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

sarahj1986

LessImpecunious said:

sarahj1986 said:

I’ve noticed quite a few things have jumped in price this past 2-3 weeks in Tesco. Well I shop online and I’m very mindful of prices. 

On the other hand, (also as a price-conscious online-shopper) last week I spotted the first Tesco price-drops in a while - cans of chickpeas, butter beans, etc dropped from 70p to 55p, and 500g pasta of all kinds, which had reached 90p, now in a two for £1.50 (may be Clubcard only) deal...

Yes I noticed the pasta offer the other day. I was gonna load up but I saw it’s on for a few more weeks but I’ll definitely get several bags. We use wholewheat pasta so it makes the difference getting it on offer. I try to avoid white pasta as it bloats me up otherwise I’d use the hearty food co pasta. 

Datchet

sammy_kaye18 said:

LessImpecunious said:

sarahj1986 said:

I’ve noticed quite a few things have jumped in price this past 2-3 weeks in Tesco. Well I shop online and I’m very mindful of prices. 

On the other hand, (also as a price-conscious online-shopper) last week I spotted the first Tesco price-drops in a while - cans of chickpeas, butter beans, etc dropped from 70p to 55p, and 500g pasta of all kinds, which had reached 90p, now in a two for £1.50 (may be Clubcard only) deal...

Handy to know since my pasta stock is running low and we eat a lot of it as a quick and easy meal.
I will have to stock up and I think chickpeas are going to be added to my cupboards as a good protein boost in things like lasagna/curry etc. 
I think cannelini beans have gone down as well since they are now Aldi price matched at 59p 
I can see a food shop being planned. May do that later and get some in the cupboards again. 

Well had a visit from my sister recently and she brought me up a rug she no longer needed. Its a fair size (about 2.5m x 2m) and is now freshened up and on my living room floor, needless to say my sighthounds are enjoying laying on it at the minute and being able to play without sliding on the laminate floor so its definitely approved of , plus its making the room feel more snug and warmer underfoot so thats a bonus too. 

I am using the last of our gammon tonight to make a pie for my husband along with some parsley sauce granules and tinned carrots. Ill serve it with mash potato for him so he has a decent meal to come home too. 
Theres chicken in the fridge to use with half a jar of curry sauce so that will be the following day too. 

I also have to try and figure out how to use pinto beans - I was substituted them on a food shop and have never used them before so if anyone has any ideas - greatly appreciated! 

Pressure cooked some dried black beans that had been hanging around forever- OH mixed some in with @ldi mango as a lunch salad - surprisingly good!

YorksLass

Well, we're into February now and I can't wait for the better weather to arrive.  We've gone from very cold and frosty with sunshine to cold and windy (very gusty at times) with rain.  I hope tomorrow is a drier and calmer day since I've got an appointment with the hairdresser!  

I had a small SM delivery yesterday, mostly fresh stuff with a few cupboard items and nothing for the freezer.    Two subs, both returned (refund already received), and two items missing.  Cue a phone call to customer services who contacted the store manager; he phoned the delivery driver who duly found the missing items on his van but was too far away to re-deliver.  The store manager then got another driver who was just starting his shift to deliver replacements that arrived at 7.30 pm.  Brownie points for the store manager.

Of the items I did get, there were 7 price increases since I last bought them (some within the last two weeks) totalling an extra £1.16.  Potatoes 6p, bacon 5p, cheese 40p, large tub of yogurt (basics item) 15p, ground white pepper 20p, jar of piccalilli 20p and grapes 10p.  Like a lot of people, I've been stretching my grocery budget as far as possible (think squeaking) and have even managed to reduce it some months but it's definitely getting harder every week.  I'll be doing a new annual budget soon (April to March like the tax year) and will have to wait and see what's left of our pension increase once increases in bills (rent etc) have been accounted for before I can consider whether or not to increase the grocery budget.  I'm good at budgeting but I'm not a magician!     

