Back to 1950s cuisine to cope with COL

[Bleachedjeans]

I started a similar thread a while ago and I wonder if the responses are the same. I now make Sunday roasts with chicken followed by a meal of leftover chicken , veg etc on Monday. Homemade meat pie, egg and chips, stews, salads made with basics: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber. Cut down massively on ‘fancy’ veg, herbs, spices. I’m really missing steak, asparagus etc. even my favourite ratatouille seems expensive these days and not the budget meal it used to be. I’m a keen cook but I’m now cooking like my grandma!
Still trying to maintain standards: no UPF, crappy pizzas, nuggets.
Anyone else?
Not really AIBU but I like AIBU 😊

Read my posts and you’ll understand what I meant about cutting down on herbs and spices.

Herbs and spices are quite cheap for the value you get

some things / ratatouille for example or “fancy veg” - is probably better when things like corgettes are in season

salads make with carrot and cabbage at this time of year so you may still have savings to make to go towards a steak

Growing and eating berries in season is infinitely cheaper. I grow strawberries and blueberries and they’ve cost me very little as I use the same plants for years.

I use frozen berries in my overnight oats. A couple of quid and the bag lasts ages.

I've read them and should have expected a tetchy reply as you seem to take everything personally. All you've clarified is you no longer buy ras el hanout which is a small outlay cost and excellent value as a little goes a long way.

you should buy seasonally. That means there's about a month in the year when you eat asparagus, strawberries etc.

Bulk up with the cheap stuff.

It's not really rocket science, though, is it? Not eating everything and making the next meal with leftovers is normal. Have you suddenly had a drop in income?

Basil grows amazingly well from seed! Look for 'British basil' seeds.

I didn't know this was a thing 😳.

I would love to know how you manage to grow peppers. I tried this year in my small greenhouse and finally got a tiny one in December.

I'm in South Devon. My tomatoes and cucumbers do fine. I tried to grow peppers from seed - maybe that's my first mistake?

If you go to an ‘international’ supermarket/mini mart you can usually pick up massive bags of herbs and spices a lot more cheaply.

I’ve just put a chicken curry on for dinner. Gone are the days that that would be four chicken breast and cream etc etc. Today it’s chicken thighs (I do buy skinless boneless ones), frozen butternut squash (bought for soup I never made) and red lentils from a big bag. It’s all in the pressure cooker and it will be delicious. It’s definitely less chicken and more other now.

I like this meal plan. Thank you!

Ok 👌

What you’re cooking now seems perfectly normal and not “50s” in particular.

Hwebs and spices aren’t expensive though. And things like curries or stir fry etc are notoriously cheap so not sure why that’s not included now.

Edit - sorry I tried to post this hours ago before the whole herbs and spices debate kicked off!