by Hannah Curtis

Created on: March 11, 2009   Last Updated: October 26, 2010

In households like my own where there is only one wage coming in naturally bills, debts and rent often take priority over the food budget. Thus we are becoming experts in stocking our pantry frugally. It is surprisingly an easy feat on the whole and there are several methods we employ which have helped us greatly reduce our food bills.

We sometimes choose to buy in bulk and go to stores such as Macros which give reasonable deals; thus the monthly supply of pantry goods etc can be obtained cheaply. Other months however we do the opposite and make meal outlines for the next two weeks and strictly buy only what we need for this time period. For example instead of automatically picking up a four tin packet of soups or beans, we may buy just one or two tins in accordance of how many we are planning to use in the near future.

Shopping on-line can also help us stick to the list, for it is hard to walk around a store and not get tempted to buy more than is needed. There is less chance of this happening when shopping on-line. A further way to save money is to buy own brand products, it does not necessarily have to be the "economy" products, but you could buy supermarket own brands.

Shopping at cheaper stores have helped our new household tremendously in cutting costs in the pantry. Instead of frequenting places such as Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencers, we have moved to Morrisons, Asda and Tesco, for every little helps. The pound shops also have proved their weight in gold for they offer amazing food and fizzy beverage deals.  

Fruit and vegetables are major foods in our house, a wide range are used daily in meals, soups and snacks. Consequently visiting the local market helps with the expense, for you can buy your weekly fruit and vegetables for only a few pounds, rather than just one bag of apples costing a few pounds in the Supermarket.

Slowly society in these times of financial difficulty is realising the value of self-sufficiency. There are movements towards becoming more reliant on the land as food prices rise and incomes decrease, with communities joining together to tend allotments. I believe my mother has the right idea; her garden has been established as a mini allotment for the past decade. She grows a wide range of vegetables and berries and has a mini orchard, admittedly a strange sight for a garden in the middle of the city. However it does mean that within the correct seasons her expense in these areas decreases, thus her pantry is stocked frugally.

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