Food is expensive

[goldenorbspider]

Went to aldi got few bits for the week and not a big shop for me and one infant. Spent £40 and it's not even a big shop. What do people do to save money on food? I can't imagine spending much less. I know it would cost waay more at other supermarkets.

Not sure what you're asking.

^^ neither am I I thought I'd spend half that. Got home wrote out my post. listed everything and realised I stand corrected.

The sauces can be made for even less than buying them ready made

FFS stop buying cheap meat from animals that have lived awful lives. If you cant afford higher welfare, eat less meat and just buy the higher welfare stuff

I think lots here are being over judgemental, I live alone with cat, I often spend around £20 to £40 weekly, always buying frozen fruit , pre chopped veg ( I often don’t use enough to buy fresh).
I nearly always have two veggie meals a week, buy smoked salmon, rather then fillets, always have ham and eggs too in.
And have a few cans of fruit in too.
I tend to buy want because I can, and buy buy my eco household stuff seoersately.

That centre aisle is very tempting, so easy to see things you didn't know you needed !

Have you considered using a butcher. Our food bill has halved since using a butcher and our food waste has disappeared.

Our butcher was much better value for money than most of the supermarkets. And much better quality!

You did get a fair amount for £40 I think op but you do have a lot of meat in there.
Not judging but we would only have one meat dish per week. What you list is probably 2 months of meat for us.
Salmon is expensive always and it should be.....I would say try going to a butchers or a fish market, esp if you live near the coast. Mackerel is a much cheaper alternative and very healthy.
I like these posts as I hope that the impact of food miles and the cost of groceries and household items will inspire us as a nation to really start making some changes.

Oh and why do people keep saying that they buy frozen veg etc because fresh is too large and will get wasted?
Anything pre cut, diced, grated is beyond ridiculous, it's lazy at it's worst and what about all that extra plastic and packaging!
Do yourself a favour and get a reusable, freezer container, buy fresh veg, cheese etc, cut and grate it yourself (ffs) and freeze it yourself!

The butchers (not owners ) that I know of can't afford the meat they work with - they all shop in Aldi/Lidls.
We have a wet fish shop here and it is beyond our affordability.
Nothing wrong with buying frozen veg and fish - and canned veg/fruit if you are on a tiny budget.

@onegiftedgal research shows frozen veg is higher in nutrients than fresh so it’s probably better to buy frozen veg than buy fresh and freeze it yourself.

onegiftedgal

Frozen veg is often much cheaper than fresh, eg green beans from Morrisons - frozen £1.33 per kilo vs fresh, £9.38 per kilo which is relevant on a thread about reducing food costs.

Both comes in a plastic bag too anyway and the freezer one is recyclable, while the fresh one is film, which is not.

Yes if you’re going to cut out meat you don’t need more fruit and veg you need energy, iron and B vitamin sources so beans and pulses as others have mentioned and also no one has mentioned Quinoa - this is the only ‘complete protein’ outside of meat and dairy. You can use it as a base to make yummy vegetable risottos.

Also a slow cooked casserole that uses a whole chicken is a good shout I can normally get 4 big portions then two smaller ones which you can add a rice or a grain to to make it into a full dinner portion.

Oh I used to be so snobby about frozen veg, but since having children I don’t have that luxury!! I buy a lot organic frozen veg, the spinach is great!

@LakieLady there’s no garlic in a real carbonara, only black pepper.

And if you want to be strict about it, no cream either, plus there are definitely whole eggs rather than just yolks. And guanciale rather than pancetta.

There’s a real good YouTube mini series on Italian chefs firstly critiquing famous UK/US chefs’ takes in carbonara, then making their own.

Spanish obesity rate is 26.6 %
English obesity rate is 28.7%
uk obesity rate is 28.15
Not what I would call a massive difference

italians are so unadventurous with their food.
They get really worked up if you tweak a recipe wheres in England we embrace all cuisines and are happy to experiment.
I'd hate to live in such a restrictive country where you basically know every restaurant is serving exactly the same food

totes Hilaire!

Not judging but we would only have one meat dish per week

Why? Cost or ethics? We have meat or fish every day.

I think health, cost and ethics for me.

Oh and why do people keep saying that they buy frozen veg etc because fresh is too large and will get wasted?

Frozen veg is actually better for you - studies have shown it has more nutrients than fresh as it's frozen within hours of being picked, whereas the fresh stuff has been around for a few days before it reaches the shelves.

So buying fresh and freezing it yourself is both more expensive and worse for you.

@vikkimoog really???...because as far as I have experienced every region in Italy serves different dishes and specialties, I have had the best steaks ever in Italy!! It’s not all pasta and pizza you know!!

lipper
I'm not saying it's all pizza / pasta but just look at this thread: peopl epronouncing that carbonara absoloutely mustn't contain certain things.
Italian food can be delicious but once they decide how a dish should be done then they get very upset if you tweak it

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mariacristina-lubrano/why-italians-have-no-righ_b_17411352.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACD2TrOOr5vCBG3QTCGNY_4X2gbLys4PGImBi__5hZWwMEsqZiliwY1xqQQup6av0CEU1-RlIY3UQurcetzCTzIl1Uli-6shMEIzAtQASgatk2VXodc_65w_zoluBHm6ygOIgwR7G9fsyD7byJU4oqtWJYzoNJZ-0Udx5CigaFgA

Gosh that was a long link!