Eat for £12 a week?

Fivenations

DFTT

Or in English - Dont feed the troll

He/she has had their moment - now let's get back back to "normal".

PP - I'm sure you are wise enough to know not to loose sleep over this. Keep on posting.

Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him, For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.

Marcus Aurelius MEDITATIONS

odds-n-sods

I 've only just read this thread and haven't posted before, but I do have to say it does come across at times as a contest to see who can spend the least amount on food in a week, rather than at a budget the individual is happy with. I simply couldn't buy what a lot of you do - the 'value' brands, cheap meat etc, but I wouldn't berate you because you do. I was a chef for over 10 years and I know what often goes into 'value' foods.
Having said that. I do know we can cut down on what we spend, it's just a case of being more organised! Once we have moved into our new house, I wil start.

Penelope_Penguin

Crikey, after a few days away, saw this thread and thought it would give me a bit of inspiration as to what to cook this week. How wrong :eek: :eek: :eek: When I write my menu plan, it's as a spur to me to get us out of the rut of eating the same things over and over. Like many here, I'll write *lasagne and garlic bread*.

Some may think that this is a frozen ready meal.

People who know me as a regular OS poster will assume that the lasagne is mainly HG veg and herbs from my garden, a small amount of lean beef from the butcher, HM lasagne, using eggs from my garden hens and organic pasta flour. The bread is HM, garlic HG. It's accompanied by HG salad and for pudding there's a fruit bowl, HM yoghurt, and if the Small Penguins are still hungry there'll be a slice of HM cake or a HM biscuit. We drink water and the Small Penguins have milk.

Don't have time to go into all that, 7 times a week, and I'm sure you don't all want to read it

I don't price up my meals, as I tend to buy groceries in bulk when they're on special offer. I also take advantage of fresh produce being reduced and change my meal plan accordingly.

Penny. x

LearningToSave.

i can shop for a very low price but dont cost it on here as others might or go on about it as we are lucky enough to have all the big supermarkets around here as well as a makro and we only buy meat etc when its super reduced(i.e-20 huge chick breasts for £5 in makro).therefore i dont say ooo i can feed my family for £25 a week as the only reason i can is because of this and not everyone can do that.i obviously buy as i see too so may spend lots one week then nothing for ages.....i have £150 a month to spend for me,hubby,4yo and 2yo,we would be inserious trouble if i didnt shop as i do.
if i couldnt shop as i do then it would be nearer to £70 a week and i know that.
also i have a lot of freezer space(huge stand alone and an american fridge freezer) so i buy and freeze in bulk.

Queenie

Cute_n_Quirky wrote: »

..
It is a scam trying to pass off a fatty, heart-attack diet as being healthy.
. .

No more and no less of a 'scam' then to pass yourself of as "Cute n Quirky" perhaps!? That could be considered misleading by some on here and dead accurate by others standards. It's all about perception.

Personally, I wouldn't consider serving chips with a pasta based meal such as lasagne = my choice; yet many do and many eateries offer the same.

The main point of Old Style surely is to share ideas/ways/means but like everything else you might read or hear, be it newspapers, magazines, web pages, TV programmes, friends, neighbours, colleagues, family - you select what you want and disregard the rest.

Actually, if others have been motivated to make their own lasagne from scratch (irrespective of whether it is served with chips ) the point remains that it is by definition healthier than buying a ready meal lasagne with the additives and it is cheaper too. By that same token, what does it matter if someone is serving hm yorkshire pudding and hm roast potatoes in the same meal? Surely that is healthier than mass produced, processed equivalents?

Who cares if someone claims to be able to live off £12 per week for a family of 4 (or 10 or 50)? If you don't believe them, fine, leave it at that and have a quiet chuckle to yourself!

Surely we are all here to learn from others which may inspire us with some tip/technique/trick that could benefit our own budgets and lifestyles?

Like anything in life, you take from it what you choose and you leave the rest. But ultimately, you have signed up to a forum where the owner's mantra is "be nice to all moneysavers" and we should respect that (if nothing else!).

