Food variety....it's costing me!

[CassKins]

I currently don't drive and am recently single. I eat well and am fit/healthy to the best of my knowledge. And...I don't like what food is costing me since everything seemed to shoot up in price!

I usually strive to eat a very varied diet, so lots of healthy lean meat/fish and tons of lovely veg and salad. I don't like large, hot meals such as casseroles or curries as they irritate my IBS, but apart from that and red meat I enjoy a lot of Italian and Greek inspired lighter meals, sometimes with tortilla wraps, rice, fish and chicken. I will buy everything from avocado's, cherry tomatoes, various peppers to making my own coleslaw. I love all of this, but it is becoming so expensive, especially if I look for higher quality ingredients and organic meat.

Problem is, my income has dropped a little over the past year (self employed), so whilst I am trying to fix that, I could do with spending less on food. Some of it, especially decent cuts of fresh meat or fish are really whacking my budget. I was reading about the push to get people to eat more variety, yet I think in my case it might be a good idea to actually reduce it. Sourcing some of my fave foods can be a pain in the arse, too, and online shopping just seems to grow more and more expensive..

Which brings me to my point: for over a decade in my 30's I ate pretty much the same thing almost daily. That was granola with fruit for breakfast, fresh soup and a small bread roll for lunch, and a baked chicken fillet (not home made) with vegetables (around 7 or 8 in number) every evening. Sometimes I swapped the chicken for a fish fillet, usually in breadcrumbs.
I would love to go back to this, as it would be a ton more affordable than what I spend now. My only 'processed' yearnings are in the coating - no matter how well I cook a sauce, etc, I much prefer fish with a batter or crunchy coating. I also love tinned tuna and mackerel, and keep a lot of green veggies in the freezer.
Sadly I can't eat the typical healthy and cheap meals with lentils, beans and onions/garlic due to my IBS, so a lot of typical batch cooking and soups are difficult.
Would returning to that 'diet' be healthy enough? With all the hullaballoo surrounding processed foods I could be overthinking it about the breadcrumb coating...

If you like a coating but don't want a UPF try coating your own using egg and seasoned flour or just gram flour.
Gram flour will stick on the damp outside of a fish fillet and on shallow frying it puffs up to make a distinct coating: you can add whatever spices you like.

Relax, breaded things are not generally the end of the world.

Here's the ingredient list for Aldi's fish fingers, not too bad really:
Alaska Pollock (Theragra Chalcogramma) (64%) (𝐅𝐢𝐬𝐡), 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫 (𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Rapeseed Oil, Potato Starch, Salt, 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 Starch, Spices (Paprika, Turmeric), Yeast.

Eating at your price point is the only way to eat. You will still manage variety.

You eat 7 or 8 portions of vegetables with your protein each night? If so, that sounds obsessive.

Thanks for those!
I did try my own coating a few times, it really didn't work. And essentially, the fish itself, if decent or line caught, is astonishingly expensive. A single cod fillet in my local supermarket costs £7 now.
I once bought a pak of frozen fillets but no matter how inspired, I couldn't get them to taste halfway palatable without significant fuss

I'm all ok on the veg front, I can hoard a great variety along with fresh for very little cost. Meat is a PITA.

Mumsnet gold!

The reality, if we can relax the death grip on semantics, will go as follows:

The meat, with some sort of dressing.
A selection or stir fry of chilli pepper, various fresh herbs, bell pepper, mushroom, spinach, broccoli, etc.

Not exactly extreme is it?

Not sure about the granola, some have a lot of sugar in them.

Yeh, i haven't had granola in many years. I usually have scrambled egg for brekkie now. Or if in a rush a slice of toast with peanut butter.

I find meat and fish so expensive now, so much I've cut down on it.

Cook, frozen chicken strips I find good for portion control and longevity. Throw some spices or herbs on them when cooking and they are fine.
Fish I tend to only get from the reduced section and eat it on the day.
I purposely don't buy organic, it's basically the anti-vaxers of the agriculture industry.

How often do you go shopping? Could you tailor your meals to what you find in the reduced sections? I always find lots of decent veggies there.

If it was fresh soup, you could be ringing the changes there. Your dinners sounded fine. I think variety over the long term - seasonal rather than ever seven days ( weeks are a man-made notion really) Perhaps a healthier breakfast: eggs, porridge, yogurt or fruit?

How is it obsessive to eat 7-8 veggies? 😳
no wonder 60% of the nation is obese or overweight if people take that attitude.

I don’t get why people buy organic.

You do realise that the ground the ‘organic’ veg is grown on was farmed for years and years using pesticides.

The pesticides are still very much in the soil.

