Ethical food on a budget? 31 December 2012 at 4:31PM in Debt-free wannabe 3 replies 542 views

Ihatethemoneypit

Hi not sure if this is the right place to post so please feel free to move it as you feel fit!

I am trying to find ways to cut our food spend. I cannot eat gluten/wheat and we only buy free range organic grass fed or line caught fish for ethical reasons.

I have an allotment which I am hoping will provide us with most of our veg but if last year is anything to go we wont have a lot.

Does anyone have ant hints or tips/

Thanks x

StressedSteph

Are you allowed to keep Chickens on your veg plot?

I know some are allowed. If so you could rear hens for eggs and and surpluss cockerels could be for the table.

We are lucky enough to have a few acres where we raise a small number of pigs, lambs & chickens for the table.

I wonder if you live near the countryside, how much it would cost to rent a small patch of land so you could do the same.

We then barter excess pork and lamb for other things we can't yet grow, like beef etc.

If all of this is not possible, you will probably have to do what we used to do before we got the land and buy our meat from a decent butchers but it only used to be the cheap cuts, like liver, mince etc.

We hardly ever had chicken as the Free Range organic small birds were £13 from the butcher :eek:.

This is what it always used to be like years ago. People never used to eat the huge quantities of meat that we eat nowadays. Chicken was a real treat.

Sometimes it is cheap to buy bulk of bread flour and other store cupboard items. Would that help save money in the long run?

Good luck xxx

carrielovesfanta

Hi OP,

Depending on your food budget I think you definitely can do this quite cheaply.

We eat free range chicken and pork, free range eggs, pole and line caught tuna, fair trade coffee and sugar and get organic veg courtesy of a veg box. I don't buy all organic stuff though and when I am debt free, I might switch to buying more. Only you can decide where you draw the line. My food budget is £120 per month for two adults (including household cleaning products, toiletries etc).

I tried to grow some veg this year (first time I've had a garden) but it all got eaten by slugs/rained out! :eek:

To do this cheaply, you need to be prepared to use meat as an ingredient, not the main event and to eat quite a lot of vegetarian meals. I often bulk out meat with beans or pulses (all good low fat sources of protein). As an example, I make bolognase sauce with approx 150g mince and 100g orange lentils. This will serve 4 as long as they aren't all 6ft 6 burly men

Less expensive cuts of meat or strongly flavoured meats are also your friend. Also, scour the supermarket for reduced items.

There are probably lots of thread on the old style board that may help. It all comes down to being imaginative. Some of the concoctions I have made have scared OH a lot :rotfl:

Hope this was helpful and hopefully some more people will be along to inspire you

Ihatethemoneypit

Thank you both. I am not allowed to keep chickens on my side of the allotment but I am very lucky that the gardeners on the other side who do have chickens sell us their eggs really cheaply

I managed to grow some tomatoes that refused to go red (used in chutney in the end!!) and everything else was either eaten by slugs or drowned so I don't think you were alone Carrie!

I do tend to eat a lot of veggie food OH is not so fussed though we have an amazing local butcher who is great but has limited opening hours so I tend to either use super markets or the more expensive butcher with longer hours. Might just bulk buy and freeze....

I am going to bake/cook a lot more so I am hoping that will help too! I am hoping to try and get to some local farmer markets too.