Fresh food is so much cheaper!

margaretclare

katieowl wrote: »

I think sometimes when people are on really low incomes (Like the guy mentioned who gets stuff from a foodbank) you have to bear in mind the costs of cooking. Chances are he will be on a pre-pay meter for the electric, and if they had an electric oven, it might cost a lot to run for the time it took to cook a jacket potato...I'd think twice about doing it for one person! The five minutes to heat beans or tinned spaghetti would be a lot cheaper!

But on the whole I'd have to agree totally. I do not understand why people feed their families on ready-meals, it must cost an absolute fortune!

Kate

I had assumed that he wouldn't be putting on the oven, whether electricity or gas, but that he'd be using a microwave. Baking a potato in the microwave takes no more time than heating half a tin of baked beans. A lot of people living in bedsits or flats have a microwave even if they haven't an oven. I used to live in a student room and I had a mini-fridge, a kettle and a microwave.

daisiegg

margaretclare wrote: »

I had assumed that he wouldn't be putting on the oven, whether electricity or gas, but that he'd be using a microwave. Baking a potato in the microwave takes no more time than heating half a tin of baked beans. A lot of people living in bedsits or flats have a microwave even if they haven't an oven. I used to live in a student room and I had a mini-fridge, a kettle and a microwave.

Of course it does! Heating half a tin of baked bins might take 1 min, 2 max, and I have never met a potato that will bake in the microwave in 2 mins.

terra_ferma

margaretclare wrote: »

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.

Without foreign imports there would be very little left to eat...
most food was imported to Britain at some point, it was interesting to watch Jamie Oliver's last tv programme, even the British-est of British dishes had some foreign influence

WeegieWumman

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Dunno where abouts in Scotland you are but I found the Sunday market at Blochairn has some decent deals on meat and veg. :-)

I'll second that!!!

cooking-mama

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Dunno where abouts in Scotland you are but I found the Sunday market at Blochairn has some decent deals on meat and veg.

Yesterday I got 8 huge gammon steaks for £10, 5lb of lamb leg steaks for £5 and a sack of spuds for £5, that will keep this months shopping bill down a bit :-)

Thanks Big Graeme,not realy close to Blochairn,tho we do pass it on the way to Costco(I think)...not keen on meat from butchers vans.(Sorry,im a fussy beggar I know:o )I like to know the source, animal welfare,free range eggs/chicken,etc, For a wee while i was getting a butchers pack delivered from http://www.damndelicious.co.uk/ , very good quality,lean meat,all fresh and vacuum pack..but like everywhere else,their prices are going up,but i liked that they were local to me(I think they are in Biggar),family run,and the cattle were grass fed and free to roam,not brought up in concrete barns...I have a daily battle with my conscience and need to feed my family,so i compromise as best i can, but im definately interested in the Veggies,will check it out, I work almost every 2nd Sunday...do you have to get there early for the fruit n Veg etc?..must admit ,so far im realy happy with my Veg/fruit delivery from https://www.thelittlevegco.com been using them since meeting at the Good Food show at the SECC in October, £20 sounds a lot,but i feel it is good value for money and the basket thingy is full to overflowing,always seems fresher than supermarkets too,ive also been buying the 12.5Kg sack of potatoes from Morrisons,they've been on special offer at only £3.50 for a while now(think they are normaly £4.85),never had a bad tattie yet,and all different sizes in there too,some great baking tatties.
im due a little veg co. delivery today,looking forward to it as my Meat Free Monday cookbook arrived when i was at work yesterday, so gonna do some meal planning combining the 2.
PS,..Is Blochairn where the "new" Fruit market is?...is it only a Sunday that the public are allowed in to buy Fruit n Veg?,thanks.

Pee

I was in a Tesco Express the other night and the aternative for a treat was a small punnet of apricots that would be a good sized snack for two people for £1.60 (reduced from quite a lot more, maybe £2.60) and a big bar of Aero mint chocolate, which again would be a large snack for two people but which was reduced to 80p. I bought the apricots - and admittedly there may have been apples there cheaper, but I'm not sure I could choose an apple over an Areo..

The apricots were really nice and much better for us, but the chocolate was cheaper...

Pee

terra_ferma wrote: »

Without foreign imports there would be very little left to eat...
most food was imported to Britain at some point, it was interesting to watch Jamie Oliver's last tv programme, even the British-est of British dishes had some foreign influence

Much more so that I expected. I mean I knew that lasagne wasn't British - which is honestly one up on some people I know - but it never occurred to me that fish and chips might not be!