Frugal Food

Here's our weekly round-up of the best restaurant deals and grocery discounts on offer, plus this week's top supermarket voucher codes!

This week we bring you bargain fruit and veg, a great voucher code for Tesco wine, lots of new restaurant offers and cheap comfort food ideas for a chilly October!

Best supermarket deals

I'm going to start with Sainsbury's this week. Good deals in the fruit and veg aisle include 400g of English plums, reduced from £2.99 to £1, and whole pineapples reduced from £1.89 to £1.

In the dairy section, there are good 2 for 1 deals on multi-packs of Ski yoghurts and Muller Rice. And there are also some great offers on soft drinks, including 50% off six-pack bottles of Lucozade (usually £3.42, now £1.71) and 50% off six-pack cans of 7 Up (usually £2.59, now £1.29).

At Tesco, 260g of fresh spinach has been reduced from £1 to just 50p. In the dairy aisle, the best deals I've found are 2 for 1 offers on Clover, Kraft Philadelphia and eight-packs of Activia yoghurt.

Other great Tesco deals include eight frozen salmon fillets reduced half-price from £9 to £4.50, eight inch Pizza Express pizzas reduced half-price from £3.99 to £1.99, and 2 for 1 deals on big tins of Heroes, Roses, Celebrations and Quality Street.

ASDA is selling two big bags of cox apples for just £1 - which works out at around 5p per piece of fruit.

It's also running a good deal on dried fruit: 500g bags of currants, raisins and sultanas usually cost £1.38 each, but you can currently buy any two for £1.50. Worth thinking about if you're planning to make an early Christmas Pudding this year?

Morrisons' Price Crunch is still going strong, with 190g jars of Filippo Berio pesto down from £1.99 to 99p, Chicago Town deep pan cheese pizzas half price at £1.24, and one litre bottles of Filippo Berio olive oil reduced from £5.76 to £2.88.

At Lidl, the best fruit and veg deals include savoy cabbages for 34p each, 1kg of carrots for 37p, 1kg of conference pears for 69p and 250g of fresh spinach for 49p.

And finally, Lidl's deep discounting rival ALDI is snapping at its heels. Fruit and veg Super 6 deals here include three-packs of peppers for 69p, 250g of runner beans for 59p, and 500g of red seedless grapes for just 69p.

Tipple

At ASDA, you can currently pick up eight 500ml cans of Bulmers Original Cider for £6 (usually £5.28 for four).

And Morrisons is selling 24 440ml cans of Carling for just £10 (usually £16.99). Just bear in mind that it's a maximum of four cases per customer.

Finally, check out the 'voucher codes' section below for a great Clubcard points deal at Tesco Wine.

Best restaurant deals

Plenty of chains have extended their restaurant deals into October. Just remember that very few deals are valid on Saturdays, so try to do a bit of cut-price socialising during the week instead!

As always, the newest deals appear at the top of the table.

Restaurant	Deal	When valid	Need to know
STRADA	2 for 1 on main courses when you register here and print the voucher.	Every Sunday to Friday until 4th October.	Not valid in restaurants at Center Parcs, Royal Festival Hall or Riverside (More London).
Giraffe	2 for 1 on breakfast, lunch or dinner when you print this voucher.	Every Monday to Thursday - and Sundays after 7pm - until 4th October.	Not valid in restaurants at airports, or if any meals are from 'giraffe time' or 'lunch for less' set menus.
Prezzo	Get a starter, main course and drink for £10 when you register here and print the voucher.	All day, every day until 4th October.	Only the dishes mentioned on the voucher are included in the offer.
ASK	Buy one main course and get another for £1 when you register here and print the voucher.	Every Sunday to Thursday until 19th October.
Zizzi	Buy one main course and get another for £1 when you register here and print the voucher.	Every Sunday to Thursday until 11th October.	Not valid on meals from the carne and pesce menu.
Bella Italia	Get a starter, main course and drink for £10 when you register here and print the voucher.	Every Sunday to Friday until 25th October.	Not valid in restaurants at Center Parcs.
La Tasca	50% off food when you register here and print the voucher.	All day, every day until 30th September.	The offer doesn't cover drinks.
Caffé Uno	2 for 1 on main courses when you register here and print the voucher.	Every Sunday to Thursday until 30th September.
Pizza Express	Two pizzas for £10 when you register here and print the voucher.	Every Sunday to Friday until 30th September.	Not valid at restaurants outside the UK, Pizza Express jazz clubs, at mobile events restaurants or on takeaways.
Pizza Hut	50% off your food bill when you register here and print the voucher.	Every Sunday to Thursday until 8th October.	Not valid on drinks, buffet, set menus, children's birthday parties, happy hour or deliveries.

Cut price snacks

Millie's Cookies is still offering a print-off voucher booklet which includes various 2 for 1 deals on cookies and ice cream. The vouchers expire on 31st October.

And budget bakery Greggs is still running its 2 for 1 promotion on steak bakes. Just register here and print the voucher, which is redeemable until 4th October.

Voucher codes

You can currently bag 500 Clubcard points (worth £20 in reward vouchers) when you place your first order with Tesco Wine and enter the code XXKQYM at the checkout. The code is valid until 27th September, online or by phone (not in-store).

You do need to spend over £50 - excluding delivery - to get the 500 points. However, Tesco is currently having a big half-price wine sale, so now could be a good time to stock up for (you've guessed it) the festive season.

Voucher code promotions tend to be withdrawn quickly. If you've missed out on this one, you can use the following websites to track down new voucher codes as and when they come up:

Eating in

If you’d prefer to save money and eat in this weekend, check out our very own Frugal Recipes series and make a delicious meal on the cheap. Read more

And finally... the humble crumble

The evenings are drawing in, there's a nip in the air and the stodgy comfort food cravings are getting stronger in the Cowdy household.

There are lots of cheap plums, apples and pears around at the moment - or perhaps you've been busy growing your own? Either way, now's the perfect time to make yourself a delicious, warming and filling crumble for next to nothing.

A while ago, I wrote 11 food swaps that will save you money, and was (rightly) chastised in the comments for suggesting you buy ready-made crumble mix (eek!).

As lots of you pointed out, it's very cheap and easy to make a crumble from scratch. This apple crumble recipe from the BBC - and this plum and oat crumble recipe from Ocado - should both point you in the right direction.

Yum! What are your favourite crumble recipes?

More: Feed five for under a fiver | Five ways to save money in five minutes