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

Spendless

MovingForwards said:

I used to do a roast on a Sunday, I'd just have all the veg and meatless stuffing, with a veg gravy, my then husband would get the meat, roast and a meat gravy. Each time I cooked there'd be a meat or veg version with a side of whatever.

My now OH will do something similar or even cook two totally different meals. I'll happily make a pot of something and eat it for several days in a row.

Being veggie or vegan doesn't have to work out more expensive. I've stocked up on staples of beans, lentils, herbs and spices, with egg replacement and other things for under £41, they'll easily last the two of us a month.

I've harvested my garlic, onions will be next, and then it will be regular picking of greens, root veg and bits of fruit. Even if I didn't, buying it from the supermarket wouldn't cost lots and I don't shop at Aldi or Lidl.

It doesn't if you are eating as you've described with beans and lentils etc. Currently in DD's drawer of the freezer are 2 different veggie sausages (she now likes one brand only on breakfast, the others I picked up yellow sticker, gave without telling her figuring they weren't too dear if disliked) 2 diff minces, 1 of which she's gone off, 2 different veggie burgers (1 was bought for friends but they ate something else) . veggie meatballs, quorn pieces and veggie nuggets.  All those are dearer. DD was faddy as a meat eater, that didn't change when she became vegetarian 

joedenise

Spendless said:

pelirocco said:

Spendless said:

On the subject of food budgets, I found DD becoming Vegetarian MORE expensive! Let me explain, when she came home from school one day aged 13 saying she was now vegetarian - she was a meat eater when she'd set off, it was a few days before payday, I'd lost my job (yes again!) a few months before and we had little in. Suddenly the large pepperoni pizza we had in for us to share wasn't sufficient because we also needed a smaller vegetarian one and going forward 2 x medium pizzas, (2 veggie, 2 not), cost more than when it was when one large suited everyone. Add in that DD has never been a fan of the veg chilli/curry/stew etc and prefers meat substitute stuff. Has changed her mind on numerous occasions about which veggie sausage she prefers and that DH thinks all meals should contain some meat on it and you can see why. I have had some success with using lentils and the veg she does like to make bolognaise and then I'll eat it too as I can't abide most  meat substitutes

I'm a veggie and would have just taken the pepperoni off

Yeah she won't do that. There's no set rules for what vegetarians consume whatever you're comfortable with but mine won't eat anything that has had meat/fish  touching it. At a buffet style place for example she would ask the server to use separate tongs. I don't cook in the same trays either at home, eg chicken nuggets/veggie nuggets would be in separate baking trays, but I don't keep set ones, once washed up she's ok with one that was previously used for meat

She shouldn't have to ask the server to use separate tongs - that is part of general kitchen hygiene.  Don't think I'd be using somewhere like that if you need to ask them not to use the same tongs to serve!

pelirocco

Spendless said:

pelirocco said:

Spendless said:

On the subject of food budgets, I found DD becoming Vegetarian MORE expensive! Let me explain, when she came home from school one day aged 13 saying she was now vegetarian - she was a meat eater when she'd set off, it was a few days before payday, I'd lost my job (yes again!) a few months before and we had little in. Suddenly the large pepperoni pizza we had in for us to share wasn't sufficient because we also needed a smaller vegetarian one and going forward 2 x medium pizzas, (2 veggie, 2 not), cost more than when it was when one large suited everyone. Add in that DD has never been a fan of the veg chilli/curry/stew etc and prefers meat substitute stuff. Has changed her mind on numerous occasions about which veggie sausage she prefers and that DH thinks all meals should contain some meat on it and you can see why. I have had some success with using lentils and the veg she does like to make bolognaise and then I'll eat it too as I can't abide most  meat substitutes

I'm a veggie and would have just taken the pepperoni off

Yeah she won't do that. There's no set rules for what vegetarians consume whatever you're comfortable with but mine won't eat anything that has had meat/fish  touching it. At a buffet style place for example she would ask the server to use separate tongs. I don't cook in the same trays either at home, eg chicken nuggets/veggie nuggets would be in separate baking trays, but I don't keep set ones, once washed up she's ok with one that was previously used for meat

I used to be precious over it lol 
Hopefully she  will become more relaxed

MovingForwards

@Spendless I gave up on veggie 'meat style' items years ago due to cost, texture and not being impressed with them. Closest I get now is some TVP 'mince'. 

