Clair Thomson - 21 clever ways to save money

The chef and food writer shares handy tips and ideas on how she economises on food

- Clair Thomson

With energy costs rising and food shopping bills costing more and more, it's time to up your savvy when it comes to tackling supermarket shopping and become more canny in the kitchen. Planning ahead, scrupulous use of a budget, exploring more economical buying options and exercising some common sense when it comes to best-before dates should go some way to buffering the rising cost of putting food on the table.

1 PLANNING AHEAD & BUDGETING

• Make a budget and try to stick to it. That way, you won't be tempted to waste money on food you don't need.

• Write down a shopping list that corresponds to a meal plan. Knowing what food you want to cook and when you plan to cook it throughout the week will mitigate food waste and help you to factor in your leftovers.

• Be prepared to swap in ingredients that you can’t get or that have gone up in price while you're shopping.

• Don’t shop hungry or you'll buy too much food.

SHOPPING

2 EXPLORE BULK BUYING

If you have the storage space, buy rice in bulk as it's cheaper than buying it in smaller amounts. It costs around £2.20 a kilo for 5kg of basmati rice vs £5.80 a kilo for a 500g bag. Look for bulk bags of rice in grocery stores or the world food aisle at a big supermarket.

3 BUY FRUIT AND VEGETABLES IN SEASON

Try to buy most of your fresh produce in the season that it's grown and harvested. If it's grown close to home, with no transport or freight costs, the produce on offer should be competitively priced.