Recipe Round Up + My Monthly Food Budget & 3 Tips For Saving

I'm literally saving thousands of pounds a year from doing these things!

How is it already the end of June?! Bonkers if you ask me. The time is FLYING. But, we are loving life, so it’s all good! I hope you’ve all had a glorious June filled with friends, food, and fabulous times.

This week has been filled with yummy dishes, so let’s jump right into the weekly roundup including the debut dishes of my new 20-minute meals series…

The Weekly Recipe Round Up

Easy Spam Ramen - For a super simple weeknight dinner, this Easy Spam Ramen recipe is the perfect meal. Low-effort and delicious, this spam, eggs, and ramen noodle combination come together so quickly. Spam fried in garlic, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and chilli flakes really takes spam to the next level!

20-Min Harissa Chicken & Chickpea Pasta - This recipe is one of my favourite go-to weeknight meals that takes less than 20 minutes to make. It’s full of flavour and simple to make!

20-Min Creamy Miso Mushroom Udon - This easy creamy udon recipe is so delicious and loaded with garlic, and butter, and topped with spring onions. It’s perfect for a weeknight dinner as it comes together in less than 15 minutes.

Now, onto the tea. Below, i’ll be sharing My Monthly Food Budget and 3 Tips For Saving!

I've chosen to include takeaways, dining out, and supermarket food shops in my food budget because I see them as interconnected categories that should all be considered as one. I feel like there's no value in me sharing my monthly supermarket food bill without showing you a holistic version of how much I actually spend on food in total. I could have a really cheap supermarket budget of £10 a week but then spend hundreds of pounds on eating out at restaurants and ordering takeaways…

So, here are my three tips for saving on your food bill (the whole picture), along with how much I spend on average each month!

3 Tips for Saving on Your Food Bill:

1) Delete takeaway apps - I know this might be a big ask, but I can't recommend it enough. Ever since I moved to London, I've deleted any takeaway apps, and oh my goodness, it has literally saved me so much money. Let's say the average takeaway costs £16/$20, and you get one at least once a week. That's over £800/$1,000 a year on takeaway food. That's an insane amount of money. I totally get it, after a long day, you're exhausted and all you fancy is a takeaway. But, is 15-20 minutes of cooking your own homemade meal and dancing along to some good tunes a bad way to finish your day? I don't think so! To give you some context, with all the money I could have spent on takeaways (e.g., Indian food) in the last year, I'm now able to put that money towards going to India in September... ACTUAL INDIA!! So, if you're in need of some inspiration when you're desperate to get a takeaway, I have a load of quick and easy recipes for you instead!

2) Do a weekly shop, with a shopping list!! - I have been a religious weekly shopping list writer for years, and it has been hands down one of the biggest contributors to saving money. It's so easy to go unplanned into a supermarket every time you want to cook something and just grab whatever you fancy. But trust me, if you go in like a headless chicken, you'll act like one... by picking up items you don't need (like that random garlic BBQ sauce you spotted in Asda) and spending way more money than you need to. I'm talking 25-35% more!! So, next week, plan what you'd like to eat that week and write a shopping list. Go to the shops and STICK to your shopping list. Not only will it save you money, but it will also give you a more structured meal plan, which then helps with tip number 1 of reducing your takeaway cravings!

3) Buy frozen & in bulk - I don't know if this is the case where you are in the world, but at my local Tesco, a frozen bag of salmon is 40% cheaper than a fresh packet of salmon?! The same goes for fruits, veggies, and other meats... it's much cheaper to buy frozen food. On top of the cost, frozen foods actually have a higher nutritional content because they preserve their vitamins and minerals compared to fresh foods, which lose quality over time. There's also less risk of waste because you simply take the food out of the freezer when you want to eat it, instead of accidentally letting it go off in your fridge. In addition, buying rice, pasta, tins, meat, and veggies in bulk will help reduce your costs A LOT. I have a dedicated store cupboard where I keep my huge bag of rice, pasta, mega pack of canned tomatoes, coconut milk, grains, and more. You can find these large bags in your regular supermarkets, or if you want to go REALLY big, then head on over to Costco for some gorgeous bargains (once again, go with a shopping list, don’t get distracted!!).

My Monthly Food Budget

First and foremost, I don't use any apps to manage my budget. And, because I don't have a set income every month, I simply created a budget for food that I know I can afford (even on lower-income months) and stick to it. Furthermore, because I work with food, it's very easy to spend more money on it than I would normally. But even with food content creation as my job, I try to spend wisely, eat mindfully, and avoid wasting any food. So bearing that in mind, I actually think I beat my budget because of the tips above!!! I also buy the food for both Henry and me, and then he transfers me half. So, I'll give you the total of what MY portion is instead of the combined.

• Supermarket Food - £160/$200. On average, we spend around £320/$400 per month for the two of us. So that's £40/$32 I spend per week, just on myself. I tend to shop at Tesco, Asda, or Sainsbury's. They're my go-to supermarkets. I don't buy a lot of meat and hardly any alcohol, which is where I think I save a lot of money. And if I do buy meat, I always try to buy the biggest packet I can find and then freeze it so I don't have to buy it the next week!

• Takeaways - £0. I literally have not bought a single takeaway since being in London, and it's liberating.

• Cafés - £40/$50. I tend to end up going to a café with friends once a week. I have only ever bought one Costa coffee in my life (haha, that was last weekend). I enjoy a coffee, but just to put it into perspective, if you get a coffee for £4/$5 every day, five days a week, every week of the year... that's £1,040/$1300. Crazy. I'm not saying don't get a coffee... I'm just saying if you want to save, it's probably a good way to start!

• Restaurant/dining out - £200/$250. I love going out for dinner with friends. I adore socialising! But I'm fortunate that my friends are more into the "supper club" or "come dine with me" vibes. Occasionally, we will go to a restaurant or dine out, but most of the time, we end up going to each other's houses and having a home-cooked meal. I couldn't recommend it enough. Firstly, because it's a wholesome activity. Secondly, it naturally saves you a ton of money!

I hope this week’s issue provided you with some helpful tips and tasty recipes! Thank you for being here and have a wonderful weekend! See ya next Friday xoxo