To be horrified at the price of food

Absolutely - which is why I said both things are true! Depends on many factors.

I still wouldn't presume to tell anyone wild foods are an option to the rise in the CoL though.

Wild foods can help people on low incomes. Depends on existing skills and knowledge, time and other circumstances, of course there is privilege there, but a low income does not exclude it as an option. I'm on a low income myself.

I picked over half a kilo of wild garlic in about 10 minutes the other day, I'm putting it in everything at the moment and will preserve it, too. Other family are on the breadline, and we share ideas.

That would be great thread, especially prepping for not being able to get to the shops through illness or snow or whatever.

NHS '5 a day' portions are as little 3 heaped tablespoons of frozen or tinned sweetcorn, peas and carrots.

SWEETCORN:

1 kg (35 oz) of Asda frozen sweetcorn is £1.75. That's 12 portions? So about 15p each.

326g tin is 72-80p so a little more expensive - about 11.5 oz so 4 portions at 18-21p each.

No cooking actually needed.

Meadowfinch brilliant ! Thankyou

@Nameisnewforthis 'please can you tell me details of the 25 portions of fruit and veg you have for £ 50 a week ?'

This week's Tesco shop was:
little gem
cucumber
cherry tomatoes
celery
beetroot
spring onion
Bananas
satsumas
pears
a pineapple
Potatoes
broccoli
carrots
swede
onions
garlic
fennel
50p packets of mixed nuts (almond, hazel, cashew)
green lentils

I had frozen sweetcorn, peas & spinach and chopped cooking apple in the freezer. I already had tinned kidney beans, rice, porridge oats and bottled black olives in the cupboard. Rhubarb from the garden

I have porridge with fruit for breakfast, salads and veggie soups for lunches, most of the veg with suppers.

I spend £10-£12 a week on fruit & veg. I aim to eat 30 different fruit & veg a week, and normally manage 28-30. Vary it with the seasons.

What ham are you buying??

Meadowfinch please can you tell me details of the 25 portions of fruit and veg you have for £ 50 a week ? i know some of it is frozen .. ( peas , spinach sweetcorn) id like to do the same amd that is a very good price for a shop of thar variety . Thanks .

On top of that drought elsewhere, Spain for example, has caused crop failure.

Ready meals are cheap to cook, but many other foods (that apparently you must eat or you are not really poor), like pizza or chicken dippers, need the oven and that costs a lot more than a ring on the stove top.

A lot of countries do not have ready meals or if they do they are expensive. We have some very cheap ready made meals.
Its like some countries eating out can be cheaper than cooking your own meal. It certainly is not in Britain.

I always found it weird the difference between poverty in different countries. In my native one poor people can't afford ready meals, so they have to cook (like my family did).

There is quite a lot between bag of berries and ready meal...

Soak, for the love of god, soak the pulses, people.

I think both things are equally true. Yes, you can eat healthily very cheaply if you know what to buy and cook and have the means to do so... and by that I mean not only the physical equipment to cook but also the education. A £1 pizza is also much more filling and appealing and quick to prepare and more certainly to be eaten by children as well.

The main problem (apart from price gouging, which is happening) is education and opportunity. I'm in my 50s and had an archetypal SAHM who cooked everything from scratch. It has still taken me 30 years to become proficient at cooking everything... to know how to use dried pulses so they are tasty, to batch cook anything and everything (also a freezer needed there) to amass a huge array of herbs and spices to add to humble vegetables.

My latest education is in using wild foods... but I would never in a million years suggest that someone on the breadline spends their time foraging. I have the time (very important factor for any food preparation) and the knowledge and the ability to use those ingredients (along with other expensive ones) to create something nutritious and edible... but that is a huge privilege.

The frozen berries I get from Sainsbury's work out about 50p a portion - 5 portions of 80g in a 400g bag for £2.50.

But if someone was strapped for cash they might understandably prioritise spending that £2.50 on the three microwaveable frozen ready meals from Aldi you could get for that money.

One thing people often forget when they recommend batch cooking lentil dishes etc, is that while you might get a bag of lentils for £1, they can't afford to put the gas on to cook them for 30+ minutes.

But no one has to buy fresh berries in winter. I often eat porridge, hardly ever with berries though. It’s still lovely.

But what do you expect people to say? Eating healthily doesn’t automatically mean eating out of season produce and expecting it to be cheap.
Peppers are not in season, people are explaining why they cost as much as they cost. Several people have also pointed out that food is more expensive in other countries, in Europe and beyond.
On treads like this, someone will always mention the 99 p pizza and how it’s more filling than lettuce and a couple of onions. No one’s suggesting to eat lettuce with onion though. Several people are sharing ideas for healthy, inexpensive meals made with pulses, tinned or frozen veg, rice, only to be told they’re sanctimonious.
On another similar thread someone said they wouldn’t eat dal because according to them it was poor peasant’s food, so back to the 99 p pizza we go.
Fwiw, in our family, we buy both frozen pizza as well as loads of vegetables, fruit and pulses.
Yes, food prices have gone up, but I think it’s still disingenuous to suggest that any type of healthy food is out of reach for low income households now.

If you really want to save money and help the planet use your local community pantry. We have two locally that do a roaring trade. They collect food from all the big stores has been over supplied or near to end date and pass it on for a donation. You won’t get a weekly shop but you might come away with more than you bargained for. For a small donation of £2.00 I got a turkey, sprouts, parsnips, frozen stuffing, mushrooms, kumquats, two French sticks, lemons, venison pasta ready meal and some potatoes and oranges.
we do this regularly it is a great Community initiative.
Also look at the Olio app and too good to go. You can eat a lot cheaper and do the planet a favour.

I think you are being unreasonable OP because there has been so much coverage regarding just how much farmers’ costs have risen from heating, fertiliser, labour, water, pesticide etc etc.
Farmers are selling up as they work long hours in all weathers and are still in many cases loosing money so how can you be surprised your out of season pepper costs more?
A family friend who inherited a greengrocer business has changed careers as it’s just not sustainable as a business any more. He told us a couple of generations ago the average British family spent 30% of their income on food. We have become accustomed to ultra cheap food but it’s not sustainable.
I do like the idea of incentivising healthy food rather than taxing sugar though.

But that's simply not true. It really isn't easy to eat veg cheaply and healthily. Posters keep mentioning the 15p veg details on offer last week, without pointing out that these only happen TWICE a year - Easter and Christmas. So for 2 weeks in 52 you can buy a basketload for a £1 - great, but what about the rest of the time?! I've never even seen the mythical wonky veg box, do they honestly exist? Or more likely there's four or five boxes displayed which get snapped up in minutes, hardly enough to go around. And don't get me started on the quality of the ' cheap' British spuds from Lidl/ aldi - you have to throw half the bag away because they have rotted - hardly a cheap item when most of it is going into the bin!

The bag of carrots for 39p are small. The veg boxes go very quickly.

I also wonder how big the one for £35 was? We got one for £17 from Sainsbury’s and it was quite large!

Tbf, OP explained it was reduced, and then said it cost more than 20p.

So may have been Asda Essentials or similar, which is around 90p (and crap).

Apple juice is very unhealthy btw

Nobody needs apple juice

its just as bad as fizzy pop

I don't know where you live, but I've never seen a pack of ham for just 20p, no matter how processed it is lol