To be seriously worried that the cost of food is getting so scarily high

[thebird]

I am not extravagant I buy shop own brands where I can, I try to shop on a budget, I cook from scratch and have given up buying extras like wine (well just the odd bottle to keep me sane) but still each week the cost of my food bill goes up and up. I know inflation is running at around 4-5% but I cant understand this as many basic items have increased almost 30-50%. When the hell is it going to stop or I really will be living on beans on toast every night(and even they've gone up lots!

I'll find it Snooze

here Snoozledoozle

Chestnut, I'm not convinced about that - I know dried fruit, juice and pulses only count as one each, regardless of the amount, but I believe that's not the case with 'real' fruit & veg.

Looking at the NHS advice, it says "To get the most benefit from your five portions, eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables.", but that doesn't mean that you can't eat carrots twice a day, or apples for example. TBH if that wasn't the case, then back in the day when everyone ate seasonally, they'd all have been very unhealthy as by the nature of it you tend to get a lot of one thing then a lot of another! (And of course even more so back when we were hunter-gatherers.)

snoozledoozle its called wht foodstuff do you get through a ridiculous amount of. Things like 7 boxes of cereal, 28 pints of milk, 24 muller corners, ten litres of dr pepper. I think buying so much is why some people have massive bills. Especially when some posters are suggesting eating up to 8 different fruit or vegetables in a day. It does sound unsustainable.

You done it already MrsBaggins?
Cool- nothing like getting on with it LOL!
You can keep it in your bucket quite easily as well if it has a lid- I only transfer it to bottles for ease of storage- just make sure you give it a good stir before using it

I get through at least 40 pints of milk a week- thank goodness for Asda 87p milk!!

We do eat loads of fruit and veg as well mind- but its like the meat- all on mark down, we would never eat as well as we do without markdowns!!

8.70 on milk mumnotmachine I do think it all depends on your income but I find that extortionate. It nearly an hour an a halfs work for me!

For example for tea tonight the boys are having fishfingers and chips- fishfingers were on offer for £1, potatoes were reduced to 10p a bag
DD had fresh pasta which I had frozen when I bought it, the bag was reduced to 12p, along with a piece of salmon reduced to 18p and cherry tomatoes reduced to 12p
Im having smoked mackeral (large pack which will do 4 meals for me) for 50p, new potatoes reduced to 10p the bag (and it was a big bag!) Fresh spinach - bag was reduced to 7p and asparagus, large bunch will do me 3 meals reduced to 24p

I would say I have fed us all well tonight (apart from the chips but hey its the weekend!) for around £2 for all of us!

Do you think thats a lot jellybeans?
Ive seen people paying £1.65 for 4 pints- they could use half the amount that I do but it still be costing the same?

My son drinks loads of milk, which I dont mind

And my income is far from what I would term "well off" LOL

Yes- Diy shop 5 mins up the road !
Have made it and it smells lovely.Also have made some general cleaner -had a recipe Ive used before and always used to make it so will cross Method and washing powder off my next list

Crikey that is alot of milk ! Do you drink it or cook with it ?
I have 1 pint of soya and DH and Dcs 3 pints between them but they mostly drink water.

xpost!

The cost of food is just SCARY and getting worse. The best advice is to do a menu plan and stick to it - works for me. Saves waste too.

I was trying to meal plan but I tend to base my meals around whatever I get reduced now.
I have a freezer full of meat and fish etc which will last me hopefully till the end of Sept. Ive probably filled the big freezer for less than £40 and that includes steaks as well
Money has been ridiculously tight over the holidays so we are a buy as you need basis for the next 6 weeks!

Now its made MrsBaggins keep whisking it every hour or so till its cold, then leave it, till it gels, can take up to 48 hours.
My first batch failed to gel at all, but it still worked absolutely fine- towels and bedding come out lovely with it!

I also have many teenagers in the house (3 of my own, one au pair and a borrowed Spanish girl). We spend up to £150/week just on food and that's being pretty frugal and making most things from scratch. It annoys the bejesus out me when my son scoffs £4 worth of ham in a few days on between-meal sandwiches when he's actually spending most of his time lying in bed on his computer. If he were breaking stones in a quarry all day I wouldn't mind so much. I have to guard the food supply like a primaeval cave harridan. My children hate me.

I have to say I am pretty strict about portion sizes and I control the serving ! Otherwise DH would scoff huge amounts and he is already on the well covered side (polite !) DC can make toast or eat sarnies if still hungry There was a very good programme about food ages ago and they pointed out that portion sizes of meat/fish /bread/cheese/breakfast cereals etc have rocketed since the 70s .Most people could cut down and have more veg/fruit etc instead

jellybeans- I spend about the same on milk/week- 6x6pt bottles every week.

Thanks mumnotmachine I will -DH is very pleased as he hopes there will be more money for beer

duchesse I am the same -mine have to ask if they think its "for a meal" but can have soup (homemade in the fridge) toast or cheese sarnie in between meals and fruit.

We are now on our second cycle of BittersndTwisteds £30 meal plan and enjoying it. It has come in for us at more like £40 (still a huge reduction on what we'd been spending) and we've tweaked it a bit to suit our own palates, but found it really helpful - thank you Bitter

Don't know if it's already been mentioned, but those who are saying about butter being expensive; look out for reduced pots of double cream, stick it in a screw top jar and get shaking. Result= toned upper arms, buttercream for scones, and a lovely blob of homemade butter

87p asda milk - for how much?Mrsbaggins - did you buy all ingredients today and how much did that cost please?

4 pints
Its 1% milk with a purple lid

Green- phew- I was beginning to think I was the only nutter person who made butter! You can make about 1lb of lovely sweet butter with a couple of large pots of reduced cream (double seems best).