Your Annual Food Bill?

[slacker]

I find lentils fairly cheap but v. rewarding.

boil up 1 (actual) cup lentils (green or brown usually) with 4 cups water and 1tsp turmeric for 20 mins until soft

in a frying pan:

2 or 3 tbps ghee melted

chopped onion in to ghee + half an 80g curry powder (or a whole one if you want it take-away style)

fry for a couple of mins

add a can of tomatoes and some salt

cook for 10mins

combine it all and cook for a bit longer

you can vary recipe by lentil type, add garlic, ginger, nigella seeds, even a bit of double cream - recently started straining the tomato bit to get pips out - add chilli powder to get some heat

this will make enough for 3 or 4 servings (<70p per serving), keeps for week or so in fridge

if you want to go gourmet you can spoon on to a bed of raw spinach and put a dollop of natural yogurt on top

[slacker]

For meat eaters things like the Sainsbury cooking bacon are great value at 99p for 670g I think or similar in other supermarkets.

I think I've mentioned this on here before - but for bacon:

full pork belly, skin on, boned yourself with no holes for moisture

cut in half if long

rub half a tube of coarse sea salt on to it

stack it in a bowl, cover with water

put plates on top to hold under water

dry off after 3 days

put on a wire rack in fridge (skin side down)

ready immediately but gets better after a week or two

you will smell if something is wrong - cut the smelly bit out (usually a flap you've left)

slice what you need and fry

This gives me a bacon sarnie every day for 3wks+ - costs £10-£20 depending on size of belly - no preservatives

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Is my petrol bill thread spawning other copy cats ?

Tomorrow, the cost of buying ducks, the bill was huge!

[Democorruptcy]

I really like the Sainsbury basic tea bags. About 3 years ago they were 28p a box, there is deflation for you...

I drink tea without milk and like it weak. If you leave those Sainsburys bags in for any length of time it soon gets strong so I think that means they must be decent.

Teabags are a black mark for Lidl. They stopped doing their twenty something p teabags and I was forced to try Sainsburys facing such a huge multi-hundred percent increase in our teabag budget!

[justthisbloke]

£3300 for 2 adults, 2 teenagers.

No alcohol. Occasional meat and fish. A small contribution from the veg patch, fruit trees and foraging.

We shop at ASDA and Lidl but get an awful lot (cheap) from those stalls at the end of peoples' drives.

Just about every "product" is home made; bread, cakes, pancakes, biscuits etc.

[Deft]

About £2k for two adults a year here. Add in eating out and takeaways and it's probably nearer £4k.

[slacker]

While I'm spamming cooking thoughts - don't underestimate how good cheapest beef can be slow cooked in a covered pot. Flank, shin or brisket especially.

Made a beef shin curry (can use flank too) on Saturday, using that lentil recipe without the lentils - cooked it for 9h on very low.

To do brisket I slow cook it with water and a garlic for 6h+, take it out, slice it, make a gravy with the water, bin the garlic, put the meat back in to gravy for serving.

Hot buttered white rolls, slow cooked brisket falling apart in gravy - always a hit.

[sossij]

They are usually £1.50 at Lidl but £1 at Iceland all the time

If it's any help the Lidl and Aldi offers each week are available by email

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/5698.htm

https://aldi.co.uk/uk/html/service/newsletter.php?WT.z_src=main

Thanks Demo.

What a good thread this is becoming

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

When we moved here 6 years ago we were spending about 600 CHF a month on 4,which was about 230 quid, now we spend about 800 CHF a month on 5 which is about a 5% increase over 6 years ago, but id still think you were lucky to wipe out the Migros,COOP duopoly over here but over the term food prices are pretty much unchanged since moving here in 2006, but UK street markets and supermarkets are far superior to Swiss markets

Edited September 19, 2012 by Georgia O'Keeffe

[tcltk]

Family of 3. 2 adults + 1 toddler.

Approx. 300£ a month. Hence circa 3500£ p.a.

