Keeping your shopping bill down is getting harder and harder. According to mysupermarket.com, a basket of 24 staple items in August 2008 has gone up by 27% since the start of the year. Therefore, the Diva’s have come up with a few ideas to help you budget and avoid hefty food bills without compromising on healthy family meals.

Bringing certain foods such as potatoes back into our diet will certainly cut down on family food bills.  Baked potatoes are a great way to feed a family on a budget and they really fill you up. Add a topping such as cheese, beans, leftover chilli and a salad and hey presto a healthy balanced meal. Mashed potato is also a great way of making a meal go further which is why it's in great British staples like shepherd's pie and fish pie.  If families replace some meals that were rice or pasta-based with potatoes then their food budgets will go further."

The following ingredients are ones you should try and keep in stock. They should help you put something together for everyone to enjoy if you have not managed to go shopping or money is particularly tight.

You may find some of the ingredients are expensive initially but remember they will keep for a while which means they will be able to last a few meals.

• Dried pasta shapes (any type) • Dried / mixed herbs • Onions • Tinned Sweetcorn

• Tins of Tuna • Frozen peas • Tins of Chopped Tomatoes • Olive Oil

Budget Busting Recipes! Click below to view credit crunching Diva recipes. Do you have any great recipes that you would like to share with us then submit it by clicking here!

Meat Fish Vegetarian Other Desserts Christmas Dinner Shopping Tips

According to the News of the World spiralling food prices are threatening to knock the stuffing out of shoppers who are determined to lay on the traditional seasonal spread.

But thanks to the ruthless price-cutting by the supermarkets, cash strapped families can still tuck in without breaking the bank.

This is our shopping list,

Turkey (4kg)
Potatoes (1kg)
Carrots (1kg)
Sprouts (1kg)
Parsnips (500g)
Stuffing (85g)
Cranberry sauce (200G)
Gravy granules (170g)
Christmas pudding
Mince pies (6)
Christmas crackers (6)

The supermarket that came out tops was Aldi with a total bill of £16.40, a close second was Asda with a total shopping bill of £16.70 and Tesco in third place with £17.39

In order of price the other supermarket prices were;

• Aldi £16.40
• Asda £16.70
• Tesco £17.39
• Netto £17.97
• Sainsburys £18.83
• Lidl £19.55
• Morrisons £26.08
• Waitrose £29.72
• M&S £40.77

However, canny bargain hunters can save an extra £4.40 if they shop around, mixing the bargains from all over the different supermarkets.