Gingernutbizkit's quest to find a menu plan that eases her conscience!!

gingernutbizkit

Hi all,

Many of you will know me from other boards on the forums as I am trying really hard to reduce my debt/mortgage and am committed to paying it off my the time I'm 30 . I have made a lot of head way with my fiannces over the past year or so and am (just about) on track to reach my goal however grocery shopping and menu planning is still a big issue for me.

Two years ago there was just me and Mrs Ging. We cooked some nights, ate out regularly and (I'm ashamned to say) our local indian was listed as one of our 'friends and family' numbers on our phone bill :o:o. In total I wouls say that we were spending £400pcm. In our bid to shift the debt (and some lbs:p) we cut down on spending, eating out and take away became a rareity (our indian actually rang us to see if we had moved house :rotfl:).

18 months ago we became foster carers and are very lucky to now have 3 gorgeous, fantastic kids living with us on a long term basis. This obviously meant an increase in budget again with us spending between £200-300. At times I have managed to get that down to £150pcm but this was really pushing it.

So, after my long ramble (apologies) here's my issue. Saving money is not something we have to do, it is something we choose to do so that we can have a money-stress free life as quickly as possible. However, Mrs Ging and I are both Christians at time we feel that some of the low budget food choices we are making may be compromising our ethics and values. This is stressing me out!! My major stresses at the moment are as follows:

Health - This is the major one. We obviously want the boys to have a really healthy diet. I'm not opposed to the odd hm muffin or bit of chocolate but I'm not convinced that some of the cheap foods we give them are really in their best interests. Due to their pasts the boys have had some health and development problems and we don't want to compound the issue. Two were diagnosed ADHD (not sure if that was a true diagnosis) and we have recently had them off medication in order to control their behaviour in other ways, partlydown to diet.
Do cheap foods have the same nutritional value, I'm not sure?

Food Miles - I'm not sure I want a cupboard full of things that come from all over the world. Why do I buy meat from europe when I have a local butcher selling local meat down the road? Obviously there are some items that have to travel (exotic fruit for instance) but for those that don't I know I should be supporting local producers.

Treatment - I'm sure that somewhere down the line there are people being treated bad in order for me to eat the meals I eat. People in other countries poorly paid, bad working conditions. Supporting this is not consistent with my ethics and yet I do ever time I visit the supermarket.

Animal Welfare - Similar to the above. I can not confidently say that animals I eat are treated well. It's becoming more important to me that I can.

Taste - This is becoming a bigger issue for me. I happen to be quite a good cook but I'm sure that cooking with inferior products means the tast is not so good. I usually shop at Mr T's (for the reward points) but this week I ended up buying a meal from a local farmshop and the difference in taste was unbelieveable.

So, all in all I am thinking of increasing my budget for the five of us to try to tackle some of these issues. I think this will be a long process and I'd be grateful for any input from anyone.

TIA, Ging

gingernutbizkit

This post will monitor our progress as our challenge goes on.

Guidelines
With all the advice given on here and the fact that there is a lot of new information to get my head around I have decided that we need to have some guidelines for the things we are buying. These will increase/develop over time.

1. We must each eat our five a day of f+v. One portion = 80g (or 30g dried fruit)

Changes Made

Item/Previous Product/New Product/Price Difference/Comments

Fruit and Veg - [STRIKE]Tesco's[/STRIKE] box scheme Organic + Local
Banana - [STRIKE]Tesco's[/STRIKE] Co-Op or Sainsbury's 0.00 Fairtrade
Cereal Bars - [STRIKE]Tracker Bars[/STRIKE] Geobars +11p each Fairtrade
Apples - [STRIKE]Tesco's[/STRIKE] Sainsbury's -26p per bag Organic, more apples but smaller

Grocery Challenge
March [STRIKE]£300[/STRIKE] £210

sunflower76

Hello,

Firstly, congratulations on the new additions to your family.

I'm pretty good at meal planning and do it aorund a month at a time. I use tiny post it notes and write onthem our favourite meals and then stick them onto our calendar. If then we don't have that meal or we need to swap things around it's not too much trouble as I already have the ingredients in to cook it.

We ahve an organic veg box from Abel and Cole each week with a weeks fruit and veg in it. The quality is always fantastic and it eases my concience a lot, knowing that I'm not filling me and MrS with pesticides. Although it isn't as cheap as the Aldi Super Six or Value products I find that because I always have fresh stuff in (they also bring me milk and butter) I don't need to go to the supermarket and spend on extras. I usually plan a veggie curry for the day before my veg box in order to use anything that is lurking aorund.

We aim for 3 or 4 meat meals (one of these is usually leftovers from a joint or chicken) and a fish meal with the rest being vegetable based.

The meat we buy is from a local butcher and sometimes organic but always free range and raised to a good standard. This not only keeps my concience sweet for the local and animal welfare issues I like that we're doing our bit to reduce the carbon footprint and I beleive that too much meat isn't good for us anyway.

You don't neccesarily need to increase your budget; you can use cheaper cuts that have extra taste by cooking clowly and with strong flavours.

gingernutbizkit

Thanks Sunflower. That is really interesting. I love the idea of the moveable post it notes Just wondering, where do you get your basics - loo roll, cleaning stuff, cereals etc?

