The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Doveling

We've changed to one meat day, two fish, three veggie and pot luck Saturday. No longer have a big roast on Sundays (as just the two of us at the moment) but get decent chops or similar to make a "Sunday dinner". We dropped meat mainly for a healthier diet but I'm finding the cost of veggie meals not much less. Use all the tricks gleaned from here e.g. bulking with lentils etc.

Make my own bread, just use chapati flour (tip from someone on the forums but can't remember who) and it's really nice. We keep a couple of hens for eggs but they aren't in lay at the moment. Mr. D says they should be going in the pot but I couldn't possibly do that. They're my pets!

Coming in at £40.00 week for the food shop and we do eat well on that. That's all meals for the two of us as Mr. D is still working from home. When it's a four week month I spend the spare £40.00  to top up dry and tinned goods. Trying to beat the price hikes but storage becomes an issue.

What really worries me is the cost of energy. Trying to use the slow cooker more and make better use of the oven for batch cooking when it's on.

Direct debits are cut to the bone. Not sure what else we can do 

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
We rarely do a Sunday roast these days tending to have chops or sausages with roasties and veg.
My slow cooker and air frier are my friend. I only use the oven if I’m cooking the whole meal in it. Any leftovers go straight into the freezer or I’ll cook potatoes or veg for two days at a time. Thinking ahead helps.

Price rises are already happening here and not just 5p here and there. The tram has gone up 50p which adds a £1 a day. Where I work ( a pie and cake shop) has changed it’s range because it couldn’t keep its prices low any more, no more two for prices apart from the sausage rolls and some of the cakes)

Si_Clist

Seeing as how we live on my State pension + pension credit, we're definitely not looking forward to the promised energy price rises.  But ... we are blessed with low expectations, no kids to worry about, and no television.  This latter means that we're blissfully ignorant about what we ought to be buying to make us happy.

On the food front, we've always eaten simply, with hardly anything ever on the table that my late granny wouldn't recognise as food.  However, I've noticed that even the price of table salt's on the rise now, and if my preferred brand of coffee gets any dearer I'll have to cut back the number of mugs per day.   

Which is an alarming thought.

But I'm sure I can cope. 

I have a very understanding wife

MingVase

That's funny Si Clist because I read today that salt is one of the things that will go up - because it's so heavy to transport (?). I didn't really pay attention to that but might be true!

Si_Clist

I started our next Tesco online order just over a fortnight ago, and when I updated it last night I noticed that a few items have gone up by 10p, 20p or 30p.  Not that any of this comes as a surprise: we've long felt that the low food prices everybody's got used to can't possibly last.

I wonder when we'll actually see the supermarkets start cutting back on the variety of products they offer.  Can you imagine the trauma when Tarquin and Lulu swan into Waitrose and find that they've discontinued their must-have organic olives stuffed with buckwheat and marigolds and the choice now is simply black, green or do without ...

Nonnadiluca

I think Tarquin and Lulu will be just fine; according to Jack Monroe it's the cheaper value ranges that are rapidly disappearing which will make things much harder for those on a low income.

Suffolksue

was just going to say that !

RAS

Nonnadiluca said:

I think Tarquin and Lulu will be just fine; according to Jack Monroe it's the cheaper value ranges that are rapidly disappearing which will make things much harder for those on a low income.

Very much so, several that I used to buy are either missing or disappear for long stretches. So if I see the tinned peas, I get them for the foodbank because they were AWOL for months. Even biscuits go missing for weeks. And I can't get the coffee I like locally, have to get it from a bigger store when I volunteer.

The other thing, referring back to a conversation here about meat content being below 30%. Spotted new labels on canned meats I had checked previously and the percentage of meat had dropped (35% down to 27% on chilli for example).  I'm not going to buy any tinned meats of that (major) brand again as there are others twice that level at a similar price.

Doveling

I sometimes think I make nicer meals when I'm cupboardly challenged as I have to put more effort in and get inventive.
Presentation is everything. 

It also helps to have a rib-sticky rice pudding for afters

CCW007

I was just coming on to post the link to Jack Monroe's thread on Twitter that I can see several people have mentioned above:

https://twitter.com/BootstrapCook/status/1483778776697909252