How to Shop on a Budget at Any Grocery Store, According to Jamie Oliver

After selling millions of cookbooks worldwide, opening more than 70 restaurants, and earning a feature in Netflix’s Chef’s Table: Legends thanks to an acclaimed culinary career, British chef Jamie Oliver is shifting his focus to something new: teaching.

Oliver has recently announced his plan to launch the 10 Skills Food Education Platform — a complimentary collection of resources designed to teach children vital cooking skills — in the United States. However, 10 Skills extends beyond a mere curriculum; the resources provided aim to transform children’s lives and prepare them for future success. Having already implemented the program in 500 schools across the United Kingdom, Oliver now seeks to inspire further change across the Atlantic Ocean.

Even for people who don’t fall between the ages of 11 and 14, this platform is filled with accessible information on learning to cook that anyone can use. While speaking with Oliver about the inspiration and hopes behind the 10 Skills platform, he also shares actionable tips for feeding yourself or a family on a budget that are increasingly relevant in our current economy.

Whether you’ve never learned to cook, want to nurture long-term skills for your children, or are seeking advice on budget-friendly grocery shopping, Jamie Oliver likely has an idea that will help.

What is the 10 Skills Food Education Platform?

This program provides schools with the guidelines, information, and knowledge necessary to teach students aged 11 to 14 how to grocery shop, budget for food, and cook. It offers tools such as a skills map, lesson plans, recipes, videos, worksheets, and assessment tools essential for teaching these skills. Furthermore, all of its resources are free of charge.

“10 Skills really tries to give you a nice mixture of recipes that can suit many sorts of scenarios and many budgets and keep things nutritious and show you quick, easy ways to get more veggies in and stretch food,” Oliver told Food & Wine.

As its name implies, students will learn fundamental cooking skills that they can use to create a wide array of dishes. Oliver says examples of this include making soups, core pasta sauce recipes that can incorporate different proteins or vegetables, salad dressings, and even crafting a Sunday roast.

Why is learning to cook while young so important?

For Oliver, teaching students how to feed themselves revolves around fostering independence and the lifelong skills they’ll need to succeed. He emphasizes that understanding core cooking techniques “makes people feel free, it makes them feel empowered. It makes them feel that a recipe is not like a law, it’s not a club you’re in or you’re out. It’s just trying to navigate you to something delicious.”

When children leave school not only knowing how to cook for themselves but also how to do it on a budget, they will have more control over their finances and health. “If you teach kids about food, where it comes from and how it affects their body, they’re not just healthier, but they’re happier and they’re more productive. They’re off work less because of sickness…” Oliver notes.

As the chef points out, food can also be leveraged to help students learn about other core subjects. Baking and budgeting require math; a history and geography lesson underlies the origins of virtually any dish, and cooking itself is highly dependent on chemical reactions. For kids who struggle to learn through more traditional classroom methods, working hands-on in a kitchen might be an invaluable teaching tool.

How does Jamie Oliver teach cooking on a budget?

Although the 10 Skills platform aims to help students, the British chef shares insights through the program and with Food & Wine that can assist anyone grocery shopping on a budget.

To start, he highlights that communication is key. Talk to someone at the butcher or seafood counter, and tell them what your budget is. They’ll be able to recommend items that work with the amount of money you’re able to spend, and they can advise on the best options for each price point. They’ll also help you navigate how much of an ingredient you can purchase if it’s priced by the pound.

Oliver suggests another communication-based tactic that everyone who goes to a grocery store can try: Inquire at your supermarket about when ingredients are marked down. He says to “Ask them when do you discount? What time do you discount? Is there a pattern to it? They don’t [care]. They’ll say, ‘Yeah, cool. Four o’clock every day we come along with a little gun and we’d put ‘reduced’ on everything.’ [Or they’ll say] ‘At this time, we give away a load of stuff for free to charities and people that need stuff through this app.’

The only catch here is that in order to be flexible and use the ingredients that are most affordable for you, you’ll need to know how to cook. But luckily, Oliver is working to ensure that the next generation can.