Ging x

Valli

Hi Ging (long time no see;), I'm still a flylady )

What about trying, with the boys, to grow your own even in a small way e.g. summer salads and things? No food miles and kids having a bit more grasp of where food comes from? A local school in a very deprived area near here actually employs a gardner and they do a lot of growing, with the express idea of getting the kids (and hopefully their families) eating more F&V.

I cut down by having veggie meals (eg chilli) even though I'm not a veggie.

(I don't buy Wilkos loo roll btw - I'm allergic - it makes me itch JUST where you don't want to be itching:rotfl:

anguk

If I remember rightly all of Sainsbury's banana's, tea, coffee & sugar is FairTrade, including the basics range. Their eggs are all from non-caged birds and they also sell Freedom Food meat, fish etc.

gingernutbizkit

Valli wrote: »

Hi Ging (long time no see;), I'm still a flylady )

Hi Valli, nice to hear from you. Well done you on still flying... if you read my diary you will see that I really should get back to that. Always so much to focus on isn't there!

What about trying, with the boys, to grow your own even in a small way e.g. summer salads and things? No food miles and kids having a bit more grasp of where food comes from? A local school in a very deprived area near here actually employs a gardner and they do a lot of growing, with the express idea of getting the kids (and hopefully their families) eating more F&V.

Ahh, you read my mind. I have plans to do some growing this year. Put my name down for a allotment but there's a 12 year waiting list :eek:. Will do some small growing in the back garden... the boys loved i last year. Need to have a think about maximising space.

I cut down by having veggie meals (eg chilli) even though I'm not a veggie.

I would have no objection to this... however Mrs Ging would. She's a definate meat and two veg person and although she's more adventurous now than she used to be we still have a long way to go. She still has no idea that courgettes go into her spag bol :rotfl:.

(I don't buy Wilkos loo roll btw - I'm allergic - it makes me itch JUST where you don't want to be itching:rotfl:

LOL :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:. Good to know, thanks. I guess that does raise to other issue of what chemicals are we putting into our body by buying cheap toiletries.... (one thing at a time Ging, one things at a time ).

Right, I have my Asda delivery coming soon and I'm now wondering if this will be the last they see of me? Not sure that I can do all my shopping locally but I do know that I have to rely less on supermarkets.

Ta ta for now, Ging x

gingernutbizkit

anguk wrote: »

If I remember rightly all of Sainsbury's banana's, tea, coffee & sugar is FairTrade, including the basics range. Their eggs are all from non-caged birds and they also sell Freedom Food meat, fish etc.

Thanks, useful to know. I guess I need to do a lot of research into supermarket policies and hope that I don't have to go to a different one for each item otherwise my food miles would be right up :rotfl:.

ARRGGGHHH, it's a lot to think about isn't it?

Ging x

rachbc

Of that list I think your childrens health HAS to be priority, esp if they have additional needs and if you can afford it (I assume you get an allowance for fostering them) then yes I think you should be spend it on good quality (by which I nead high nutritional value) food for them - this doesn't always have to mean expensive - some cheap food has great nutritional value - smart price oats for example will be far better for them than top brand sugar packed cereals, sp fruit and veg etc are all great - though I reckon you will get better prices at a market if you have one.

Growing stuff is a great idea - for health, social and economic reasons.

sunflower76

gingernutbizkit wrote: »

Thanks Sunflower. That is really interesting. I love the idea of the moveable post it notes Just wondering, where do you get your basics - loo roll, cleaning stuff, cereals etc?

Ging x

Abel and Cole do a fine range of everything organic that you can imagine so you can purchase concious friendly items from them However, I'm no so disciplined when it comes to loo roll and Aldi is my loo roll provider of choice. I don't mind wiping my bum on pesticides :rotfl:

Cleaning products I use minimally as I don't like antibacterial products and only use bleach in the loo. Mainly I use Starpdrops for floors, Soapy washing up liquid water for surfaces and the bathroom and polish sparingly. I'm a lazy cleaner though and tend to beleive that as the dust will still be here when I'm dead there isn't much point moving it aorund!

Cereals we don't have often but get poridge oats from Aldi (non Organic) and most other groceries too. I have Organic where I think it matters but as we eat less of stuff like tinned tomatoes etc I don't worry so much unless I see a bargain as the premium on these products is often really high.

I also have an allotment where I grow lots of organic produce in summer (and much less in winter) and this reduces our spend for a few months. It's also VERY satisfying growning your own so do try. I bet the boys will be encouraged to eat more fresh stuff if they've had a hand in growing it too.

floss2

Firstly, good on you for becoming foster-carers :A

I agree with grow your own - and would suggest that you let the boys have a patch or a pot of their own to encourage a bit of healthy competition and the knowledge of where their tea came from!

Food miles - try local farmers markets or farms shops, as well as looking for a F&V box scheme

Animal welfare - source a good local butcher (mine tells you which farms their poultry & meat comes from so you can go & see them in their own environment.

Ethics - Fairtrade stuff can be quite expensive, but if you only have those things in moderation, then ethical eating can be done on a budget. Look at your supermarket shelves & Holland & Barrett, also see if you have a Fairtrade Town near you.