Wow..the price of meat!

~Chameleon~

Get friendly with your local gamekeeper. Rabbit, squirrel, venison, wild birds & poultry can be had very cheaply and is extremely tasty. A little goes a long way in a hearty autumnal casserole

WantToBeSE

Thanks for all the advice.

To whoever warned me about giving the cat some gammon- dont worry its only a very rare occurance that i give her any.

I think i will go back to doing what i have been doing before now- buying a whole chicken and using that to last us the week.

Red meat will only be reserved for YS from now on

Tiglath

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I have been taking advantage of the Aldi super six deals and this week I have bought a lot of parsnips, carrots, sweetheart cabbage, new potatoes and onions and they are all prepped and in the freezer. Brussels have gone down to 65p lb so I bought 10lbs and they are in the freezer too.

Do you blanch any of your fresh veg before freezing them?

Butterfly_Brain

Tiglath wrote: »

Do you blanch any of your fresh veg before freezing them?

No I just chop, wash, drain and put into freezer bags
The only veg that I do pre cook is potatoes, par boil, roast in oil, lard, dripping or goose fat with herbs, paprika or S&P (depending on preference) until slightly coloured, open freeze on trays, then pop into bags. When you want to use the potatoes it is just a matter of putting them on to a baking tray (no more oil etc needed) and hheat through for 20-25 minutes until golden lovely and crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle.
I have just made a huge batch of parsnip soup and one of mushroom soup plus some mushroom sauce. I am waiting for them to cool and I will put them into some "store and pour bags" and freeze. Vegetarian meals but lovely when cold. So soup and pudding nights are definitely back on the menu.
If I use meat I use half of what the recipe calls for and bulk out with vegetables and lentils or broth mix and serve with dumplings, cobbler or mash toppings. The family don't really notice (DH and DS are real carnivores)

Going4TheDream

Almo wrote: »

It's a toughie, isn't it? On the one hand it is a difficult time for a huge number of people and lots of people have been finding it tough for a long time. It's easy to see why people are distressed by news of rises to come. On the other hand, if we want to keep jobs in the UK and pay farmers a living wage, it seems that we need to start paying more for food as it does not make economic sense for lots of farmers to keep farming.

I suppose the answer is to try and source produce directly, wherever possible. That should minimise the effect of the price rises somewhat and secure British jobs for the future. If there was a wholesale switch back to buying locally either from farmers directly or independent butchers/bakers/greengrocers I suppose you might see redundancies from the supermarkets, short term, but you'd hope jobs would be created with the independents.

Sorry, went a bit off OT in my ramblings!

Not OTT at all and I agree to a point but am not sure the consumer should pay more in all cases. The thing is years ago when we had more local butchers and greengrocers most of the people working in them supported the local communities they worked in. Likely lived locally and spent locally. They may not have realistically been paid any more than those working in the supermarkets however as butchery was not a particularly well paid job (unless you owned the shop I suppose)

As the likes of the supermarkets lured us in many of us shopped there (everything in one place) and the local shops were struggling and we saw the mass closures not only of shops but things like banks moving out of communities and the start of the faceless corporate companies that supply us today with a lot of what we buy.

The thing for me is that the likes of the supermarkets don't pay the farmers enough, at first they bought several products off of the farmers, then after a year or so said we will only take this one product and the farmers ended up switching to supply one product, perhaps investing money to do so (especially with the likes of vegetables) then the supermarkets said you cant supply anyone else, and then said we will only pay you xyz for it. By this time many farmers had truly put all their eggs in one basket so to speak.

The irony is that the supermarkets COULD pay more to their suppliers but don't, and pass any increases on to the consumer whilst raking in massive (even obscene) profits.

I think it is truly a sign of the times to see the likes of MR T actually see reduced profits for the first time in 20 years as people become more savvy and move away from them.

art_for_arts_sake

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice.

To whoever warned me about giving the cat some gammon- dont worry its only a very rare occurance that i give her any.

No probs, gammon or bacon is an occasional treat for my dog and should be kept that way.

JLS1901

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Get friendly with your local gamekeeper. Rabbit, squirrel, venison, wild birds & poultry can be had very cheaply and is extremely tasty. A little goes a long way in a hearty autumnal casserole

I am very lucky in the fact that my uncle is a keeper and in season I get phesants for nothing, these are mostly the ones that are seen as too 'damaged' to be sold to sell.
He's taught me how to dress and gut them, all done in my kitchen much to my sisters disgust! Tastes fantastic in stew or roast.

Welly x

I_luv_cats

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

You can get a bag of chicken at Tesco at the moment 1kg for £6 as it is BOGOF. Just got 2 breasts, does not seem like a lot in the packet but that should do 3 meals.

I bought some this week. One per day does puss n me, so £6 for 4 days is ok. (cooks very quick n easy on the George Foreman)
Normally I buy the Thighs, 2 big packs for £5 @ Morrisons or Ocado.

In the past I've bought 3 for £10 etc. @ Morrisons / Tesco. (mince/chicken/pork/turkey/salmon/lamb)

Popperwell

I can see that I may have to get my George Forman Grill out:pbut will probably have to put the main oven on to cook the pork loin I got yesterday(half price)but with no instructions I will have to guess how long it will take to cook and what temperature to do it.

I hate the price of meat but you know if I bought under the 3 for £10 idea and bought a few different items in reality I could probably get up to 12 meals out of what I buy and then it won't seem so bad and means they are coming in at around £1 per meal and add a few vegetables that's maybe quite reasonable I suppose. And I don't have to eat meat every day...

I am getting my vitamins, minerals, protein and calories even if I eat less and have smaller portions...but even though I have done the shopping for years when you are alone and your income is limited and you fear for the future, you really do notice how much things cost.

As soon as Aldi's open I'll be in there like a shot!

jeanniebeanie_2

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Get friendly with your local gamekeeper. Rabbit, squirrel, venison, wild birds & poultry can be had very cheaply and is extremely tasty. A little goes a long way in a hearty autumnal casserole

OMG!! I wish I could say I had a local gamekeeper!!! I would feel like I was living in Emmerdale!!!

(Mind you with what's been going on there recently maybe not such an idyllic place to live.....)