Frugal Food
This week we bring you a fountain of cut-price champagne, new free snacks, and the restaurant deals that have survived the Christmas rush. We've also got two great new voucher codes, a fantastic '3 for 1' chocolate orange deal and an extensive mince pie taste test!
Welcome to Frugal food! Let's kick things off straight away with the best grocery deals around.
Best supermarket deals
This week, I'm going to start with the best deals in Sainsbury's. There's currently a 2 for 1 deal on several varieties of muffin, which means you can get eight muffins for £1.29.
350g of asparagus spears have been reduced from £2.99 to £1.49; and a range of Carte D'or ice creams (900ml) are half-price at £1.49, reduced from £2.99.
Tubes of Pringles have also been reduced, from £1.99 to 99p. And finally, one litre bottles of Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil are still half price, down from £6.99 to £3.49.
At Tesco, you can still pick up lots of reduced Christmas treats, including Mr Kipling Christmas Pudding reduced from £5 to £2 and a big Tesco Finest Matured Christmas Pudding reduced from £10 to £5.
In the fruit and veg aisle, there are 2 for 1 deals on bags of oranges, bags of baking potatoes and 1kg bags of mixed seasonal veg.
400g packs of Pilgrims Choice mature cheddar are down from £3.99 to £2. Eight-packs of wild Alaskan salmon fillets are right down from £10 to £4.50; and there's a good 2 for 1 deal on multi-packs of Hula Hoops, which means you get 12 25g bags for £2.18.
Over at ASDA, you can get this 454g Classic Christmas Pudding for just £1 (reduced from £2.18). You can also pick 1.2kg of Heinz Tomato Ketchup for £2 (reduced from £2.95).
Morrisons is running some great 3 for 1 deals, including three Terry's Chocolate Oranges for £2.36, and three boxes of Cadbury's Chocolate Fingers for £1.39. These offers are only available until 20th December; and stocks are likely to run out quickly, so you'll need to move fast!
LIDL just beats fellow deep discounter ALDI to the post when it comes to cheap Christmas dinner veg: LIDL is currently selling 1kg of carrots for 29p, 500g of parsnips for 29p, 1kg of sprouts for 39p and 2.5kg of potatoes for 49p.
And don't forget, Lidl mince pies recently won the lovemoney.com mince pies taste test, despite coming in cheapest at just 12.4p a pie. Find out more
And finally, Somerfield has several good half-price deals on treats, including Cadbury's biscuit selection packs reduced from £5 to £2.50, and 900g jars of Nestle Quality Street reduced from £9.50 to £4.50.
There are sometimes much better deals on offer at street markets and independent shops than there are at the supermarkets. Unfortunately, their local nature makes it impossible for us to cover them properly here.
If you've come across a great food deal at your local market, please do leave a comment at the bottom of the article letting us know. That way, fellow readers in your local area can take advantage of the offer you've flagged up. Thanks!
Tipple
At Tesco, you can now get bottles of Andre Carpentier Brut Champagne for just £10, reduced from £23.99. The offer runs until Christmas Day, but stocks expected to run out fairly quickly.
ASDA is selling bottles of Pierre Darcys Non Vintage Brut Champagne for £10, reduced from £23.98.
ASDA is also still offering 700ml bottles of Bushmills Original Irish Whiskey for £12.46, down from the (admittedly crazy) original price of £29.76.
And in-store at Marks & Spencer, you can pick up bottles of Louis Chaurey NV for £12.99 (reduced from £25.99). This offer ends 31st December.
Best restaurant deals
Christmas is now poking its head around the corner - and this year's best restaurant deals are almost gone. However, there are still a few good ones to take advantage of.
As always, the newest deals appear at the top of the table.
|
Restaurant |
Deal |
When valid |
Need to know |
|
Lunch for two for £10 when you register here and print the voucher. |
Every Sunday to Friday before 5pm. |
La Tasca reserves the right to withdraw this offer at any time. Only valid on specific menu. |
|
|
Get £10 off a £25 spend when you use the code KRPQNLWH online. |
All day, every day until 20th December |
Only valid with online orders. After placing your order, type in the code in the 'forgotten anything' section. |
|
|
Get a two-course carvery meal for £5. |
Every Monday to Saturday until 31st December. |
Meal includes meat, vegetables, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, trimmings and dessert. This is an in-restaurant offer - full details here. |
Cut price snacks
If you're a girl (or boy!) who buys glossy women's magazines, you could bag yourself a free snack. In 15th December's edition of Woman's Own magazine, you'll find a voucher for a free Ugo's Deli Café Panini (worth around £2.29).
