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

Effician

jennystarpepper said:

T3sco have pork shoulder on offer for £2.50 a kilo at the mo. so I sometimes buy an extra joint or 2 for the freezer.

Thanks for the heads up will pick a couple up tomorrow, love it pressure cooked as pulled pork or sliced when cool to add to a stir fry/chow mein etc,  even better with a little collegue discount.

London_1

Reading through the various posts it seems we all have different ways that we are approaching the economic down turn. My self I am at the moment eating my way through my stores, and buying a lot less than I did.

Today I went to the local shopping precinct and met my granddaughter and little great granddaughter we had a coffee that she kindly treated me to, and when she went off to pick up her other daughter from nursery

I thought I'll have a look around the food hall in M&S as its quite a big store. I came out with some bargains that I was pleased with and only spent £4.71, I then went into Sainsbury's and spent another £12.51 so the total was £17.22.  

In M&S the lovely brown bread was 60p a loaf, and as I don't eat a great deal of bread I portion it up into 5 x4 slice portions and they went into the freezer, so 3p a slice  excellent value I thought .T

hey had mango's on offer at 65p each another bargain. I bought a tin of their cream of chicken soup for 50p which I thought was reasonable and a treat for me,and they had also microwave rice in packets for 50p another bargain, bearing in mind I live alone so it will do me at least two meals.

The five bananas were only 49p and sweet potatoes were reduced to 6 for 99p (some will go towards making a sweet potato and chick pea curry as I have some tinned chick peas in my tinned stash and a bag of 1 kilo of small charlotte salad spuds were reduced to 43p so I thought I had a good shop in there .To me to come out spending less than a fiver in M&S food hall is a miracle .:) 

Then on to Sainsburys where their tomatoes are only 69p for 6 better price than Tesco. Also they have price matched quite a bit with Aldi's 8 rashers of smoked back  bacon for 89p, I have some reduced chicken breast in the freezer to use so I'm thinking Hunters chicken one night next week with perhaps some sweet potato wedges, and by the time I came out I had bagged a good few batgains there .

The way I saw it was I was at the centre anyway and it was my first shop of the month, and working out what I have bought I now need no more shopping for at least two weeks more than enough bits to go with stuff at home to make two weeks dinners at least .

Even the breaded haddock was only £2.25 for two good sized bits and the Cumberland sausages with black pepper with 8 to a pack can be tuned into four different meals was only 1.75.

Couple of reduced things as well, and a good altogether shop of £17.22 for two weeks shopping for myself I was quite happy with When I make the sweet potato and chick pea curry I know I will have a couple of spare portions  so another couple of meals for very little.

 I was chatting to the lady on the till and said I have managed to get enough shopping for two weeks for me for under £20 and change left over, she said she had noticed that the days of laden trolleys seem to be over, and people are shopping very differently to how they used to.

Not a bad thing I think, and absolutely nothing will be wasted. 
If you have a family to feed obviously its a different matter, but when its just little old me I'm fairly easy to feed.
The fruit I bought this week was mango and  bananas and I still have 6 gala apples in the fridge and three oranges in the bowl in the conservatory ,apart from the frozen stuff I have in my freezer. .

My veg was just the salad spuds,tomatoes a sweetheart cabbage (Sainsburys on offer at 49p) oh and M&S had huge red peppers for 55p I bought one as I thought I can stuff and roast it for a meal one night

I like it filled with cheese ,mushrooms diced onion and a little garlic and topped off with some made up sage and onion stuffing I cover it over with foil and cook in my remoska until soft, and its so tasty with a small tomato and beetroot salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar. make for a meat-free Monday nights dinner. I do eat meat but not as much as I used to I keep surfing the net for meat free meals and the BBC food website has some really nice ones. 
So my simple cup of coffee with my granddaughter Katie turned into my shopping trip for two weeks groceries I'm fairly pleased with today spends and definitely won't need any more shopping for a good fortnight now. The best bargain I snaffled was the last two small ambrosia chocolate rice pudding that they were selling off at 15p still in date but the assistant said they needed the shelf space for something else  I had one after lunch today when I got home and it was very nice and at thet price who was I to turn my nose up  

More time to go to the local park and see how the baby ducks are getting on in the lake as the weather is supposed to turn a bit warmer..

Today was an eye opener though as the price of a lot of stuff has increased quite a bit .As I now find shopping for food twice a month is actually saving me cash as I don't seem to just wander around chucking things in the trolley anymore I think "what have I got indoors that can go with it to make a meal." the sweet potatoes were definitely a find as only yesterday I had sorted my tinned cupboard out and found a stash of chick peas I had at the back I will probably add some kidney beans to the curry as well as I seem to have a good few of those as well and it all helps to 'bulk' things out a bit.

I'm sure we will all managed to get through the coming months as long as we don't panic ,no one will starve in the UK, you may have shortages, but they you just adjust with other things as I have done. Hopefully a lot of us will be a lot healthier because we will eat a bit better.