Years ago when I went veggie, and then vegan, I only ate potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cumber, spring onions, baked beans, pasta, rice, noodles and red lentils, plus some herbs and spices, one type of cabbage, peas and lettuce. I didn't starve, nor did I get bored. Slowly I filtered in a bit of mushroom, then a bit of swede, then another type of veg etc. 

Now I'm back as a vegan after 5 years and pretty much eat most veg, still funny about mushroom. I'm also trying various beans, expanding my lentils and sat here writing this scoffing roasted paprika peas.

Perhaps get DD a few second hand recipe books for Christmas, that way she can cook to her taste and find textures she likes. I highly recommend the student nosh one; simple and easy to follow, without the use of meat substitutes like Quorn and as it's aimed at students the meals and puddings are cheap, as time goes on recipes get developed and tweaked to how she likes them.

JIL

My old neighbours privately rent their house and have done so for the past 16 years. The landlord used to live there but got married and moved into his new wife's property. He said at the time there was little profit so not worth selling.
The tenants have looked after the house, done the garden and always paid their rent. Now property prices and rent prices are shooting up and the tenants had a big rent raise last year and now another this year to double what they were paying 2 years ago.
The tenants are refusing to pay the increase, the estate agents are saying theres such a shortage of properties that they have prospective tenants queuing up to pay over £1000 per month.
The tenants in the house are asking if they can buy the property, the owner is wanting as much money from it as he can get. He wont sell to them, without a bidding war.

What is happening in our country, when people are being priced out of their homes? 

JIL

@Spendless
I haven't eaten meat for over 33 years.
I'm not really keen on ready meal substitutes, but I tend to eat the same as everyone else with a few adaptations, so Sunday dinner I make a cauliflower and broccoli cheese or throw a couple of vege sausages into a batter for toad in the hole. Tinned pulses are really good, quinoa makes a good shepherd's pie base and also is great for stretching beef mince.
I do a very quick nut roast that freezes in portions, with fresh breadcrumbs, nuts, cheese and grated veg, bound with an egg and baked in a loaf tin. If your daughter knows what she likes it might help that you get her to do some batch cooking and adapts what she eats to make the dishes.

Maybe as moving forwards suggests a couple of cook books may help.

Spendless

joedenise said:

Spendless said:

pelirocco said:

Spendless said:

On the subject of food budgets, I found DD becoming Vegetarian MORE expensive! Let me explain, when she came home from school one day aged 13 saying she was now vegetarian - she was a meat eater when she'd set off, it was a few days before payday, I'd lost my job (yes again!) a few months before and we had little in. Suddenly the large pepperoni pizza we had in for us to share wasn't sufficient because we also needed a smaller vegetarian one and going forward 2 x medium pizzas, (2 veggie, 2 not), cost more than when it was when one large suited everyone. Add in that DD has never been a fan of the veg chilli/curry/stew etc and prefers meat substitute stuff. Has changed her mind on numerous occasions about which veggie sausage she prefers and that DH thinks all meals should contain some meat on it and you can see why. I have had some success with using lentils and the veg she does like to make bolognaise and then I'll eat it too as I can't abide most  meat substitutes

I'm a veggie and would have just taken the pepperoni off

Yeah she won't do that. There's no set rules for what vegetarians consume whatever you're comfortable with but mine won't eat anything that has had meat/fish  touching it. At a buffet style place for example she would ask the server to use separate tongs. I don't cook in the same trays either at home, eg chicken nuggets/veggie nuggets would be in separate baking trays, but I don't keep set ones, once washed up she's ok with one that was previously used for meat

She shouldn't have to ask the server to use separate tongs - that is part of general kitchen hygiene.  Don't think I'd be using somewhere like that if you need to ask them not to use the same tongs to serve!

