Cheaper food shopping
Wholesalers and specialist shops, like Asian supermarkets, may be cheaper than high street supermarkets for some items. Sacks of chick peas, rice spices etc.
Cooperatives
I love the idea of cooperatives. This is how I imagine they would be. It’s a shop with big sacks of dried produce and liquids. Grains, pulses, potatoes, sugar, vegetable oil, syrup, treacle. That sort of thing. You go with your small sack and bottles to get a few kilos of what you want. Unfortunately I don’t think these shops actually exist in the UK. Nice concept though.
Food Banks
Foremost amongst these are the Trussell trust. These guys hand out food parcels. You need some proof that you are in need. They also restrict you to a number of visits per quarter.
The website says that they are going to do cooking classes too soon. That is good in its way. Also it’s a massive criticism of our schooling system and society in general.
www.trusselltrust.org
"Recipes"
I feel particularly unqualified to tell people how to cook but here are some “cooking ideas". That way I don’t have to call them recipes. They are loosely based on products that are perpetually cheap.
Here are some of the products that are perpetually cheap:
Vegetables and noodles stir-fry
A packet of noodles costs about 15 pence. It is well worth having a couple of these at hand.
If some vegetables come your way. Slice them and fry them with some cooking oil in a big frying pan. When they are done crunch up the packet of noodles and stir them in. After a few minutes add some water a little at a time. Taste and be ready to crumble in add a stock cube if necessary. It might not be good enough for guests but quite good for pennies.
Cheapest Ingredients Stew
This usually consists of potatoes, onions and cooking bacon are the usual candidates. Sometimes carrots and other vegetables join the party depending on what you can get cheaply.
Chickpeas
Most of North Africa lives on chick peas. This recipe is good but says to use a tin (that’s 60 pence). Dried chickpeas are way cheaper than that. Buy dried chick peas and soak them for a day. Boil them in a pressure cooker. Then they are the same if not better.
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chickpeacurry_2213
Lentil recipes are similarly cheap . We have a lot to learn from out Asian friends. Especially if you are a vegetarian.