy smoker (I know, I'd save a bunch of money if I gave up, but it's only a $20 a week habit with rollies, and it REALLY keeps me sane. I'll quit soon. Promise) but I love love love spice, and food is fucking boring without it. If you're consistently buying the same ingredients, switch the spice - paprika instead of chilli in lentil burgers will change the flavour completely (oh god can you tell I like lentils they're the best everrrr).


These things REALLY help. I managed to do my Christmas grocery shopping for around $40 by sticking to this - it provided my friends and I with a decent Christmas feast, and we had leftovers and other ingredients that kept three of us going for another week.

x Joanna