Meat (beef rarely), fish, veggies and fruit on every single day. I was very happily surprised by food prices in the UK (products come from varied places: Ocado, Coop, Waitrose, M&S,etc.).

[yellerkat]

All rather cheap in Spain ATM.

More importantly Perlenbacher 3.19 Euros for 6! (5.99 in UK.)

[Democorruptcy]

When we moved here 6 years ago we were spending about 600 CHF a month on 4,which was about 230 quid, now we spend about 800 CHF a month on 5 which is about a 5% increase over 6 years ago, but id still think you were lucky to wipe out the Migros,COOP duopoly over here but over the term food prices are pretty much unchanged since moving here in 2006, but UK street markets and supermarkets are far superior to Swiss markets

OK as long as you have earnings in CHF didn't leave the money in sterling in the UK or have a sterling pension. What is it 2.40 to 1.50 since your move?

This lot must seem dirt cheap in CHF

http://www.rosspa.co.uk/

http://www.expats.org.uk/shopping/food-british.html

[shipbuilder]

I want your recipe book, straight up!

Currently we spend about £450 a month on groceries for a family of 4 I'd love to get this down by a third.

When I lived in Telford five years ago to overcome the depression of living there we spent roughly £800 a month for just the two of us. We through out loads, so wasteful and shameful.

When I started doing the weekly shop online, I saw a instant approx 20% reduction in the weekly bill. Couldn't believe it - don't really know why, I didn't analyse it too much, but I reckon it was reduced impulse purchases, more ruthless with spending. Still surprised how much the reduction was.

[davidg]

If you look at the Lidl leaflet online for the UK do you think it makes France look expensive or not?

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk

There were a lot of prices missing. I will look next week to see if they have prices of the same products I can find here.

[Allez_L'OM]

Don't forget that VAT (19.6% .. or has it gone up again ?) is charged on food in France, unlike the UK.

[waitingandsaving]

While I'm spamming cooking thoughts - don't underestimate how good cheapest beef can be slow cooked in a covered pot. Flank, shin or brisket especially.

Made a beef shin curry (can use flank too) on Saturday, using that lentil recipe without the lentils - cooked it for 9h on very low.

To do brisket I slow cook it with water and a garlic for 6h+, take it out, slice it, make a gravy with the water, bin the garlic, put the meat back in to gravy for serving.

Hot buttered white rolls, slow cooked brisket falling apart in gravy - always a hit.

Agreed! Brisket is my favourite - brown the meat, carrots, onions, celery, couple of tins of toms, stock cube, coriander, cumin, brown sugar, sweet smoked paprika.... In the oven on low for a sunday morning. Like you say, always a hit. Leftovers (I always make enough for leftovers) go to make a pasta sauce the Monday (plenty of the sauce, not so much of the meat, add some herbs and a slug of wine if there's some open) and then on the Wednesday (we have a brisket break on the Tuesday!) the meat and what's left of the sauce get some chipotle and some kidney beans and it's a super tasty chilli with rice. Thre meals, minumal effort, not a huge cost.

Pork shoulder and chicken thighs (although normally I use a whole chicken) are also delicious, and suffer a similar plan for the week - chicken goes to a pasta dish on the Monday, and a risotto on the wednesday - if it's a whole chicken, the carcass gets boiled for the stock for the risotto.

For those who are just starting to look at food expenses, can I also recommend How to feed your whole family a healthy balanced diet for very little money

It's a great book, although sorry, its picture free (I admit it, I like cookbooks with lovely pics in them...) what it does have however, are weekly food plans, complete with the receipt showing how much the week's shop should cost for a family (she uses a different supermaket each time, and it's about £30 a week - admittedly back in about 2007!) If you're struggling to find somewhere to start, or just loking to see how other people do it, this is a great place to start. She'd done other books since, but I haven't read them, so can't comment on them.

[leafsta]

First of all can I make clear my feelings that I feel we as a nation eat far too much food.

Ok, now that clear, the second thing i'd like to say (or shout even) is INTERMITTENT FASTING (IF).

