It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

NatashaRyan

@Wednesday2000It may sound silly but one thing I've started to do is to look through the cupboards and freezers to think what I'd need to add to turn the things I have into a meal, rather than going to the shops and buying whatever I fancy. For example the other day I discovered a pad thai sauce I'd bought a few months back and forgotten about, along with some noodles, so I only have to spend a pound or two on some fresh vegetables to add to it and I had a filling meal with leftovers. I'm sure this is the default for many people already but I'm really guilty of having cupboards full of ingredients and feeling as though I don't have any 'meals' in, even though I'm a decent and creative cook!

London_1

I had to go to book my eye test this morning in my little local precinct and thought as I was there I would look around the Tesco Metro shop. I spent only £1.00 on a loaf of multiseeded bread, (it had gone up slightly in price )but looking at some of the price rises it seems that virtually everything has risen on price.

Although to be fair they did have some decent items of veg on offer A kilo of carrots at 19p, and packets of three-four leeks at 19p which I though was reasonable, although I didn't buy any as I have sufficient veg indoors

No Lettuce though and very few tomatoes only the ones on the vine in their 'finest range' which obviously were more expensive.But I can easily use tinned tomatoes in cooking for awhile.

My flour and dried good stocks are OK so nothing really needed I came home and portioned up the bread into four portion slices and froze them so nothing needed at all this week.

End of the month on Saturday  and my £60.00 budget for April is at around £56 odd at the moment so not a great deal left over. I had dinner at my youngest daughters yesterday and she had a glut of eggs brought home from  her holiday away so I came home with a box of ten large eggs which will be useful in my cake making this week. 

I must say I'm a pretty good shopper as a rule, and looking at the price rises its just as well. I think things may not be better for awhile as there were quite a few gaps on the shelves, I don't know what the larger stores are like but the Metro seems to be stocking far less lines than usual, especially own brand stuff.

Has anyone else noticed large price increases and bare shelves yet. ?. Our local, to the precinct, Iceland closed last month so another empty shop and less competition for the Metro shop..

Just sticking to absolute necessities at the moment, and shopping from what I have in the cupboards.

So how is everyone else coping ?

JackieO xx

Rosa_Damascena

EssexHebridean said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

otb666 said:

we are on a budget but I am not changing my usage as i have done the sums and can afford 220 which is what we use.  I want to have 2 years of normal usage as just retired Before i go full circle and have to scrape ice from inside my windows like when i was little in the 1970s

I remember those days and don't want to go back there. Maybe we are just too used to having a high standard of living?

I think a lot of people have learned to take for granted the (relatively) affordable energy of years gone by and so their standard of living has increased beyond “decent” and into “luxury” without realising it. Now with the costs increasing that will have to change for a lot of folk - and this in turn means that the planet’s resources will be taking less of a battering too. I’m not thinking about having a home that is “warm enough” or being able to pop the oven on at lunchtime AND tea - more of the folk who have a thermostat set at 22° then sit around in shorts and t-shirts, those who have several showers or baths a day for no better reason than “wanting to” and the ones who routinely put all their worn for one-day-only clothes into the laundry basket every night without establishing whether the outer layers need washing, or not. 

This is so true. I listened to "You and Yours" from my sickbed this lunchtime and yet again am stunned by how privileged the younger generation are. The things they are cutting down on (eg picking just one from 4 different TV packages a month) is laughable. The kind of cutbacks they were making went long ago, eg I have no plans for going abroad when there are serious bills to be paid at home. And then they were worried about the affordability of planning a family: isn't this a debate that most people have had to have? Not so long ago, having children would routinely plunge people back into poverty.

@Wednesday2000 - the big Tesco has lots of YS BUT there is a scrum for them. There is one elderly lady in particular who hovers and elbows everyone else out of the way as soon as the trollies are wheeled out - f&v, chilled and bakery. (I noticed this having been forced to commute out of town over the winter months and would drop by around 7pm on the way home). Otherwise there is an Aldi near Chalkwell Park, and the small Waitrose on London Road may have good offers at the end of the day.

Florenceem

I think that younger folk are so used to dates on food that they don't use their nose and eyes to check if okay to eat. I was told on another thread that people don't give out of date food to food banks - unless they are elderly with bad eyesight and do it by accident - well - we are still getting a lot of ood at my food bank. The rules are that we can't include out of date stuff in a food parcel. We can put a box of ood stuff at the door when food bank is open with a sign on for people to take if they wish.

Datchet

Effician said:

Deleted_User said:

Can anyone offer advice on comfrey plants, and specifically using the leaves to make fertiliser? I want to feed what we grow as organically as possible, not resorting to chemicals.

Wigwam was a success, thank you to you all for the advice xx

Bocking 14 is the variety you want, once the plant is established you can either cut & soak leaves to make a concentrated comfrey tea ,or add leaves to compost pile as a booster or dig leaves into ground around plants .

I picked up some cheap root cuttings late last year so just a beginner myself but the plants are looking healthy now & hoping to start pulling leaves later in the season.

Already doing stinging nettle tea for the garden but it's quite low in potassium & phosphorus hence the comfrey.

Just to add that no matter the variety, they are invasive! So sink a big plastic pot into the ground to stop them spreading.

Woolsery

Datchet said:

Effician said:

Deleted_User said:

Can anyone offer advice on comfrey plants, and specifically using the leaves to make fertiliser? I want to feed what we grow as organically as possible, not resorting to chemicals.

Wigwam was a success, thank you to you all for the advice xx

Bocking 14 is the variety you want, once the plant is established you can either cut & soak leaves to make a concentrated comfrey tea ,or add leaves to compost pile as a booster or dig leaves into ground around plants .

I picked up some cheap root cuttings late last year so just a beginner myself but the plants are looking healthy now & hoping to start pulling leaves later in the season.

Already doing stinging nettle tea for the garden but it's quite low in potassium & phosphorus hence the comfrey.

Just to add that no matter the variety, they are invasive! So sink a big plastic pot into the ground to stop them spreading.

Mine have stayed in place in lines along two field margins for 8+ years. Maybe when the alternative is a field they stay where they're put?

Woolsery

Wednesday2000 said:

I remember having chilblains as a very young child, I'm mid 40s. I don't remember ice on the inside of the windows, but I know my husband does and he was born in 1970.

Ah, chilblains....  I remember them and blame the schools. It wasn't that cold at home, but school buses would dump us at school ridiculously early and no one was allowed inside no matter what the weather, with the exception of really heavy rain. Then they might ring a bell and grudgingly let us inside.

It wasn't so bad when we could make slides and run about, but some mornings the caretaker would put coke ash in likely places and spoil any chance of that.

I still have my first physics book where, for homework, we were asked to design something useful. It's no accident I chose heated gloves and shoes operated from a battery pack inside a satchel. I got 7/10. Someone must've beaten me to it.

Effician

Datchet said:

Just to add that no matter the variety, they are invasive! So sink a big plastic pot into the ground to stop them spreading.

According to the RHS

'Bocking 14'

A clump-forming, deciduous erect perennial with oblong green leaves. Flowers are purple-blue from spring through to summer. This plant is a sterile hybrid, will not self seed and is non-invasive

Rosa_Damascena

All this talk of Bocking...to me its always been a village in North Essex.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

I went shopping in lidl on friday and compared my receipt to one from february. On 10 lines that i could compare the price was now £1.82 more expensive.
Just had my new water bill in and they want to increase our payments from £39 a month to £58. So now we will be looking to cut a lot of water usage as well as gas and electric. 
OH came back from asda with 6 dozen eggs yesterday as they were reduced to 20p a pack so lots of baking and omelettes this week!