Longwalker

@YorksLass, I agree its getting tougher to budget , we are eating a lot of Pressure cooked stews so Im grateful for the cold weather at the moment 

So with me leaving work pretty much injured ( slowly recovering, I can move the arm a lot more but driving is leaving me shattered and the neuralgia pain is excruciating when it decides to come on - like right now ) I am feeling a tad more positive

Ive applied for my NHS pension, I will loose about 10% but its swings an roundabouts, Ill be claiming for two extra years

Ive also applied for carers allowance. I do care for my mother, 7 days a week, but never claimed before as I preferred to work. I still prefer to work, but thats not going to happen anytime soon so I need an income . Between the pension and the carers allowance, it gives me longer to recover. I swear to god getting old is no fun physically, takes forever. I mean at the end of the day it was the sort of fall if I was 30 I would be embarrassed to even admit to. Id have bounced straight back up and it wouldn't have cost me a thought

So Im now going to be the church mouse's poor relative for a while but we will manage 

One thing I am doing is getting out the cook books. You know all those books you buy, flick through, use one or two recipes and stash away. Im looking at finding new to us ways of cooking cheaper food, or stretching the more expensive foods a lot further. Been in a bit of a rut with meal planning, which I think we are all guilty of at times. We have our family favourites and churn them out week in and out 

elsien

I was saying to a friend over the weekend that we both just got into a rut with cooking the same things. For me it’s what is easy and also the stuff I get off the olio app tends to be quite a similar and I haven’t really got the enthusiasm to be looking at recipes.  For my friend it’s having fussy teenagers with hollow legs who change that they decide they like from one week to the next. They weren’t brought up like that,  it seems to have kicked in with the hormones.

Longwalker

elsien said:

I was saying to a friend over the weekend that we both just got into a rut with cooking the same things. For me it’s what is easy and also the stuff I get off the olio app tends to be quite a similar and I haven’t really got the enthusiasm to be looking at recipes.  For my friend it’s having fussy teenagers with hollow legs who change that they decide they like from one week to the next. They weren’t brought up like that,  it seems to have kicked in with the hormones.

Its just so easy

When Mr L worked away, I seriously have very little interest in food, I would live on pasta. A big huge pan of pasta with just butter or olive oil and Parmesan and pepper. When I worked 9-5 I ate the same thing for lunch every day for 5 years!! And I kid you not, enjoyed it as well

Just now with the budget stretched to snapping, what I had marked as cheap meals are no longer cheap and I need a tad of inspiration. Not easy with a husband who believes a proper meal contains meat and potatoes and 3 veg, and an elderly mother who can find fat and gristle on a turkey fillet ( god forgive me if theres a bone found in the fish cos it will always be her piece ) lol

Myself personally prefer dippy meals, ( when not pasta) and I do like weird and wonderful. But none of its "balanced". For me it may not be too bad as I am a picker when it comes to food, so I might not want dinner but will eat a slice of toast with marmite or scrambled eggs with peppers and tomatoes and chillies but I have to keep mother healthy ( she would live on chocolate, cake and biscuits ) and Mr L, who's still working at a physical outside job and needs two hot meals a day

euronorris

Stretching the budget is getting harder and harder. I am becoming more and more focused on it, but even that is hard as it's time consuming. Nevertheless, I've created a meal plan, checked the cupboards and produced my shopping list from there. I then checked it against Trolley to see where it was available cheapest and managed to get my spend down for the week (and there are meals into next week as made big batches each time).

I've also been using the Shopmium and Checkout Smart apps for free foods (or discounts on items that we were already buying).

I love the idea of Olio, but in practice I find it hard as they often have collection time of 10pm round my way.

Separately, if any of you are near Cornwall (or planning to be in late March), if you buy a lotto ticket for £1 you can get entry into the Eden Project for 2 people for free. You have to book online in advance, and then show your lotto ticket on arrival. Just thought I'd throw it out there as an (almost) free day out for some

Florenceem

I plan to use an out of date Jamie pizza base mix - it was free. Only 11/2022 - not a date person anyway.

mandy47

euronorris said:

I love the idea of Olio, but in practice I find it hard as they often have collection time of 10pm round my way.

Same here. I start work at 5am so I'm usually tucked up in bed by 9pm. 

Florenceem

euronorris - We don't have a car - I don't fancy walking the streets in the dark to do Olio.