"Eat Well For Less?" - thoughts?

Pollycat

PasturesNew wrote: »

After years without a freezer, I bought one earlier in the month. Leading up to that point I had visions of hitting the freezer sections in supermarkets and doing a trip to Iceland.

Then it arrived - and I twigged..... why would I fill a freezer full of food that I'd then not fancy/remember I had/get round to eating.

I'd be the first one to stand up and admit I'm anal but I keep a list of what's in my freezer, when it went in & weight.
I have a separate list for raw foods (mince, sausages etc) and cooked meals (bol, chilli, saus casserole etc) and am meticulous (some may say anal :rotfl:) about crossing off stuff used and adding new stuff on. I couldn't cope if I didn't have that list.

I sit down with my list every few weeks and use it to make my menus up - and ensure that I'm rotating my stock.

It saves me money because instead of chucking a 500gm pack of mince in, I'll buy multiple packs, rebag it into 3/4lb which will do for shepherds pie/bol & 1/2 lb for burgers and the odd 1lb for moussaka/lasagne which will make 4 portions.

Same with Tesco Finest sausages (usually in packs of 6).
I'll buy 2 packs, open freeze them and use 2 each for a meal.
That way I get 3 meals (for 2 people) instead of 2 meals.

I use my freezer as a money-saving tool as well as for convenience.

And it's probably the one thing that I'd find hard to do without.

Bobarella

See now I'm learning. Why can't you have a show instead? ?

OurLass

Only really positive thing I can say about the programme........
The kids were lovely!!!

Pollycat. You're the epitome of MSE! No wonder you've got medals!
Your methods are mine in theory.......In practice however,that's another story!!!

THIRZAH

I'd certainly hate to be without my stock of food. It's been great the past few days saving me having to walk down a steep hill in the snow to the shops.I make sure that I always have spares of the "essentials"-tea, coffee, flour, soap powder , cheese, pasta etc.

The woman in the programme didn't seem to have an organised stockpile-she just bought things, put them away and then went out and bought more of the same as she seemed to have forgotten what she did have in.

I don't think there's anything wrong with stocking up on things you use when they are on offer. We like Kenco coffee so when it's on offer I'll buy several jars which saves about £2 a jar. Some things like Philadelphia I never buy unless they are on offer.

[Deleted User]

THIRZAH we are kindred spirits I too buy Philly when on offer as its usually got a pretty long date on as well.I am down to my last tub bought before Christmas and its dated 17/2/2015.I managed to get three at a quid a box.I don't eat bread only crackers and use it instead of butter.I only get unsalted butter for shortbread and use Stork sof marg for baking:)

I too am a bit anal as all my cupboards have a printed up list blu-tacked to the inside with what's in there on it and as its used I just cross it off.

My freezer also has a list typed up and adjusted as used but that is 'magnetted' to the outside of the door.Its easy to see whats 'lurking' then in the depths of the freezer and nothing gets lost :)

The odd bit sometimes gets overlooked ,but not often.
I have a square lock'n'lock box with any sauce mixs I have spotted ,normally reduced and then they are easy to get to rather than cluttering up my cupboards .

I regularly 'stocktake' my supplies and update them as required.To me running my kitchen is no different to running a business.My income for food monthly is adhered to, and once its gone thats it until the first of the following month.

Its rare I have run out though today I have 56p left in my food purse to go into the 'holiday tin fund' This pays for ice cream and treats for my grandchildren whom I holiday with every August.It's also my road-kill tin with anything found in my travels on the pavement Last year we had almost £80 odd in the tin collected from both my left over cash from my food purse and road-kill :):)

My food purse it a seperate purse from my 'everyday expences' one and is only used to buy food with.

I normally keep around £20.00 in my normal purse, and often have rarely touched that through the month so it just gets topped up at the end of the month back to £20.00.

This coming month I only need around £7.00 to top it up with tomorrow
With the rest of my cash, after all the direct debits and standing orders are covered in my current account the residue is transferred to a high interest savings account

I never leave 'dead cash' in my current account as it earns nothing.The present rate of interest is pretty low at the moment but its better than nothing at all.
Its sounds as though I am a bit of a scrooge but really its just using cash from my income (pension etc) to its best advantage

I do have a credit card which I use instead of a debit card and get 'cash-back' from it every January.This I use to treat myself to as its 'happy cash' earned from my own money :):)

I normally buy my month's diesel with my credit card and pay it off before its due every month.As I say running a kitchen or even your own finances can easily be thought of as running a business.

