May Grocery Challenge

squeaky

Creativity she sez. It's barely one step up from cutting a picture out of a magazine

Anyway - I shall be saving on cleaning products this month, and my energy bill will be lower (when it comes in) because of using my slow cooker... I'm weaning myself off using warm water for hand-washing and dipping my toothbrush in... to save firing up the boiler... (that's awkward - I'm right handed so when holding my toothbrush the hot tap is the easiest one to get at) breaking my D/W tabs up (with much less mess )...

I'm not sure I can count all this up - I just know I'll be saving and that'll do for me

aliasojo

I hope I'm not going to offend anyone who has posted, but some of the budgets I have read about over the last month or so seem very extreme to me. What's even more concerning (to me at least) is that cleaning stuff seems to be included in the budget, so the allocated amount isn't even all for food.

I agree that we all probably do spend too much money on stuff we don't need and that economising can only be a good thing but I can't see that a diet which has been restricted to the degree that some of the tighter budgets has restricted it to, can be completely healthy.

There was a documentary on TV around a year ago which looked into this kind of thing and it confirmed that (over the long term) poorer families suffered from health related issues more than those who had more to spend on a better diet.

Personally, I know I could and should economise. I spend far too much on our housekeeping per month and I for one would be far healthier if I stopped buying some of the rubbish (crisps, biscuits etc). There's many things I could cut out but I would still need to buy basics like meat, fish, chicken, fruit, veg etc

The problem I have here though, is that quality costs. If you have a very restricted budget then surely quality suffers?

Cheap meat for example has more veined fat and sinew (perhaps amongst other things, lol). You may save money but your arteries wont thank you for it.

How is it possible to eat the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veg a day if you only have a very tight budget? My OH's job is one where he does not have a set lunch hour and he is on the road most of the day. He takes several pieces of fruit with him everyday to keep him going and the cost of this is quite a lot come the end of the week.

I realise there are many people who have no choice and their financial situation means that they do have to be careful. I just worry a little that there may be people reading this type of thread who may treat it as some sort of competition and their only goal is to reduce their financial outlay without considering the long term effects on their health, even although they may be in the peak of health at the moment.

Money saving is a good thing, please just don't take it to the extreme.

Magentasue

I agree with you aliasojo to a point. I'm cutting back partly to save money but also because we were eating too much rubbish. For 6 of us (plus teen stopovers at weekends and more) I spend £350 a month just on food, so about £80 a week. £10 of that is an organic veg box, about £8 is wine and £10 is milk. I reckon I could trim some more off and we would eat just as well but I don't think I could do it on less than £60-£70 a week. Because, for a start the wine would have to go ...

mhoc

Magentasue wrote:

I agree with you aliasojo to a point. I'm cutting back partly to save money but also because we were eating too much rubbish. For 6 of us (plus teen stopovers at weekends and more) I spend £350 a month just on food, so about £80 a week. £10 of that is an organic veg box, about £8 is wine and £10 is milk. I reckon I could trim some more off and we would eat just as well but I don't think I could do it on less than £60-£70 a week. Because, for a start the wine would have to go ...

Yes there are some things that I wont cut back on now. I buy organic milk becuse the cows are fed better so there is more Omega 3 in the milk and the farmers are paid more for organic milk and I also buy organic eggs. So its a trade off, cut out the biscuits buy organic milk and eggs instead.

Mary

crana999

aliasojo,

I have quite a low budget for food but I eat (I think) quite healthily, with loads of fruit and veg (way over 5 a day).

It probably helps that I'm vegetarian so I don't have the costs of meat/fish, and I very rarely buy e.g. Quorn - I tend to use legumes etc. instead.

I don't think I buy any worse quality things than I would otherwise. I buy things like Basics apples, but they're only basics because they're sometimes an odd shape, or not quite evenly coloured, and sometimes I think it's just the "overflow" of when they have had too much of a particular variety, because the variety changes from week to week. I think they are probably about the same as other apples nutritionally (except organic apples maybe), they just aren't as aesthetically pleasing - which I can live with.

If you don't buy things that are too fancy (mangos, okra) and stick to a variety of cheaper, seasonal produce (apples, carrots) it really doesn't have to be expensive. I can get 1 1/2 kg of apples for 62p.. a kilogram of carrots for 54p.. a tin of tomatoes for 17p/18p.

Plus I often get fruit and veg reduced, cheaply... and I don't waste what I do have.. I scrub things rather than peeling where possible..I eat the stems of broccoli..I plan things so nothing gets wasted.

crana999

mhoc wrote:

Yes there are some things that I wont cut back on now. I buy organic milk becuse the cows are fed better so there is more Omega 3 in the milk and the farmers are paid more for organic milk and I also buy organic eggs. So its a trade off, cut out the biscuits buy organic milk and eggs instead.

Mary

I read somewhere that the amount of omega-3 even in organic milks and those special eggs is still so small as to not be really worth the extra cost... but I can't remember where.. if I find it again I'll post it.

aliasojo

crana999 wrote:

I can get 1 1/2 kg of apples for 62p..

:eek: Please send address......OH would like to move in with you!

I plan things so nothing gets wasted.

Scrub that......please just move in with us!


Magentasue: do all you can to keep the wine..........sitting down to a nice cheap carrot stick at the end of a particularly trying day just doesn't cut it!

crana999

Eh, they're from Sainsburys Basics range! (I only have a Sainsburys Central in walking distance). Usually works out cheaper than the market. I quite like being "made" to try different varieties all the time, too, although I never know what they are called. They do Basics Pears, which are usually OK too, just perpetually out of stock. I can only rely on being able to get such outrageous things as those apples, tinned tomatoes, OJ etc when I go at 8am on a Monday...

It's much, much, much easier to plan things when you live on your own and don't mind trying odd combinations of things.

Today I tried cooking broccoli stem as a vegetable on its own. It was surprisingly good. I boiled it with some potato and had it in a salad I would definitely have it again!

aliasojo

I do think that it's cheaper and probably easier to feed one than more than one. Not just because of meal ingredients or portion size but also because of individual tastes etc.

I also think that foodstuffs generally are cheaper down south than they are in the Scottish Highlands. We pay an added premium to take into account the cost of transporting the goods to the stores here, so I'm told.

Our main stores here are Tesco, Somerfield and Morrisons. I would be delighted if I got apples at the price you paid.

My family (of 5) would wither and die though if I tried to cut back to some of the budgets mentioned earlier.

crana999

It is, but on the downside, if you buy something like a loaf of bread (They don't sell the half-loves any cheaper than the full ones) or even just, say, an average-sized cauli, you have to eat it over and over again until you finish it. Bread is one of the few things I sometimes waste, because I just can't eat a loaf fast enough!

Tesco have on their website a Value Bag of red apples at 62p with about 10 a bag, which is about the same as the ones I get...maybe you could ask them to consider stocking them in your Tesco? (Even with a premium for being in the Highlands, they'd probably still be cheap)

Sainsburys is, in general, awful though. I would much rather have Tesco, Asda, or Morrisons any day. We have a Tesco and Asda here, but they're out of town, and a long way to walk to (possible, but very tiring, not good for my HMS, and not very efficient use of time). I buy so few groceries a week (because I stock up at the start of terms) that paying bus fare would wipe out any savings I'd make

I really wish my college would make cooking a bit easier. My life would be vastly easier if I had a freezer (even a freezer compartment in the fridge would be nice!), an oven or grill, and was allowed to fry things!