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

elsien

I will be ok as well. It’s just striking me more often how lucky I am in comparison with others. 

ladyholly

I think some fruit and veg is suffering from the heatwave we have have along with the rest of Europe. Potatoes are awful and trying to boil them is horrendous one minute they are hard & the next they are falling apart.

Yorkslass I never buy pork joints from sainsbury. It is usually much better from Tesco and I generally manage to get crackling when I roast it

Ainsty

Hi, I'm new to MSE I've joined because like a lot of people I am really feeling the pinch. One positive I have working for me is that I was brought up poor so I don't need to spend money to validate my existence.
I've read through this and other threads and have already found some great ideas to save money.

freyasmum

elsien said:

I will be ok as well. It’s just striking me more often how lucky I am in comparison with others. 

And us. We're by no means rolling in money, but nor are we scraping by.

We have decent phones, yes, but his is 5 or so years old and mine was bought outright and both are on cheap sim-only deals; we don't have sky tv; we don't have regular takeaways, nor lots of meals out (I never find that I fully enjoy the meals - I can't help but think that I could have fed us for a week for the cost of a decent meal out!). We also don't always have fancy holidays are certainly aren't buying stuff for the sake of buying stuff all the time - I'm sure we sound really spartan to some! But we're happy, and I'm confident that we'll get through this just fine.

I just can't help but feel for the people who were already struggling before the cost of living blew up. I also think, going by the way that our own garden performed this year, that we could be in for some more shortages ahead. I'm not normally doom and gloom, and I'm hoping this won't be the case, but it's best to not go into the next year blindly.

Jackie - I do hope you're feeling better soon. Please rest!  

freyasmum

KxMx said:

I am lucky enough to have a local independent greengrocer. Not as cheap as SM's but not expensive either, and the quality is absolutely fantastic, nothing goes off quickly so very high value for money.
The only thing I really don't buy there is grapes because they charge quite a bit more than what I can pay at Tesco or Lidl.
The vast majority of the stock is sold loose so you can buy as much or as little as you need.
I'm a single person household but go in 2-3 times a week because I eat so much F&V.
I did get a few potatoes for sunday dinner last week, produced perfect roasties even if I do say so myself  

You are lucky - we are also lucky to have a greengrocers in our town, and a market twice a week, but the prices are more in line with farmers markets that I've been to in the past.

Jellytotts

We are to all intents relying on benefits and the weekly food shop is getting harder. DH is physically and mentally disabled and as such we rely mostly on his PIP, ESA my carers allowance, a small amount of UC and 2 very small pensions.  DH is 51, we didn’t expect to draw these pensions so early.  There’s no scope to add extra income so we have to cope.  We use Olio and our local food pantry and because of allergies (gluten and seafood/fish) we have to avoid a lot of cheaper foods.  We eat seasonally, we go without foods we’d like and stick with what gives us our protein and vitamins at a decent price, I can’t get annoyed about the flavour of free apples, I’m just grateful.  I don’t care if the spuds are fresh or tinned, it’s carbs.  I don’t care if the olio veg is past its best, if it’s edible I’ll use it.

I’m extremely grateful that we have a roof over our heads, food in the cupboards and can just about pay the bills.

Siebrie

Ainsty said:

Hi, I'm new to MSE I've joined because like a lot of people I am really feeling the pinch. One positive I have working for me is that I was brought up poor so I don't need to spend money to validate my existence.
I've read through this and other threads and have already found some great ideas to save money.

Good for you! My husband was brought up poor, and he is forever wanting to add bling to look not-poor. However, he goes for IKEA-bling rather than good quality understated bling. Which on the one hand is affordable, on the other is wasted money as it generally looks not-bling really quickly and is unfixable. We can't afford much bling, and I prefer it to be neutral, decent quality, for instance secondhand that has already proven itself.

YoungBlueEyes

I'm with you on that @Siebrie There's cheap, and then there's cheap.

I love sale rooms and charity shops.  Good quality that's proved itself for not much money.  

My friend buys cheap clothes (cr4p from primark etc) and they just never last.  I buy clothes from charity shops - or sometimes a real shop when it has a sale on - and my stuff lasts.  She doesn't understand the difference between buying cheap clothes and buying good clothes cheaply.

But then she and I have different perspectives.  She'll often say to me "why are you wearing that dress again?? Can't you afford a new one?!"  I wear my stuff repeatedly because I only buy things that suit me and are a beautiful fit and good material, then I wear them til they're rags ha haa!

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Pollycat

Pollycat said:

My Gran made raspberry vinegar - great for a sore throat.
I still have her hand written recipe.

YoungBlueEyes said:

Would you mind sharing that @Pollycat?

Damn & blast!   
I've finally got around to looking for this recipe...
and it's not there.
I have her pickled onion & pickled red cabbage recipes in her lovely handwriting but not the raspberry vinegar.
It must be somewhere else, maybe in a cookery book.
I'll keep looking.

YoungBlueEyes

I’d forgotten about that ha haa!