People of the UK that eat a Mediterranean diet how do you manage to do it as cheaply as possible?

7 comments

1. Tin of anchovies, onion, garlic, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree.

   Drain the anchovy oil into a frying pan, add the chopped onion and garlic and fry for 5mins, add in any other veggies like pepper if you like then add some tomato puree and the anchovies , then add the tinned tomatoes and simmer for 15mins. Meanwhile boil some spaghetti and then mix and serve together.

2. A good avenue for getting vegetables cheap would be to maybe see if there are any vegetable plots or community based plots you can help out on or even have a patch yourself, plus it’s a great feeling eating what you’ve grown yourself.
   Even growing tomatoes and other simple veggies in window boxes is very doable nowadays especially with all the great how to videos there are out there.

3. Mediterranean diets are generally cheap anyway. Especially if you’re going for itallian. The majority of itallian food was created as sustenance for people on a low budget to begin with. Beans’ pulses’ tomato’s are all cheap. And any cut of meat can be added to those to add protein. One of my fave cheap meals involves a mixture of tinned beans with couple or tins of chopped tomato’s with onions’ garlic’ mushrooms and whatever herbs and spices you preffer with a pack or 2 of cheap cooking bacon added in. Blip that away for a few hours and you have a great stew/thick soup. Eat with crusty bread and enjoy. You can add too that stew whatever you happen to have in at the time. Iv even used it as a base for a sausage casarole before

4. Honestly removing meat from my diet has saved me a lot of money (still eat meat if I’m out but almost never cook it at home). Onions, carrots, cucumbers are all cheap in supermarkets, peppers, mushrooms and squashes slightly more expensive but shouldn’t break the bank. Veggie bolognese with onions, carrots, celery and mushroom is probably my cheapest dish. Even just some charred courgettes and onions with pasta is very nice, splash of nice olive oil helps (not cheap but a big bottle will last a while). Frozen peas, canned beans or lentils are always good to chuck into a dish to bulk it out.

5. Frozen and tinned veg is usually cheaper and more nutritious than fresh. Pulses – chickpeas, lentils, beans etc are very cheap to buy dried, and you can soak and cook them in bulk and freeze them. Minimise meat, if you do use it ask a local butcher for the cheaper cuts and use a slow cooker.

6. Not really Mediterranean but if there’s one thing you should do to save money and improve your diet, it’s eating *lentils*. Lots of *lentils*. And beans, any beans.

7. Buy all my fruit and vegetables from my local Asian supermarkets which all sell it real cheap compared to Asda and so on