Frugal Shopping: Fruit and Vege Co-Ops

One cheap way to get your fruit and veg for the week is by getting in touch with your local Fruit and Vege Co-Op. The way they work is through economies of scale – a group of people will get together, usually pay in advance, and they will go get the best deals through markets and other connections – then each person who has paid will get a share of the spoils. Usually they will ask for an hour or so of your time as well, but each co-operative works to their own rules so it’s worth getting in contact with them even if you can’t spare the time.

I just joined my local F&V Co-Op in Christchurch, and this is what I got for $12:

Frugal Lunch Ideas: Tuna Pasta Salad

Tuna Pasta Salad is an extremely easy meal with four core ingredients. It can be eaten hot or cold, can easily be bulked up for extra people, or turned into a dinner with an extra ingredient or two. It was one of my main forms of sustenance as a student, and I’ve kept making and eating it through into my adult years.

Frugal Fish n Chips! $1.50 per serve!

We are kiwis through and through, and love our good old fish n chips! This is my homemade version on a cultural classic!

Frugal Chicken Dinner – <$3 per serve!

This one wasn’t on my original meal plan, but I saw this chicken at such a good price I couldn’t resist. Overall the price for this whole meal was probably close to $5.30 (being generous) but could easily be cheaper as we use Fair Trade rice which we estimate at about $1 for this quantity (50c per serve) and this is a lot more meat than we’re used to. It’s way higher than the cost of the cheapest rice available, but this way it tastes of freedom. We buy our rice bulk in 5kg lots here, and always have some in the cupboard for meals like this. Our peas we got at $3 for the bag (what you see here is shy of about 50c worth) and I use them A LOT for meals for ourselves, or baby food. Its our favourite budget green.