BBC Breakfast interview

Pollycat

I don't resent spending money on food.

We have a varied diet and varied menus.
I do buy sensibly e.g. buy large joints of beef & pork and cut them up myself, buy reduced veg for soups, batch cook etc and we hardly ever buy processed foods.
We eat very well and enjoy what we eat so nothing for me to resent.

Caterina

I think that we have come to expect super cheap food because of the way it is now reared (animal) and grown. If we remove food from its modern industrial factory farming context and return to a more natural way of rearing and growing, food would have to be seen in a different context and its monetary value appreciated.

For example, if dairy farmers were paid a fair price and didn't have to exploit the cows to their limit, as it happens now, it would result in better animal welfare, reasonable standard of living for the producers, better quality milk and dairy, but consequently a higher price on milk.

This goes with all areas of food production.

If you think, in the recent past, up to after WW2, housing was much cheaper and wages fairer (and a better welfare system in place for the poorest) and food was more expensive. Now food has been cheapened and it has lost its value but greedy landlords and an unfair welfare system have impoverished people to the point that many are forced to buy the cheapest of food, which is often less nutritious because of the way it has been produced.

It's a vicious circle.

Caterina

JackieO LOL you are really a leading light of this OS movement, I know you are so lovely and modest, but you have been such an inspiration for so many on these boards, I am sure that others see you as an icon too!

[Deleted User]

:o:o:o:o:oNow you really have made me blush :o:o:o:o

VfM4meplse

I think she's on R2 this afternoon if you are really interested.

OneLeggedPig

PasturesNew wrote: »

Maybe I should write a book: Own your own house, live alone, don't live in a city .... and still cover everything on a single person's JSA of £72/week.

Having said that .... who would actually KNOW ... if I were really eating out lots of times and being fed at friends? It'd be easy to show a cheese sandwich "Poor me, this is lunch today" when in fact I was off down the all you can eat carvery with £5 in my hand ... before stopping off at a friend's house to use their pool for the afternoon??

"I went and watched while friends ate chicken and I drank water...." or "... and they promised not to grass me up as they paid and I tucked in"

Nobody is actually in a position to really know what goes on.

I'd give it a read.

suki1964

PasturesNew wrote: »

I skimp on food so I can smoke rollies

I wouldn't say I skimped on food to enable us to smoke and drink, but I did spend less on food then we did on the fags each week. :eek::eek::eek:

We both quit this year, I'm 14 days smoke free :T

Plus I started back to work, only 10 hrs ATM ( at NLW) but the hours increase from valentines

So now I'm swamped in disposable income, and I have zero intention of frittering it away lol

Seriously I was in town for the dentist last week and thought I'd treat myself to a coffee. Must be a year since I walked into a coffee shop. I didn't actually enjoy it as much as I thought I was going too and can't see me doing it again in a hurry

As for the food shop, well it was BIG shop week, a trip to tesco to get the bits and bobs that lidl don't sell and I was beginning to run low on, grand total of £48 ( including cat food and toiletries )

Seems I have forgotten how to waste money (now we quit smoking ):rotfl:

I wish I could spend more now that I feel we can afford it but our taste buds have changed considerably since I've been scratch cooking. We really don't like ready meals or takeaways any more. Whenever we give in and 'treat' ourselves we are disappointed or suffer heartburn or die of thirst.

So maybe doing a year will lead to a lifestyle change for some ?

Caterina

Suki funny you should say about how forgetting how to waste money, I feel like this too! Once started on this OS malarkey it is really difficult to switch off and every potential expense is weighed with a critical eye.

I blame Martin and the question he taught us MSEers :do you need it? Can you afford it?

It becomes such an ingrained lifestyle that I find it difficult to give myself more than the very occasional treat. Also having committed to buy nothing new (unless impossible to find it second hand AND desperately needed) and no clothes, I wander through shopping centres with zero desire for the goods on display.

The only treats I give DH and myself are occasional cinema (and this is with Meerkat two for one or even freebie tickets) and very occasional meals out, like tomorrow meeting our DS we are treating him to a nice pizza in a very authentic Italian pizzeria.

Whatever spare money we have goes into travelling, because I don't fly (for fear) and he doesn't either (for environmental reasons), going anywhere is quite costly, especially when we visit my family in Italy, so that's always a very costly journey. And stuff that gives a return, like I am paying for reformer Pilates classes to get as fit as I can before an operation, and he pays for his beloved martial art.

Other than that we really spend minimally.

VfM4meplse

Caterina wrote: »

Suki funny you should say about how forgetting how to waste money, I feel like this too! Once started on this OS malarkey it is really difficult to switch off and every potential expense is weighed with a critical eye.

I blame Martin and the question he taught us MSEers :do you need it? Can you afford it?

It becomes such an ingrained lifestyle that I find it difficult to give myself more than the very occasional treat. Also having committed to buy nothing new (unless impossible to find it second hand AND desperately needed) and no clothes, I wander through shopping centres with zero desire for the goods on display.

The only treats I give DH and myself are occasional cinema (and this is with Meerkat two for one or even freebie tickets) and very occasional meals out, like tomorrow meeting our DS we are treating him to a nice pizza in a very authentic Italian pizzeria.

Whatever spare money we have goes into travelling, because I don't fly (for fear) and he doesn't either (for environmental reasons), going anywhere is quite costly, especially when we visit my family in Italy, so that's always a very costly journey. And stuff that gives a return, like I am paying for reformer Pilates classes to get as fit as I can before an operation, and he pays for his beloved martial art.

Other than that we really spend minimally.

I finally started tracking my everyday voluntary expenditure this month, and it's been low (less than £30 on food so far but I plan to do a big shop on Saturday). Mind you, its been a miserable month.

I'm surprised how much I've spent in stuff for other people though given there have been no actual occasions. Overall, 25 days in but still less that £80.

Nonnadiluca

It's a complicated thing, our personal take on what's worth spending on and what isn't. For years OH and I earned less than the average wage for one person between us but still went on holiday twice a year and ate decent food, we just didn't have a lot of things that other people thought were essentials. The fact that we are still here kind of proves that they weren't actually essentials!
I have made a list this year of everything that I think we will need to buy, other than the obvious food etc, so that I can get it when there's a good deal to be had. The list has seven items on it at the moment, and I hope it doesn't grow too much.
I agree that there's probably not much to be learned from this lady's experiment, but it might make some people think about what they are spending.