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Modern life is notoriously stressful. The pain of faster living combined with increasing living costs affects all of us. One area topic that people often neglect is they’re diet. Not only do many people not eat the right food, but they also pay over the odds for prepacked meals, lattes from the coffee shop, and beers at the local. Things have clearly changed substantially over recent years, with widespread promotion of healthy eating, and cookery programs becoming especially prevalent on television. However, some people might not be able to find the answers they’re looking for easily, so here’s a few quick ways to improve your diet and save money.

Eat Fresh
Fresh vegetables don’t always seem particularly appetising to some people, while they can also take more time to prepare than putting a tray full of chips in the oven. However, if you start planning meals from scratch and using specific amounts of vegetables, then you’ll find that you’ll ultimately cut costs of each meal quite substantially and be very healthy to boot. Check out UKTV Food for a handy selection of recipes - it’s easy to learn how to cook from scratch with these.

Avoid the Ready Meals
If you cook for a group of people such as a family, then ready meals should really be out of the question. A Chicken Korma ready meal from Tesco costs £2.69 a time, and includes around 70% of your daily intake of salt. However, you could instead buy a whole chicken for just £1.99, a jar of Uncle Ben’s Korma Sauce at £1.30 and a 500g bag of rice at 50 pence, then you’ll be able to feed a family of five for around a quarter of the price, and there’s less salt! If you live alone, cook a load and freeze it - you’ll have your own instant ready meals!

Make Your Own Lunch
It seems that Brits just can’t be bothered with making their own sandwiches anymore. With so many supermarkets, shops and cafes offering cheap pre packed sandwiches, it’s easy to give into temptation and pay over the odds for these. However, proceed with caution. If you’re treating yourself to a £3 lunch every working day, then you’ll be spending around £70 a month on your expensive feeding habit. Instead, consider making your own rice or pasta dishes and putting them into Tupperware. Making your sandwiches en masse is also quite cost effective as long as you use cheap fillings such as tuna and not premium ham. You could cut your £70 a month into something closer to £25 straightaway - around £500 a year!

Avoid Waste
Almost everyone’s guilty of food waste in some respect. According to Wrap, the government’s waste reduction agency, we throw away around one third of our waste every year - some 6.7 million tonnes - while we spend between £250 and £400 of food a year that ends up in the bin. The key to avoiding waste is to plan your menus effectively and stick to them. Some waste is probably inevitable, but you can get closer to cutting it out entirely if you write down each meal and exactly what you require.

If you’re looking for further ways to save money, then take a look at ASDA Finance range of low priced financial products. Nine out of ten customers save on their home insurance, while their 0% credit cards also reward regular shoppers very well, so it’s perfect if you’re set to change your food spending habits.