Flower - Eat Well, Spend Less

This book combines healthy eating ideas with budget tips for the savvy shopper. You can lead a healthy lifestyle and save money. Our grandparents generation were remarkably fit during the Second World War, even though they were subject to the most stringent food rationing, so if they can do it with those restrictions , we can do it with our unlimited resources.

Although I am a nutritionist, I have tried to create recipes that will appeal to all tastes and ages. You will find plenty of family favourites, but you may notice I have tweaked some of them very subtly in order to make them slightly healthier. If your diet has so far consisted of more processed food than fresh home-cooked, these small steps will make a massive difference. By following the recipes and using fresh ingredients, you will reduce your salt intake and be on the way towards a healthier life. Depending on your previous lifestyle, you may even find some of the recipes will help you lose weight. There are tips and ideas to help you lead a healthier lifestyle in the following chapters: We Are What We Eat, Tips for a Healthier You and Cooking Tricks for Health.

A word about alcohol
You may notice that some recipes in this book include wine. If you are worried about giving this to children, dont be as the alcohol does burn off during cooking, leaving only the flavour. If you are still concerned, you can either omit the wine or opt for alcohol-free wines which are great if you like the flavour but want to avoid any alcohol.

The cost of recipes
Food prices are changing all the time. Since writing this book you may find that some prices have changed but, even so, the price of each recipe will give you a good idea of how much you are likely to spend. Here is a breakdown on how I have priced the recipes.

Price of the recipe
This is the price of the ingredients only it does not include the cost of cooking, as that would depend on the individuals cooking equipment. The ingredients costs are calculated on the actual cost of what is used, not the cost of the whole packet you may have to buy. For example, if 1kg of Sainsburys Basic long-grain rice costs 73p and the recipe needs 200g, the actual cost of the rice is rounded up to 15p.

Herbs, spices and dollops of olive oil
I grow my own herbs so I have a large amount of fresh herbs in my garden, particularly throughout the summer months. I use frozen herbs (some I do myself, others I buy). I also use dried herbs and spices which I buy in 500g or 1kg bags. To break down the cost of 1 teaspoon of herbs or spice is going to be very difficult, so as these are everyday items, I have not included them in the costs. Currently you can buy spices for as little as 50p per 20g from supermarkets or from suppliers such as Essential Trading in Bristol (www. essential-trading. co.uk), and www.redmoors.net from as little as 2 a kilo, so you can imagine how difficult it would be to price half a teaspoon! The same problem arises when trying to price a dollop of olive oil, therefore this is not included.

Fresh fruit and vegetables
I prefer to buy my fruit and vegetables locally from farmers markets, allotment swaps and organic box schemes; however, for ease of pricing, I have compared the prices of the three leading supermarkets, Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco, and found the best price of each single item for example, 2 bulbs of garlic for 39p. You get roughly 8 cloves per bulb, so I have estimated that a clove of garlic costs 3p. Applying the same principle for other vegetables, an onion would cost 10p, a tomato 20p, a red pepper 50p and so on.

Optional and cheat ingredients
I have not included the price of the optional ingredients as they are what they are optional! Using cheat ingredients, such as a ready-made jar of pasta sauce in your bolognese instead of making your own, are an option. Obviously this will push the price of the meal up. If, however, the cheat ingredient is part of the recipe (such as using ready-made puff pastry), then this will be included in the price.