Anyone can feed their family for less than a tenner by simply buying cheap food, but if you love good food, that’s not going to make you happy. How do you put a feast on the table without compromising freshness, flavour or your own personal style?

You don’t just need cheap food, you need cheap, great food that looks as good as it tastes. That means making the most of affordable seasonal produce, making expensive prime ingredients work harder and go further, and giving food a second life by turning one meal into two. It also means using something cheap and readily available — your imagination — to come up with exciting new ways to cook good-value fish, or market-glut veggies. I’ll get you started this week with fish.

Store cupboard savers

Every good pantry should be well stocked with these essentials — not only do they add heaps of flavour, but they’ll make your meals go further, too.

Bottles Olive oil, vinegar, tomato passata, soy sauce, fish sauce, Tabasco, ketchup.
Jars Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, curry pastes, honey, harissa, chutney, olives, tamarind paste.
Fresh Eggs, onions, herbs, tortillas and flat breads, lemons, yoghurt, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, chillies, cheddar, parmesan.
Dried Rice, pasta, noodles, beans, Puy lentils, spices, bouillon stock powder, salted capers, dried fruits, nuts and seeds.
Cans Tomatoes, tuna, corn, lentils, chickpeas, beans, coconut milk.
Frozen Peas, broad beans, stocks, berries, puff pastry.

Shopping tips

Buy food in season, when it is fresher and riper, tastes better and is more affordable.

Make fish, chicken and meat go further by adding beans, lentils, chickpeas and rice. Turn your meal-planning around so that the most expensive ingredient is the flavouring rather than the main event.

Combine supermarket shopping with small, independent fishmongers, butchers, and bakers — they can help you with what’s cheap and in season. Ask for fish trimmings to turn into soup, grab a cheap ham bone to cook with split peas, get half-price day-old bread for toast.

Buy whole fish and whole chicken rather than fillets and pieces — you’ll get better quality, and learn how to fillet and joint like your grandmother.

Oily fish such as mackerel and sardines are cheaper and healthier.

Go ethnic for brilliant sausages, spices, rice, noodles, chillies, sauces, relishes or vegetables at user-friendly prices. Think halal butchers (brilliant for Welsh lamb), Indian food stores, Chinese grocers, Turkish off-licences, Polish delis.

Buy whole lettuces rather than bags of mixed leaves (they last longer) and unwashed — they’re cheaper.

Be opportunistic. Snap up two-for-the- price-of-one supermarket offers, but only if you know you can use or freeze them, otherwise its Bowo (“Buy one, waste one”).

Never shop when you’re hungry.

Explore Food & Drink

• Gordon Ramsay

• Heston Blumenthal

• Recipes

• Wine

• Real Food

• Drinks

• Anjum Anand

• Eating Out

• Video Recipes

Times Recommends

• Top Ten most searched for recipes
• Chalet Chef 2010: the winning menus
• Gin and pomegranate jellies