Food thoughts

We’ve recently been watching one of those programmes that purport to teach families how to save money on their food bills. Most of their conclusions seem to work on the basis that you eat the same things every week. That is far from the truth in our case.

I found myself thinking over the weekend what foodstuffs we do eat or drink every week. There were very few. Tea, sugar & milk – essentials for our sense of well-being. Then there’s potatoes, a staple of our diet, although sometimes we do eat predominantly pasta or rice. Bread, butter & margarine. Onions, essential for so many meals. Oh, and there’s salt & pepper for seasoning. And that’s about it. Everything else varies according to what we eat.

Admittedly some old favourites do turn up fairly often, but it’s not weekly. So today some lamb is plopping away in a casserole, but the lamb is mixed with different ingredients from when I last made such a casserole. Tomorrow the Fox is making a Hampton Pie using gammon & baked beans, neither of which we’ve had for weeks.

A couple of ideas I do agree on. To shop economically it is essential to shop with a meal plan in mind & therefore a sensible list & stick to it – that way there’s far less waste. The other thing is be prepared to try non-branded cheaper goods. Sometimes they’re not very satisfactory so next time you go up in price a bit, sometimes you can’t tell the difference so stick with them. Equally I’m a great believer of using the freezer for all those leftovers that can make further meals – hence the Hampton Pie tomorrow. Prepare your own fruit & veg – it is both cheaper & they keep longer & are therefore more likely to be used up before they go off.

I’m suddenly beginning to understand why I see so many bins bulging with waste. The only time we do is if we’ve had a delivery that has a lot of packing to dispose of. Usually food scraps just about cover the base & that’s it.