Need help with veg

knitandsew

Hi!
I'm new here...well, i used to be on here years ago but forgot my details so I'm now "born again".

Anyway, a lot of my overspending comes from food shopping.
I've now decided to change my ways :j

So I've looked at what we already have and made a meal plan. So far so good.

My stumbling block is veg. I used to buy LOADS of fresh veg (I was on SW and love fresh veg anyway) and pretty much use them all up but our new budget can't cope with the cost of all the veg.
Apart from frozen peas and frozen green beans I've never been fond of frozen veg but they are much cheaper than fresh most of the time. Really not a fan of tinned veg (except tomatoes)

How can i make sure we eat enough veg without busting my budget? We normally shop at Aldi's and/or check the reduced section first ...not sure there's any more I can do excpet reduce the amount we eat, right?

tessie_bear

hi...im quite surprised by your post as i have always thought veg was cheap but some suggestions
buy a sack of spuds from a farm shop about 3 quid for a half sack

go to lidl and aldi and buy the super6/offers

go to a street market and get someof the pound bowls

buy a packet of lettuce seeds and have a go at growing them

shop late in supermarkets and see what they are selling off

buy frozen veg...peas...mixed veg...sweetcorn...runner beans...leeks in somewhere like farm foods

hth tessa

Feebie

Hi. Definitely agree with aldi super six. In terms of frozen veg, I only tend to like peas and sweetcorn if I'm eating them as a plain side vegetable. Having said that, frozen chopped spinach is brilliant in curries and obviously lasts so much longer than fresh. I've also discovered a nice way of using frozen cauli - defrost it then roast in the oven (tried it without defrosting and it ended up soggy).

suki1964

This week lidls has cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes and oranges for 39p

Worth buying the oranges to juice if like me can't stand them as fruit

I've bought 4 caulis, will be making cauliflower cheeses for the freezer and freezing some florets for another day

Carrots are going to end up in every meal this week


We grow some veg, that always helps keep the cost down even if things do get a bit repetitive during the season

But only buying what is in season really helps with costs as well

mrs_Badger

I find fresh veg in Lidls super cheap most of the time. I bought big bag of carrots for 39p (not on offer), Aubergine 45p, cucumber 35p, ... peppers and avocado and so on are more expensive but on the whole in-season veg is very good. I would agree with those who say Lidl and Aldi specials, I can't think how to do it cheaper.

Ilona

On my plate at this moment is yellow sticker baby sweetcorn, cauliflower, and broccoli, Green beans out of the garden. Carrots and potatoes from Aldi. My main meal is just vegetables steamed in a pan, I eat them every day, they are mostly seasonal. I buy frozen as well. I shop around, and go to Tesco at 7.30pm. I don't find vegetables expensive at all, and salad is cheap at this time of the year.
Ilona

june89

Agree with the last couple of posts, buying in season veg should be pretty cheap. My food bill went down a lot since I swapped to a mostly veggie diet. Also don't know what veg you're eating, but sticking with the basics (broccoli over asparagus, as an example) will keep the costs down.

Check your portion sizes too, as that will drive up the cost. I'm on SW and have always found their suggested portions of anything to be ridiculously large. So you may be eating more than you need if you're still using their recipes, a "5 a day" portion is 80g as a rough guideline.

theoretica

Look at vegetables in season, but also root veg are usually cheaper for their weight.

Do you have a garden area to grow some of your own?

PasturesNew

There's regular veg, which is cheap/often on offer .... and there's new-fangled posher veg, that costs an arm and a leg.

Carrots, onions, swede, parsnip, cauliflower, broccoli can usually be bought cheaply. The sort of stuff regular families would've had on their plates from 1940-1990....

Petit pois, asparagus, kale .... need to be dropped from your vocabulary.

You need to focus on volume/£ to identify the best few veggies you can get cheapest.

Frozen veg is fresher than fresh as it's frozen fast, whereas fresh languishes in boxes, lorries, warehouses and displays until you buy it.

Most tinned veg isn't that great, but each has its place. I love Lidl's butter beans, they're big and plump.

missbiggles1

PasturesNew wrote: »

There's regular veg, which is cheap/often on offer .... and there's new-fangled posher veg, that costs an arm and a leg.

Carrots, onions, swede, parsnip, cauliflower, broccoli can usually be bought cheaply. The sort of stuff regular families would've had on their plates from 1940-1990....

Petit pois, asparagus, kale .... need to be dropped from your vocabulary.

You need to focus on volume/£ to identify the best few veggies you can get cheapest.

Frozen veg is fresher than fresh as it's frozen fast, whereas fresh languishes in boxes, lorries, warehouses and displays until you buy it.

Most tinned veg isn't that great, but each has its place. I love Lidl's butter beans, they're big and plump.

Kale's been around for ages - my dad used to grow it on his allotment in the 50s.

In fact,

"During World War II, the cultivation of kale in the U.K. was encouraged by the Dig for Victory campaign. The vegetable was easy to grow and provided important nutrients to supplement those missing from a normal diet because of rationing."

Wiki

atolaas

I use tinned new potatoes to make fish cakes. I mash them up with tinned fish like tuna or mackerel - then shape and fry. Check out frugal vegan recipes from A Girl Named Jack. She's has lots of experience in making a little veg go a long way :-)