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?

A huge number of people will no longer be able to afford luxuries. As a consumerist capitalist society, this is a disaster for our economy. People will lose jobs as we have a service based economy, and then it will get worse.

@Believeitornot if only more people understood that some people having no money and not being able to spend on luxuries like a new boiler or having the roof mended leads to more people having no money because they lose their jobs.

Still, who has the heart to deny others a little adventure? Like the time there was a power cut and they had bread and jam for tea and went to bed early like poor people. Or those who see as an opportunity to trot out their disapproval about the poor lifestyle choices made by other people while dressing it up as sensible social theory.

👏👏

I'm coeliac so have to avoid gluten - I have no choice. 😞 A small loaf is now £3.55. I try to cook from scratch but now have to use less meat, and the things that bulk out a meal often contain gluten. I love wonky fruit!

Fruit and veg are the cheapest part of our shop. You can get quite a bit of good quality food for not loads - bananas, carrots, cucumber, the value range fruits like plums, apricots, etc. are like 50p a punnet.

I've been trying to plan meals around cheap main ingredients like pasta, beans, eggs. Then bulking out with fresher food.

Do you have any capacity to grow some of your own food? You don't need to have a massive garden, but being able to throw some kale or spinach in a bed somewhere, along with herbs like coriander or parsley, means you can use fresh green veg and herbs in cooking without having to buy the entire packet for £1. I used to live in a flat and grew kale in planters in what tiny bit of outside space I had.

I used to keep a bag of dry soy mince in stock (health food shop) for when I was too busy to shop and wanted to make cottage pie, spagbol. It's cheaper. Would this work for coeliacs?

Agree with people that the government needs to address this problem as do the supervisory bodies like Ofwat etc. But tips on cheaper food do help. As do forming small cooperatives so proper bulk buying for staples works.

Herbs are a good point. I loathe ‘curry’ as a generic flavouring so I don’t do much with spices, but I flavour all sorts of things with herbs. Fresh Basil will make a basic tin of tomatoes into a pasta or a pizza sauce, and a 75p pot will keep on a sunny windowsill for a couple of months (so long as you only water it when it starts to wilt). Thyme or rosemary plants can be bought for a couple of quid from the garden centre, will grow virtually anywhere in the sun and flavour roasted veg, potato wedges or flatbreads (much easier and cheaper than bread, as you don’t need yeast or proving time and dry fry them in a pan) really well. Parsley needs better soil, but less sun, and is lovely in cheese or vegetable based pasta sauces and sprinkled on practically anything, and will grow easily from seed (which can be begged via free cycle, as you literally need one, and they come in packets of a gazillion). Chives (good soil, part sun) will add a nice oniony flavour to salads and sandwiches or eggs and can usually be blagged for free, as you just need to dig up a small bit of an established plant. Mint (will grow anywhere, sun/shade/apocalypse) makes lovely tea, and is nice in salads, potatoes and veggie moussaka, and you can make mint syrup (by literally pouring boiling water over it and sugar, then strain and fridge in a jam jar) then add cheap fizzy water to make mojitos if you add a dash of lime juice and have some gin/rum/vodka (that people bought your for your birthday and you can’t afford tonic.)

They can all flavour very cheap basic foods, and make them taste A LOT better. They are not expensive to buy in pots from garden centres (with the exception of basil, not the supermarket. They don’t grow on well) and need zero care and attention in the garden. Most will grow in pots, but you have to buy compost and water them regularly. They are a good investment if you can scrape together a few spare quid or are inexpensive enough ask for them for a birthday from a friend or without being a CF.

Annoyingly, coriander, which is my favourite and tastes good in virtually everything is much harder to grow and I have nearly given up. It will die of cold, dry out and die, get too hot and bolt, then die if you blink and miss it’s very narrow range of preferences, fussy bugger.

I have several coeliac relatives. I have made this gf potato bread and it is very nice and "bulky". You do need gf flour, but that might be a good one off investment! I also make a crustless pastry free quiche and I like it myself even though I am not gf. It is like a thick omelette in a quiche dish.

There are some good recipes on this site and it is designed to be money saving ( I understand that things gf can be expensive). I just thought I'd throw it out for some bulking up ideas for you.

glutenfreeonashoestring.com/recipe-categories/

Ooops the potato bread is a recipe on the site I linked 🙄

If you are okay to buy in bulk, try somewhere like Approved Foods (online short-date retailer) for cat food - it’s saved me a fortune. It has other bits and pieces too but they a bit random as to what’s available so you can’t really do a full shop there.

It is reasonably cheap to eat healthily, unless allergies or fussiness come into play.

For my part (bill has increased by around £30/week), I am now back to dinner planning rather than buying on a whim, but other than that our meals are still very healthy and balanced.

We typically have:
-wonky versions of fruit/ veg, unpackaged unless the packaging makes things cheaper (rare, but it happens)

-frozen where it makes sense (e.g. I now only buy frozen onions as most of the onions I buy fresh are rotten) or where portioning means I will have leftovers

-fish, chicken and mince frozen only unless I need the mince for meatballs

-at least once a week cheap organs - heart, liver, kidney - cooked directly or made into pies

-on the rare occasion I buy expensive meat like duck or beef, it is only ever as a side part of a meal, never the main bit (e.g. for stews are stir fries)

-where fresh fruit is expensive, I buy either frozen for berries (zero mould) or tinned for "pudding fruit"

-old fruit is used in cooking (apples) or frozen in protions to make smoothies

-old vegetables go into soups, stews, blended into sauces or chopped into stir fries at least once a week to stop wastage

-pulses are healthy and filling and will stretch most meat dishes nicely - so will mushrooms

-eggs, while going up in price, are still incredibly cheap and filling if they form the base of a meal like omelette, foo young or as part of a homemade sandwich filling

-water is a staple drink; it comes from the tap and as my children believe ice cubes make everything better, we have a few trays of ice cubes on rotation - this also thins juices (which, for the youngest, are always watered down anyway)

This all is very doable if you can cook and know what goes together. Helathy food really isn't that expensive if you're willing to swap and improvise a bit. But people do need to learn how to cook.

My skills came from children's and student cook books as well as asking elderly family members or small, independent eateries for recipes if they had made something particularly good (enough politeness and a smile usually worked well on the latter), so the whole premise of it being down to parents and schools doesn't really come into it. Now is as good a time as any to start.

OP what are your utility bills to have had a £150 increase? Maybe it's time to move to a smaller home?

all the adults in the house should be contributing to food