Eat Well for Less...Live on MSE

RedFraggle

I've shaved a lot off our food bills by adopting the things in the programme. I have ditched nearly all brands (coffee is the exception) and we buy a lot of "value" ranges. We try the value option first and if it's awful we work up to supermarket own, brand then premium. The only 2 branded things we've kept are coffee and bizarrely chick peas because all except napolina are like rocks unless you cook forever.
We go across 2 supermarkets (S and T) for the fact that S value mushy peas are superior to T, and their own brand decaf tea is better than T and they do value parmesan blocks. All cleaning stuff is wilco.
I often use recipes from the programme.

VfM4meplse

I’m really unimpressed by this week’s candidate. What a silly woman!

purpleybat

Islandmaid wrote: »

I thought last nights was odd as she admitted to hating shopping, but went shopping upto 3 times a day.... I would have suggested meal planning (which they did) and online shopping.

I am no fan of shopping hence going to aldi once a week, a la supermarket sweep . If I could spend 18k a year on food it would be delivered by Fortnum and Mason :rotfl::rotfl:

i was amazed they didn't mention online shopping.
for years I had agoraphobia and relied on online shopping cos we would've starved. even now I can't cope with going into the HUGE stores. the panic starts the day before and gets steadily worse, sometimes even lasting the day after while I churn the visit over in my mind. I think this is why I like lidl shopping, the stores are a lot smaller. for stuff I can't get there I go to morries with a pal or do an online shop.

celyn90

I also use small trolley - but then I am really short and can't reach into the bottom of the large ones :rotfl::rotfl:

I thought it was odd they didn't suggest online shopping too this week if she hated shopping.

I thought the lady they showed this week was lovely though and just needed a bit of a hand with things. She was really receptive, faced things which she said made her anxious, stepped out of her comfort zone and was so open to the help she was given. I know a lot of people who don't have an easy relationship with food/shopping/cooking for various reasons and it can be very hard to face and break those routines, so I thought she did really really well.

[Deleted User]

In response to all the people saying that they are short and cannot reach the bottom of the large trolleys - well I am tall and I find them too low to bend down all that way to the bottom as it is somewhere near my knees!

I also use just the smaller trolleys.

elsien

Does anyone have the recipe for the lemon and poppy seed muffins they showed recently? All I can remember is that they used oats and yoghurt but I can't find it on their webpage?

Dclutterchique

elsien wrote: »

Does anyone have the recipe for the lemon and poppy seed muffins they showed recently? All I can remember is that they used oats and yoghurt but I can't find it on their webpage?

It's actually on their Facebook page and not their webpage because they were done by Hala El-Shafie (the dietitian) and not by Greg or Chris. Alternatively, pull up the programme on iplayer and get the recipe from there (16.45 mins onwards if you don't want to watch all of it).

MandM90

I'm another who hates shopping - we go to Lidl once a week (or every 10 days if we can manage it). We will eat fragile bits like soft fruit, salad and cauliflower for the first few days, then meals based around root veg, then finally as stocks run low things like lentil and spinach curry, using frozen spinach. It works for us and I'm sure I spend less because we just make do rather than go and buy what we fancy. We both work long hours and have hobbies so I don't know that I'd fit in weekday shops without just coming in and going straight to bed!

My mum, however, shops every other day and gets loads of YS stuff. She lives pretty much on salad and soup from fresh veg and lives alone so she thinks if she doesn't do this it'll just go off. It works for her.