The voucher is valid until 29th December, and can be used in participating retailers including Sainsbury's, Morrisons, the Co-op, Somerfield and selected Waitrose. As usual, just make sure you read all the terms and conditions carefully.
To track down free snack and drink samples, have a root through the food, drink and recipes section of the Bob's Free Stuff forum. If it's edible and free, it's likely to be posted there!
Voucher codes
You can currently get free delivery when shopping online for ASDA groceries and spending over £50. Just enter the code M32NDWKR after you've entered your payment details at the check-out.
You'll have to act fast, however, as the code is only valid on grocery orders checked out before 10pm on 18th Dec.
You can get 10% off when you shop online at Planet Organic and use the code JD72YQP at the check-out. This offer is valid until 31st December. Using this code means you can also get free delivery on orders over £15 (rather than the usual £30).
Finally, you can still save £10 on your first online order with Tesco, as long as you spend £50 or more. Just enter the code XX-PD96 at the checkout.
This code expires on 31st December, and you can find out more about it here.
Voucher code promotions tend to be withdrawn quickly. If you've missed out on these, you can use the following websites to track down new voucher codes as and when they come up:
And finally... frugal Christmas dinner!
Check out our original recipes for a Frugal Christmas dinner, by lovemoney.com'sy own chef-in-residence, Paul Warburton:
The starter: Smoked mackerel pate on crostini and red onion confit. Cost: £1.14 per person.
The main: Roasted pheasant with garlic and bacon, caramelised sprouts, rosemary roasts, bread sauce and peach, sausage and thyme stuffing. Cost: £4.52 per person.
Alternatively, a vegetarian main: Portobello mushroom, port and stilton wellington. Cost: £1.79 per person.
The dessert: Lemon tart with fresh vanilla mascarpone Cost: £1.21 per person
Yum!
More: 10 things you can get for free this Xmas | Seven steps to a frugal Xmas lunch
Every effort is made to source voucher codes which are valid at the time this article is published. However, please be aware that lovemoney.com cannot guarantee that every voucher will be valid or that it will not be withdrawn by the provider immediately.
Most Recent
Comments
-
[i]food age[/i] = the time on the shelf before it is removed. note aldi is two (2) days only. Morrisons is five (5) days. my wife now understands why her veg from Aldi lasts so much longer. I have an allotment and although it's very hard work. the reward of growing your own is immense. I planted 6x2.5kg of three types of spuds and have harvested about 85kg. the only problem is that my wife says the large spuds are not big enough for jackets. what's this got to do with supermarkets! well they have conditioned the customers to expect and certain size, colour, shape, and blemish free product that to grow your own to that standard is very very hard indeed. but the joy is pulling a leek, adding a spud or two, and a small japanese onion to make the best tasting leek and potato soup. it's heart warming and cheap as with all things, the consumer has to be well read and understand the game.
REPORT This comment has been reported. -
Hmm, how confusing life gets. Most of the deals are just reductions from stupid overpricing that no one sensible woudild pay anyway. Who would buy Tesco champers at £29?, a looney perhaps. But Lidl prices say it all. that is what stuff is really worth, my conclusion is that most people have so much money that there do not care what they pay. Brown will have it off them next year. I am still eating my own veg, inc spuds, from the garden. even my own lettuce from greenhouse, but cold spell look like ending those. So back to the freezer where all the rest of teh veg is. Planting time soon, hooray
REPORT This comment has been reported. -
Last I looked, the Tesco seasonal veg 2 for 1 deal isn't a deal at all... the price of the 1kg bag used to be £1, but when the promotion started the price was suddenly £1.99. None of the individual vegetables included cost as much as £1.99/kg. Beware! I look forward to this "deal" being over so I can buy the bag of veg for a pound again, as I'm only cooking for myself there's no use buying two as it would go off.
REPORT This comment has been reported.
Do you want to comment on this article? You need to be signed in for this feature
19 December 2009