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

Floss

Polly I often use pork / beef mix mince for meatballs, bol or lasagne, and sometimes just pork alone.

JIL

Pollycat said:

Aren't we supposed to be getting this thread back on topic...?
Cost of living and price of stuff.

Not chatting about family or discussing what is wrong with the way people cook/eat nowadays. 🤷

I think you posted this following my post.

Cost of living and price of stuff? Huge correlation I feel in that people are still eating in an expensive way. I dont think it's wrong, I feel it's an poorly thought out choice. 

I think its really telling that people are learning to cook using meal kits, such as hello fresh, when previously they would learn at school or through family. It's a great skill to have.

Longwalker

I find it very sad that there are people who dont know how to cook. With mum buggering off when I was 11 and sister leaving when I was 13 - I had to learn - fast I already knew how to budget, had no option, we didnt have any money lol

Packets and jars of sauce made a lot the meals back then, I would have still be using bolognaise sauces till I was late 20's. When I say I learned to cook, I knew how to do a roast, chops that sort of thing but stretching the repertoire took longer to learn

It was when a friend told be the trick of half a teaspoon of sugar in Bolognese that cracked that one for me.

Turkey mince makes a great Bolognese. A completely different texture but turkey mince actually really does well on a low slow cook. Its usually found reduced as well in my local lidl, its not a favourite about here so I pick up as much as I can when I see it. It also makes a pretty nice Keema Curry - I cant get lamb mince ( wouldn't pay for it either )  

I just got the electric bill for December to March. Now this was the first bill I could use to compare electricity usage now I use the Ninjas ( I have 2 ) - Im down 120 units on this time last year. I think it could have been lower if it weren't for the fact we have been using electric fires as supplement heat during these bitter spells we are having and Mr S has one running in the garage for most of the day - 4 or 5 days a week. So I think the claims on savings  to be made on the bills may be exaggerated. Yet there again, because I dont feel guilty using a ninja to heat a sausage roll or do 2 part baked rolls, I an using the ninjas more then I would ever have the oven. Plus Im baking, cakes, bread and scones> I take a look again next quarter and see if I see a bigger difference 

Job hunting is back on hold. Ended up spending the early hours in A&E in complete agony. The arm/neck injury which hadn't really caused me much gyp the past 2 weeks ( just a bit of weakness and the pins and needles ) raised its head BIG time Saturday . My own fault, I didnt have any change for the trolly at lidl's. Used one of their baskets on wheels, and I did buy a lot, which had to be carried to the car. Yes it was heavy but nothing I wasn't used to carrying. But I woke up Saturday with a sore arm, by bed time I was finding it to be pretty painful trying to move, finally come 3 am I was up and sat in a chair, barely able to move. By time I had cooked the dinner I was close to tears, so rang the on call , no doctors available and they can no longer prescribe. The nurse did say to go to A&E but I don't like to, it wasn't either an accident nor medical emergency. 3 am, I had no option but go, I was screaming with the pain, not even able to pull my knickers up and down ( even getting on the toilet was a killer ) So Im dosed to the eyeballs with pain killers and as high as a kite, back wearing the collar Hope to goodness I get a GP appointment tomorrow 

The consultant at the hospital re affirmed, its going to take some time 

Rather annoying as I had intended to do the scuff marks of the skirtings and doors this week and my magic sponges are sitting here shouting "use me" lol

I hope I wasnt harping back to the "good old days" They weren't so good, we were poor as church mice. Just pointing out that there wasnt take aways and sweets whenever and we were much more active and Im the last person in the world that would fat shame anyone  - people in glass houses and all that 

dreaming

A couple of times over the weekend I have seen/heard mention of plans by Tesco to charge suppliers a "fulfillment fee" because of changes to the way we shop, and expect to shop., and surprised not to see a mention on this site (although I may have missed it as I am waiting for eye surgery).A quote from an article on Reuters -

“Over recent years, the way we serve our customers has grown in both capacity and complexity. Our customers expect us to serve them wherever, whenever and however they want to shop," the person said.

“As we respond to changing shopping habits and our fulfilment costs continue to grow, we are talking to our suppliers about how we can work together to create a more balanced approach and ensure we can continue to invest in our customers.”

