sammy_kaye's £100 a month food budgetting

BitterAndTwisted

candygirl wrote: »

Totally agree hun, I think it's (five F&V a day) a load of crap too

Oh, I dunno. I count spuds as one of my five-a-day and a glass of fruit juice counts as one as well, so I don't think it's that difficult or unreasonable. What I do find difficult, because I'm unemployed and therefore on a really strict budget, is being able to get a decent variety from one end of the week to the other. It's just as well that I like carrots....

[Deleted User]

quintwins wrote: »

i buy my fruit in the farm shop a bag of apples has 10 in it, we buy clemintine or manderine oranges which have 20 in them (both £1 per bag) bananas i buy in the sm at the mo cause there cheap we use 10 a week tho which is £1ish so for us bananas are the dearest per month but i have 3kids but the older 2 get 2 peices of fruit aday in nursery (1 for snack and one for dinner) then i use mainly frozen/reduced veg, the only fresh veg i buy full price is carrots and onions, we also get a 20kg bag of spuds from the farm shop for £6 which lasts 2 weeks+

so i spend about £15 a month on fruit and veg, i tend to only eat apples and oranges and my oh will maybe eat 2 apples a month, and will only eat veg if i put it on his plate, he loves stewed apples tho

I grow at lot of my own fruit and veg, but it is too cold where I live to grow anything in winter (just got some leeks left in to eat). I have a greenhouse, but it is unheated so I have to buy everything in the winter.

I buy all veg from a really good greengrocers. I don't buy frozen as we don't have a freezer and you can't cook easily with frozen veg.

This week I bought :

12 apples
7 bananas (husband has one a day, but I think they are vile )
About 10 clementines
1 lemon (for lemon drizzle cake)
2 lettuces
Numerous tomatoes (I eat these as a snack so we get through a lot)
1 Cumcumber
3 Onions
Large sack spuds
garlic
2 aubergines
carrots
brocolli
green beans
savoy cabbage


I also had in the fridge parsnips, peppers and celery and I will use the last leeks from the garden. We will also eat 1 or 2 tins of fruit and some dried fruit too during the week.

This is for two adults for one week and it all gets eaten. I am a vegi, but husband isn't. We tend to eat vegi meals though as he only really likes sausages and bacon and not big slabs of meat.

cheerfulness4

So pleased this thread has been revived. Was a favourite of mine along side Weezel's ones in my saved subs.

One of the things that I found interesting that Sammy did was to buy a joint and then decide whether to roast or slice for chops etc. It was the flexibility of it that I loved and had never considered before.
As one that buys much of my meat when reduced I can now think of a large chunk of pork as more than just a roast with l/overs for mash and pickles, or the like. Now I think HM sausages, chops, casserole etc.

Little things but these tips all help make our meals less 'samey' as I think a previous poster was saying.

quintwins

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

I buy all veg from a really good greengrocers. I don't buy frozen as we don't have a freezer and you can't cook easily with frozen veg.

QUOTE]


why can't you cook easily with frozen veg? i buy a bag of mixed veg, a bag of spinage, brocolli, and bean sprouts and then a bag of peas/sweetcorn and i use them to bulk meals out/make curry aswell as sides for roasts ect, i find they last ages aswell def get more than a month out of these

[Deleted User]

quintwins wrote: »

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

I buy all veg from a really good greengrocers. I don't buy frozen as we don't have a freezer and you can't cook easily with frozen veg.

QUOTE]


why can't you cook easily with frozen veg? i buy a bag of mixed veg, a bag of spinage, brocolli, and bean sprouts and then a bag of peas/sweetcorn and i use them to bulk meals out/make curry aswell as sides for roasts ect, i find they last ages aswell def get more than a month out of these

As the main part of our meal is vegetables I am usually preparing them before cooking. So I may want to sautee or spice the veg and if the veg is frozen you cannot do this. For example if I bought frozen carrots I would not be able to slice them into thin stips to stir fry them, or roast them in the oven with spices. It would also be impossible to grate them too. Frozen veg also contains quite a lot of water too and this makes them hard to cook with.

OrkneyStar

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

I buy all veg from a really good greengrocers. I don't buy frozen as we don't have a freezer and you can't cook easily with frozen veg

quintwins wrote: »

why can't you cook easily with frozen veg? i buy a bag of mixed veg, a bag of spinage, brocolli, and bean sprouts and then a bag of peas/sweetcorn and i use them to bulk meals out/make curry aswell as sides for roasts ect, i find they last ages aswell def get more than a month out of these

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

As the main part of our meal is vegetables I am usually preparing them before cooking. So I may want to sautee or spice the veg and if the veg is frozen you cannot do this. For example if I bought frozen carrots I would not be able to slice them into thin stips to stir fry them, or roast them in the oven with spices. It would also be impossible to grate them too. Frozen veg also contains quite a lot of water too and this makes them hard to cook with.

I agree with both of you .
I prefer to buy frozen peas and green beans but I prefer to buy other veg fresh so I can use them as I need. I do freeze leftover fresh veg though (blanched if need be!).

quintwins

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

quintwins wrote: »

As the main part of our meal is vegetables I am usually preparing them before cooking. So I may want to sautee or spice the veg and if the veg is frozen you cannot do this. For example if I bought frozen carrots I would not be able to slice them into thin stips to stir fry them, or roast them in the oven with spices. It would also be impossible to grate them too. Frozen veg also contains quite a lot of water too and this makes them hard to cook with.

yeah i suppose grating them would cause an issue, i don't acually buy frozen carrots tho i buy fresh and freeze them, i usually slice them but have done them in thich strips before depends how lazy i'm feeling

JillS_2

Queenie wrote: »

Good luck at the doctors, you're very wise having it checked out sooner rather than later. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

Sammy, you might want to teach her this tip because she might find it useful which ever internet site she is on
Tip: If you hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and you roll the little wheel that's between the buttons on the mouse, it will enlarge (or reduce) the screen depending on whether you want to view the writing larger or smaller. Roll it forward to enlarge it and backward to reduce it.

I'm repeating this rather old post for the benefit of those who have an antique mouse with only left & right click buttons and no central wheel. If you hold down CTRL and press the + key or - key you get the same effect.

Thanks Queenie.

Triggles

I thought the fruit list was interesting. Our family (2 adults, 2 young children still at home age 1 and age 4) easily goes through 15+ bananas per week, a bag of apples and a few oranges. Without fail. Both boys have a banana with their breakfast and an apple as an afternoon snack, occasionally replaced by an orange. Fruit is definitely something we go through a lot of! Can't imagine 1 bag of apples for a whole month!

sexykellylovespink

thought i would bump !