latest prices increase on food how will it effect your food budgeting ?

kethry

we cope on a very low budget - we live off benefits, incapacity and income support, so this is all gonna hit us hard.. especially given that we're also trying to save for christmas!

fortunately i;ve got a garden, and while i've been growing some things in it over the summer, i'm now thinking of how to maximise it over the winter.. and using the greenhouse as well. It all helps! I've already got leeks, celeriac and a couple of jersey walking stick kale plants (Which grow to 18 feet!) - am thinking about growing onions, carrots, spinach, chard, radishes, beetroot and lettuce - see if i can get some stuff harvested from the tender stuff before the really bad weather hits - and protect the rest (like the onions) via cloches. Also gonna have a shot at growing some stuff in the greenhouse, its a plastic jobbie (but in a sheltered place) so i can't really put any heat in it, but hopefully, unless we have a *really* bad winter, together with some bubble wrap, it'll stave off the worst effects of frost and might even enable me to keep growing stuff.

i mean.. if i can get a decentish carrot harvest, coupled with some coriander grown on the kitchen windowsill and some home made stock.. and i have a basic soup, for free (with onions from the garden too). then there's leek and potato soup.. you get the idea!

i can see allotment requests going through the roof too..

keth
xx

sallyrsm

I went to Asda today - noticed that their butter is up from 53p to 70p (smartprice stuff) in a fortnight and Hovis Granary up to £1.40 from I think £1.20 in the same period. I spent £27 and a fiver of that was vests and pants for the DS. Not bad seeing how I couldn't have got less fruit and veg and still had veg for meals. Living off the storecupboards for a month see how we get on!
I might turn half my conservatory (huge - thanks to the house previous owners) into tomato and herb production for next year... I can grow toms in hanging baskets from the rafters and herbs on the window sills... wish I had a lawn out back for a couple of chooks.. although I've heard they can live happily foraging on bark etc I'd feel guilty like I was "battery- ing" them denying them grass...
Ethics? I can't afford ethics !

sallyrsm

Oh and I know what you mean Garnet_Gem about Lidl... I was never snobby about them having lived in Germany and recognising the brands and stuff but I was amazed when I came to live in Lincoln and one day caught one of the ex partners at my firm in Lidl and she was sooooo embarrassed and making excuses. Lidls rock. They do a sort of smoked gammon joint that is the closest thing I've found to German Kassle about half the price of the equivalent joint at Marks.. it's brill with new potatoes veg and a parsley sauce, or put in lentil soups, or even with chips and egg , a fried rice... whatever !! The people that turn their nose up are mugs in my book.

sallyrsm

Thinking further about price rises... part of my job is to order all the consumables for my firm including tea and coffee and the firm we order from supply all sorts of stuff for pubs and places... we've had an email telling us that the price of all fats will go up about 30% - various reasons... tuna about 30%... that is just what I can remember from the mail despite us not needing to know it because we don't buy much foodstuff...

I think I might buy a big bottle of oil as I never hardly use it... some extra olive oil as I do use that... lard for baking at Christmas... butter right now and freeze it, and if I see tuna and salmon and stuff BOGOF I'll be getting that too....

God it's scary once you sit down and ponder it, isn't it??

MRSMCAWBER

sallysrm

kassler :T .... i love that...but its so difficult to explain it isnt it-smoked, braised pork is the description, but isnt it lovely n moist!!! i got some of the pieces the other day, they were the odd shapes that had been trimmed off of the bigger pieces...1.33euro for 1lb:j , i like to use it in pasta or to make chicken n ham pie..and as its got such a strong flavour you dont need much -:D

Guess i had better get some tuna in too, just in case it goes up here too!!!

Tumbling tom grow well in hanging baskets-my mum does them - although she now has 2 greenhouses -im jealous:rolleyes: .... i was top of the list for an allotment before hubby signed on for another 5 years.. so had got loads of seeds (last year i did so well growing in tubs -my first attempt too:j ).. i have been sat with a couple of allotment/fruit/veg growing books today - i want to sort out how early i can start stuff off for next year - it was to late this year, by the time we had moved..i have all my seeds tucked away, and all the tubs came with me....so im gonna be going crazy next year.... may even dig a chunk of the garden up - just for peas/beans - they grow so much better in the ground...
I think it is something a lot of people are gonna have to go back to doing isnt it...im gonna get my name down again 2 years before hubby is out...they back onto the street that runs across our garden - in the house we have bought :T ..failing that i have told hubby that the garden we have is becoming a veg plot...and he is happy with that as it means no mowing for him :rotfl:

sallyrsm

Mrsmcawber ...

sallyrsm

Oh !!!!!!.. can't even blame the DS for that one...
We lived in Harsewinkel as my Dad was at RAF Gutersloh and our garden was HUGE so Mum grew courgettes and marrows in the bit of garden between us and the house next door.. Kassler is excellent.. when I was earning bundles in the City I found a place in Leadenhall Market sold it for £3 a quarter... and that was in 1989!!!!
God it's good....

Still thinking about chickens. Can you put them in a ferret harness to takethem to a grassy place to grub about ?? two eggs a day would be lovely...

Oh and MRSMCAWBER... is BFBS telly still pants?

MRSMCAWBER

OOOOHHHH yes..bfbs is worse :eek:

You now get a free box....6 whole channels...bfbs1 and 2...music, sky news and 2 sports ..wall to wall pap.... its really is :wall: ... still i guess its free:rotfl: ...would be very upset if we had to pay for a TV leicence !!!

Im sure that i have seen Kassler vaccume packed too...i will check it out and see what shelf life it has....im sure it isnt always in the fridge you see..... will have a peek next time in the supermarket...

lessonlearned

Thanks for all your tips.

Today went to Aldis - hope you find the following helpful.

Continental style butter (Lurpak lookalike) - 69p
They do a spreadable version called Norpak - 80% butter - 65p

Cooked meats, cheeses etc, fruit & veg all still very good prices and excellent quality.

Semi-skimmed milk £1.11/2 litres
Ciabatta take and bake bread - 49p - yummy

Shez

Have been reading this thread with interest.

I too noticed the sudden jump in price, recently in asda they had the 4pnts of milk on offer for 2 for £2 - now they are £1.36 each. Also I usually get the bread on promo "3 for £2" but I noticed they have stopped that now. I bought a loaf in Lidls the other day and it cost me £1.10 for kingsmill 50/50!

when I go this week I will check out the prices for butter etc.