I haven't been able to delve further into this but I'm guessing we can expect yet more price rises and/or shortages, and I can see a lot of farmers etc. just giving up as their outgoings could significantly increase. Although the supermarket is saying that it will help them to "invest in customers" I assume what they really mean is that they want us to invest more of our hard-earned into them.

-taff

dreaming said:

“Over recent years, the way we serve our customers has grown in both capacity and complexity. Our customers expect us to serve them wherever, whenever and however they want to shop," the person said.

Born out of the sm's opening 24/7, having unseasonal produce and eleventy leven versions of breakfast cereal. It's like the lottery. They keep introduing new things and expecting people to buy more, but if you can only buy one type of ticket, you're not going to buy all the rest.

And they expect customers ot serve themselves because they're not paying for till staff, they're paying for self serve tills, or making apps where you can smart shop yourself from the cradle to the grave.

As an aside, you will often find pork and beef mince being ixed for bolognese sauces or meatballs, or pork chops and beef bones/ribs being cooked for pasta sauces in Italy, it's flavour, and cheap cuts flavour the tomato sauce and the meat gets eaten as a second course with salad or veg.

YorksLass

Nelliegrace said:

We are saving money by cutting down on meat, cheese, butter, oils, and sugar, allowing a set amount each week, saving any surplus bought yellow stickered or on offer so there will be some for future weeks. 
We are using more pulses for cheaper protein.
We are filling up on seasonal, wonky and yellow-stickered vegetables and fruit. 
We are buying just basic ingredients, cooking from scratch using fuel economically.
We are making good wholemeal bread at almost the same price as a budget white sliced loaf, and a batch of soup for the price of a budget can.
We are reducing portion size and avoiding waste.
We are taking our own food and drinks when we go out.  Very rarely go out so we budget for that as a treat.
We are not buying take-aways.
Treats are just an occasional thing, like a bit of economy dark chocolate on Sunday. 

Sounds very much like us!  Our monthly grocery budget for two is £124 (irrespective of the length of the month) - out of that approx £7 goes into a jar at the beginning of the month (save 23p per day/part of the 23 in 2023 challenge) for Xmas food and January's clearance items.  Ideally, there would be a small surplus at the end of each month that gets saved as an "emergency" cash pot for the times when there's more week left than money.  That's definitely getting harder now because of all the price increases but even a small amount feels like an achievement and it always comes in handy.  

Today I've made a loaf of bread and have used yesterday's left over mash & swede to make 4 small potato cakes (now frozen) coated in h/m breadcrumbs.  Not a big saving, but they'll go nicely with sausages/bacon/gammon - plus point: no waste.  Tomorrow's soup making will be spicy carrot & red lentil  (about 6 portions) using h/m chicken stock from the thighs I cooked yesterday; some of the meat is for tonight's Thai green curry and the rest is yet to be decided.  I've used some of a large green pepper and have chopped/frozen the rest rather than waste  it.

I've just reviewed tomorrow's grocery order and have made a couple of tweeks (couple of items deleted and replaced with alternatives).  The changes aren't going to save me any money but I'll be able to make more meals from those items so that stretches the budget a bit further.

Nelliegrace

I am avoiding Tesco because of their horrible new advert. It gave me nightmares about clowns.
Imagine one of those creeping up behind you at the till, or the staff all wearing that creepy rictus face. 
Shudder! 
They can keep their Clubcard.
I did not like their shelf signs giving two prices, it seemed unfair on those who were excluded.

elsien

It is vile, isn’t it. Very creepy.  I don’t know what they were thinking.

Morrisons had some lamb hearts today reduced to 28p which I used to like. But since my grandmother gave me a biology lesson on arteries using the heart as a demonstration, I’m not quite been able to bring myself to cook them again.

Auntycaz

I agree it reminds me of ventriloquist's dummies. However. it wouldn't keep me out of the shop if there was a bargain in there that I wanted and I had a store close by.

Longwalker

I know Jamie Oliver is very Marmite, but his £1 wonder meals series is excellent

Hes really gone to town and has really put the effort in or not only coming up with meals for £1 a portion, but has really thought about making them cheap to cook as well

You can sign up for the recipes which come out by email 

And no having to go out an buy a zillion products, store cupboard. When he does use a spice he gives alternatives as well

All the dishes on tonights programme looked and sounded to be absolutely delicious and only one used the oven