Eating well for less: simple habits that show on your receipt

Spending less on food isn't about miracle tricks or going hungry. Most of the savings come from two places: not throwing food away and shopping with a purpose. These habits don't take extra time, just a little organisation, and nearly all of them improve what you eat as well.

Before you shop: check what you have and make a list

A large share of the food that ends up in the bin was bought without a plan. Before you head to the shop:

• Go through the fridge, the cupboards and the freezer. Whatever goes off first sets the menu for the first few days.
• Decide what you're going to eat this week, even if only roughly. The guide to planning the week's menu in 20 minutes gives you a simple method.
• Write the list from that menu, grouped by the sections of the shop, and stick to it.
• Don't shop hungry. It sounds like a joke, but it shows in your trolley.

If you use the Cocinoa planner, it builds the list from your menu and subtracts what you already have at home, so this part almost takes care of itself.

Buy in season

Seasonal fruit and vegetables are usually at their best for flavour and, when there's plenty about, at a better price. Autumn is the time for squash and pumpkin, mushrooms, cabbages and pomegranates; summer, for tomatoes, courgettes, peppers and peaches. In In season you can see what's at its best each month.

A few more ideas:

• Buy loose whatever you're going to use: two loose carrots rather than a one-kilo bag that will go to waste.
• Don't pass over oddly shaped or slightly blemished fruit and veg: for soups, stews or compotes it works just as well.
• Frozen vegetables (peas, green beans, spinach) are an excellent option: they're frozen at their best and don't spoil in the fridge.

Pulses and eggs, your protein allies

Dried pulses are among the cheapest sources of protein you can find, and a plate of lentils or chickpeas with vegetables is a complete meal. If soaking puts you off, the guide to pulses from start to finish shows you how to cook a kilo in one go and freeze it in portions.

Other proteins that are kind to your wallet:

• Eggs, for omelettes, scrambled eggs or to round off a salad.
• Frozen fish and tinned sardines, mackerel or tuna.
• Meat as a supporting act, not always the star: in a stew for four, around 300 or 400 g of meat with potatoes, vegetables or pulses goes much further than four steaks.

Buy whole and use everything

Anything that comes chopped, peeled or in single-portion trays nearly always costs more per kilo. A few examples:

• A whole chicken goes a long way: the breasts for the griddle, the thighs for a stew, the wings in the oven and the carcass for stock.
• A whole lettuce or cabbage lasts longer than bagged, washed leaves.
• Cheese in a wedge usually works out cheaper than grated or sliced, and it only takes a minute to grate.
• The parts that usually get thrown away are edible too: the green part of the leek goes into stock, peeled broccoli stalks cook just like the rest, and tender celery leaves add aroma to a salad.

Compare the price per kilo or per litre

In Spain, the shelf label shows not only the price of the pack but also the price per kilo or per litre. It's the only fair way to compare:

• The big pack isn't always the cheapest per kilo. Check.
• "3 for 2" or "second one half price" offers only save money if you'll use it all before it goes off.
• Own-brand products are usually a good choice for basics such as flour, rice, pulses, pasta, tinned food, milk or yoghurts. Compare the ingredients list and the percentages with the brand you normally buy: they're often very similar. If a product doesn't convince you, go back to your usual one; there's no need to change everything at once.
• Avoid single portions and packaged snacks: you're mostly paying for packaging.

Cook extra and freeze it

Cooking a double batch of a stew takes almost the same time as making it once, and that second portion is what saves you on the night you don't feel like cooking and the temptation is to order a takeaway. Freeze it in well-labelled portions.

Give leftovers a second life

• Stale bread: garlic soup, migas (fried breadcrumbs), torrijas (Spanish-style French toast) or breadcrumbs.
• Vegetables starting to soften: a puréed soup, a sofrito or an omelette.
• Meat from a cocido (chickpea stew) or a roast chicken: croquetas, cannelloni, a salad or a filling.
• Very ripe fruit: fruit salad, compote or, chopped, into the freezer for smoothies.

What you spend without noticing

• Water: if tap water is safe to drink where you live and you like it, you save money and packaging. A jug in the fridge helps.
• Energy: put lids on your pans, use the pressure cooker for pulses and long stews and, if you switch the oven on, make the most of it by baking two things at once.
• Eating out because you didn't plan ahead: a lunchbox packed the night before is the most obvious saving.

A sample budget week

It isn't a fixed menu, just an idea of how these habits fit together:

• Monday: lentils with vegetables, cooking a double batch.
• Tuesday: Spanish potato omelette with salad.
• Wednesday: Monday's lentils.
• Thursday: roast chicken with potatoes; the carcass goes into the pot for stock.
• Friday: soupy vegetable rice made with that stock.
• Saturday: chickpeas with spinach.
• Sunday: Castilian garlic soup with the leftover bread and an egg.

Notice how ingredients repeat (vegetables, potatoes, eggs, stock, bread) and how one day uses up what was left from the day before.

Common mistakes

• Buying offers you won't use. A bargain that ends up in the bin is the most expensive thing of all.
• Shopping without a list. You buy too much and forget what matters.
• Throwing leftovers away because you have no plan for them. Set aside one dinner a week to use them up.
• Taking saving to extremes. Cutting back on what you use most, such as a good olive oil for dressing and drizzling, can cost you in flavour; save where it doesn't show.