Can you be OS with costly principles?

gailey_2

Debt free chick would skirt be ok in casserole and maybe ideal for slow cooker?
Will have my local butcher the spanish inquisition on tue or debating should i go farm shop instead I guess I could do both.
Blairweech no supermarkets that is ambitous good luck I mentioned allotment idea to oh however he says theres usualy huge waiting lists and its finding the time but might devote more garden to veg than flowers next year I think.
OH feels my veiw on fod is idealistic and that organic/free range is like aspiriatinal living that the oliver family live and nigellas just on another planet food wise and that its beyone normal persons budget.
ever since having a child my veiw towards food has changed more I want to give my daughter the best we can afford and for her to be healthy also both me and oh could do with trimming down a bit even more so.
I used to be vegetarian for 9years from age 13 to age 21 so always liked vegetables and veggie stuff. I look back and think I ate so much healthier as a student because I was just buying and cooking for me used to spend ages browsing markets for fruit and veg and popping to greengrocers.
When I first met my oh he used to eat loads of junk food mainly frozen pizzas burgers and readymeals as well as being awful for biscuits,cakeschocolates and pop.
He used to go on extreme like diet shakes and atkins and lose extreme amounts of weight then start eating normally again I kept telling him he just needs to eat healthy it should be lifestyle not diet.
Anyway as the years gone by I have trained him to give him decent wineto buy better things and over last few yars gradually cut back on buying ready meals and cooked more homecooked in fact 6/7 days is home cooked he takes sadwiches for lunch which is good as he never ate lunch before then was starving and ate all night I try not to buy too many treats as know he will eat them all but on the whole transformed him and hes lost small amount of weight too.
However price is very important to him so he still feels we should fill our freezer with more frozen pizzas/readymeals and chips as reckons will save us money but i keep saying no. Th main problem is he loves his meat so much.

I have a feind single mum on benefits who i suggested jaimies lasagne recipie too as its lovley and get 6large portions to which she said know would rather get family lasagne from iceland for £2 and she eats few takeaways but takeaways in our house is rare treat as fish and chips would come to £10 and pizza 15-20 and indian 15-25 so costly business.
We occasionally go local italian at lunch time special any pizza/pasta for 4.99 but is quality food which we love.
So i guess food is a mindset im trying to get family passionate about food and include more variety. My mum was awful cook and we lived off convieniance food so determined my daughter gets better.
My stepson is nitemare and if its homemade hes very suspicuous and at home is used to junk.

So I guess diffrences in attitudes towards food are to do with class ,budget,family attitudes/upbringing and even nationality can play a part in how we eat today like do rural families eat better than urban ones?where they lucky enough to have their plate on their doorstep or does choice of shops in big cities broaden our choices?

OrkneyStar

thriftlady wrote: »

Well, I was going to contribute to this thread, but Competitionscafe has already said exactly what I was going to say:T

I'd only add that a whole chicken is always a better buy than chicken parts. You can use the bones to make stock. You may find a good butcher who will sell you several free-range chickens for the freezer at a discount (mine does). The butcher will cut them up for you too.


I particularly agree that eating more fruit and veg is more important than eating organic fruit and veg.

My brother and sil only buy organic food (where they can). They have a much smaller income than we do, and I really don't know how they manage. They do have an allotment though so that must be quite a moneysaver.

Good points made already but I beg to differ on the chicken thing! We (DH and me) only really like breast meat (find the rest far too oily and strong tasting), so buying a whole chicken does not work out cheaper for us as we throw half of it! This is the same reason I buy a turkey crown or breast for Christmas as the legs etc will only be thrown. I detest that brown chicken meat you sometimes find in curries etc!
x

lka200 wrote: »

Will anyone else be having free range turkey this year?

No, I am afraid not.

Icemaiden

Blairweech & gailey, take a look at Cooltrikerchicks 'a month without supermarket challenge' its a great read:D This thread changed my way of shopping and thinking forever, I now shop exactly as you have written and would never go back to the weekly supermarket shop. The only downside to shopping in this way is at the beggining it takes time & effort to source the foods especially if you haven't got any local shops/farms/markets which can put people off but once you've found them it is so rewarding. I spend far less doing it this way then just chucking whatever in the supermarket trolley and my kids don't miss the crisps, fizzy pop etc....
We had bad snow here in Yorkshire on Thurs but I knew my milk & fr eggs would stilll be delivered by the milkman and that my homemade readymeals in the freezer would see us over the worst or failing that, I could don my wellies and walk to my butchers shop and tap some meat off him & pay later if I could'nt get to the bank.

