Is anyone else feeling the pinch? Any tips?

[TattooedGrrrl]

Is anyone else feeling the pinch, with cost of food (and petrol)?

We've started shopping in Aldi- it's not half bad actually. Also making the effort to get to the local market for meat / veg.

Has anyone got any top tips for saving cash with food or drink? Or even better, any recipies that don't break the bank?

and basics kidney beans in water are only 14p for a tin or something!seriously, feed your family for a fiver is easy - its only meat that's so expensive.

girlandboy - I make the exact same thing as that - My DS's LOVE it. I also add red peppers or mushrooms or sweetcorn too - whatever I have really.

My tip for the OP would be to shop less often (every 3-4 days) and plan everything. No waste and fresh food.

ilovebunting- Aldi is pretty cheap all round really. They have nice ready meals (well, nice as they can be) for 99p. We grab a few for when we really can't be arsed and we're knackered. Hell of a lot cheaper than a take away!

aldi and lidl only seem to have stores where they perceive a client base so none here

Love2bake, you and I must be on the same wavelength! I think that whole meal only costs about £2.50 for the 4 of us. Actually - I think I'll make it tonight!!!

girlandboy - I will if you do got some sausages in Waitrose just this morning

Love2bake - Just got some out of the freezer. Making me hungry already

ASDA (& all the others probably ) have a massive mark down on fresh goods after 9pm. If you can get out at that time to do your weekly shop you can fill the freezer with cheap nice bread for a pound!(or get a load for your firends too) I often buy a baguette for breakfast 2p!Makes lovely toast & you can blitz the stale leftovers for bread sauce or breadcrumbs for recipes that need them.(or mix with herbs for a crunchy toppping on top of something that needs a lift!)

At this time of year too people with allotments/veggie plots often have excess so swapsies are good & stock up your freezer.

I can see the age old pastime of bartering goods/services coming back to prevent money changing hands= great IMHO

Lentils and pulses are a really good, cheap, versatile and healthy way of cooking. You can make Indian, Spanish, Italian or French food with them just depending on what herbs and spices you throw in with them. You can also throw in other vegetables as and when you have them, e.g. peas, spinach, cabbage, tomatoes. You can make dinner for 4 for comfortably less than £2 plus the cost of any carbohydrates.

Look at getting vegetable boxes. Organic places sound expensive in principle but actually they work out cheaper than a lot of supermarkets - e.g. Abel & Cole box of vegetables for £11 feeds three of us for a week. They also mean you eat seasonally and you vary your diet over the year so your menu doesn't get stale.

Try and plant herbs, in your garden or a window box. Ones like mint even I can't kill and grow like wildfire. Adding fresh herbs makes even pretty dull, cheap dishes taste really good and imaginative.

Ditto, buy a few good quality store cupboard items, from the ordinary (e.g. olive oil) to the slightly more exotic (e.g. harissa, creamed coconut). You only need to add very small quantities to something cheap to make it taste a lot more interesting. They'll also last a long time.

Chop meat up. Don't know why this works but I think it's psychological! If you chop up six sausages and put them into a big pasta dish you feel like you're getting loads of sausage vs. just eating two sausages each.

I get freerange eggs from our butcher, £1 1/2 doz. I nipped into Sainsbury's the other day JUST for the milk at 2 x 4pt for £2, thought oh I'll get some eggs as well, and their free range are nearly twice the price. Usually the only meat we eat is what has been reduced at the supermarket.
I find after time and practise you get a good feel for where is cheaper.

Can someone give me the recipe for lentil shepherds pie please I have plenty brown lentils in but would need som basic instruction for shepherds pie as I usually just put them in veg soup to bulk it out.

Can you use polenta in packed lunches as I'm wondering why my children aren't complaining about their dreary meals.

Cestlavie, the veg box sounds good but do you have to be in to take the delivery? We both work and live in a terraced house so nowhere to leave it if we are out.

Abel and Cole deliver in our area, if its not too much typing would you give me a quick summary of what was in say, this weeks box, to give me some idea?

We have been on the allotments list for 6 years now and at No 2 for the last 2 years now hopefully next year we will finally be able to grow our own and save a ton of dosh that way.

Just googled Abel and Cole, for a family of 4 weekly box its £23.50. I don't spend that on fruit and veg for us for TWO weeks never mind one, and we eat plenty of fruit and veg.

£11 will only get me the single person box so I don't think they offer very good value at all.

Abel and Cole are very expensive. And you will get tons of stuff you've never seen before and nobody will touch it.

I suppsoe we've got used to a certain way of living and eating. Meat used to be a treat for many people. Now, many people eat it every day.

Flibberty: we have a local fruit and veg scheme which is pick-up rather than delivery. Much easier for those of us living in flats. There's an evening pick-up, then the stuff is locked in a box and you go along and collect your stuff (relies on people being honest though).

so look for a local scheme rather than a national one (fewer overheads)

We get the £11.95 Abel & Cole box which feeds three of us for the week! Although we obviously also eat pasta and rice, a bit of meat/ fish and store cupboard ingredients. You don't get much random stuff at all - this week we had, for example, carrots, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cabbage and courgettes - not that random!

Agreed, that sounds fine but I think it wouldn't be enough fruit and veg for us.

We have a local farm that does veg boxes for a fiver - excellent value. Always cook in bulk - if making shepherds pie make 2/3/4 lots - I always chuck in a handful of lentils/barley stuff to pad the meat out and freeze one - then when you get in one night tired and would phone for a takeaway there is on there for you.

Use leftovers - tomorrow we are having tuna/sweetcorn fishcakes made with the cold mash from yesterday. I add heaps of onions to everything I cook - I buy the big basic bags. I buy the basic fresh garlic, peel it all in one go and pop in the fridge covered with some oil then when I need it its there ready and afterwards the oil is gorgeous in pasta.

Martin Lewis suggests dropping a brand level - ie if you buy Finest then swop to the normal one, normal one drop to the basics, Sainsburys to Tesco to Morrisons to Aldi - try them and see if you can taste the difference - in most cases you can't

friendlypizza- i like your garlic tip

no shepherds pie ( using lentils)
1 tin asda green lentils or 2 from tesco as a bit smaller
1 carrot chopped
1 medium onion, chopped or a leek, chopped
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 tin value chopped tomatoes
1 squirt of tomato puree
1 tbsp of sugar
or the end of the jar of pesto lurking in your fridge

fry onion
add carrot
add tomatoes and puree or pesto
add drained lentils
add bay leaf
simmer gently
stir in sugar and s&p
let bubble.
you can add worcestershire sauce or a spash of red wine or hp or whatever you like for extra flavour.do not cook for too long as the lentils with start to mush.
let the filling cool and then add to a pie dish. top with mashed potatoes and some grated cheddar.
cook in oven at 200o for 20-30 mins.

Thanks for that, I will try it out.

I must be the scroogiest person on here as I buy dried lentils, beans and pulses which are much much cheaper, and if you do them in a pressure cooker it takes hardly any time instead of them boiling away for hours in a normal pan.