Five frugal things about food this week

Grateful for £15 fresh fruit direct to the door

Well. A lot has changed since my last five frugal things post.

I kept meaning to blog, while events zipped past me at lightning speed. A dreadful disease taking lives all over the world. Pubs, shops and leisure activities closed. Schools shut. Everyone told to stay at home. I can hardly believed it’s happening.

I’m still running to catch up but did want to pause long enough to say thanks to some companies and shout out in support of others.

So here are my five food-related frugal things this week!

Freebie LEON Ketchup and Aioli

Sent free LEON ketchup and garlic mayo as a taste tester (ad – gifted)

Last month, in those dim and distant days before pandemic panic, I spotted an appeal in the LEON newsletter asking for people to join a panel of LEON tastemakers. I leapt at the chance to get samples of LEON Ketchup and LEON Garlic Aioli for free. Yay!

The mayo is very garlicky and has gone down great with chips, wedges and sarnies. However our standout favourite is the ketchup – it’s got a slightly spicy tang (cumin?) and my husband and son wolfed it down and requested more before I’d had the chance to take many pics. I liked it with burgers and mixed with cottage cheese, to liven up lunchtime pitta bread.

I’ve been paralysed about posting #LEONtastemaker posts on my social media. It seemed irrelevant as civilisation crumbled around us.  

But since then I’ve been very impressed by LEON’s approach to the coronavirus. Currently the company is joining with NHS trusts and other catering companies to get 6,000 meals a day into London hospitals, so NHS staff get at least one hot meal a day. In time, they’re hoping to roll it out across the nation, to feed the NHS. 

It’s a not for profit initiative, so I’m up for doing my tiny bit to support LEON, whether by donating to the appeal or buying its Ketchup and Garlic Aioli from Sainsbury’s. 

Egg-stravaganza

Been given Cadbury Easter eggs (ad – gifted)

Cheers to Cadbury for sending me some Easter egg samples for free. I’m particularly looking forward to using bags of mini eggs for an Easter egg hunt at home, come 12 April, as I fear we won’t be able to go over to the grandparents this year 🙁

However, given my children’s disgust at the lack of sweets, biscuits and cakes while stuck at home, I suspect we may crack into some of the rest well before that!

The good news is that if you can get to a supermarket or nab an online delivery slot, you can pick up Cadbury eggs for less. Smaller eggs, like chocolate buttons or Dairy Milk versions, are down to 75p a pop at ASDA, and £1 each at Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.  The supermarkets have pulled lots of multi buy offers, but you can still get bigger Cadbury eggs at Morrisons at 3 for £10 ( Twirl, Crunchie, Double Decker, Oreos, Wispa, Heroes). Sainsbury’s and Morrisons both have offers on the big boxed eggs like Cadbury Caramel, down to £4.

Fancy some free Easter goodies yourself? Enter the UKMB Easter Giveaway to win 1 of 5 Easter hampers! Get a shifty on though, as entries close at midnight tomorrow (Sunday 29 March)

Tap to compare prices

Downloaded the new Supermarket Price Comparison Tool from Latest Deals (ad)

Help is at hand if you want to check food prices beyond Easter eggs! My mates over at Latest Deals, Tom, Deepak and Kelsey, have created a new free Supermarket Comparison Tool. 

I was disappointed when MySupermarket shut last month, as it was a brilliant way to compare costs between different stores, and spot the genuinely good offers. 

This new Supermarket Comparison Tool compares prices for essential products at the six big supermarkets that offer online shopping and home delivery: Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose and Iceland. So no Co-op, Aldi or Lidl yet.

Hopefully it will really help with saving money, faced with rising prices and multi buy deals disappearing from the shelves.

It’s part of the Latest Deals app, so you use it by clicking on the ‘search’ magnifying glass top right, click on Supermarket Comparison and type in the product you want to compare. Download the app at https://latestdeals.co.uk/app

Any bets on how long they last?

Restarted the windowsill garden

When I was last in our local Morrisons, I decided to invest the £1 each to buy a couple of pots of living herbs, rather than pay the same price for smaller plastic packs.

Yes, the kitchen windowsill garden is back in action! The chives have staggered on since New Year, and I’m hoping I can keep the new flat leaf parsley and coriander alive too. 

This way, I should save money and avoid shopping trips, compared to buying plastic packs each time I cook with these herbs.

(As yet, there no plans to eat the cactus in a sombrero)

Carl in action at Hadleigh Market

Got a delivery of fruit and veg

Shout out to Carl at Hadleigh Market, for delivering fruit and veg direct to our door.

I’ve been heading to the Friday morning market recently (that’s where I got the Mothers’ Day hyacinths), as I can shop in the open air and take our puppy, Otto, with me.

However, this week we’ve been self-isolating. My daughter was running a bit of a temperature and my son has been coughing more than his normal asthma cough. Who knows if it is actually the virus, but I didn’t want to risk passing anything on at the market or in shops. 

Last Friday, Carl mentioned that he might start delivering prepacked boxes if the market shut. Hadleigh Market was still running yesterday, but I got in contact via Facebook, and Carl was able to stop by with a £15 box of fruit and a £15 box of veg, and even nip back with tomatoes. It was massively appreciated and I’ve split up the contents to share with my mother. 

Jo Henderson from the Greenacres Old Fashioned Pork Butchery stall has also started running a delivery service after the market, with lower prices for the most vulnerable. If you’re local and want to order,  call 07483 829334.

Now – over to you. What frugal successes are you celebrating this week? Anything to shout about while stuck at home? Do share in the comments, I’d love to hear! And hope everyone is keeping well. 

Want more frugal inspiration?  Do head over and join the Much More With Less #MoneySavingYear Facebook group, to share thrifty tips and support. It’s a private group so your comments won’t be splashed all over your friends’ Facebook feeds.

I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five fabulously frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky