Frugal Food

Here's our weekly round-up of the best restaurant deals and grocery discounts on offer.

This week, a fruit and veg price war seems to have kicked out between Sainsbury's and Tesco - good news for shoppers.

In this edition of the frugal food round-up, you can also get your hands on a free drink, as well as all the latest restaurant deals and discounts.

Let's kick off with the best grocery offers around...

Best grocery offers

At Tesco there are some great deals on fruit and veg: these punnets of apricots have been reduced from £3.99 to £1.49, cherries are now on offer for just £6 a kilo, this bagged salad has been reduced from £1.50 to 75p, and five-packs of oranges are half-price - down from £1.99 to £1.

Sainsbury's has also decided to wade into the fruit and veg battle.

Good deals include this punnet of golden plums for 99p, bags of grapes reduced from £2.50 to £1.25, and two corn on the cob for 99p. Other good Sainsbury's offers include 2 for 1 deals on chicken thighs and drumsticks, and skinless chicken breast fillets.

ASDA is doing an excellent deal on bagels: each New York Bagel Co. pack usually costs £1.22 - but you can currently get two packs for £1! The good mince offer is still running, too: 500g of ASDA British Beef Mince is currently reduced from £2.20 to £1.

At Morrisons, you can pick up a meal deal similar to Marks and Spencer's 'dine in' offer. The Italian Meal Deal is made up of a main, a salad, a dessert and wine - all for £8. See the full menu selection here.

At Somerfield, eight-packs of Nutrigrain bars have been reduced from £2.55 to £1.27.

And at Lidl, the best deals include corn on the cob for 24p, 28p mangos, 29p iceberg lettuce and pots of Muller Rice for just 20p.

Finally, at Marks and Spencer the famous 'dine in for £10' deal is back this weekend! You can view the full menu here.

Tipple

Those over 18 can currently get a free double vodka and Red Bull by registering here, printing off the voucher and taking it into a Yates bar.

Just remember to read the small print, as not all Yates bars are participating.

Best restaurant deals

We have several new additions to the restaurant deals round-up this week, listed at the top of the table.

Restaurant	Deal	When valid	Need to know
Prezzo	Get two courses and a drink for £10 when you register here.	All day, every day until 23rd August.	You can choose one of four starters and one of ten main courses. The drinks on offer are: a 175ml glass of house red or white wine, a bottle of Peroni beer or a soft drink.
ha ha	2 for 1 on main courses when you sign up here.	Every Sunday to Friday until 23rd August.	Valid on mains from the main menu favourites, pasta or risotto section. Not valid at ha ha at the 02 on concert nights.
La Tasca	Get 50% off all main menu food items when you sign up here.	All day, every day until 31st August.
Café Rouge	2 for 1 on main courses with this voucher from Handbag.com.	Every Sunday to Thursday until 23rd August.	Not valid at restaurants in Center Parcs or airports.
Caffe Uno	2 for 1 on main courses when you sign up here.	Every Sunday to Thursday until 31st August.
Zizzi	Buy one main course and get another for £1 when you sign up here.	Every Sunday to Thursday until 27th August.	Not valid on meals from the carne and pesce section of the menu.
Domino's Pizza	Order online, in-store or by phone (selecting or quoting the offer) and get 2 for 1 on medium or large pizzas.	Tuesdays only, no expiry date set.	You can choose a pizza from the menu, or a 'create your own' with up to four toppings.
ASK	Buy one main course and get another for £1 when you sign up here.	Every Sunday to Thursday until 31st August.
Pizza Hut	Get an individual pizza, pasta dish or salad with garlic bread and a soft drink for £4 for one person, £7.50 for two or £14 for four - no voucher required.	3-6pm Monday to Friday, no expiry date set.	In-restaurant only.
YO! Sushi	40% off sushi plates with this voucher.	Tuesdays and Wednesdays only until 26th August.	Up to ten plates per person, drinks not included in offer. Excludes Selfridges London, Selfridges Manchester Exchange Square, Selfridges Trafford Centre Manchester, Selfridges Birmingham, Westfield London, Heathrow Airport T3, Harvey Nichols Leeds, Meadowhall Sheffield, Dundrum Town Centre and Clarendon St Ireland.

Cut-price snacks

At Greggs you can still grab its great value summer meal deal: Choose one of a selection of (albeit fairly basic) sandwiches, plus a standard bag of Walkers crisps and a 500ml bottle of mineral water, all for £1.99.

At Millie's Cookies, you can get your hands on a print-off voucher booklet which includes various 2 for 1 deals on cookies and ice cream. The vouchers expire on 31st October.

And you can also claim a free coffee at Pret a Manger. Pick up a free Pret Card in-store, register it on the Pret website and it will be charged with the price of a coffee, up to the value of £2.10. Then visit Pret again and claim that caffeine!

Supermarket voucher codes

At Ocado, you can get 15% off orders over £60 (up to a maximum of £15) when you enter the code VOU5979278. This offer applies to first orders on new accounts only.

At the time of writing, this code is current and valid. However, this sort of promotion tends to expire or be withdrawn quickly. If you've missed it, trying using the following websites to track down some new ones:

Foolish assistance

This week I'm pointing you towards frugal food tips from two Motley Fool discussion boards. On the Recipes & Cooking board, this thread teaches you all about how to freeze herbs, chillies and ginger so excess doesn't go to waste.

This thread, over on the Living Below Your Means board, gives some excellent and tasty suggestions on what to do with cheap tomatoes.

Slow cookers - the lowdown

And finally... a slow cooker can be a really sensible investment, because it allows you to turn cheap cuts of meat and other frugal buys into delicious casseroles and stews.

If you're thinking about buying a slow cooker - but don't know where to start - check out the slow cooker tips page of the MumsNet website.

You'll pick up useful advice on everything from cooking times and suitable recipes to the best makes and models of slow cooker on the market.

More: 21 more things you can get free! | Frugal Friday