Florencrem you don't live in Gillingham do you ? as I know the SA down there do a food wagon every evening for the people down there, Its so sad when you see Mums with small children waiting for it to open so the kids can have a sandwich and a  hot drink.
Everyone thinks the southeast is the land of the lotus eaters but there is quite a bit of food poverty around the Chatham/ Gillingham areas sadly, and also quite a lot of rough sleepers as well. 

I use to voluteer with the homeless a few years ago when I was more mobile and its an eye opener that in a supposed affluent are of Kent there are quite a few, many sadly ex -soldiers from the RE who have their baracks in the town

Well time to scoot of and make some dinner I dug a shepards pie out of the freezer this morning so I shall have that with some of the sweetheart cabbage steamed with a bit of grated cheese on top 

Take care everyone and be safe 

JackieO xx

Wraithlady

If it helps, A$DA have a 2 for £7 offer which includes a pork leg joint that's just under 1kg (950g) - normal price is £4.70 each

Florenceem

London_1 - I am in Thanet. Food bank day is Friday but 3 food parcels were given out today to those who needed help.

C_J

London_1 said:

 I do eat meat but not as much as I used to I keep surfing the net for meat free meals 

I recently discovered the oddbox.co.uk website, and their recipes section has some really lovely vegetarian meal ideas.

jennystarpepper

Have really enjoyed caching up with everyone and the many great posts.

Couple of things I have found / thought about / saved on.

I say No to request's... Yes I am really mean  , but I try to find an alternative to avoid disappointment and teach / learn from things.  Might be repeating myself!  Ok I don't say no always, children / hollow legs usually want the extra treats.

Ice cream / treats  -  Ice cream van at the park , sea side or similar, cost of a 99 with all the extras or a M@gnum against us walking the the nearest freezer shop and buying a box of 6 ice creams, so 2 children get 6 ( maybe not all that day) to share against 1 each and we do a bit of math for free.  If no freezer shop then a Maccy D cornet and a chips to share from the drive through, still cheaper.  

Drinks - bottle of supermarket pop or squash against a Fr00t Shoot or cans when out.  Please note I did not let mine have fizzy until past a certain age, (when they have friends and it becomes unavoidable),  then it is still cheap alternatives as above.

Seaside - might have a picnic but fish and chips is also good, so sometimes we have bought a couple of bags of ships to share between 4, chips shoved in sandwiches... most important it's a treat and children don't feel as if they are missing out.  Apparently I'm the best person to share a bag of chips with as I get the S&V right and don't eat many  .

Number one rule is, don't eat your veg you don't get treats.  

Rosa_Damascena

jennystarpepper said:

Have really enjoyed caching up with everyone and the many great posts.

Couple of things I have found / thought about / saved on.

I say No to request's... Yes I am really mean  , but I try to find an alternative to avoid disappointment and teach / learn from things.  Might be repeating myself!  Ok I don't say no always, children / hollow legs usually want the extra treats.

Ice cream / treats  -  Ice cream van at the park , sea side or similar, cost of a 99 with all the extras or a M@gnum against us walking the the nearest freezer shop and buying a box of 6 ice creams, so 2 children get 6 ( maybe not all that day) to share against 1 each and we do a bit of math for free.  If no freezer shop then a Maccy D cornet and a chips to share from the drive through, still cheaper.  

Drinks - bottle of supermarket pop or squash against a Fr00t Shoot or cans when out.  Please note I did not let mine have fizzy until past a certain age, (when they have friends and it becomes unavoidable),  then it is still cheap alternatives as above.

Seaside - might have a picnic but fish and chips is also good, so sometimes we have bought a couple of bags of ships to share between 4, chips shoved in sandwiches... most important it's a treat and children don't feel as if they are missing out.  Apparently I'm the best person to share a bag of chips with as I get the S&V right and don't eat many  .

Number one rule is, don't eat your veg you don't get treats.  

Much of these rules are no different to what I experienced as a child in the 70s / 80s.

I am going to stick to basics and YS goods now. Life has been difficult of late time-wise but when I do go out for a walk it does wonders for my wellbeing. I can't claim to walk for hours though, a 60 min trot gets me over my 10k and that's enough.

Nargleblast

Right, if Shell ask me to increase my Direct Debit once more they can definitely go and stuff themselves.

Wednesday2000

London_1 said:

sweet potatoes were reduced to 6 for 99p (some will go towards making a sweet potato and chick pea curry 

Ooh, yummy. I love that curry. I might copy you and make that this weekend.:)

tooldle

Rosa_Damascena said:

Shell is creaming it off with a 43% jump in profits to £7.2 billion. If that's not the worked definition of profiteering at the expense of those with little, I don't know what is.

This is only part of the story. Without knowing the percentage reinvestment and indeed what the reinvestment is for, it is impossible to judge. Basically you need a fuller picture. Net zero is a very expensive ask for such companies.