RE - Economic Crisis Bitten Your Food Budget?

[Guest guest]

 

We have cut back a lot on our spending recently as a matter of necessity.  It

is more about being more thrifty than actually cutting out certain

items.   We seldom ate out so I haven't been able to make any savings

there.  I have never bought many top of the range brands or ready meals so

that's not an option for cutting down either.  I have always enjoyed cooking

from scratch and have been doing so for more years than I care to think about. 

One 'luxury' I do still allow myself is pre-cut and washed kale.  I feel it's

worth the expense of buying it already washed and cut and, in any case, it is

seldom available uncut here in Holland.  I also usually have a couple of tins

of cooked chockpeas in the store cupboard for emergency use but I normally buy

dry beans, lentils etc and cook them myself.

 

There is one food item I used to buy reasonably frequently (maybe one every 2-3

weeeks) and that is vegetarian 'fillets' and other similar items.  I now make

patties/fritters from fresh vegetables, oatmeal, beans etc.  They don't taste

exactly the same but are much, much cheaper and more nutritious as well.

 

 

I now prepare cheaper meals to cut down the weekly food budget.   Each week I

prepare a menu and a shopping list but both are flexible enough to take account

of any super bargains I happen to find.  I try to stick a maximum of €4 for

the evening meal for two adults but I can usually manage it much more cheaply

than that.  We have at least one rice and one pasta based meal per week as

these are quite economical to prepare (depending on the other ingredients of

course).  We have a big pot of soup at least once a week except during the

height of summer.  Starting from scratch with no pre-cut soup vegetable packets

makes this an extremely cheap meal and a wonderful way of using up things such

as broccoli stalks.

 

This isn't anything new for me but I have always used vegetable cooking water to

make sauces instead of using milk - a saving in money and a real non-fat vitamin

boost.

 

Cutting down on quantities is another way I have been trying to money.  I'm

the first to admit that I used to cook more than was really necessary as I would

often cook from a recipe for 4 people.  The two of us would eat about 3/4 of

what I prepared and I would finish the rest off for lunch the next day.  That

means that we were eating 1.5 serves each at dinner.

 

Cheaper no-frills supermarkets (such as Lidl and Aldi here) can be great for

savings.  I am now talking about my experience in the Netherlands - things may

well be different where you live.  I find the range, quality and price of

fresh fruit and vegetables to be excellent at Lidl, far more so than in Aldi. 

 

Not all the cheaper brand alternatives are equally good but there are some

products which are outstanding value. For example, I buy a shrink wrapped packs

of 6 x 500 ml of soda water for 75 cents at Lidl.  The equivalent top of the

range brand is called Spa Rood and costs over €2.50 for 6 x 500 ml bottles at

the mainstream supermarkets.  It's even cheaper if you buy the large 2 litre

bottles from Lidl but I prefer the smaller ones as I can take them with me when

I go out.

 

Other items which are significantly cheaper at Lidl are shampoo/shower

gel/toothpaste etc., cleaning products (but you really do have to watch the

quality here), milk, bread, cheese, spice cake (known here as ontbijtkoek

'breakfast cake') is 39 cents for a big log at Lidl, about half the cost of the

dearer supermarkets, tinned vegetables and fruit and so on.  The range is much

more limited than at the other supermarkets but there are some wonderful savings

to be made. 

 

Lidl also sells meat but I couldn't comment on the comparative price/quality. 

I do remember that a year or so ago the consumers' association in Holland found

Lidl's minced meat the best in the country for both quality and price. 

 

A similar test was carried out recently on clothes washing liquid for washing at

30 C.  Lidl's home brand came out on top of all the tested varieties (some

well over twice the price of the Lidl brand).

 

 

One non-food thing I have cut out is my subscription to the weekly TV guide.  I

figure I can get the information about TV and radio programmes from Internet so

I can do without the book each week.

 

This isn't about food and nor is it anything new for me as I have been doing it

for years but I thought I'd pass on the tip anyway.  For those of you who work

in an office or know someone who does, try asking if you can take home the

spoiled/unwanted paper from the fax machine/photocopier etc.  Most of it works

fine in your computer printer (make sure you put it in the right way up

though!!!).  The pages with staple holes, turned up corners etc make great for

scrap paper or for children to use for drawings.

 

On a similar theme, those of you with young children probably have a pile of

their special artwork which you can't bear to throw away.  One way to save

money as well as to give the recipient a lovely surprise is to use these

paintings as gift wrapping paper (with the permission of the artist of course!)

 

I could go on and on (well, to be honest I have already gone on and on LOL) but

I'll stop now.

 

Cheers from Marie

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Marie,

 

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, it is very help ful to manage the

budget in today's crisis.

Txs

 

--- On Wed, 3/4/09, marierieuwers <marierieuwers wrote:

 

marierieuwers <marierieuwers

RE - Economic Crisis Bitten Your Food Budget?

