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

basketcase

Happy_Sloth said:

Slinky said:

Seeing the coverage of this on the lunchtime news, they interviewed a lady who was unhappy about the 16p increase in the price of beans. Not overly sympathetic when I'm looking in her cupboard at a tin of Heinz beans, in front of a tin of Napolina tomatoes.  My OH used to eat branded goods a lot when we first met. He's now eating Tesco reduced sugar beans and 33p tins of tomatoes. If you move down a brand at a time you can retune your taste buds. I've never been keen on Heinz beans anyway - too much sauce, not enough beans. I was brought up on supermarket own brands.

That's the thing,  it's easy for people used to branded things to downgrade, but what do those living hand to mouth already do? 

if you already can't afford branded, then suddenly can't afford the cheap stuff either you are in real trouble,  

Exactly.  Especially when the value ranges seem to be disappearing altogether.

@slinky

On the odd occasion we had beans it was Crosse & Blackwell for us for the same reason - too much sauce, not enough beans!  My mum used to add a bit of water to the beans too and we were given bread to "mop up the juice" .  I say "we", but tomatoes make me ill, so I never had any!

Slinky

basketcase said:

Happy_Sloth said:

Slinky said:

Seeing the coverage of this on the lunchtime news, they interviewed a lady who was unhappy about the 16p increase in the price of beans. Not overly sympathetic when I'm looking in her cupboard at a tin of Heinz beans, in front of a tin of Napolina tomatoes.  My OH used to eat branded goods a lot when we first met. He's now eating Tesco reduced sugar beans and 33p tins of tomatoes. If you move down a brand at a time you can retune your taste buds. I've never been keen on Heinz beans anyway - too much sauce, not enough beans. I was brought up on supermarket own brands.

That's the thing,  it's easy for people used to branded things to downgrade, but what do those living hand to mouth already do? 

if you already can't afford branded, then suddenly can't afford the cheap stuff either you are in real trouble,  

Exactly.  Especially when the value ranges seem to be disappearing altogether.

@slinky

On the odd occasion we had beans it was Crosse & Blackwell for us for the same reason - too much sauce, not enough beans!  My mum used to add a bit of water to the beans too and we were given bread to "mop up the juice" .  I say "we", but tomatoes make me ill, so I never had any!

Poor you, I love tomatoes, so many of our dishes contain tomatoes in some guise.

joedenise

If you haven't tried Too Good To Go Magic Bags it's worth a go.

We got 2 bags yesterday from different Morries branches and my fridge is absolutely rammed with veg and the fruit bowl is over flowing!  Each bag was £3.09 so definitely worthwhile to help stretch the budget.

I've seen a lot about Olio on some of the threads but unfortunately there's nothing near me otherwise I'd try that too.

Wicked_Lady

We have several Olio food waste heroes here, who post food for free on the App.

The trouble is they are mainly late evening, as the stores are checking stock about to go out of date and they get snapped up very quickly. Especially anything from Pr*t!

basketcase

Slinky said:

basketcase said:

Happy_Sloth said:

Slinky said:

Seeing the coverage of this on the lunchtime news, they interviewed a lady who was unhappy about the 16p increase in the price of beans. Not overly sympathetic when I'm looking in her cupboard at a tin of Heinz beans, in front of a tin of Napolina tomatoes.  My OH used to eat branded goods a lot when we first met. He's now eating Tesco reduced sugar beans and 33p tins of tomatoes. If you move down a brand at a time you can retune your taste buds. I've never been keen on Heinz beans anyway - too much sauce, not enough beans. I was brought up on supermarket own brands.

That's the thing,  it's easy for people used to branded things to downgrade, but what do those living hand to mouth already do? 

if you already can't afford branded, then suddenly can't afford the cheap stuff either you are in real trouble,  

Exactly.  Especially when the value ranges seem to be disappearing altogether.

@slinky

On the odd occasion we had beans it was Crosse & Blackwell for us for the same reason - too much sauce, not enough beans!  My mum used to add a bit of water to the beans too and we were given bread to "mop up the juice" .  I say "we", but tomatoes make me ill, so I never had any!

Poor you, I love tomatoes, so many of our dishes contain tomatoes in some guise.

Tell me about it!

I think I may start a thread asking for things I could use to substitute in all the Slimming World/budget-friendly recipes.  "Just add tomatoes to bulk it out/instead of [more fattening ingredient]" isn't really a possibility.  Bit of a pain...*sigh*

Rosa_Damascena

joedenise said:

If you haven't tried Too Good To Go Magic Bags it's worth a go.

We got 2 bags yesterday from different Morries branches and my fridge is absolutely rammed with veg and the fruit bowl is over flowing!  Each bag was £3.09 so definitely worthwhile to help stretch the budget.

I've seen a lot about Olio on some of the threads but unfortunately there's nothing near me otherwise I'd try that too.

That's a good deal but our local Morrisons doesn't participate. I won't be using the app again any time in a hurry as its a treat and not an essential.

joedenise

Rosa_Damascena said:

joedenise said:

If you haven't tried Too Good To Go Magic Bags it's worth a go.

We got 2 bags yesterday from different Morries branches and my fridge is absolutely rammed with veg and the fruit bowl is over flowing!  Each bag was £3.09 so definitely worthwhile to help stretch the budget.

I've seen a lot about Olio on some of the threads but unfortunately there's nothing near me otherwise I'd try that too.

That's a good deal but our local Morrisons doesn't participate. I won't be using the app again any time in a hurry as its a treat and not an essential.