Yes, we are also having free range turkey again this year:D

Edit: Single Mum with DS 17yrs & DD 7yrs, Just so people don't think I've megga bucks to spend on food.

Ice
x

Purple_Sparkles

What a brilliant thread, topics very close to my heart.

I'm a single mum and whilst not on benefits I earn only about an extra £20 compared to if I was claiming and that extra money feeds my animals that I've rescued over the years, so financially I'm not any better off but I feel much more accomplished that I pay the rent and put food on the table.

Anyway I don't specifically buy organic but do use farm shops and farmers markets and try and stock up whilst there and I buy what's in season - I really don't see why I would want sharon fruit or lychees etc.. that have been flown half way round the world, we have so many gorgeous fruits and vegetables that are grown in this country, plus what's available free in the hedgerows - I absolutely refuse to buy any food that has air miles.

I refuse to buy chicken unless it's free range, if I can't afford it I do without. I have some ex-battery hens and they are now happy free range hens that produce fantastic eggs.

In addition I do grow some of my own fruit and veg and will be growing more next year.

I've been cooking from scratch for such a long time now that if we have a take away or ready meal -we are usually very disappointed and don't enjoy the food so tend not to bother any more.

For us using locally sourced foods and cooking from scratch are important. I wouldn't go to any supermarket to buy 'organic' foods, most of the time they have travelled too many miles and are wrapped in flipping plastic - something else that I try and avoid the best I can, but that's another story.

gailey_2

Im glad everyone enjoying debate it just goes to show low budget means you can have principles and eat well!
Will definatly be buying free range turey thsi year not sure where from last year it was sainsbury but will check out how much it is in farm shop only prob is its best i purchase it and then subtract few £ and tell OH its costs less as tahts what I do with most things as he whinges about cost of fruit/veg and meat yet happily chucks loads of cakes/biscuits in trolly with no thourght to cost.

I think the chicken out campaign helped last year I have always been pro free range but it did alter hubbys opinions after seeing suffering first hand and seemed to increase demand for free range
But nearly 12months down the line and money tight wonder how many people like hayly have reverted back to 2 for £5 chickens.
My fave part of programme was when they ate chuffy and how emotional they got.
I want my daughter to know where food comes from and to be able to identify fruit and veg.
I also want to support local businesses and during hard financial times we live in its now even more important to line pockets of independants and not big supermarkets.

Would love to keep hens but fear we dont have the room as dont you need a hen house or would a dog kennell do? do they need cordoned off part of garden or do you let them roam whole garden?
What do they eat? whats vets bills like? is it similar upkeep to a rabbit?

well done purple sparkles you sound like fab mum. I wasent trying to have a dig at single mums on benefits just an example but have noticed the majority of people who are on benefits do eat lots of convieninace food and junk as well as takeaways as used to work in small supermarket on large housing estate and used to observe monday they all queue at postoffice opposite and come in with benefit money and healthy start vouchers which can now be used to buy fruit/veg as well as milk but few did they just brought milk.
One customer i remember was single mum with 6kids and was always whinging she was broke and she dident get enough. anyway she used to spend 200-300 on food a fortnight! she always brought frozen pizza ready meals crisps,sweets and pop hardly any fruit and veg? She must have fed so expensivly or in huge portions.

Thanks icemaiden will check that out and maybe make jan no supermarket month as if i venture into city centre we lucky enough to have some great independants like specilaist italian shop and farmers market so could be interesting. Maybe if we withdraw cash each month for food will restrain me more.

maltesers_2

However price is very important to him so he still feels we should fill our freezer with more frozen pizzas/readymeals and chips as reckons will save us money but i keep saying no. Th main problem is he loves his meat so much.

You can fill your freezer with readymeals but if you make your own you will know what's in them and everyone will enjoy them more. You can cook up a huge pot of bolognese sauce stuffed full of veg, and some lentils if you wish to bulk it out, and pack it in portions for spag bol, lasagne etc. make shepherds pies, moussakas and chilli in double portions and freeze them.

My local butcher sells two large free range chickens for £10. I have worked in a buchers and can joint a chicken but you can ask the butcher to do it for you. From a large chicken You can get a meal for two adults and a child from each breast bulked out with veg in a casserole, wrapped in bacon etc for a mini roast with chipolatas or curry, the thighs and drumsticks will make another meal or cooked will make a packed lunch. If you keep the carcases and make stock you should be able to salvage enough chicken bits from wings and carcase for another family meal chicken pie or korma etc. This would give you about 20 meals for £10 - so about 50p each for the meat. The stock is also very nutritious and will turn even a packet soup into a very tasty meal. The bits can be frozen or cooked as meals and then frozen.