It's happened 3 times that I can immediately think of. The first was on hol at a pizza and show place. The 2 pizzas served was one pepperoni, the other margarita, the server was using the same tongs as they came round the tables. I suspect they considered it just a personal preference which was eaten, rather than someone didn't eat meat because on that hol (Orlando 2017) we'd had such a difficult time trying to get places to understand she was vegetarian and what it meant. I'd got to the point that I wondered if we had a language barrier over different words ie of the  dustbin/trash-can, lift/elevator going on and there was a different term I should be using.

Next was at an eating place in a large shopping centre and a help yourself buffet, not 2 separate tongs put out, when they were meat/veggie varieties of the same item, can't remember exactly what but something like spring rolls again had to ask and the final time was when she asked at a counter for some potato wedges and in filling her box also used the same tongs to move a chicken nugget that had fallen on to the side. We asked for a fresh amount due to the cross contamination and they refused, so we left them. These 2 incidences were in the UK. 

We never re-visited the above places after that. 

Spendless

MovingForwards said:

@Spendless I gave up on veggie 'meat style' items years ago due to cost, texture and not being impressed with them. Closest I get now is some TVP 'mince'. 

Years ago when I went veggie, and then vegan, I only ate potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cumber, spring onions, baked beans, pasta, rice, noodles and red lentils, plus some herbs and spices, one type of cabbage, peas and lettuce. I didn't starve, nor did I get bored. Slowly I filtered in a bit of mushroom, then a bit of swede, then another type of veg etc. 

Now I'm back as a vegan after 5 years and pretty much eat most veg, still funny about mushroom. I'm also trying various beans, expanding my lentils and sat here writing this scoffing roasted paprika peas.

Perhaps get DD a few second hand recipe books for Christmas, that way she can cook to her taste and find textures she likes. I highly recommend the student nosh one; simple and easy to follow, without the use of meat substitutes like Quorn and as it's aimed at students the meals and puddings are cheap, as time goes on recipes get developed and tweaked to how she likes them.

Thank you for that. She didn't eat much more veg than you've listed either , in fact I had her name all the ones she would eat and said if I thought it too low an amount then I didn't think it would be a good idea to be vegetarian.

I've had a quick look at that book recommendation and it sounds good. We have some veggie student cookbooks in, but they don't seem straight forward. 

Spendless

JIL said:

My old neighbours privately rent their house and have done so for the past 16 years. The landlord used to live there but got married and moved into his new wife's property. He said at the time there was little profit so not worth selling.
The tenants have looked after the house, done the garden and always paid their rent. Now property prices and rent prices are shooting up and the tenants had a big rent raise last year and now another this year to double what they were paying 2 years ago.
The tenants are refusing to pay the increase, the estate agents are saying theres such a shortage of properties that they have prospective tenants queuing up to pay over £1000 per month.
The tenants in the house are asking if they can buy the property, the owner is wanting as much money from it as he can get. He wont sell to them, without a bidding war.

What is happening in our country, when people are being priced out of their homes? 

I've heard similar stories re rents. They've gone mad. I'm seeing posts on local groups where people have lost their rental property but need to stay in the area as they have child/ren enrolled at local schools and can't find anything.

For some reason it won't let me tag you, but what nuts do you use in your roast. I'd like to give that a try.

euronorris

The rent thing scares me. Thus far our landlord hasn't increased our rent in all the time we've been here (over 7 years). I fear that may change in February.

If it was a small increase, we could absorb that (and I also wouldn't blame him after 8 years). But if it was an increase of £400pm, or more, as I've seen some people have been demanded of from their landlords then we simply couldn't afford that. But moving is also very difficult and expensive.

Just have to hope he doesn't, and that his BTL mortgage is on a decent fixed rate.