Cheaper eats: Eat heartily and cheaply

Smart choices will keep your dollars in your pocket. Photo / File

Despite the doom and gloom of ever-rising prices, it is possible - easy, even - to buck the trend and significantly reduce your food bill.

The Herald on Sunday enlisted the help of Nutrition Foundation chief executive Sue Pollard and oilyrag.co.nz author Frank Newman to show how to stretch each dollar and feed a family cheaply and healthily.

Superfoods
Six super-cheap superfoods should be in every food shop: lean mince ($13/kg, on special), baked beans ($3/kg), eggs ($3.50 a dozen), canned fish ($8/kg), frozen vegetables ($3/kg) and kiwifruit ($5/kg).

Milk, fruit, veges
Often considered too dear, Pollard says no family can afford to skimp on these nutritional staples. She recommends powdered milk (less than $1/litre when made) and frozen or tinned produce. She says the alternatives are nutritionally equal to their fresh counterparts and can cost less than half the price.

Grow your own
The cheapest option of all, says Newman. "You not only remove the GST, you get the produce for free. It's so easy and you don't need much space. Many vegetables such as beans and tomatoes will grow in a pot on the patio."

Cheap protein
Meat is expensive, but canned or dried beans, chickpeas and lentils - all around $3/kg - will make it go twice as far. Pollard suggests cooking cheaper meat, such as shin or gravy beef, in a slow-cooker to make tender casseroles.

Cereals
Comparing the cheapest brands, sultana bran is an expensive choice (around 91c/100g), followed by rice bubbles (63c/100g), muesli (54c/100g) and wheat biscuits (55c/100g). Pollard says rolled oats (less than 40c/100g) with powdered milk and fruit are the most filling and cheap start to the day.

Waste not
Throw nothing out. Freeze leftovers and dregs such as egg whites, whipped cream, tomato puree, bread crusts, chopped pumpkin and even half cans of beans and soup. Write the date on the container and use within six months. Two left-over sausages can be sliced and used in a soup, rice or pasta dish and canned tuna can be transformed into wholesome pies, kedgeree or fish cakes. Turn to old cookbooks for recipes written for tighter budgets.

Shopping
Write a menu for the week and buy only the ingredients for each meal. Use days off to bake, then freeze for the week ahead. Similarly, prepare jam, peanut butter or egg sandwiches for children's lunches and freeze. Newman estimates swapping branded food with home-brand equivalents saves an average family $40 a week. "Don't be fooled into thinking a product with a fancy label and recognised brand is better for you than a plainly packaged house brand. In many cases, it's exactly the same product."

Cutbacks to feed family

Mother-of-two and fulltime student Jasmine Luki, 21, says her young family has had to make big cutbacks this year.

"We used to have steak twice a week, now we'd be lucky to have it twice a month," she says.

"It's just unbelievable how expensive it has gone."

Nevertheless, Luki reserves $40 each week to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.

While she will turn to frozen and canned produce to save money - particularly in winter - she says she hopes she won't have to switch to powdered milk for her children.

"That might have to be an option," she says.

"As it is, everything I buy is on special."