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?

Expensive food, you pay for the branding and marketing. Cheap food is absolutely fine, not some kind of sup par animal feed, they just don't have all the glossy branding and ads, and won't do you any harm at all.

I have been serving just a jacket potato with grated cheese and baked beans for lunch twice a week in holidays or toasted sandwich. Once child back to college now in September he will get that once a week for evening meal. Also 3 egg omelette is a cheap and nutritious meal with a bit of wafer be thin ham in and baked beans. Pasta bake with mozzarella and plum tomatoes is a really cheap meal with breadcrumbs and parmesan on top to crispen it up. Also toad in the hole another cheap evening meal. Pasta pesto or penne arabattica. Those are 5 very cheap meals also lentil Dahl with boiled rice. The days of steak or salmon seem to be in the past for now. I know son would like to buy lunch out every day at college but he will take a salad in his box with fruit and a snack and only buy lunch out on Fridays. I just hope his friends will be doing the same.

I would often choose the branded items but will give supermarket own a try too. I have always used Anchor butter but it’s gone up so much, I refuse to pay it and I am using Tesco own brand instead. I would use supermarket versions of things like tomato ketchup or baked beans anyway.

I can’t go shopping with teenage dc though as they like meal deals, snacks and all the branded cereals. I always spend way more if they come with me.

If you want to buy less meat, a tasty, nutritious and cheap thing to do is bulk it out with beans (butter, black, kidney), lentils, chick peas, etc. Delicious in curries and other dishes.

My DC have legume allergy so really struggling to think of ways to replace meat and bulk out foods. Root veg but they need protein!

All kids should be given a multivitamin, absolutely nothing to be ashamed of there!

Lidl prices are going up and up though a few pence week by week.

Last night (I'm sad I know) I made a fish pie and added up how much it cost me based on the Lidl receipt, then I checked the equivalent in Morrisons. A lot of the products were only 10p more costly.

So while Aldi and Lidl may be cheaper it's not by much any more and the gap is closing as time passes.

@Stichintimesavesstapling - can your DC eat oats? They are an OK source of protein and can be used to bulk out a bolognese type sauce without being really detectable?

We've added in desserts for example crumble made with Asda essentials fruit. And doing alot more baking here for school lunches!

No real advice, but with the cat milk it works out cheaper to buy a litre of lactose free milk rather than the specialist cat milks. It's what I'm going to try, I daresay you could freeze it so mine got wasted too.

Homemade oat milk is lovely but it doesn’t have any of the added nutrients that shop-bought ones do (like vitamin B12, D, calcium, iodine etc). Just something to keep in mind, especially if giving it to kids.

Also, some of the cheaper dairy alternatives in the shops don’t have any added nutrients.

Not fantastically. Luckily I can't eat proper dinners right now, other than jacket potato/noodles/pasta so that's saving quite a bit.

We've cut down, gone from Morrisons to Asda and saved some money. Gas/electric on prepayment meters so once I've used £3 maximum for the day I try not to use anymore luckily at the moment it's only £1.90-£2.40 a day.

Urgh this comment.

Could you try to get cheaper but still healthy maybe? Here’s what I’ve done…

stopped buying salmon but now have sardines twice a week for lunch so still oily fish.
getting cheaper fruit - grapes instead of strawberries/raspberries & buying wonky range.
stopped buying mince & instead using quorn/red lentils for chilli etc
stopped buying bottled water - I now put tap water bottles in freezer so it’s ice cold & it’s fine.
buy my cat food in bulk so it’s cheaper - same with dog food

i also bought a cheap (£59) big air fryer from Asda which is already saving me loads in electric- only have oven on for grill now.

it’s tough, I really feel for you☹️

Forgot to add- our GP advised me ALL children should take a multi vitamin these days. Presumably our food or diets aren’t what they used to be.

Thats helpful pollyrockets. 🙄

A tasty cheap meal I often make is like bombay potatoes, but more sauce so more of a curry.

I use potatoes that I've cut into chunks and parboiled 1st (mainly for speed).
I fry up some diced onion and once they're softened I add some garlic and spices, so cumin, turmeric, paprika (&/or chilli powder), garam masala, ginger, ground coriander, ground fenugreek, asafoetida and mustard seeds (but you can vary the spices according to taste/what you have in and the amount of heat you like). I fry these in the oil with the onions for about 30 seconds then add tomato puree and fry for a further 30 secs, mixing well. I then add the part-cooked potatoes and mix/ fry for a few minutes before adding tinned tomatoes and coconut milk. Once it's bubbling, I stir then put the lid on and leave on a low simmer until thickened (around 15 mins). I also add already steamed broccoli a few mins before the end and stir in. I vary things by adding spinach and sweet potato, etc, to it.
It's very filling and I serve without rice, bread, etc, but you could serve smaller portions of the sauce and add rice or naan, etc.

I don't really know exact amounts of the spices as I do it by taste, etc, as I go along.

I’ve had a farmfoods leaflet through yesterday offering 4x6 packs of Heinz beans for £14.

Some positive, and some negative. We do have an obesity crisis in the UK, so there may be some health benefits as well as some harm if families end up consuming less.

We frequently get a leaflet from Farmfoods through the door with their latest offers and coupons, I used to just throw it away but I’ve started buying some items from Farmfoods. They recently had an offer on big boxes of Surf laundry powder which saved me about £5 (£3 saving plus a £2 off coupon) compared to if I had bought the same brand from Tesco. Their bags of frozen fruit/veg look good too.

We are vegetarian and shop around to buy the cheapest food items already, so I am looking at reducing expenditure on cleaning/household items to try and make savings.

There are going to be some serious long term health impacts from this mess
Or the other way around. Our population is I believe over 50% overweight. If people could start reducing quantity and stopping alcohol, they might find that quality doesn't have to be compromised and actually be healthier.

It will be a real issue for some family, but as a society, it might not be all bad.

This, 100%

Food prices have gone up where I live in Spain too, especially protein. Still cheaper an the UK though ( I was there a few weeks ago) .
I know it was a while ago but when I lived in the UK I used to go to the local Asda around 7pm to get the bakery items for silly prices, like crusty buns reduced to 20p for 4 or a loaf for 25p. All went into the freezer. Tesco was good for reduced meat and fish, 3:30 on a Sunday was the best time.
As someone now looking in to the UK rather than living there I am appalled by the lack of action from the UK government to protect households from the fuel and food rises.

What do you think the government has done to make you worse off? Is it the large increases in minimum wage that have hit you the hardest, or the lower taxes?