Feeling Worried

CCW007

I would second the recommendation to look into Olio - if you have someone local to you who collects you will almost certainly be able to get bread / baked goods (as there is often so much it's hard to give it all away) and sometimes fruit and veg. 

If the collections are in the evening and you are prepared to collect late on then you may be able to pick up Use By items which can be frozen.

littlemoney

maisie_cat said:

As meat is the expensive item I tend to batch cook a 4 portion meal into a 6 or 8 adding chickpeas (we eats lots of these) as well as other beans and pulses. We eat lots of one pot pressure cooker meals so many them go further is easy.
We currently have squash from the garden and I'm adding them as well to add bulk and to make meat free versions of meals. 
Prices have increased for some things, but not so much the basics I've noticed.

Can you share your pressure cooker recipes please.  I think I need to make better use of my old pressure cooker.

Effician

You could check out the Instant pot recipies, stacks of em all over the internet , just modify the times for a proper pressure cooker.

Yes i did have an instant pot but just too slow & lots of functions that i didn't need or use,  but it does have a big following & loads of ideas for meals.

trailingspouse

Don't reduce the amount of fruit you buy!!

Most of us can probably reduce the amount of meat we eat. I've cut down the amount of red meat in particular - so for example the quantity of meat that I would have used for one spag bol now makes two (loads of veggies -  onions, peppers, aubergine, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes, grated carrot, make up the difference). No-one's complained.

Also, keep an eye on what you're throwing away - if you find you're throwing the same things out every week, stop buying them.

Effician

As a meat eater i'll add another vote for vegging up the spag bols & lasagne,i actually prefer it ,I'll also add veg heavy curry & stir fry to the list.

All tasty, cheap & filling meals.

joedenise

I made a very veg heavy keema curry last night with the last of a bag of mince (think there was about 50g left!) but there was enough curry for 3 good portions but not quite enough for 4.  The LO portion I'm having for my lunch today either with a jacket or with some couscous (can't be bothered to cook rice!).  I added a couple of courgettes, a couple of carrots and some chopped tomatoes as well as the usual onion, garlic, ginger & chillies.  As the veg needed using up anyway I got an extra meal which I hadn't expected to get.

To reduce the cost of beans and pulses try cooking dried ones yourself.  These can be cooked very quickly in a pressure cooker but take a long time if you have to cook them in a pan on the hob.  They also freeze well so I cook a whole bag of, say, chickpeas in the pressure cooker and then bag up in useable amounts and freeze.  You just have to plan ahead so that you remember to soak the pulses overnight and cook the next day.  The same when it comes to using them get them out the day before to defrost.

Apintplease

Im with the OP, the food bill is getting seriously out of hand

Theres some around here who know me from my long time posting here, and I too would be able to bring the shopping bill down

But now Im at the extremes and am finding it tight 

Even Lidl, its now costing up to £40 a week for what would have come in at around £20 pre pandemic, then I have the Tesco shop to get what cant be got in Lidl and tescos prices are scary

We have been doubly hit here - NI protocol and the pandemic and its getting hard to get a shop in even 2 shops
( its so bad here that Sainsburys have made a deal with Spar and now stock spar labels to hide some of the empty shelves 

Todays chicken cost me £8, not huge and I didn't ask about the welfare so probably a caged hen, whereas a year ago it would have been less then a fiver

We are eating less meat, dairy etc because Im struggling to make my wages stretched . The only way we are keeping afloat is to do veggie a few night a week but where as Im happy to eat a bowl of pasta with olive oil and a sprinkle of cheese , Mr S nor Older S are prepared to even try them

Kaylataste

I’m trying to buy any fruit and vegetables at Clubcard prices so I can make some prepared dinners to freeze in time for flu season. I noticed there’s at least 10-15p on the top of most products at the moment. I thought I would treat my little nephew to some coco pops but a teeny box was £3.00.I was shocked.

Auntycaz

Totally agree about the prices. If it was just one or two items it wouldn't be so bad you could choose an alternative but it's everything especially fresh produce. White cabbage in lidl went from 49p to 69p in one week.

Poppy1984

I'm totally with you, the food prices have shot up! Things I'm doing to try and stretch my money further, I only buy meat, chicken and fish when it's reduced to 30% off, Aldi usually starts to reduce things from about 6pm look out for the red stickers, I buy whatever's on 30% off (the very odd occasion I've been lucky and found 75% off but that doesn't happen very often) the 30% off usually bad next days use by date on and the 75% is that days use by date. I freeze the lot. Then I have a list on the side of my freezer of what's in there and meal plan around that. 

I have just started using the olio app too, it's fab! I've picked up bread and some veg and it's all been really fresh and great, it's usually got that days use by on but I've managed to stretch it by keeping and eye on it and also freeze as much as I can ( really need a bigger freezer lol) 

Poppy