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AIBU?

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Original poster

Why o fecking why is decent food so bloody expensive???

192 replies

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 14:56

Trying to get more into the mode of cooking from scratch but would rather use free range food although am on vey limited budget

Bloody cheaper buying frozen shite ARGH have to feed 3 adults and a toddler for about £50 a week how the hell am I meant to o that...

Sorry but Tesco has pissed me off now

OP posts:
Wonderstuff · 01/02/2009 18:10

Sorrento it really isn't that easy, if you don't pay council tax they send in the bailiffs (and bizarrly take away your right to pay monthly leaving you with a wacking great annual bill, which seems a strange way of helping poor people pay bills)
Boffin can I have your recipes? I'll mail you.

I agree with others we spend about £50 a week on food and we do it by not eating meat a couple of nights a week. I would rather do that than buy cheap chicken, which tastes worse and is actually higher in fat and lower in omega 3 than free range.

GossipMonger · 01/02/2009 18:11

And abort shopping at Tesco

Go to Lidl! DH is a chef and he has not commented once on any of the products I have bought.

When you shop there pretend you are abroad and shopping in Spain where there are no branded products that you recognise.

I did a weekly shop there (not meat though as I bought it at the butcher) for £29 and that included a bottle of wine!

Lidl is the best!!

pointydog · 01/02/2009 18:13

cote, you big continental.

No fruit and veg markets here. Last time I went t o one I was on holiday in France.

LostVagueness · 01/02/2009 18:30

My little family of 3 have a £50 a week or thereabouts budget for the main shop. OK so we often end up in M&S and buy their 'Night in for a tenner' deal on the weekend.

One of the problems I have found is finding enough good, budget recipes that take less than an hour to cook from scratch.

Try and find 20 or so meals and write a weekly menu. I always find that I spend less when I write a detailed list and menu.

Buckets · 01/02/2009 18:33

I think if you're that hard up you're allowed to let your ethics relax a bit (although haven't read Jamie's Ministry of Food - does he factor in Free Range?)

We do have farmers' markets round here but pricewise they really are for well-paid Guardian readers. Has anyone seen that Harry Enfield sketch - I saw you coming.

Council tax is not the thing you want to stop paying, it does actually have teeth. If you are in social housing however, it takes years to evict for rent arrears...

Veg soup made from a stock cube, water and veg and whizzed up is cheap. Home-made soda bread to dip in and loads of grated cheese - kids might try that?

Thunderduck · 01/02/2009 18:44

Join this forum for a start, they are very helpful and have lots of great tips and know where the best bargains are to be found.

As others have said cut down on the amount of meat you use, use a little of the cheaper cuts and minced meat and bulk up with sides e.g bread and butter, or add lentils and veg to dishes to make the meat go further.

If you go to the supermarket at the right times, when items are reduced you can pick up great deals then, including cheap meat and veg that can be frozen, if you don't want to use them immediately.

CoteDAzur · 01/02/2009 19:08

I don't think there is Omega-3 in any chicken, free-range or otherwise.

CoteDAzur · 01/02/2009 19:10

pointydog - How can you not have fruit & veg markets? That is horrible That is where all the good stuff is.

Wonderstuff · 01/02/2009 19:10

I saw it on Hugh Fernly-wotsit slower grown chicken = more omega 3 and less fat. Corn fed chickens also high in fat

CoteDAzur · 01/02/2009 19:10

pointydog - How can you not have fruit & veg markets? That is horrible That is where all the good stuff is.

sorrento · 01/02/2009 19:13

Ok council tax was a bad example but you know what I mean, somethings you can cut back on and some you really shouldn't with growing children IMO.

sarah293 · 01/02/2009 19:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CoteDAzur · 01/02/2009 19:18

You would have to feed chicken a whole lot of flax seeds to get any Omega-3 fatty acids in them, and even then I don't know if their meat would really hold much - in humans, fatty acids are converted into prostaglandins etc.

svalbardy · 01/02/2009 19:19

Dunno if it will help, but wholemeal bread and pasta, and brown rice, are all much more filling than their white counterparts. Likewise wholemeal scones.... (yum)

I don't know the figures but suspect you only need meat & its analogues about 3x per week. nutritional data on that will probably be on the World Health Org website somewhere? Kids only need 1 teaspoon of meat protein per week for normal brain development (wouldn't like to be the scientists responsible for the control group in that study... [hmmm]).

paolosgirl · 01/02/2009 19:19

A lot of us don't have markets, Cote! Where do you live? Unless you mean the organic farmers markets where even the most basic cheese comes with it's own pedigree and costs with a hefty pric tag.

paolosgirl · 01/02/2009 19:21

The last sentence didn't make much sense there, did it!

svalbardy · 01/02/2009 19:21

oh and for omega 3 - seems an odd choice, but get a jar of the "vegetarian" stuff from a health food shop, and forget about depleting the world's fish stocks even further. Omega-3 oils come from ALGAE that the fish eat, not from fish (trust me I'm a biochemist). So go get the omega 3 from the algae, it's lots cheaper and you're saving the planet at the same time.

Wonderstuff · 01/02/2009 19:23

Contradicts H F-W but here I do hate being wrong

CoteDAzur · 01/02/2009 19:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CoteDAzur · 01/02/2009 19:30

svalbardy - I'm all for saving the planet, if you know a way of getting DD (3.4) to eat algae

Clary · 01/02/2009 19:33

Goo dadvice on here mamadiva.

If I might add mine - I think we need to (if we want to eat humanely that is) forget about eating meat every day and have it 2-3 times a week instead.

The rest of the time do things like a big risotto with mushrooms and leeks and cheese; or a tomato and pepper and mushroom sauce for pasta; or leek and potato soup; or veggie shepherd's pie made the lentils; or cheese and onion pasties (buy the puff pastry frozen) etc.

I admite we spend more than yr £50, more like £100, but there are 5 in this house and tbh the kids eat as much as the grown ups. If we missed out cakes etc we could cut it by a fair bit.

Also knock branded cereals on the head and eat porridge.

paolosgirl · 01/02/2009 19:33

There are fruit and veg markets in the UK - they just vary widely in availability and type.

janeite · 01/02/2009 19:34

There is a fruit and vege market in Birmingham, which lots of my colleagues shop at - but I must admit I am too lazy to go there and dp picks up the fruit and vege at Sainsbo's on his way home from work instead.

I think things like: potatoes, lentils and pulses, homemade vege soups, buying big pots of yoghurt and distilling into little pots for the children, eating stuff in season, pasta, more homemade soups, are all sensible ways towards saving a bit of money at the checkout.

svalbardy · 01/02/2009 19:37

Cote - algae as a source of omega-3...
i'm not promoting this company specially, they were just the first thing to come up on google.... their 3 month supply looks cheaper than 3 months of eating oily fish >2x per week as the WHO recommends

www.water4.net/products.htm

whether you could get one of these down a 3.4 year old is another matter... might have to stick to sardines for a while yet!

Clary · 01/02/2009 19:37

BTW we do have markets here in the East Mids

We have two indoor markets in the city every day except Sunday, which have lots of fruit and veg stalls.

Also in the smaller towns there is usually a market once or twice a week, and no I don't mean a farmers' one, I mean the sort that sells you a huge basket of mushrooms for nowt, or bargain knickers or wool or whatever you want

It's not as sunny as the Riviera tho