In thinking I’m going to need to make food quality sacrifices due to cost of living

[PinkyU]

My shopping bill has increased by around £24-30/week (family of 5, 3 adults 2 dc, 1 cat), for the same items as we rotate meal plans 3/4 weeks.

we have dietary restrictions and already use at least 2 supermarkets to make the most of bargains, our local cheap supermarket has run out of our usual (85p) oat milk the next one is 30p more expensive and not the right kind.

I can’t buy less, we don’t have much food waste, and now I’m back to school packed lunches for the dc which will increase things again, it feels inevitable I’m going to have to buy lower quality foods. We’ve just had to increase our gas&electric by another £150/month.

How are others coping?

It’s scary I think a lot of people are going to have to cut down on both quality and quantity of food. There are going to be some serious long term health impacts from this mess

Cheaper doesn’t always mean lower quality. Many supermarkets have a “wonky” line of fruit and vegetables which are cheaper but no different in nutritional value to the nicer looking ones, for example. A tin of tomatoes is really the same whether it’s branded or basics range. Frozen fish and vegetables are generally cheaper but often higher in nutrients than fresh.

But if you have a lot of restrictions and are fussy about food brands or items then it might be you’d preference to look at saving money elsewhere - cutting down on your energy usage so you can add the savings to your food shop.

We’ve been giving our dc a multi vit recently as we’ve had to cut down on the amount of fresh fruit we buy due to price increases, I’m actually ashamed to admit that.

Im going to have to look at multi cuts for the adults in the house too so we can prioritise the dc with food I think.

We’re happy to buy cheaper items but we already live very frugally, we don’t buy new clothes, we swap and barter for items on Facebook etc, use public transport, go to the library rather than buy books etc.

there’s not much cloth left to cut.

We just switched to Asda and some of their new yellow label stuff is pretty good. The fruit and veg is fine. DD gets through enormous amounts of both, so saving money there is good news! I also noticed their stuff is quite a bit cheaper than Tesco for the same items (and most likely made in the same factory!)

It's so hard isn't it!

My shopping budget hasn't increased but the cost of just about everything has so I'm having to make some changes too.

Everyone seems happy with Asdas Just Essentials fruit that I've bought the last few weeks so that's good

I mainly need ideas for cheaper meals, cutting down on meat would probably be a good start. I'll be doing my meal plan later so if anyone has any good ideas I'd be grateful.

It's difficult. We mostly bought supermarket brands anyway, but most of the few things we didn't - we always bought Heinz baked beans for example - we've switched. Some of the supermarket own stuff we've switched down to something cheaper, the Hearty Food Co range in Tesco is cheap and seems ok.

But DS eats a fairly limited range of food and snacks, so for some things we can't switch, and other things we've switched to cheaper but it means more food waste - ham for example. I don't really like ham but didn't mind the Tesco Finest, we've switched to cheaper and I don't like it at all so anything DS doesn't eat ends up thrown away instead of me having a ham sandwich.

I spent most of last week having cereal for lunch.

Would your dietry restrictions allow you to be vegetarian/vegan? My shopping bill has almost halved since switching to a WF vegan diet, with no compromise on quality of food necessary. We have done this for two years now and feel much better as a result, even without the money saved.

If you have access to a market, fruit and veg is usually cheaper. We looked for short life reduced meat which we then freeze, bought a pint of milk for 10 pence as use by date was up and froze that. One meal a week is whatever we have in the fridge.
We shop in Lidl and find it much cheaper than major supermarkets.

Where do you shop OP? We've managed to save a significant amount by buying the bulk of our shopping from Aldi instead of Sainsbury's as we used to. Quality is not bad at all from Aldi imo. It's mostly been a case of things tasting different to what we're used to as opposed to bad. A lot of the off-band stuff is still yummy.

I'd suggest going vegetarian at least 3 meals per week - beans/lentils/eggs are cheaper than meat.

Can you share some example meals for us to suggest how to change them up to make them cheaper?

The My Fussy Eater website has some good meat-free stuff for kids. The smoky bean chilli is super cheap and quick to make and a favourite here!

Offal is a good way of getting lots of nutrition on the cheap.

I know and I share your frustration. I've changed to mainly vegetarian meals, with meat only twice a week. Ploughman's salad, jacket potato, pasta etc are working well for us. I did switch to cheap crisps and ice cream, which ended up being uneaten. They rather have none, rather than cheap crisps. I did try one, and it was gross. So after waiting a few weeks for my husband to eat them, I've switched back to branded crisps. I no longer buy Sunday cakes, we make them, which is far cheaper.

I usually shop at Aldi. We don’t need to, we choose to.

Are you able to cook in bulk and freeze?
I’m also vegan, prefer not to buy the processed food, so use lentils, chickpea curry, stews, soups, casseroles, love potatoes and beans, pasta, frozen fruit. Shove in the freezer and take out when needed.
What food restrictions do you have? may help with suggestions.

I just pay the extra needed

Thankfully we are quite well insulated from the cost of living crisis for now anyway

If you work in emergency services or are in receipt of benefits, look if there's a branch of Company Shop near you. Essentially they sell surplus from supermarkets and stores, so M&S ready meals, Starbucks porridge etc. You can nominate 2 friends / family members for membership who don't need to work in emergency services / be in receipt of benefits.

Shame I found out about it because a NHS trust was recommending it to their staff as a way of staff saving money but it's better than nothing.

If you live anywhere near a city, Asian owned stores often sell sacks of rice and couscous that work out per kilo similarly to the cheapest in the supermarket, but the quality is better. Fruit gives fibre as well as vitamins, so if you are replacing fruit with vitamin supplements, replace the fibre by swapping meat for lentils and beans. Cheaper too.

Were a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids), I meal plan and I’ve already factored in 2-3 cheap teas a week because we’ve had to;

Beans on toast
Jacket potato with cheese
Cheese on toast

Its rubbish but it’s what we’ve got to do. The other teas are slow cooker chillis, pasta bakes, casseroles and cheap salads and the like.

we’ve had to cut down on the amount of fresh fruit we buy

Tinned or frozen fruit are cheaper and almost as nutritious apart from Vit C.

I buy the imperfectly tasty fruit and veg and use frozen pre chopped onions and garlic as they go further and create less food waste for me.

Bulking up bolognaise sauces with lentils / pulses etc can also help to make things go further.

Reducing meat intake also reduces shopping costs.

Where is the 85p oat milk?

I switched to Lidl ages ago. Eat mostly vegetarian. Meat 2-3 times a week. No sweets, no booze, no ready meals (of choice). I manage to spend £270 for two adults and we don't go hungry. I like cooking, I'm quite creative, prepping meals from scratch isn't a problem for me and I think that helps. I am at this point in my life where I want to save quite a lot of money, so I have to be careful with my spending anyway (hairdresser appointment is my only treat).

I'm vegan and almost exclusively buy own brands and wonky fruit so I've not got loads of areas in which to cut back. I've had to reduce my ice cream consumption though violins play
Meals are usually based around bread, cucumbers,carrots, and wonky veg are staples, houmous can be had for 69p, nice curries can be bulked out with lentils etc
One of the few nice things I get myself is the odd artisan fake meat. But with a bit of practice I know I can make these myself pretty cheaply, so I might endeavour to do so more once I move into my new flat which actually has cooking facilities.

Also, my husband can't have gluten and milk, I should have added. We have to buy alternatives.

If you buy oat milk it's possible to make your own cheaper, not the whole solution but contributes