IF is a form of repetitive fasting and a simple google will tell all, but the one I follow is a 16:8 split which basically means I eat all my food within an 8 hour window - this essentially means I eat 2 meals a day, filling myself both times, first meal (breakfast consisting of homemade granola with berries and banana) at 12 midday, second meal (dinner/tea whichever floats your boat) at around 7pm (ensuring nothing is eaten after 8pm).

It is important to state that during the 'fast' period, water and tea/coffee without milk/sugar can be consumed at will.

Due to this, the grocery bill for my wife and I is around £2100 per year and this includes cleaning goods, bog roll, toothpaste etc. I shop predominantly at Costco and Lidl, with certain things coming from the big supermarkets (normally when on offer! ) - I never buy cheap brands and eat good quality meat/fish with every main meal.

Any questions regarding IF will gladly be answered! And it has now become a way of life as opposed to a 'diet' - something which never works!

[dangermaus]

First of all can I make clear my feelings that I feel we as a nation eat far too much food.

Ok, now that clear, the second thing i'd like to say (or shout even) is INTERMITTENT FASTING (IF).

IF is a form of repetitive fasting and a simple google will tell all, but the one I follow is a 16:8 split which basically means I eat all my food within an 8 hour window - this essentially means I eat 2 meals a day, filling myself both times, first meal (breakfast consisting of homemade granola with berries and banana) at 12 midday, second meal (dinner/tea whichever floats your boat) at around 7pm (ensuring nothing is eaten after 8pm).

It is important to state that during the 'fast' period, water and tea/coffee without milk/sugar can be consumed at will.

Due to this, the grocery bill for my wife and I is around £2100 per year and this includes cleaning goods, bog roll, toothpaste etc. I shop predominantly at Costco and Lidl, with certain things coming from the big supermarkets (normally when on offer! ) - I never buy cheap brands and eat good quality meat/fish with every main meal.

Any questions regarding IF will gladly be answered! And it has now become a way of life as opposed to a 'diet' - something which never works!

I do IF too, still spend a fortune though, but I am a leanish 220lb

[leafsta]

I do IF too, still spend a fortune though, but I am a leanish 220lb

Rugby Player?

I play football and the whole reason for starting IF was due to an injury which kept me out for four months. I enjoy my food and can pack a fair amount away so I needed a way to control my weight whilst not exercising. It worked perfectly and has transformed my attitude towards food and made me realise that humans dont need as much food as we think.

[dangermaus]

Rugby Player?

I play football and the whole reason for starting IF was due to an injury which kept me out for four months. I enjoy my food and can pack a fair amount away so I needed a way to control my weight whilst not exercising. It worked perfectly and has transformed my attitude towards food and made me realise that humans dont need as much food as we think.

Same, had an injury and got fat, IF is the only way i can stay lean without obsessive macro counting

[leafsta]

Same, had an injury and got fat, IF is the only way i can stay lean without obsessive macro counting

With the added benefit of meals tasting SO MUCH BETTER!

[erat_forte]

No idea what my bill is, but the past year I have been eating more primal/palaeo style, huge cut back in grains and beans, upping protien and fats. It is a real challenge to do this and keep costs down!

[singlemalt]

Seriously people? It's not about (optionally) scratching around combining the cheapest of ingredients to make a semi-nutritious meal.

If you work for a living and can't at least eat good food then what's the point.

Made in China or Made in Germany?

For me it's quality every time (in everything).

[libspero]

Around £3000 a year for two people.

Lots of fresh veg which bumps the cost up a bit.. plus the occasional bottle of plonk.

[shipbuilder]

No idea what my bill is, but the past year I have been eating more primal/palaeo style, huge cut back in grains and beans, upping protien and fats. It is a real challenge to do this and keep costs down!

Me too, I think the way forward is to buy from local butchers and farm shops and cook from scratch.

I get most of my vegetables from a local organic box scheme, gradually upping the amount I grow myself. I used to live down the road from a farm shop/butcher, unfortunately not anymore, so online from Sainsbury's (poor in comparison to the butcher) until I find a good alternative.