I am losing weight on alow carb diet and this means I can't eat any junk food and have protein every meal. I thought it would be expensive but by shopping around it's not too bad. The more meat/protein you feed your OH the less hungry he will feel and less he will complain about 'good food'

By the way skirt and shin are both lovely cuts of beef for casseroles or slow cooking. Shin has bits of gristle which break down when slowly cooked to give a very tasty gravy.

Beki

oh that poor chook!!! breaks my heart!

we rescued 7 ex-batts in the summer, and although they were in spectacularly bad shape, one was muchmuch worse than the others. we put them all in together at first but it was obvious she needed to be isolated for a while.

after a lot of TLC she started to improve, and for 3 weeks she lived a life of freedom, with lots of treats and love. then one morning we found she had passed away in the night. i can't tell you how sad i was for her, that she'd endured such a sad existence, only to have freedom for 3 short weeks

this was her. her name was Gillian



on a brighter note... some of the other girls enjoying their fist taste of daylight!



keeping on topic, i make the majority of our meals from scratch, and i have a very strict budget to stick to. i only buy free range chicken & pork (including things like bacon which some people don't think of looking for free range!). if i can't afford it, i don't buy it.

on a 'flush' week i might buy a whole free range chicken for approx £8.50 but i make that do LOADS of meals. we'd probably be eating it for the best part of a week, within meals.

and if i see any free range chicken or pork reduced by more than 50% i snap that up too

it's deifnitely do-able on a budget! xxxx

lilac_lady

I always buy free range eggs and would do without if I couldn't find them. I don't shop in M & S's food store often but buy their Oakham chicken breasts when on offer as I think the chickens are treated better than battery ones. (Someone please tell me if that's not true). I buy most tinned goods from Llidl's as I feel the quality of them is good and that it balances out my food budget if I'm buying dearer meat and dairy products.

Edited to say that I aso buy chicken from the Co-op as I don't think they're battery produced either. I must do more research on this as I'd rather use less eggs and poultry than buy any battery produced products.

moanymoany

Brilliant thread! :T

I buy free range eggs and chicken and pork. I hate the thought of battery hens and battery piggies.

Otherwise I buy ordinary. However, we only eat meat about three times a week. I echo so much about what has been said, Tesco value beef is good stewing beef.

Vegetables I buy ordinary and lots of them - as already said it is more important to eat a lot of veg and fruit than organic. I also use a fair bit of frozen as they are good value. Fine beans less than £1 a kilo and mixed veg particularly. Mixed veg I often mix with rice, bulgar or couscous,

When I had my allotment and three chickens I fed the chickens on organic food as it was only pence more. The allotment had no chemicals on the veg. I hope to start this again when we are moved to our retirement haven! I discovered on a very small area of ground you can grow masses of veg. I saw a huge difference in the money I spent on food.

Back to the OP - I am often staggered at the money people pay for finest, organic and other such stuff. There has been a big rise in the cost of food, but it is still possible to buy and prepare the sort of food often talked about on here for a reasonable amount. Certainly cheaper than takeaways - it looked so vile on that JO programme. My fave takeaways are fish and chips and pizza - Last time bought was May when we were moving.

lka200

Becki bless Gillians little heart she was beautiful, and all your other girls are totally gorge!
The chicken that has labels like 'assured and rspca assured, freedom food etc are still intensively reared but they are not packed in so tightly.
I'm afraid that i dont have much faith in rspca assured products. The rspca inspect these farms to ensure the welfare of the birds but i have seen many reports about dead hens and squallid conditions in some of these farms.
Unless it says free range on the label the hens are intensively reared.
Battery hens for eggs are kept 5 to a cage...they have less than a sheet of A4 paper each, stand on wire bottomed cages, cant spread their wings or do anything which comes naturally to them. They dont even ever see the eggs they lay as they roll away onto a conveyor belt. They know thay have laid something but have no idea what...bless em!
Barn eggs....there can be up to 30,000 hens in each barn. The top hens guard the small pophole doors and dont allow the more weaker birds outside.
Thousands never see daylight or are able to reach the popholes.
A battery farmer has 73,000 laying hens. His egg production for a whole year will keep the UK supplied in eggs for half a day. Battery egg is in everything...M&S are the only place that dont use battery in anything..i dont have to check labels in M&S.
Through public pressure Helmans mayonnaise now only use free range....so many people petitioned them that they caved in.
Battery egg is even in tomato based pasta sauce mixes:mad:
I will not support the battery egg trade in anyway.
Like others have said if i cant afford to buy free range they i go without. I too am a single parent, working to support me and my son and i do realise that for some, free range isn't an option but to inform people is a great thing as many are unaware of what animals suffer for our pleasures.