How I shop for food

Here's how I shop for food, to get the best value and flavour

As much as I love visiting a farm shop with my basket, it’s not my weekly reality. But having a few tricks up your sleeve when it comes to food shopping really can help to keep meals interesting, seasonal, sustainable and good value, even when life is busy. Here’s what works for me:

Shop around

For the best quality and produce, it really does pay to shop around. The more you do this, you can see where to go for specific items and compare the prices along the way. I like to balance online and in-person shopping. I tend to balance my shopping between budget supermarkets, premium supermarkets, farm shops and specialist online retailers.

Observe the seasons

This sounds like such basic advice, you’ve heard it a million times before, but it really does pay. You will notice, even in the budget supermarkets, that prices are so much cheaper for British seasonal produce, compared to imports. I try and keep the vast majority my fruit and vegetable buying - for everyday meals - to seasonal British, and then European (citrus fruit, for example), all year round.

When I shop, I look for the fresh ingredients that offer best value, and base my meals around them. For example, I might buy things like mushrooms, squash and cauliflowers, and make them the basis of meals for a few days.

Farm shops are especially good for this (although do check the sourcing, to be sure), but the budget supermarkets are very good, too. It’s been a revelation to me in the last year or two.

I plan my meals after doing the shopping, and I often use the internet to source ideas from reputable cookery writers if I am a bit stumped for inspiration. I do know that this approach won’t work for everyone, but it can encourage more experimentation, and space for new ideas. The larder is a great help here, too. More on that in a minute.

Meat and fish

I love both, and quality and provenance is important to me. I find buying both online works really well for me, as they usually arrive packed and ready to store in the freezer, most often. Having a stash of frozen fish and meat helps me to meal plan, knowing I have ingredients to hand. I buy from trusted online suppliers, often guided by special offers. This won’t be for everyone, but I invested in a larder freezer not long ago, and it has been unbelievably useful.

Store-cupboard or larder

Having a well-stocked larder, if you like cooking, and aren’t constrained by a rigid budget, is a huge asset. I like to make sure I keep mine really well stocked with ingredients I find useful. This includes tins, dried goods, spices and flavourings. I buy many of these ingredients from the premium supermarkets (as quite often they’re the only places that stock the ingredients I want) and take advantage of offers. Online suppliers are amazingly useful for specialist ingredients I won’t find locally. Sous Chef is a favourite website, and I use Ocado a lot for specialist ingredients.

List keeping

Lists are absolutely essential for me. I keep them on my phone, organised by shop. So, I might want to get my mushrooms and cauliflowers from Aldi, I might want fresh methi and a large pack of cumin seeds from Asda, and Swiss chard, rose harissa and pine nuts from Waitrose. Dividing lists into categories and keeping them to hand works so well. I add to them on the go, when something occurs to me, and if I happen to drive near to Waitrose, for example, I’ll have the list to hand.

Ready, steady, cook!

I have a friend who calls me ‘ready, steady, cook’, because I enjoy the challenge of making a meal with what’s to hand. I can’t stand food waste, and try hard to use ingredients when they’re still fresh and at their best. No-one wants to throw out food or eat stuff that’s way past its prime. And so I urge you to consider taking this challenge on if you don’t already. It can be so tempting to rush to the shops and buy more food, but most of the time, it is possible to rustle something good up. Again, the internet is so useful for ideas. It can be something simple if you’ve had a hard day. Shopping can become so much more satisfying, if you know you’ll enjoy every last bite of the food you’re buying.