Fresh food is so much cheaper!

gravitytolls

I think it depends where you live. When we lived in London, food was cheap and plentiful, nice and fresh, lasted for ages.

Here in rural Norfolk we pay twice the price and get half the freshness. I jest you not, small sack of spuds £2.99, rotten ones in the middle contaminating the rest, lovely savoy cabbage, brown within 24 hours, carrots, rotten within a couple of days, sprouts on the stalk, brown within no time.

Last summer we took the children to London. Two cheap travel lodge rooms, free transport on the tube for under 12's, free museum entry, a grand day out for next to nothing. On the way back from the city, a grocer was selling punnets of strawbs ~ £1 for a big punnet of delicious, juicy strawbs. Back here, where they are picked daily, we are charged £2.49 (at least) for a smaller punnet which ahve already got soft ones in so can't be kept for long. I'm not just talking supermarkets here, but local grocers and veg stalls.

I much prefer fresh veg, but we have a fair bit in the freezer as otherwise I'd be buying daily.

JulieGeorgiana

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Try bulgar wheat, there's nothing like it for pushing your contentment button! Don't buy the small packs from the supermarket though, find a Mediterranean supermarket and buy a big bag, it will last for ages!

Do you know... I am actually scared of trying it! It doesn't sound nice... what would I tell my DS if he said that to me! So I will get some next week and I WILL try it

VfM4meplse

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

Do you know... I am actually scared of trying it! It doesn't sound nice... what would I tell my DS if he said that to me! So I will get some next week and I WILL try it

Depends how you make it! It's not that different to couscous but I prefer it tbh. I either make it into a salad with a little pesto, cherry tomatoes, olives etc or have it hot with roasted vegetables. Sometimes I just make it plain to add some carb to a soup / curry meal; however you use it I would recommend making it and then leaving it for a couple of hours so that the grains swell / absorb the other flavours fully, and then reheating if necessary.

VfM4meplse

gravitytolls wrote: »

Here in rural Norfolk we pay twice the price and get half the freshness. I jest you not, small sack of spuds £2.99, rotten ones in the middle contaminating the rest, lovely savoy cabbage, brown within 24 hours, carrots, rotten within a couple of days, sprouts on the stalk, brown within no time.

:eek:

I understand nothing about the attraction of Norfolk and never will. Dedham is as far as I will travel in that direction.

rachbc

my parents live in Norfolk and last time I visited I came home laden with free and cheap food foraged and sold/ given away at every other garden gate in the village. The christmas before the grew their own turkey and this year are sharing a pig with a neighbour.

However back on thread I totally agree op - in aldi today - carrots 59p a kg bag - thats 10+ portions of veg, crisps 89p for a big bag with no nutritional value (but did make watching Lord of the Rings tolerable!) that lasted 1 evening

margaretclare

Bella79 wrote: »

Hello all,

Well after all the festivites ive cleared out all the cr*p and done a meal plan been to mr A, omg i forgot how much cheaper it is to eat fresh, got loads of fruit and veg bit meat came to £40 which for me for 3 of us for the week is good.

I dont understand when ppl say they cant afford to eat fresh food, surely homecooking, batch cooking etc with fresh ingredients is much cheaper than pre-packed processed?, i know when i put the odd couple of readymeals in and crisps, chocolate etc it costs so much more!

Does anyone else find this ?

I completely agree with you. I heard this a few days ago: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018xwcq#p00n077y

There's a man on there talking about how he lives on fortnightly benefits, he goes to this food bank and he doesn't buy any fresh food at all because he says 'it goes off too quickly'. He seems to live on baked beans and pasta, half a tin of baked beans one day and the other half the next. Wouldn't he be better buying a few baking potatoes and doing a jacket potato with his baked beans and maybe some grated cheese? He doesn't buy even an apple because 'they go off and they're a waste'. If you keep apples properly they should last for months on end!! However, he did say he prioritises his spending, bills e.g. electricity first, then food, then cigarettes. Wouldn't he be better with good food rather than cigarettes - but no one asked him that question!!

If I was really poor, as poor as that man says he is, I'd make big pans of veg soup with lentils and split peas, all the seasonal root veg, you can't really go wrong with that. I'd do jacket potatoes with grated cheese, there are lots of things you can do like that. I wouldn't bother with foreign imports like pasta. We ate well long before we'd ever heard of pasta and as for rice - well, you can still get pudding rice and that makes a nourishing pudding. I've been poor and I know what it's like, but I wouldn't live on baked beans and pasta!

mardatha

I agree with that Margaretclare

cooking-mama

Bella79 wrote: »

Hello all,

Well after all the festivites ive cleared out all the cr*p and done a meal plan been to mr A, omg i forgot how much cheaper it is to eat fresh, got loads of fruit and veg bit meat came to £40 which for me for 3 of us for the week is good.

