Skip to:
In a recent interview with the Radio Times, former Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain urged home cooks to drop the weekly big shop. Hussain, whose latest BBC Two series and book, Cook Once, Eat Twice, offers tips on how to get two meals out of one set of ingredients, questioned whether it’s time to overhaul our routine shopping habits.
“Are you really thinking about what you have at home, and whether you are using those ingredients up before you go [grocery shopping]?” she writes. “For me, I find the biggest thrill is if I can stretch all my ingredients to not just one week, but maybe even 10 days or, dare I say it, 14. I love that.”
Despite the cost of groceries remaining extremely high, climate charity WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) estimates that UK households are throwing away over 4.5m tons of edible food and drink every year – around three-quarters of which could have been eaten if managed properly.
And while most of us would hope to waste as little food as possible, it’s easy to fall into bad habits – adding all of our favourites to the shopping basket when buying food online, or neglecting to check what we have in the fridge before leaving for the supermarket.
But by ditching the “big shop” and escaping the weekly supermarket rut, we can save time and cash, all while reducing waste. Here’s how to do it:
Take stock
Like Nadiya, I’m a careful grocery shopper and hate wasting food, only picking up essentials to plug any gaps in my meal plan. Identifying your own key wastage items is a good starting point – what is often left languishing in the bottom of the veg drawer or fruit bowl? In my case it used to be bagged salad, which I addressed by buying whole lettuce, which lasts much longer.
Making a list
Whether buying a handful of essentials or planning a full restock, you should always make a list of what’s needed and stick to it. Avoid adding variations of ingredients that you have already that can be easily interchanged, such as different mustards, grains or dairy products. No one will care if the midweek chilli is made with cannellini beans or the pasta bake is topped with Red Leicester instead of cheddar.
Store cupboard
A strategically stocked cupboard is the key to stretching out your groceries and minimising the number of shopping trips you’ll need to make. You probably won’t need to buy these items every fortnight, but here are the essential staples I always have to hand.