In our local paper - Food on a Budget

Burp_2 · 26 August 2009 at 12:13PM

ello

Found a small article about this couple who are trying to encourage people to take a look at our shopping bills and offering people advice ... this is the 1st installation apparently

Now I know it's probably not of use to a lot of you on here as you can do things cheaper ... but it may be useful to complete newbies? Not sure

anyways here's the link...

http://www.ckmhome.co.uk/

The brochure

http://www.ckmhome.com/ukversion/Cooking%20Good%20Food%20on%20a%20Budget.pdf

Burp x

msgnomey · 26 August 2009 at 2:01PM

Thanks for that it looks good, some useful tips!

vodkachick68 · 26 August 2009 at 2:53PM

Very interesting reading,thanks for that OP. Will you post link for part 2 at some point please?

Thanks

lickylonglips · 26 August 2009 at 4:02PM

some useful tips.... we've got a wealth of moneysaving tips at our fingertips on here!!

markkeogh · 26 August 2009 at 5:05PM

Hi,
as the author of this site my wife and I would just like to thank Burp for the plug. I know it's teaching some what they already know and I realise the budget can be bought down even more but as a basic guide we hope it has a wide impact for others and thanks again for the plug.
All the best
Mark

MrsBartolozzi · 26 August 2009 at 5:31PM

Thanks Burp for posting the link.
This is for Mark:
This basic guide is very good, most of the moneysaving tips I've already picked up from here (I understand the guide is for perhaps those beginning the OS way.), but I still found several recipes very interesting, we'll be having some of them in the following weeks, thanks!
I do have a question or two though, you only include 4pts of milk - that's only 4 day's worth for a child (based on government guidelines) is there something I missed? There was also no mention of drinks either, and while I understand that this was a food budget of £30-35, I suspect most people would expect to include their coffee or tea in their food budget.
I am not attempting to nitpick, but certainly on the milk front a reasonably large chunk of my budget goes on milk as I have 2 teenage boys, and this is something that I find difficult to cut back on when trying to shrink the shopping costs. Any ideas?
Oh one last question, can I ask where you get your free range chickens for £4 please? They cost double that around here!

That said, thanks for coming on here to post, and I look forward to reading part 2!

markkeogh · 26 August 2009 at 10:50PM

[That said, thanks for coming on here to post, and I look forward to reading part 2![/QUOTE]

Thanks for your positive comments and I understand the nitpick perfectly.
As I said in the article, this was written for a friend of my wifes to help her out and, as a technical author who likes to cook, it is very naive.
Hopefully with the right interest, and some help, Part 2 might be a little more refined.
It was only on my wifes friends reaction that the whole thing came about so please bear with me, but at least it's out there.
The chicken quotes I will have to check, as I am talking about free range being £4/kg and not £4/chicken, but as I wrote the whole thing in 3 days and organised promotion in 2 more there may be some typo's.
The chicken I'm trying to show with a little butchery can be bought for £4/kg whereas all other products in pre-trimmed form start at a lot more.
It was nice to help, for instance, a young lady in the local supermarket, looking a jointed pieces of thighs and drumsticks, realise that the cheap stuff she was looking at was £3.58/kg and the free range pre-pack joint parts we are currently seeing was £3.52/kg.
It is naive but it tries to point out that you don't have to buy the very worst animal controlled products to gain a bargain meal.
In Part 2 I'll be looking at the maths for chicken that's pumped full of water.
If the package says 'may contain 20% water', then you can add that to your cost, so a 20% increase in your cheaper product by evaporation, add to that the moral issues and where will it stack up? I know it's not going to be as cheap as you can possibly be, but it tries to show you can eat better quality ingredients for a lot less than people think.
Please realise I just like cooking and until our change in circumstances we spent more, then my wifes' friend wanted some personal advice so as an author I wrote this specifically for her, then, due to her reaction and pushing, I put it out there to help people.
I don't deny it would have been nice to get published, and tried, but it was impossible to break through so I set up the site for free, as I think something needs to be out there now that covers more of the bases than gathering the information piecemeal as it were, so there it is warts and all.
Anyway thanks again for your post, I'm just pleased no-one has said it's a pile of poo as my wife has told me to look at my cooking instead of engineering for years now and I haven't had the confidence to do it.
As far as the milk and tea or coffee there is a hole in my booklet, but when you look at 'Economy Gastronomy' for instance the food bill alone is £21000 this week, so I must be able to be excused for that.
We get through some milk as well and I shall endeavour to correct that in Part 2 with advice from the likes of yourselves and pointers that constructively criticise such as this thread rather than sensationalised reporting. I have put my name out there and hopefully people will take it for what it is, and not find a way in this day and age to sue me for being ill from malnutrition!
Anyway, thanks again for the positive views, I know it can be bettered, and I could do so myself by just buying budget products, but this is the food we personally choose to eat, it's in the public domain and I had the thingy's to put my name and contact details to it. Part 2 will have another snipe at the big supermarkets and if I get to Part 3, who knows how far it will go.
Look at Hugh F.W, he took on Tescos and they actually reduced their Free range stocks as a childish reaction!
Cheers and all the best. (All advice gratefully received and please copy me by email so I can keep up just in case)
Tomorrow morning I am on Radio BBC Hereford and Worcester at 7.45am and 8.15am live to go through it, wish me luck.
Mark Keogh

shaz_mum_of__2 · 27 August 2009 at 4:32PM

I thought it was quite good and anything that gets people spending less wasting less and cooking more can't do wrong in my eyes

I used to work for a community project teaching young mums how to cook nutritious meals on a budget and sometimes it was like banging your head against a brick wall ..................................but it was worth it all when some them got the lightbulb moment and got inspired to do more

I look forward to the next installment!

Shaz

ps there is funding available for charitable groups to teach basic cookery skills in deprived communities if you fancy going in that direction

grannytwice · 27 August 2009 at 8:19PM

Hi thanks for posting this link really interesting, loved the recipes will be trying the stroganoff one at the the weekend, , the costings are good to compare prices in different areas as well , look forward to part 2

markkeogh · 30 August 2009 at 10:15PM

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

I thought it was quite good and anything that gets people spending less wasting less and cooking more can't do wrong in my eyes

I used to work for a community project teaching young mums how to cook nutritious meals on a budget and sometimes it was like banging your head against a brick wall ..................................but it was worth it all when some them got the lightbulb moment and got inspired to do more

I look forward to the next installment!

Shaz

ps there is funding available for charitable groups to teach basic cookery skills in deprived communities if you fancy going in that direction

Hi Shaz,
please tell me more as this is something I'd love to do.
Also part 2 is underway I bought £26 of good stuff just before the radio interview on Thursday so now I've challenged myself to make it last a week with good food.
Going well so far but had to buy an Avocado and wraps for Mexican tonight so we're up to £27.60 I think, but the rest is achievable.
Cheers
Mark

mrssnowy_2 · 31 August 2009 at 8:46AM

Well done Mark,informative and interesting.
Wish you well with it.

mrss

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In our local paper - Food on a Budget

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