Do I really spend to much on food?

patchwork_cat

We used to grow the ubiquitous mung bean sprouts 20 years ago, but I had never heard of broccoli sprouts, is that just the same - broccoli seeds sprouted in a jar or do they need some soil? ( we had a 3 tier sprouter years ago- well gone now,) where do you get your seeds to sprout?

greenbee

my seeds sprout in a jar on the kitchen work surface

ceridwen

patchwork_cat wrote: »

We used to grow the ubiquitous mung bean sprouts 20 years ago, but I had never heard of broccoli sprouts, is that just the same - broccoli seeds sprouted in a jar or do they need some soil? ( we had a 3 tier sprouter years ago- well gone now,) where do you get your seeds to sprout?

The ubiuquitous mung beans - and also whole lentils would certainly be available in any health food shop. I'm trying to recall offhand what else one can sprout - but anyways health food stores should have the full range of dried beans/lentils/sunflower seeds (I rather like sunflower seed sprouts myself). There would be just a note of caution to bear in mind re kidney beans (dont try sprouting them! - toxins or whatever it is in them if not cooked!).

Broccoli seeds for sprouting - I imagine one just uses packets of broccoli seeds obtainable from garden centres to grow in the garden.

se999

Wilkinsons do packs of sprouting seeds I think.

ceridwen

Worth keeping an eye out that anything one buys for sprouting purposes doesnt have a "hoicked-up" price because of it. The small packets of things marked as specifically for sprouting can work out at a rather dear price per £.

I recall - years back - when I first decided to sprout some mung beans. There was only one place I could buy them - ie a health food shop as it happens - and they had them set in a separate place to the rest of the dried pulses/marked specifically as for sprouting and charged at way more than the other pulses. Come the time when people knew enough to know that mung beans are just another type of dried beans in effect - and other shops were stocking them too - and that malarkey stopped. They just put the packets of mung beans on the shelf in amongst all the other dried pulses and charging a "dried pulses" price for them instead. Nice try-on for them whilst it lasted......:cool: - ie before people got better informed.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Chickpea sprouts are rather nice.

crux

So this week I finally feel like I have a hold on keeping the cost of our groceries down. The weekly shop yesterday was £60 which is a far cry from the £100+ that it usually is and even father from the £150+ that is was at first.

I wanted to say thanks to all those who helped me see that it is possible to reduce the cost without completely sacrificing the quality too much (although I have had to spend more time to achieve this).

So what steps did I take to achieve my cuts?

Firstly I because aware of prices in our town both at the supermarkets and the smaller suppliers in town.

I also started to log everything we purchased and keep a pocket pad with the common prices of the stuff I regularly buy.

Together this enabled me to see some of the obvious excesses in my spend. (example buying a £1 head of chicory when I only really needed a few leaves for a recipe and when the chicory could be substituted without the meal losing to much).

Better meal planning so that I know exactly what to buy each time I visit the shops.

I cut out items that were expensive like individual yogurts, individual jelly's, individual bags of dried fruit and especially so called health bars/biscuits. (this made a significant difference). We still have these items, they are just now either home made, or brought in bulk and split down at home.

I cut the meat portion we eat per meal to 100gm/person and I purchased larger cuts of meat and fish (at a better cost per kilo) from which I prepare the cut I want and freeze the rest (especially if it's a meal we can make in the slow cooker, you can't tell it's been frozen if it's cooked long and slow anyway).

I introduced at least one main meal per week that is totally veggie.

I stopped buying bagged salad unless it can't be helped (fresh Spinach, Watercress is pretty much bags only in my town).

Substitute items occasionally when it is for a quick regular meal. example; Salad cheese... is not Feta, but... in an 'eat at your desk while working salad' the taste difference does not signify and the price difference does add up. I use Feta when I'm sat at home or in the garden with my family and have time to savour and enjoy the food, but for everyday lunch at work I started using the cheap option.

Use the freezer, left over fresh herbs, left over wine, stock etc etc. meat and fish for the slow cooker, much more goes in the freezer now and it is used rather than sitting there for 6 months before being chucked out.

So more than half way through my pay month, I'm confident of meeting the £400 budget I had hoped to make, and that includes a £50 blow out in week one by DW before she was onboard. In fact I'm confident that in future I can keep the weekly spend to £80 on average. We are still eating salmon and steak etc, but just less of it and in a more value orientated fashion.

anna-marie

Hi, you have done really well to get control of your food budget like that, well done!

I know how easy it is for the grocery budget to add up. When we had 2 full time salaries coming in we would spend about £250 a week on food for a family of 5, including restaurants and take aways. I now think that was outrageously excessive. Since our circumstances changed we have really had to rein in our spending habits. I now spend only £30 a week on food. This means that all of our meals are from home now and there is a LOT of preparing from basic ingredients.

I know you don't need such extreme frugality but some of the things that really keep the cost down for me (sorry if this is repeat advice - I didn't read every post in this thread as it is really long!!) are keeping expensive cuts of fish and meat as rare treats - eggs, nuts, seeds, pulses, canned fish, mince, offal and whole chickens provide ample protein (and flavour!) and other nutrients for day to day meals. Vegetarian protein has the added bonus of also counting towards that magic 5 a day! Also, nothing is thrown away before it has been served up. I used to be in the habit of leaving expensive food in the fridge until it was past its best then just throwing it out. Now the waste is only what has been left on plates - which is very little. Soups and smoothies are brilliant for cramming in a bunch of vitamins and fibre by using frozen/leftover/cheaper fruit and veg. I always get the cheapest acceptable version of the ingredients I need, usually the supermarket value/budget range - I make a conscious effort not to be beguiled by advertising, reputation or packaging.

Here's a recipe for a nutrient dense and also delicious flapjack instead of buying cereal bars:

Apple Flapjack
Ingredients (makes approx.16 large slices)

2 apples (cored, peeled and chopped)
175g butter
175g sugar
50g dried fruit
225g porridge oats
2 tablespoons of seeds mix

1. Heat a little of the butter in a pan and gently fry the apples until soft (about 10 minutes)
2. Add the rest of the butter, sugar and dried fruit and stir until the butter has melted.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the oats and seeds.
4. Put the mixture in a greased non-sick baking tray, or one lined with baking parchment.
5. Cook in a medium hot oven until golden (about 20 minutes).
6. Score into portions while still soft then leave to cool.

Total Cost 96p :T

zippychick

Crux, that's truly fantastic - you h ave achieved so much and are making conscious choices about your food now. That's awesome! How much have you "saved" for SA?:j

Can i gently ask we keep this thread on topic - many thanks:):A
Zip

Karmacat

Crux, many congratulations! And lovely to see a summary like that of the changes you've made - talk about taking back your power!! Well done you.

zippy - sorry, I know I'm a latecomer to this thread, I don't understand.....