Help us get 5 a day on 10.00 for the week!

Noah'strolly

Don't forget, if you're shopping at tescos, make your budget go further by handing over as many coupons as you can, you don't have to buy the product (as long as its a manufacturer's coupon, not tescos own) and most cashiers will let you use coupons worth at least 10% off your bill, some a lot more.

wendym

My mother regarded any interest in food or cooking as intellectually beneath her, so my love of both originally came from rebellion! Ooh, what a rebel- scary or what!

Bizarrely, we're eating more fruit and 'luxury' veg since getting a Waitrose! It's effectively my corner shop, and when I went in tonight for milk I got 2 paw paws reduced from something silly to 39p each. Their strict dating means that they won't be ripe for days. And for lunch I finished off cherry toms that were reduced a week ago.

I am very envious of people with a decent market - one of my daughters lives in Leicester, with a fab market, and I always come home laden.

pavlovs_dog

lynzpower wrote: »

but it is more expensive

well get me, i must be posh 'cos i use both i can often pick courgettes up for around 50-70p. yes, it is more expensive than a carrot, but you need variety, for both health and to keep your interest

newlywed

halia wrote: »

this is a great site to check the vitamin content of what you are eating
http://www.whfoods.org/foodstoc.php

For example 1 apple has 15% of your daily vit C requirement, 1 Kiwi has 95% of your daily vit C requirement PLUS Potassium, copper, magnisium and vit K.

Thanks, that site is really good. In home economics lessons I never paid too much attention to beans and pulses because I thought I didn't like them :rolleyes: All I knew was they are good for you.

Interesting to find out that lentils and kidney beans (that I have been using much more as they are low fat, cheap and "stretch" the mince out) are a source of iron as I'm not a huge red meat eater (prefer pork and poultry). So thanks, very helpful.


Plus I am tempted by the somewhat strange "breakfast risotto": http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=54. Might be attempting this later in the month

lynzpower

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

well get me, i must be posh 'cos i use both i can often pick courgettes up for around 50-70p. yes, it is more expensive than a carrot, but you need variety, for both health and to keep your interest

Yeah I know

Im actually growing some at the moment, Im not too sure if they will work properly but they look really exciting at the mo :j and the packet of seeds only cost less than one courgette would

I love courgs, but oH "doesnt agree with them" I put them in a lot of meals anyway- but dont buy them if they have come further than spain.

Penelope_Penguin

lynzpower wrote: »

but it is more expensive

................courgette, that is. Lynz - courgette are the easiest thing to grow - much easier than carrot, IME. If you keep a plant watered, you'll be fed up with the things by the end of the summer

Edit - just read the above post :rolleyes: Mine are just starting to crop.

Penny. x

Chipps

At this time of year, make friends with someone who grow courgettes - when they get going, the problem is finding someone who wants them!

Sorry - I typed that before you posted about growing them yourself! You could always let them grow into marrows & serve them stuffed with all sorts of goodies!

And yes, I agree that a lot of the problem with food poverty isn't that healthy food is expensive - usually it is much cheaper to make, but we have a whole generation (yes, I know that is a generalisation, but you probably know what I mean) who have no idea how to make real food. The education system is partly to blame, one of our DDs friends took "food technology" GCSE. He had to design a meal suitable for someone on a cycling holiday to reheat. His poor family had to eat the same meal over & over. What does this teach kids? Food is packaged. If you want to cook it, you work for the food company.
It makes me so cross. You see families buying loads of "mums go to iceland" stuff that is "only" £1 a box or whatever & I know they could make much more for that pound if they knew how or could be bothered. right, that's me off my soapbox now.......

cupid_s

Chipps wrote: »

And yes, I agree that a lot of the problem with food poverty isn't that healthy food is expensive - usually it is much cheaper to make, but we have a whole generation (yes, I know that is a generalisation, but you probably know what I mean) who have no idea how to make real food. The education system is partly to blame, one of our DDs friends took "food technology" GCSE. He had to design a meal suitable for someone on a cycling holiday to reheat. His poor family had to eat the same meal over & over. What does this teach kids? Food is packaged. If you want to cook it, you work for the food company.
It makes me so cross. You see families buying loads of "mums go to iceland" stuff that is "only" £1 a box or whatever & I know they could make much more for that pound if they knew how or could be bothered. right, that's me off my soapbox now.......

In tesco the other day I saw someone buying 5 packs of ready made frozen spag bol. They were on offer for £4. I could have made that from scratch for less than half the price with better quality ingredients than would be in a ready meal.

Someone asked whether you should buy 4 trays of chips for your kids at 50p each or make them share 3 so you can afford some fruit/veg as well. Well if I wanted to do chips I would buy a cheap bag of potatoes, and for 60p (including oil and gas) could make enough for 4 people. Then I'd have £1.40 to buy a cucumber, lettuce and couple of tomatoes. Or some tins of beans and a couple of tins of fruit.

[Deleted User]

sprout seeds. See threads on it if you don`t know how. Full of vitamins and very cheap

here you are

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=134746&highlight=seed+sprouting

Queenie

kdean wrote: »

You were extremely fortunate. ...

I just wanted to show that the people that Halia has described do exist and you can be sure that my family is not the only one, and I personally do not take offence at what she has said because it is true for us and has been for as long as I can remember.

Thank you for sharing your experience, kdean. It also makes interesting reading and it's refreshing to see you are determined to break what you describe as a "vicious circle" :T :T :T

I have no doubt, whatsoever, that there are some people who exist such as halia described. The reason I found her comments "patronising" were the sweeping statements within:-

"... one of the big difficulties people in deprived areas have is the cost of adding in the five a day part"

I am one of those "people" halia is speaking of and I don't find it difficult; nor do the people I associate with in real life. I *do* agree *some* people may fit with halia's observations. I also acknowledged that not everyone has the variety of shopping venues available to them - although as I'm in a deprived area that *does* have those facilities, it's fair to say "everyone" in my area has those resources open to them.

I also drew attention to another comment I disagreed with:-

"Yes you can cut the cost by using pulses, dried fruit, cheap canned fruit and forzen veg but its still an 'extra' to your meals."

My own childhood taught me that vegetables were not an "extra" but a staple. Pound for pound (lb for lb) vegetables and pulses are far, far cheaper than meat. So, I was pointing out that when you live on the bread line (or indeed below it on occasion!) you are not turning to vegetables and tinned fruit to fill up the plate alongside meat - you are using vegetables and pulses *instead* of meat. Thus, they are not an 'extra' but a 'staple'.