Ours didn't used to do it but started about 6 months ago.  I think it's down to the individual managers.  I don't think it's a treat as it contains food, mainly fruit and veg and sometimes bread or rolls, which is going out of date and needs using up.  I find it helps stretch my grocery budget.  The amount of food I got would definitely have cost me a lot more than the £6 odd I paid.

OrkneyStar

EssexHebridean said:

The suggestion that people should shop around and buy everything from where it's cheapest assumes that people have the time available to do that - again it's easy to forget that this level of time is, in itself, a privilege. 

Essex Hebridean I agree with you on that point. It also assumes that everyone has access to a range of supermarkets - I love where I live (beautiful island), but one of the downsides is that we don't have the same variety of stores to choose from.

cornishchick

EssexHebridean said:

Floss said:

TheAble said:

Wraithlady said:

I think she was more highlighting to make her point - pasta is, after all, a basic foodstuff.

Yes, you can get 20p pasta - 

It's 70p at Asda, specifically. Tesco and Sainsbury's still sell it for 20p. And they still sell 45p rice, and baked beans at £1 for four cans. 

I just thought the story was a bit sensationalist. You're not forced to buy it at one particular supermarket. And ok - you may not have transport, but Tesco will still deliver to you for £3, which isn't bad when weighed up against the cost of petrol and running a car.

Actually Sainsbury's cheapest is fusilli at  58p a kg, Tesco is 29p for 500g for the same shape. So not 20p any more, but a 45% increase.

I bought a packet of shortbread biscuits in Lidl last night that used to be under a £1, but are now £1.09 so there's a 10% increase.

Tesco's 500g bags of pasta shapes haven't ever been 20p as far as I can recall - it's the spaghetti that is - and that has been at the same price for years - at least 7 of them I'm guessing, probably more. 

I do get the point that was being made about the Jack Monroe article although I don't think I would have used "sensationalist" as the word to describe it - "selective" perhaps. It was a really important point that was made though - that the "inflationary" rises that get reported on don't tell the full picture - and it was certainly important that she called out Asda on their stealth removal of the budget lines from the shelves. 

The suggestion that people should shop around and buy everything from where it's cheapest assumes that people have the time available to do that - again it's easy to forget that this level of time is, in itself, a privilege. 

Milk is the thing we've really noticed an increase on. 4 pint bottles used to be £1 not so long ago - we're now paying £1.15 - that's a huge increase on an absolute basic. 

just been to admend my online order made just 2 weeks ago. I was informed that 3 items have gone up. 2 of them value items. long life milk has gone up 5 p. cheap washing powder, 5p. and something else 5 p. that's just my basics. ok only 15p this time, but it took me over my £40 budget so had to adjust a bit. 

jennystarpepper

I save foil pie dishes and trays, but only if the food in them comes out clean and does not need a scrub... most of these from YS things bought. We do have a few of the old pub style pie dishes... have you seen how much they cost new or from the bay?

We had leftover food from our Valentine meal, the meat was cut into chunks with the spare sauce added and put  into the foil pie dish with a pastry lid added, 3 individual pies for the freezer.  If it was a family size pie (probably Pyrex dish)  I would have cut up the onion I put up the bottom of the bird I cooked along with any left over carrots, spuds and a handful of peas if needed and added a lid, which can be potato or pastry.  I do this when everything is cold the next day.  I also make an extra individual portion when making Shep. pie, curry or a lasagne... reason being it's a ready meal to be cooked from frozen when you CBA or someone does not like what you have cooked. 

Lard - yes I use it, everything in moderation, good for pastry and cheaper than butter.  Love to see peoples face drop when they ask how I make my pastry, lot's of Lard I say!

My friend had a child with ADHD, he would not accept anything but certain brands, she would wash out cordial / juice bottles and refill with own brand, careful not to damage label's, so juice was a good save for her and cereal when she lifted bag from unbranded to branded box, hides shopping in boot of car until after they are asleep.  Even if you have children who do not have extra needs a little bit of magic / swopping can stop fussy children complaining.

Pet hate - sliced meat in a plastic packet, costs too much and a bunch of other things I do not like.  If meat is on offer or YS or reduced I cook it in the halogen oven in a roasting bag ( the bag saves the juices for stock) or in the slow cooker (only ham / gammon for us as person eating it does not like other meat slow cooked).  I have a meat slicer and husband cuts it up for sandwiches, I have never worked out how much it costs, but what you pay for 4 / 6 slices of plastic ham or other meats against a cooked joint saves lot's, have a think about 3 packets of meat to the cost of a joint of pork shoulder.  Understand it is an outlay for a slicer... but voucher or gift wish list, Mr P loves cutting up the meat, I have a drink and telly for an hour 

Insulate - I've probably said lot's of times, but a thick curtain at the main doors and a sausage or 2 at the bottom really helps.  

On another thread someone posted about making the £££ go further, lot's of suggestions made but a few had been dismissed as 'eating into family time' which I do understand, I made about £3.50 on Qm. in about 20 min today, a couple of these had been 2 / 3 min surveys, also suggested receipt snapping, again dismissed..... what I am getting at is... it's each to their own, but you have to put the effort in, if you don't you are not going to have it handed to you.

My aim is to be MF and save more into pensions... plug the gap to state pension age, with the increases I think I am about £100 down a month, I am trying to do all I can to improve my future.  

I really admire  those who have posted about the struggle to feed children, you are amazing people who carried on against the odds and hardship.