Food has become so expensive. How is it sustainable?

[Prunnhilda]

I've noticed a real change in the past couple of weeks: everything seems to have gone up by 10 or 15%, suddenly. (Except junk food, which is always on special offer, naturally )

We can't go on being blasé about nipping into the supermarket for a few bits and pieces. What foods are you cutting back on to save money?

It stuns me that people throuw food away.
I can't remember ever doing so.
If the fridge is full of saucers of leftovers, that's what's for dinner.

Any scraps go to the birds.

On the two threads i've read today (this and the chocoholic one) Moondog you are talking a lot of sense. I kind of wish you lived in my house and could arse-kick me every morning. i have been guilty of ill-planned menus and wasting food but making a huge effort in 2011.

Completely agree that maybe we eat too much anyway (i certainly do) and that there is too much choice at times.

I am guilty of viewing food as purely to enjoy and pick and choose what i 'fancy' turning my nose up at good food when it's not my favourite choice that day. i forget food is basically fuel

We keep a firm hold on our finances so I know that we spend about 15% of our income on food. That is for 2 adults and 3 sometimes 4 children. We do have quite a high income so it would be about a third of an average income. Although I guess if we earned less we would spend less.

We have changed the way we eat , mainly because I wanted to eat better although we do also spend less than we used to We only eat meat twice a week and we are lucky enough that we live somewhere where we can buy meat straight from the farm. We have chickens so we eat a lot of eggs. We live on rice, pulses and grains.

I think it is a myth that it is cheaper to eat healthily, I could go to Iceland and buy lots of processed crap and halve our food budget.

I think meat should be expensive, you are eating a life.

Mama, I shall start charghing soon, by setting myself up as a lifecoach and making $$$ stating bleeding obvious.

Fred, i love food too. I love to buy it and prepare it and think about it. I don't consider it just fuel though. I care too much about it to abuse it.

I thikn it helps you keep slim too, if you eat what is available as opposed to what you want all the time. Some of the time it is good to have exactly what you want of course.

Also - ditch chicken breast. It's expensive and crap. it tastes of solidified boredom and lacks the iron that is found in the rest of the bird. Try skinned chicken thighs instead.

Moondog - I don't really consider it fuel either..but the amount of angst about what we all want to eat does sometimes make me forget that we eat for energy not just cos we love goose fat roasted potatoes ifykwim

I have been ashamed too of how much we've been throwing out due to laziness. So I've got a massive tray of old root veg, which were slightly shrivelled and languishing in the bottom of the fridge, in the oven now roasting.

Veg box arrived and instead of throwing the lettuce away in two weeks' time (as I normally would as we don't like it) I have just made lettuce and lovage soup and it is utterly delicious and easy. Can highly recommend.

Aim is to eat a LOT less meat and to actually use up all the veg box contents before they go wrinkly.

Tired lettuce is great in a stiryfry or stirred into noodles or soups.

Cutting back on meat, for sure. Veg and fruit I find cheaper if it's frozen (veg) or tinned (fruit). I puree the tinned fruit and put it in yoghurt, add a dollop to porridge, cut back on oil and sub in the fruit in baking, etc. About the only fresh fruit and veg I buy now are potatoes, carrots and onions.

We don't have a Lidl, Aldi or such. Only two small places and one is a Co-op, so I make a long journey once a month to Tesco, FarmFoods and Iceland.

I second Colditz's choice of using chicken thighs, which in fact we are having for dinner.

We eat quite generously, even if we don't have manual jobs. I like good food.

Anything bought fresh that's about to go off I cut up and freeze (or cook and freeze) or bake (and freeze that, too, if need be).

Had some carrots that were looking about to be past it so I grated them in the food processor today and threw them in the freezer for my carrot cake on Sunday.

Lots of soups and stews made with things that can be bought in bulk like Scotsh broth mix, lentils, yellow split peas, etc.

I keep tins of beans to hand, but have dried ones, too.

I use my slow cooker about 5-6x/week. For sandwich/roll fillings for DH and the kids I cook a cheaper cut of meat in the slow cooker then shred it in the food processor.

For myself I have about a hundred recipes for veggie fillings - bean spreads, red pepper spread, pestos, tempanades, etc.

how do you make red pepper spread?

Buy the biggest chicken you can get your hands on - the bones of a small and big chicken will be the same and thus much more meat on a big chicken to last you much longer.

Roast chicken on a sunday (£7) with homemade yorkshires( eggs, flour and milk£1) and stuffing, spounge pudding for afters with tinned fruit (£1) under with a little creme frachie(£1) vegtables (£2)
Second roast on a Monday with left over yorkshires, left over sponge pudding with fruit under served with custard
Chicken rissotto (£1) on a Tuesday with left over chicken and frozen peas (£1) tinned peaches(30p) with meringue and a little creme frachie (make meringue from custard eggs whites left over)
Chicken pie on a Wednesday with leeks (£1) and left over chicken, tinned pears (75p) or fresh baked and served with yogurt (£2).
Chicken pesto(£1.05) pasta (75p) with you guessed it left over chicken and use up the creme frachie and sweetcorn (£1), bananas(£1) and custard cold pudding for Thursday
Friday home made cheese (mozz 75p) and tomato (tinned passata (£1) pizza (flour 50p), a french stick (£1) made into garlic bread and home made coleslaw (carrots and cabbage £1.50) with apples (£1).

Buying butter (£2), eggs (£1), sugar (£1) and tinned fruit to make desserts so that main course is a bit smaller.

Always lay the table with a jug of water and glasses so people have water with there meal.

bag of carrots (60p per bag) and cucumber(50p) to make a grated carrot salad to serve with food to bulk the main course out

Thats £31 for food for the week roughly

Roast or steam the peppers. Whizz up with garlic, olive oil, fresh cracked black pepper. Mmmm.

There are 3 of us
A large chicken lasts one roast and a few sandwiches
Cannot understand how it can be a loaves and fishes experience tbh

Aha Expat! Delicious.

Then you are eating to much meat from the chicken when you have your roast, there are three sometimes four of us. A large chicken say 3 kilo of chicken, say 1/2 a kilo for bones and you are eating a kilo and a half of meat for one roast and a few sarnies - that is way to much meat.

1/2 a kilo of meat at each sitting for all three of you shoudl see it go further

Thus puddings and yorkshires to fill up.

sorry thats 2 and half kilo

Bulk out the chicken dishes with red lentils.

ivykaty that's an impressively low food bill but why all the puddings?
We have pudding about once a month!

IvyKaty, I like your planning but in your £31 budget you have not accounted for any breakfasts, lunches, juice, tea or coffee (of which I drink far too much), also my DC's are like fruit bats and devour fruit as snacks.

There are 5 in my family and we hardly ever spend less than £100 per week, however as this breaks down to £20 each I think I am doing quite well!!

We budget for about £60- £70/week for 5 and I consider that doing well! Includes laundry powder, sponges, Marigolds for washing up and stuff like that.

I buy eggs and milk locally and do most of the rest in a big shop.

I bake all bread and cakes/biscuits/bars, etc.