by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: December 20, 2008

When considering how we are going to cook or eat on a week on a budget, the first thing we of course have to do is determine precisely how much money we have available to spend each week on food. It is a more than worthwhile exercise to sit down and calculate this out in a logical and precise sense. It can also have sundry benefits in other areas of your life and expenditure by perhaps allowing you to discover seemingly unrelated ways in which you can save money.

The next step is to look at what our normal weekly shopping list consists of. Check your old receipts if you still have them. What are we buying that we don't truly need? Do we really need that bag of salty snacks for consuming in front of the TV at night? Do we really need all those sauces poured or spread over all our meals? Determine what can be eliminated entirely from your normal weekly shop - you may be surprised by how much this one exercise alone cuts off your bills!

Look at the contents of your trash can, dustbin or recycling container. What does it contain that you bought at the supermarket last week but didn't use or only used in part? Ask yourself why you bought it in the first instance. Are you going to buy similar again next week?

Shop once a week and always prepare a detailed list in advance. It is vital that we then stick to this list and are not tempted by promotional items or tempting displays. If we are so tempted, it is likely that we are buying something we don't truly need, are using up part of our carefully prepared budget unnecessarily and are defeating the purpose of the whole exercise.

Consider also how often you are buying brand name products when the supermarket's own, much cheaper variety would do just as well. I am well aware that in many cases we are substituting substandard products for quality products but this is by no means always the case! Certain budget products are just as good as their considerably more expensive counterparts. This is something which can be down largely to individual taste, however, and some experimentation may be required.

Buy in bulk where possible. Even fresh food items such as potatoes and onions, to name but two, can be bought much cheaper in larger quantities and will last longer than you may think. This does not mean in any sense that we have to eat boiled potatoes and onions every night! Potatoe in particular are extremely versatile and can be cooked in a wide variety of delicious and tempting fashions. Do some Google searches and be creative with your recipes. The results could benefit your health as well as your pocket.

These are but a few simple steps that each of us can take in order to trim our weekly food bills and stick to a sensible budget. This list is by no means exhaustive however and it is one we should perpetually be looking to develop. As you use any food item on a daily basis, consider whether you really need it or whether a cheaper alternative would have done just as well. In this sense, we can ever be improving on the efficiency of our weekly shop and saving money to be spent on other things.

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