Start with what you already have

Before you write a list or open a recipe book, have a proper rummage through the fridge, freezer and cupboards. Most households are sitting on the beginnings of three or four meals without realising it — half a bag of potatoes, a lonely leek, a tin of tomatoes, a tub of something frozen and unlabelled. Pull it all out, check the dates and make a note of anything that needs eating first.

A simple habit that saves real money is a “use first” shelf in the fridge. Anything close to its date goes there, at eye level, and it gets built into the next meal. It sounds almost too obvious, but it is the single easiest way to cut what goes in the bin. Once you know what you have, you can plan around it rather than buying a second bag of carrots you did not need.

Build the week around seasonal vegetables

Vegetables are where a food budget quietly leaks or quietly saves. In Scotland, the cheapest and best produce changes through the year, and cooking with what is in season means better flavour for less money. Root vegetables and alliums are the backbone of thrifty cooking: they keep well, they fill you up and they turn a small amount of meat into something substantial.

Think in terms of what is plentiful right now:

• Autumn and winter: neeps, curly kale, leeks, carrots, cabbage, onions and tatties — perfect for stovies, Scotch broth and slow casseroles.
• Spring: spring greens, early carrots, the first young leeks and tender herbs.
• Summer: soft fruit, salad leaves, courgettes, peas and broad beans.
• All year: onions, carrots, potatoes and frozen vegetables, which are picked and frozen quickly and often cost less than fresh.

Frozen peas, sweetcorn and spinach deserve a permanent place in the freezer. They do not wilt in the drawer, you use only what you need, and there is no waste.

Keep a shelf of dependable cupboard staples

A well-stocked cupboard is what lets you cook on a Tuesday night when the fridge looks bare and nobody can face the shops. Keep these in and you will always be able to put a meal together:

• Dried or tinned lentils, chickpeas and beans
• Tinned tomatoes and tomato purée
• Rice, pasta, and a bag of porridge oats
• Stock cubes, dried herbs, curry powder, paprika and a jar of mustard
• Plain flour, oil, and a couple of tins of fish
• Long-life milk and a bag of onions

None of this is glamorous, but together it means a pot of soup, a lentil dhal, a tomato pasta bake or a fish pie is always within reach. Buying own-brand versions of these basics is one of the simplest ways to trim a weekly shop without anyone noticing at the table.

Write the list before you shop — and stick to it

Decide on five or six dinners, then write your list by working backwards from those recipes. Check what you already have against each one so you are not doubling up. Group the list by where things sit in the shop — fruit and veg, chilled, tinned, frozen — so you move through the aisles with purpose.

A few rules that genuinely help:

• Shop once a week rather than nipping in for odds and ends, which is where impulse spending lives.
• Never shop hungry, and never shop with bored children if you can avoid it.
• Buy the larger pack only if you know it will get used. A bargain that gets binned is not a bargain.
• Keep a running list on the fridge so you add to it as things run out.

Batch cook on the day that suits you

Batch cooking does not have to mean a military operation on a Sunday. It means cooking more than one meal's worth when you are already at the stove. If you are making mince, make double and freeze half. If you are making soup, make a big pot — it costs barely more and gives you two lunches. A pot of lentil and vegetable soup, a base of mince with onions and carrots, a chicken casserole with pulses: these all reheat beautifully.

Cool portions quickly, then freeze them in flattened bags or tubs so they stack. Label with the name and the date. Most cooked meals keep well in the freezer for around three months, and in the fridge for two days. Getting into the habit of cooking once and eating twice is the thing that keeps a busy week from turning into a takeaway.

Use the leftovers and get the family involved

Leftover roast vegetables become a frittata. Leftover tatties and neeps become clapshot, or bubble and squeak with a fried egg on top. A spoonful of stew can be stretched into a pie with a pastry lid or a mashed potato top. Keep a container in the freezer for odds and ends of vegetables and use them for stock or soup.

Children are far more likely to eat something they helped choose or prepare, so give them a job — peeling carrots, tearing herbs, stirring the pot. Let them pick one meal each week within your budget. Rotate a core set of fifteen or twenty meals your family actually enjoys; novelty is expensive, and a familiar rotation is what makes the whole thing run itself.