The couples disposable income must be quite a bit more than mine I would imagine, and I'm sure if they changed their spending habits they would probably be able to fund their extention in a short time.

It will be interesting to see how the programme developes I do hope its not just a 'Look-at-me-I'm- a clever-clogs' for Mr Wallace.

I too thought that the OJ part was informative.Can't say about the bread as I no longer eat the stuff,did help me lose just under 2 stone by giving it up though :):)
Hopefully there will be more useful bits of information in the coming weeks .
JackieO xx

Aril

I thought it was a useful starting point if you're a complete beginner with lots of ideas and thoughts you can carry forward and develop. It's easy when you're used to budgeting and meal planning, stockpiling etc to forget that these skills are learnt over time. Baby steps and all that.
Arilx

newroadahead

I also watched the programme with interest and like others was surprised/pleased about the OJ.

Me and OH both work, he on shifts and I would be the first to admit not everything I cook is from scratch but even with the odd bottle of wine and beers for OH our spend is never as high as theirs (pro rated between 2)

I discussed the episode with some of my team at work (boys and girls, single and married) and even they thought the amount was high and a few of them live and shop in London!!

I agree with Jackie that if they changed some of their habits they would quickly save for the mortgage.

Like OP on here I was quite surprised to see the boys eating 4 sausages with potatoes and veg. I am a fairly big lady and think I would struggle with that size portion, but have to agree they were very good and ate what was put in front of them.

I will watch another episode just to see if they have anymore ideas, the trailer for next week seemed to show them buying "branded" pizzas, I don't eat cheese or pizza so will be interested to see what else will be in the trolley!!!

NRA

candygirl

I just think it's a poor imitation, of Martin's downsize challenge programme.However they've added the smug celeb GW, to make it seem like a different idea:cool:

SailorSam

Pollycat wrote: »

Me too.


My shopping list often looks like this:
chopped toms IOO
plum toms IOO
Tuna IOO

Nothing wrong with that Polly, but just remember if i'm behind you at the checkout with my box of weetabix and bag of onions ............. It's nice to be nice.

pavlovs_dog

IMHO I think a lot of you have missed the point a bit. The frugal habits that are the norm amongst established posters of this community are not fully engrained amongst the UK community as a whole. You only have to nose at the contents of other people's trolleys at the supermarket to see that a significant number of people shop in a similar fashion to the family featured on the programme. The main message of the programme was about downshifting brands. That message was communicated successfully via the programme. Many of us who joined this forum started with this very step. Are we that far along the path that we have forgotten how easily we too were once fooled by the marketing machine?

The family WERE encouraged to make use of what they had in (e.g. the meatballs and spaghetti meal, the mother's reference to the fact that she was down to one tin of anchovies). In an age where 'cooking' to many equals taking a box out of a freezer and putting the contents into the oven, would a programme showing how to cook from your stores really be that much more useful to the British public? What percentage of the target audience would have the knowledge, skills and confidence as cooks to substitute the contents of their store cupboards for items featured in any recipes? Many, I suspect, would simply go and buy the items they perceive that they need, when they may well have viable alternatives already within their stores.

The vast majority of us here have already succeeded in cutting our budgets down to our respective perception of 'bare bones'. Some of us are here through choice, some through necessity. Some of us arrived here with the necessary skills ingrained (most of whom I would argue are either of JackieO's generation OR grew up in households where money was in short supply.... in essence, neither group know any difference). Some of us have learnt the skills that allow us to feed our families on tuppence ha'penny and some bellybutton fluff thanks to the wisdom and experience that is shared via these forums. We are at a very different stage to of the journey than the target audience of this programme. They simply are not ready for the extremes that would be required to shave money off of our budgets... those of us who have already downshifted, already buy YS stock, already cook from scratch as far as is practically possible, already shop from our personal stores... I could go on. and if truth be told, how many of us are ready for that next step? I for example could save more if I adopted more of Jack Monroe's recipes. Do I have the time at my disposal for the necessary amount of cooking from scratch? NO! Whilst I think there is a real need for a programme that would teach the basic cookery and budget skills to enable people to eat well on a very restricted budget, that was not the aim of this programme. Does that lessen the need for programming designed to educate people in how to shop better on a budget and reduce food waste? Not at all.