Buying British food during the credit crunch is something that the organisers of British Food Fortnight are addressing in earnest this year. With food prices accelerating at their fastest rate since records began, and with no assurance they will ever drop again, economising on our food bills is something we are all having to face.

But how can we economise and yet continue to buy British food when imported food is often far cheaper?

They have come up with a dozen ways.

Eating seasonal produce, which is often on special offer when the harvest is abundant, is one. At the moment, British sweetcorn, plums, courgettes, pears and apples can all be purchased at a reasonable price.

Try serving sweetcorn instead of potatoes, breaking each corn in half and smothering the cooked corn with butter. It is not only cheap, it’s delicious.

Apples are particularly abundant this year so we should make the most of them, You can freeze apple pulp to be used as pie filling or apple sauce later in the year. Those of you without gardens don’t have to miss out on this year’s bountiful harvest.

You will find that the old habit of leaving buckets of spare fruit outside the main gate for people to help themselves is still very much alive in rural areas. I took the picture above while walking the dog through Stonesfield last week.

This tradition of sharing the autumn fruits and vegetables takes place in my own village of Eynsham, too, and I have seen buckets of courgettes, apples and pears placed outside gardens in North Leigh and Long Hanborough. After all there are only so many apples, courgettes and pears that a family can eat, so keep your eyes open.

The second way is to cook your meals from scratch. Buy raw meat, fresh fruit and vegetables rather than ready-made meals and learn to adapt favourite recipes with the items on special offer, which might mean substituting one meat or fish for another, chicken for pork perhaps, or lamb for beef.

While standing in a queue at my village shop I noticed the woman behind me had bought two boxes of four frozen cauliflower cheese which came to more than £3. I had a large cauliflower in my basket, also a pint of milk and a block of cheese, which came to about the same price. The difference, however, was that from the ingredients I had I could make twice as many portions of cauliflower cheese for the price she had paid and probably still have cauliflower over for another meal.

The price of rice has virtually doubled in the last year and the price of pasta continues to rise, potatoes are the obvious choice.

By buying in large quantities you save a considerable amount of money, too. Providing they are stored in a cool dry place, you will make a great saving by buying a 25kg sack from a farm shop, which are often priced at under £5.

Potatoes are the largest single source of vitamin C and contain potassium, magnesium, zinc and copper — the minerals essential for life — and there is more iron in a serving of new potatoes than in a portion of steamed spinach or a pint of Guinness.

As there are more than a hundred different ways of cooking potatoes, you really can save by turning your back on bags of frozen chips. Yes, cooking from raw is a lengthy process and how tempting it is to just place a frozen box in the microwave and press a button. But if changes have to be made to balance the books, cooking from raw is one positive way off cutting your bills substantially.

Other ways they suggest reducing your bill include buying joints or full carcasses of meat and using all of it imaginatively. A whole chicken, for example, is far cheaper than skinned chicken breasts. Don’t shy away from paying a little more for quality as nine times out of ten you will be buying a product that is more economical in the long run.

Alexia Robinson, of British Food Fortnight, said: “Now more than ever people want the best value for money — but value is not just about price, it is also about quality. Good food is one of the great pleasures of life and shouldn’t be something we deprive ourselves of in these harsh economic times. After all, food is more than merely fuel for our bodies because what we eat affects our health and mood. "So shop smart and seek out the best food you can afford — not just the cheapest.”

Alexia invites us all to go to the ‘Want to buy British’ pages of the British Food Fortnight website — www.britishfoodfortnight.co.uk — for further information. The celebration continues until October 5.