" Vegetarian Spice "

Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 6:19 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have cut back a lot on our spending recently as a matter of necessity.  It

is more about being more thrifty than actually cutting out certain

items.   We seldom ate out so I haven't been able to make any savings

there.  I have never bought many top of the range brands or ready meals so

that's not an option for cutting down either.  I have always enjoyed cooking

from scratch and have been doing so for more years than I care to think about. 

One 'luxury' I do still allow myself is pre-cut and washed kale.  I feel it's

worth the expense of buying it already washed and cut and, in any case, it is

seldom available uncut here in Holland.  I also usually have a couple of tins

of cooked chockpeas in the store cupboard for emergency use but I normally buy

dry beans, lentils etc and cook them myself.

 

 

 

There is one food item I used to buy reasonably frequently (maybe one every 2-3

weeeks) and that is vegetarian 'fillets' and other similar items.  I now make

patties/fritters from fresh vegetables, oatmeal, beans etc.  They don't taste

exactly the same but are much, much cheaper and more nutritious as well.

 

 

 

 

 

I now prepare cheaper meals to cut down the weekly food budget.   Each week I

prepare a menu and a shopping list but both are flexible enough to take account

of any super bargains I happen to find.  I try to stick a maximum of €4 for

the evening meal for two adults but I can usually manage it much more cheaply

than that.  We have at least one rice and one pasta based meal per week as

these are quite economical to prepare (depending on the other ingredients of

course).  We have a big pot of soup at least once a week except during the

height of summer.  Starting from scratch with no pre-cut soup vegetable packets

makes this an extremely cheap meal and a wonderful way of using up things such

as broccoli stalks.

 

 

 

This isn't anything new for me but I have always used vegetable cooking water to

make sauces instead of using milk - a saving in money and a real non-fat vitamin

boost.

 

 

 

Cutting down on quantities is another way I have been trying to money.  I'm

the first to admit that I used to cook more than was really necessary as I would

often cook from a recipe for 4 people.  The two of us would eat about 3/4 of

what I prepared and I would finish the rest off for lunch the next day.  That

means that we were eating 1.5 serves each at dinner.

 

 

 

Cheaper no-frills supermarkets (such as Lidl and Aldi here) can be great for

savings.  I am now talking about my experience in the Netherlands - things may

well be different where you live.  I find the range, quality and price of

fresh fruit and vegetables to be excellent at Lidl, far more so than in Aldi. 

 

 

 

Not all the cheaper brand alternatives are equally good but there are some

products which are outstanding value. For example, I buy a shrink wrapped packs

of 6 x 500 ml of soda water for 75 cents at Lidl.  The equivalent top of the

range brand is called Spa Rood and costs over €2.50 for 6 x 500 ml bottles at

the mainstream supermarkets.  It's even cheaper if you buy the large 2 litre

bottles from Lidl but I prefer the smaller ones as I can take them with me when

I go out.

 

 

 

Other items which are significantly cheaper at Lidl are shampoo/shower

gel/toothpaste etc., cleaning products (but you really do have to watch the

quality here), milk, bread, cheese, spice cake (known here as ontbijtkoek

'breakfast cake') is 39 cents for a big log at Lidl, about half the cost of the

dearer supermarkets, tinned vegetables and fruit and so on.  The range is much

more limited than at the other supermarkets but there are some wonderful savings

to be made. 

 

 

 

Lidl also sells meat but I couldn't comment on the comparative price/quality. 

I do remember that a year or so ago the consumers' association in Holland found

Lidl's minced meat the best in the country for both quality and price. 

 

 

 

A similar test was carried out recently on clothes washing liquid for washing at

30 C.  Lidl's home brand came out on top of all the tested varieties (some

well over twice the price of the Lidl brand).

 

 

 

 

 

One non-food thing I have cut out is my subscription to the weekly TV guide.  I

figure I can get the information about TV and radio programmes from Internet so

I can do without the book each week.

 

 

 

This isn't about food and nor is it anything new for me as I have been doing it

for years but I thought I'd pass on the tip anyway.  For those of you who work

in an office or know someone who does, try asking if you can take home the

spoiled/unwanted paper from the fax machine/photocopier etc.  Most of it works

fine in your computer printer (make sure you put it in the right way up

though!!!).  The pages with staple holes, turned up corners etc make great for

scrap paper or for children to use for drawings.

 

 

 

On a similar theme, those of you with young children probably have a pile of

their special artwork which you can't bear to throw away.  One way to save

money as well as to give the recipient a lovely surprise is to use these

paintings as gift wrapping paper (with the permission of the artist of course!)

 

 

 

I could go on and on (well, to be honest I have already gone on and on LOL) but

I'll stop now.

 

 

 

Cheers from Marie