DUKE

Now before everyone starts shouting at me I must tell you that I don't do arguments online as I feel that there's enough trouble in the real world without us starting on here too I don't actually believe that there's any such thing as a healthy diet and it makes me smile when people say this. A little bit of everything in moderation is what I believe

I'm absolutely amazed that you people can live so cheaply :eek: I normally spend between £40-50 weekly on shopping for 2 of us and I thought that I was doing well I had a really good deal last week - A joint of pork for just £2 from a place called Cool Trader (think it's part of the Iceland branch). I didn't expect much for the money but it was quite tasy, I managed to do a roast dinner, sarniz for supper, and curried it the next day. I normally buy minced beef and do spag bol one day and shepherds pie the next. I don't find that mince freezes well though

Penelope_Penguin

DUKE wrote: »

I don't actually believe that there's any such thing as a healthy diet and it makes me smile when people say this. A little bit of everything in moderation is what I believe

I think that I agree with you there! Everything in moderation, in my book. I had a friend at University, who turned orange due to her love of carrots and liver :eek: :eek: :eek: which many people would put in the *healthy* pile


Both the Small Penguins are tall and slim, and as they take a lot of exercise, need a diet high in fat and carbohydrate. I despair when they are given the *healthy eating* message at school, again, which includes skimmed milk, low fat this and that, and reducing portion sizes. That diet is not appropriate for growning children.

However, would you agree with me (and many others on OS) that there is a diet that's unhealthy for most of the adult population Too much salt, sugar (sucrose, mainly), other refined carbohydrate, fat (especially saturated and trans), and too little vitamins, minerals, fresh fruit and veg, combined with too little exercise isn't good for most of us.

That's what I try to provide for my family, through home cooking, and OS has helped me do that.

Penny. x

newster

It is really the amount we eat rather than what we eat I think. Portion sizes are so much larger now than when I can remember as a child.

I was born in 1958 just after rationing ended, and things were still pretty hard.

My parents didn't earn much, but we always eat a good balanced meal, and enjoyed it the more I think knowing that it was "hard to come by" as such. Now everything is so much more available, and I think society abuse it.

Mum never worried about "healthy eating" she knew she was cooking good balanced meals with the little she had :-) I can't ever remeber feeling hungry between meals, because dinner was filling and ample. I think people growing up during the war would say the same. We take so much for granted now, and full plates is one of them. If we ate in moderation, there wouldn't be a "healthy" issue.

PP. Can we all come and live with you. All your HM stuff sounds great. Eggs from own hens . Lovely. There's only 8 of us plus two cats and a Rotty. Can you fit us in :-) I'll help you prep the veg :-) Do you do your own fruit as well?? Oh. Then there would be visits from my 3 non resident children as well :-) lol. (plus 2 grandchildren, childrens friends/boyfriends and so forth??????!!!!!!!!)

Food I think has become a God to most people .We should "eat to live," not "live to eat"

Penelope_Penguin

newster wrote: »

PP. Can we all come and live with you. All your HM stuff sounds great. Eggs from own hens . Lovely. There's only 8 of us plus two cats and a Rotty. Can you fit us in :-) I'll help you prep the veg :-) Do you do your own fruit as well?? Oh. Then there would be visits from my 3 non resident children as well :-) lol. (plus 2 grandchildren, childrens friends/boyfriends and so forth

Course you can We're currently *between hens*, our last 4 girls being taken by fox(es) last month and awaiting hatching of our fertile eggs. So we have a hen house available for unexpected guests We do have our own fruit. Our house was a Vicarage from after the war until 1990, and has an apple and pear orchard, 3 plums, a damson, a grengage, 2 strawberry beds, a Morello cherry, and rhubarb. Don't think I've forgotten anything...........

Penny. x

odds-n-sods

I want your house!! LOL..... one day that's what I plan on having. My own veg garden + orchard. My kids will defintiely know where theor food comes from, and will help pick/eat it staright from the garden.