Great Cheaper Health Food Hunt

thatdaftgirl

They cost about £5 for 250g in my local health food shop, or even more eye watering amounts for the organic ones

If you look for Red Medlars, they are about £1 for 150g in the Chinese supermarket (Leith Walk, Edinburgh is my local), which is also great for bulk buying rice and green tea.

I add them to rolled oats, nuts, rasins, sunflower and pumpkin seeds for cheap home made muesli with no added sugar, salt etc but they are also good added to stir fry and stews

Caterina

A very good but overlooked and not very much used health food (in the UK) is the Globe Artichoke, which is very rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre, very good liver de-toxer - but here in the UK to buy it fresh at speciality markets it usually costs a fortune (I have seen them at £1 each in Borough Market!).

Now I have discovered that Waitrose have started selling frozen artichoke hearts for £1.89 for a 500g bag, which is still not very cheap but much cheaper than getting the fresh stuff - probably the equivalent of 500g cleaned artichokes is around 2kg of uncleaned ones!

I am going to my nearest Waitrose very soon and will report back on how the quality is (but usually Waitrose is great quality anyway!).

ruthvarley

This is a great and really useful thread! I've been looking for a reliable online H&B type thing for ages so I'll deffo try those out and post feedback on here.
I also recommend trying Li'dals for cheap (and sometimes organic!) fruit and veg, also pro-biotic yogurts and tinned beans.

:j

MrsBartolozzi

I think that we should all remember to buy fruit and veg that is in season as that is usually the cheapest, as well as being the freshest/ full of vitamins etc because it has been stored for less time.
http://www.eattheseasons.co.uk

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sue-y

Or howabout grow your own? Just started out on this myself, container gardening on my windowsills with tomatoes, carrots, lettuce and herbs.

Lots of deals on garden stuff at the mo:

Wilkinsons have 50L bags of compost at 2 for £6, seeds at 3 packs get cheapest free (start around 49p), same with pots and troughs.

Woolworths have seeds buy 2 packs get cheapest free

Lidl do really cheap seeds - 29p for thyme

Currently if you get a catalogue from Thomson and Morgan they also send a £5 voucher. You have to pay post and packing at £1.99.

HTH.

mmmorley

My experience has been that, as long as I buy in bulk (1Kg bags :money:), my local Asian Cash & Carry beats: H&B; Julian Graves; GNC (owned by H&B anyway), or anywhere else hands down when it comes to:-

Almonds - roughly £6/Kg vs. £9+ @H&B
Cashews
Pistachios
Sesame seeds
Tahini

Sometimes the H&B/etc's offers are more competitive, brazils tend to be cheaper, plus they have wider ranges - mixtures, fruits & seeds.

I looked at what I bought and then modified my tastes to better suit my budget

Also remember of course that chillies, garlic, ginger, herbs, spices, sauces, etc, etc tend to be WAY cheaper there than in the supermarkets, plus they're often closer to home AND open fairly late.

I reckon I must save roughly £5/week all-in!

mashauk

sue-y wrote: »

Been mentioned by others countless times before but buy pulses, rice and the like in bulk at asian and chinese supermarkets. Herbs and spices at asian supermarkets are miles cheaper, and usually fresher.

The only problem with bulk buying herbs and spices is they lose their potency and go stale if you keep them too long, not a problem in our house as we get through truckloads. I prefer to grow my own herbs though and freeze them in ice cubes.

mashauk

pensioner_margaret wrote: »

If you are buying those expensive probiotic drinks - read on
It is easy to make your own using Kefir grains.
Google 'kefir' and learn all about it.

I read somewhere that the probiotic drinks were a waste of time anyway, as they didn't contain enough and you'd need to drink so many to get the required amount to feel any benefit.

doire_2

Boots are doing 3 for 2 on certain vitamins

I buy the multibiotic vitamins usually £4.99 in my local chemsit for 30 caps. (but i get discount on these)

My girlfriend is a pharmacist and works for the chain that owns Boots.

She gets 12% off non-boots brands.

That means i got 3 tubs of 30 caps for just over £2 each!

Even without the discount its still a good deal at 3 for 2

http://www.boots.com/shop/product_list_endeca_template.jsp?classificationid=1035783

Angelina-M

pensioner_margaret wrote: »

If you are buying those expensive probiotic drinks - read on
It is easy to make your own using Kefir grains.
Google 'kefir' and learn all about it.

I read somewhere that the probiotic drinks were a waste of time anyway, as they didn't contain enough and you'd need to drink so many to get the required amount to feel any benefit.

Thats right. The probiotic drinks you buy have millions of bacteria in but kefir has many billions and these include many types that arent even present in the expensive supermarket drinks.

When you have a probiotic drink, the bacteria drink (that you have usually taken from the fridge so the bacteria is 'asleep') it takes a while for the bacteria to warm up and start growing, bearing in mind that these drinks may have been sat on a supermarket shelf for a week or two with the bacteria in a chilled state. Anyway the bacteria travels through your gut and then out of your system naturally.

Kefir is made fresh so the bacteria are simply alive and bouncing! Kefir also has the ability to colonize your gut and so provides protection against bad bad bacteria for longer.

I have info on my blog and was giving it away free however I've got such a waiting list now that I have to put this on hold. Sorry.

I love what kefir does..... even though I hate the taste :eek: but as healthy stuff goes, I don't think you can beat it. It certainly keeps you 'regular'!!!

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