Master Budget Shopping and Cooking with Wholesome Ireland and the Super Savers!

Hello again prospective money savers and welcome to a more delicious addition to our Super Savers series with I, the Baked Bean Avenger. This time we’ve teamed up with money saving expert Caitriona from Wholesome Ireland to bring you some great tips and tricks to cut food costs and wastage in your household!

Simple necessities such as bread and fresh fruit and vegetables have become costly commodities over the years, and an average weekly shop can easily break the £100 mark if shopping for the rest of the family too. Luckily with some forward thinking and a few small changes you can make some huge savings on your monthly grocery budget. We put our questions to Caitriona and she gave us some great advice!

“Stick to a budget. Make a plan and have a shopping list before you go to the shops. Actually local supermarkets are great value so long as you stick to own brand items. It’s when you start buying big brand names that things become expensive. Only buy what you need, not what you think you’d need so don’t get sucked into buying bigger packets because they appear to be good value.”

“Natural and wholesome foods are incredibly cheap if you’re prepared to put a little bit of effort in to make sure they are transformed. For example, it’s cheaper to make your own baked beans and they taste far nicer than the processed alternative.  It just takes a bit of effort to get them made but when you do, I doubt you’ll buy a tin again! Other foods such as home made pancakes can easily be made at home with the little ones and are a great fun to cook! 

“First off, don’t take them shopping if you can. Try and get a family member to stay at home when they are at the impressionable age. Feed them bright coloured foods that attract them visually such as peppers and get them involved in the cooking process.”

“If you’re not sure, freeze it! Be it 1 crust of bread – add it to a bag in the freezer and over a few weeks you’ll get enough for plenty of breadcrumbs. If you buy in bulk, freeze in portions – not in bulk. So before you put any meat in the freezer, break it down into meals rather than a large amount. It means you don’t have waste after cooking!”

So there we have another lot fantastic money saving tips and tricks from money saving guru Caitriona. Be sure to check out more great tips and recipes on Caitriona’s site Wholesome Ireland, and keep an eye out for Caitriona’s upcoming book too!

Until next time faithful savers!