I dont understand when ppl say they cant afford to eat fresh food, surely homecooking, batch cooking etc with fresh ingredients is much cheaper than pre-packed processed?, i know when i put the odd couple of readymeals in and crisps, chocolate etc it costs so much more!

Does anyone else find this ?

Im not sure I agree...I cook from scratch most days,im fortunate in that i can afford it/have the time for it,but a couple of days a week my OH is in charge of dinner when im working,(Cant cook/Wont cook),i then buy things like 4 breaded/battered chicken portions,breaded fish fillets etc..only £2 a box,that combined with a couple of tatties for chips(in the actifry),and a tin of smart price peas is a lot cheaper than our more usual lean mince,roast chicken,salmon portion etc type dinners...if i was just to buy frozen processed chicken,fish,pies,sausages etc for every meal I would save a fortune..therefore i can understand why some people with a family to feed on a reduced income cook in this way.
Im presently looking at ways to reduce our meat intake but increase our fish intake..I think anything i save from buying meat will be lost on the fish as its so expensive,I get a £20 fruit n veg box delivered too,so thinking about more Veggie based meals with pulses,grains etc,
Often in the supermarket a bag of Apples is around £1.50,but 24 packs of crisps are only 99p etc, biscuits 1/2 price,but Oranges almost £2 for 6...I also make around 80% of our bread in my Panasonic,..again tasty and convenient,but not cheaper compared to sliced loaves..I can get as much from 1 50/50 loaf sliced,prepacked as i can get from 2 homemade(but its quality,not quantity here)..to be honest,overall i think cooking from scratch with decent quality basics is not always the cheapest option,but whilst its still an option i can afford I will continue to do so.

Florenceem

cooking-mama wrote: »

Im not sure I agree...I cook from scratch most days,im fortunate in that i can afford it/have the time for it,but a couple of days a week my OH is in charge of dinner when im working,(Cant cook/Wont cook),i then buy things like 4 breaded/battered chicken portions,breaded fish fillets etc..only £2 a box,that combined with a couple of tatties for chips(in the actifry),and a tin of smart price peas is a lot cheaper than our more usual lean mince,roast chicken,salmon portion etc type dinners...if i was just to buy frozen processed chicken,fish,pies,sausages etc for every meal I would save a fortune..therefore i can understand why some people with a family to feed on a reduced income cook in this way.
Im presently looking at ways to reduce our meat intake but increase our fish intake..I think anything i save from buying meat will be lost on the fish as its so expensive,I get a £20 fruit n veg box delivered too,so thinking about more Veggie based meals with pulses,grains etc,
Often in the supermarket a bag of Apples is around £1.50,but 24 packs of crisps are only 99p etc, biscuits 1/2 price,but Oranges almost £2 for 6...I also make around 80% of our bread in my Panasonic,..again tasty and convenient,but not cheaper compared to sliced loaves..I can get as much from 1 50/50 loaf sliced,prepacked as i can get from 2 homemade(but its quality,not quantity here)..to be honest,overall i think cooking from scratch with decent quality basics is not always the cheapest option,but whilst its still an option i can afford I will continue to do so.

I bought a bag of eight English apples in Aldi this week for 89p - so much healthier than a packet of crisps. I think after eating processed food like breaded/battered chicken/fish from for instance Ic..... - you are hungry much quicker than after eating a home cooked meal - apart from the thought of the fat/salt content and preservatives. 50p for a battered/breaded chicken/fish portion is cheap but I had three Sons with hollow legs plus three Daughters with good appetites to feed - oh was ill and on benefits for a few years.

cooking-mama

Florenceem wrote: »

I bought a bag of eight English apples in Aldi this week for 89p - so much healthier than a packet of crisps. I think after eating processed food like breaded/battered chicken/fish from for instance Ic..... - you are hungry much quicker than after eating a home cooked meal - apart from the thought of the fat/salt content and preservatives. 50p for a battered/breaded chicken/fish portion is cheap but I had three Sons with hollow legs plus three Daughters with good appetites to feed - oh was ill and on benefits for a few years.

Not debating the nutritional value etc at all(believe me,you are preaching to the converted here,and i would always offer my girls fruit over crisps,choc,biscuits etc, anyday),What im saying is that homecooked from scratch,whilst it may be more nutrionaly sound and filling it isnt always cheaper..If i was totaly skint and had the choice of 8 apples for 89p..or 24 packets of crisps for 99p,then i know for a fact i would buy the crisps, I also know i could probably half my shopping bill by canceling my Fruit n Veg delivery box,stop my meat from Costco and simply buy frozen veg and processed stuff from farmfoods so i can totaly understand why people make the unhealthier choices..im just making the observation that cooking from scratch/homemade is not always the cheaper option.