20 WAYS TO FUEL YOUR RIDING FOR LESS

With food prices soaring, sating a cyclist's appetite is getting very expensive. Anita Bean provides 20 ways to cut your fuelling bill - without compromising on health or performance

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If, like me, your food bill accounts for a big chunk of your weekly spending, you’ll be feeling the financial pinch. I like to eat healthy foods – and a lot of them. But with prices rising sharply week by week, especially for staples such as milk, bread, meat and pasta, fuelling well is becoming an increasingly tricky challenge. The typical annual food bill is now £5,181 – that’s £571 higher than a year ago, according to market research firm Kantar. One way to save money is on your bike food: many cycling snacks and supplements are made from everyday ingredients, which means you can easily make your own in your kitchen at home and save cash. Here are 20 ways to slash your fuelling costs.

1 Swap recovery drinks for milk

Milk is a near-perfect recovery food. It’s cheaper than branded recovery drinks and research shows that, whether you opt for cow’s or soya, milk replaces lost energy and is a fantastic source of protein (about 3.5g per 100ml, in whole milk). To get the most out of the milk in your fridge, drink 500ml immediately after your ride to optimise recovery. If you want to give yourself an even bigger boost, mix 200ml milk, three tablespoons of low-fat plain Greek yoghurt, half a banana and a handful of strawberries in a blender or smoothie maker.

2 Make your own energy drinks