I am spending less money and eating better, healthier meals – here are the main ways I've made it through the year

It's exactly 12 months since I decided to see if I could live for a year without visiting a supermarket. When I started this experiment I wasn't sure if I could manage for a fortnight, and when friends asked me how I'd celebrate the end of my challenge, I used to say "with a major blowout in Sainsbury's".

But what a difference a year makes. Swerving the supermarkets has forced me to change my approach to buying, growing and cooking food. Not only am I spending less money, I am eating better, healthier meals.

I set myself a target of reducing my grocery bills by a third, but really I had no idea whether giving up supermarkets would increase my spend or slash it. In fact, it has nearly halved it. The average weekly food bill in Britain has gone up to £76.83, according to consumer group Which?. I used to spend more than that, more like £90. My family (two adults and two young children) is now fed for less than £50 a week. That's a saving of more than £2,000 over the year.

These are the main ways I've managed to save money:

Growing my own

As someone capable of killing off even the hardiest of pot plants, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to dig up dinner from the garden. But what could be cheaper? So I gave it a go, and even with amateur, minimal effort the results have been fantastic.

Start-up costs were low: I used old margarine tubs and yoghurt pots for seedlings, bought cheap compost from the garden centre where I also buy eggs, and a few packets of seeds from a discount household shop. I was also given cuttings by neighbours.

I used to pay £1.50 for a 200g bag of spinach every fortnight or so, and half of it used to mush at the back of the fridge. I grow it in a container now, so that one crop saves £39 a year alone. It's fresher, always available and after helping in the garden my children are keener to eat the results.

I took advice from Guardian commenters Suffolkbumpkin and Kezia10 who recommended growing expensive produce such as pak choi, peppers and rainbow chard. Growing food was a lot easier than I thought: we've had more than 300 tomatoes for minimal effort, as well as broad beans, broccoli, raspberries, blueberries, fresh herbs (on the windowsill) and potatoes in a bag by the back door.

This year, I've planted far more – indoors for now, because of the weather. You can grow a food forest on a tiny balcony, in containers or inside, there are lot of ways to do it: see James Wong and Vertical Veg or get involved in urban community food projects like The Big Dig.

I've also foraged for freebies, something I've never done before. Last week I picked nettles and brewed beer – there's a fab, cheap recipe in The Hedgerow Cookbook by Wild at Heart. Sites like the Urban Forager and Galloway Wild Foods help you identify what to pick.

Cooking from scratch

It's not easy to find the time, so I've managed it by batch cooking at weekends and freezing everything. I've concentrated on simple recipes that don't need a long list of ingredients or hours in the oven. Even so, I've definitely spent more time cooking this year than ever before.

It is a money-spinner, though, even if it's just simple pizza bases and pasta and pesto for the kids. I made lots of pesto, and froze it, using nettles from the garden instead of basil. Instead of costing £2.89 a jar, it cost about 40p and it's so quick: I can make it in the time the pasta takes to cook.

One of the single biggest savers has been learning to bake bread. We used to buy three loaves a week: two standard sliced and one nicer weekend loaf, adding up to £4.45 a week. Now I bulk-buy organic flour and add only salt and water to make sourdough at 39p a loaf (to save energy I bake them together and freeze two). This saves about £170 a year.

Having super-thrifty days

Having a few of these each month has really cut our grocery bills. A menu includes something like breakfast: organic porridge and fruit; lunch: sandwiches (homemade bread) and salad, a slice of cake and an apple; snacks: a biscuit and fruit; and dinner: lentil dahl with basmati rice, rotis and fresh coriander. The whole lot comes to a total of £4.31 or £1.07 a person.

Not over-consuming

Escape the supermarket and you encounter fewer marketing tactics like "reduced" strawberries in December, three-for-two offers on biscuits, or "discounted" hot cross buns in July. It's been so much easier to stick to buying only what we need.

Since I've had to go out of my way to buy luxuries like olives, crisps, wine and upmarket cheeses, I've hardly ever done it, and I'm glad. We didn't need those treats so often and while this wasn't my intention I have definitely lost weight. I'm calling it the supermarket-free diet.

Buying in bulk

Bulk-buying dried goods such as pulses, flour, rice and pasta is a major money-saver – they cost at least a third less than in supermarkets.

I'd never bought in bulk before, as I found it hard to afford the upfront costs and find the space to put it all. However, I joined a wholesaler because the reductions are hard to beat – basmati rice at less than £6 for 5kg rather than 1kg packs for £1.69; and fruit juice at 65p a carton instead of £1.39 for the exact same brand. I also buy organic flour – a 16kg bag costs £15, which works out cheaper than 1.5kg bags at £1.89.

There have been times when avoiding the supermarkets, and particularly their online delivery services, has been tricky. Being stuck inside when both of my children had chickenpox, for example, was one such test of willpower.

However, there's a whole world of food buying and growing I never considered while I was stuck in my supermarket-rut. I've set up a Twitter account where I've had tips from gardeners and taken advice from readers; I've linked up with a community farm project doing a supermarket-free challenge; and chatted to chefs, bakers and food bloggers. I've also visited farmers' markets and food festivals, drunk wine in a homebrew shop, learned to bake, and am on first name terms with my local independent grocers.

Now the year is over, I can't go back to my old ways. While I'm not going to ban myself from the supermarket entirely – if I need one or two items occasionally, I may pop in – I'll never properly shop in them again.

Supermarkets are brightly-lit, convenient and well-stocked, I'll give them that; but they also use crafty marketing tactics, employ unethical practices, are expensive and, I now realise, just not for me. I've finally learned how to shop elsewhere, save money and eat better. Who's going to join me?