Porridge oats or eggs for breakfast.
Home made veggie soups (I made a lovely butternut one yesterday).
Tinned pilchards or Sardines are very good for you. I make a sort of fishy bolegnaise with tinned pilchards in tomato sauce.
Aldi's meat is good value and quality, but maybe you don't live near one?

Full sympathy - food prices are bonkers everywhere. I'm not in the UK so price ratios may differ a bit, but have you looked at targeting the cheaper bits? I'm buying chicken liver regularly, it's dirt cheap and delicious. For beef or pork, tougher cuts that get super tender with braising. For fish, sardines, herring, or mackerel tend to be cheaper and they're also superior nutrient-wise to white fish. Also, buying fish whole rather than fileted helps, and they're more flavourful. I appreciate a lot of this depends on access to a decent butcher - too many supermarkets just focus on tenderloin (often injected with brine, bleurgh )

I think you have to be a bit flexible. Granted, I am not in the UK so prices might be different but fish is expensive here too. I eat fish that is either 1) frozen - cheaper usually but still nutritious 2) on special offer 3) cheaper anyway - fresh sardines are one of the cheapest and luckily I love them.

Good idea to buy on the day. Since I don't drive though it makes more sense to buy my larger shop online, which also affords a lot more variety and choice. Unfortunately a few things need purchasing more frequently, such as salad, etc.

I'm not too bothered about organic, but it is hard to go back to lower quality after enjoying the good stuff. I would rather reduce meat than eat gristly chicken, but I don't want to pay over £7 for one piece of organic breast either.
I've compromised quitting chicken altogether except on rare occasions, and by using tinned tuna and mackerel more, which goes nicely with rice and veg or in a tortilla wrap.
I love olives, particularly black ones, and am fed up with the cost of those too.

Still, all this variety still costs, so I would love to keep to a 'routine' for most days of the week to get the price down a bit.

I'm not holier than thou with veg, it's just my favourite food. My ex rarely ate any veg at all and was none the worse for it at nearly 60. Food is such a personal thing and it's often hard to discuss it without some sort of clash

Cut right down on meat, or don't eat any. I have not eat any meat or fish for over 50 years and seem to be very healthy. Apart from all the other reasons to be vegan it is a waste of money.

Eat a variety of fruit and veg but don't worry if you just stick to a relatively small range. Try to eat a lot of it raw and eat a lot of different colours.

Homemade soup and a roll every day sounds great, actually.

Another huge LOL is how my preferred tuna, which you'd think was always an affordable staple, has recently shot up from £3.70 (for three little pots) to £6.50 or thereabouts. I often feel that the only truly affordable way to eat is to go veggie.

Yes! At my local mini market, the tuna is kept in a locked cabinet behind the till with the other valuables!!

This would suit me as I love raw and cold foods, and have never been the biggest fan of meat, but I always avoided it due to worries about iron levels. Unfortunately a lot of veggie protein staples like lentils and beans bother my gut.

I haven't had a period for over 3 yrs now so maybe the iron issue would be less of a problem after meno.

A lot of stuff seems to have doubled rather than just gone up in price a bit!! Not just the tuna.
M&S do a deli turkey pack that I used to love, only a few years ago it was around £2.50, now they have shrunk the pack AND whopped the price up to £4!

My fave perfume was £55 two years ago, and is £90 now too

@Bringonthesunforthewashing I buy organic to support local regenerative farms which are good for biodiversity and soil health, better for the planet and wildlife 😊 just because land was previously used for conventional farming doesn’t mean improvements can’t be made

If you're concerned about UPFs and/or less than healthy ingredients, I recommend using the Yuka app. You zap the barcode of a product and it gives you a rating out of 100 (0=bad, 100=good), a broad one-word rating and a list of which ingredients may cause concern.

Hours of entertainment besides being informative.

thanks, will try that :)

That is fair enough and a very good reason to buy it.

I only mention it because I know quite a few people who buy it because they think it’s totally pesticide free etc.

Its crazy how much food prices have gone up. As a one off, I bought 2 apples, a punnet of grapes and 2 cereal bars at my Sainsbury's local and it came £7.90!? Like, seriously?
I did some meal plans and was able to do the week shop (it's just me and a breastfed baby) for £30. Lots of fruit and veg eg. Avocados, blueberries, apples, broccoli, carrots etc.
I always have porridge (made with water) with peanut butter blueberries, cinnamon and honey for breakfast.
I buy tinned sardines over fresh fish which is now out of my budget.

I make a lot of soup, and also buy lots of beans and pulses (which isn't helpful I know).
I tend to make different meals using the same ingredients throughout the week and get my variety between weeks, if that makes sense.
I miss being able to buy nuts and meat. Now that's a luxury. I eat vegan most days (apart from tinned fish and occasionally some chicken)