Save money on these 5 essential ingredients + #CreditCrunchMunch for March 2016

I cannot believe we are already into March 2016 – time truly does fly past at lightening speed. Of all the firm resolutions and changes for 2016 I am glad I have managed to stay true to my money saving ideas if not the ‘I shall blog 3 times a week’ or ‘ I will exercise at least 3 days every week’ type of resolutions.

One of the many things I have changed about how we manage our monthly budget on a single income is by doing batch cooking and also being mindful of where I buy my groceries from. Apart from the many sensible tips one can find for WHEN and WHERE to shop and how to make good with various supermarket offers, I also have some rules for my top 5 fresh ingredients for Indian cooking. Here they are:

• Always buy fresh coriander bunches and curry leaves from your local Indian shop or Pakistani/Bangladeshi butcher shop – they sell larger bunches and you can buy two big fresh bunches for £1
• Ginger – I make fresh ginger tea very often – the famous Indian masala tea or as we call it in Marathi – ‘chaha’ – again I buy a huge chunk of fresh ginger for much less from my Indian grocery and vegetable shop
• Garlic – most of my Indian curry and vegetable recipes use a lot of ginger, garlic and red onion and this is another item I bulk buy from my local LIDL – they sell cute mini baskets with at least 5-6 big bulbs of garlic – deal!
• Red onions – most Indian shops or Pakistani/Bangladeshi butcher shops stock sacks of red onion – 5 or 10 kilos at rates much lower than your local supermarket – I generally stock up and though that means having to sort these out and process them quickly, it’s totally worth it. I chop the best ones and store them in my fridge in an air-tight container. The not so fresh ones quickly become puree’ for curries and stews and go into my freezer.
• Dried lentil packets, Rice – especially Basmati , Chapati Atta – flour to make rotis and chapatis – I hunt for deals on various supermarket websites and at my local stores and only buy the ones that give the best deal. I prefer to go in the afternoon just after noon so I can concentrate on checking out the offers minus having the store flooded with school going kids.

I truly envy those skilled enough to grow their own herbs and that is one of my top TO-DO’s this year – a container garden!  More on this sometime later though and I hope these tips prove useful to all you thrifty shoppers out there. Now, I am guest hosting #CreditCrunchMunch for March 2016

For those of you have not heard about  #CreditCrunchMunch (and for the regulars – a re-cap) , here are some cool ideas that you can consider when linking up:

• Dishes using cheaper ingredients – cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian
• Meals using leftovers
• Meals using up the ends of packets
• Substitutions of cheaper ingredients
• Packed lunches
• Meals that use less energy to cook
• Pressure cooking
• Slow cooking
• Faster cooking – less oven time for example
• Batch cooking for the freezer
• Sustainable foods
• Food you have grown yourself
• Meals from reduced food in the supermarket

How to take part in CREDIT CRUNCH MUNCH:

Simply blog about any money saving idea or recipe that is vaguely food related. We do a full round up so I will be mentioning all the recipes that are submitted.

There are a few very simple rules:

• Please link to this post, and the Credit Crunch Munch pages on Fab Food 4 All Fuss Free Flavours
• Please use the Credit Crunch Munch Badge
• Tweet using #CreditCrunchMunch and tag me @manjirichitnis @FabFood4All & @FussFreeHelen
• Closing date – last day of the month – 31st March 2016
• You are welcome to link up one or two old posts, but please republish them
• By entering you are agreeing to let us use an image from your entry on this site, and to pin to Pinterest
• If blogging a recipe from elsewhere on the internet or a book please be mindful of copyright
• But feel free to send to as many other events as you like, let’s help everyone save money!
• Please visit a few other blogs who take part plus comment and share
• This is a blog hop so please grab the code and share the linky on your site too.We look forward to seeing your entries!

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