I don’t know anyone on universal credit, I’ve looked up the amounts people can claim, a couple with two children can claim £1060.30 a week + rent . I don’t know if this is true.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I don’t know anyone on universal credit, I’ve looked up the amounts people can claim, a couple with two children can claim £1060.30 a week + rent . I don’t know if this is true.
I was not aware of what was said, but I agree that too many people rely on ready meals as they can't be bothered to cook or learn how to. So they pay over the top for often unhealthy food.
Apart for a pizza once every couple of months that's the only pre-prepared food I think I eat. I made all my own bread, biscuits, cakes too. I love cooking so why wouldn't I. I also have 2x 6ft freezers to store it all. This morning I made 5 litres of spiced carrot and lentil soup. 2Kg carrots £1.30 250g lentils - £0.75 Veg stock cube 5p 250ml milk 15p Pinch of chili and pinch of cumin Total cost £2.25 I get 8 generous portions from it so that works out to just under 30p/serving I bought all the ingredients from Waitrose It's also fat free
I'm sure it's very tasty but Lidl - 19p / Kg carrots. 45p each for a whole Swede....just sayin'. If I was cooking to a budget my first port of call wouldn't be Waitrose TBH.. then again it wouldn't be any of the other 'big' supermarkets either. The prices at my local Asda has shot up that much it's like a ghost town..conversley the Lidl just the down road has a full car park most days.
I think part of the problem is that a lot of people are not big foodies and they’ve never been taught how to cook healthy, affordable meals. But that does not mean they should starve. It means they need to be supported. If they are buying more expensive convenience food it’s because they don’t know how delicious home cooked food can be. I think it’s easy to look from our own perspectives and say “young people don’t know how to cook” but I know when I was younger my cooking wasn’t great. It’s taken time and experience. I also think that generally, if people were better equipped to manage their finances and prepare balanced, nutritious meals within their budget, they would be more likely to progress towards a higher paid job and not be in that situation for very long anyway.
The point about smartphones etc is not really relevant as they could have been purchased when finances were better. A lot of people are struggling when previously they were relatively comfortable.
I don’t drink or smoke, but I have compassion for those that are suffering from addiction so bad they would choose their drug over food.
This morning I made 5 litres of spiced carrot and lentil soup. 2Kg carrots £1.30 250g lentils - £0.75 Veg stock cube 5p 250ml milk 15p Pinch of chili and pinch of cumin Total cost £2.25 I get 8 generous portions from it so that works out to just under 30p/serving I bought all the ingredients from Waitrose It's also fat free
30p? No not possible, Just take pete's recipe above, a perfectly ok soup, but in no way a balanced meal and per serving it only provides 222 calories so it isn't 1/3 of a days allowance.
Even ignoring cooking and freezing costs to eat the above as a diet (and I'm sure that's not what was intended) would cost £2.50 per day and would be terribly imbalanced.
The major problem comes not from making one meal, add a couple of potatoes or a bread roll/butter to the above and it becomes an ok meal, but how do you make something like that every day, without only eating carrots, potatoes and onions, which is NOT a balanced diet.
£1.20 For 4 people? That's the same as 30p each, but some economy can come in. (prices come from sainsburys online shopping all things available in these amounts)
700g potatoes 31p
baked beans 21p
1 cabbage 59p
Carrot x2 (250g) 9p
Your having microwaved baked potatoes with baked beans and coleslaw with no dressing, on the bright side, you'll have 1/2 a cabbage left over for tomorrow so maybe you can buy a pack of lard with tomorrows money (39p) a bag of flour (40p) and have some dumplings boiled in cabbage soup...
If you raise the amount to £1 per person it becomes fairly easy but still very monotonous.
People laughed when Delia Smith bought out her basic cook books, but she was right. As a student,I learnt how to cook on a budget very quickly , a good housekeeping cook book was my bible. Masterchef and the like make a lot of people think they cannot do it. My aunt went to catering college and worked as a cook most of her working life. She always said if you can read a book, you can follow a recipe, and you can cook. Maybe its time for new basic cookery lessons on the tv.
You're right @fidgetbones, although I believe the percentage of people who can't actually read is quite high, which is appalling in itself.
I also think people have got out of the habit of saving money so they have something to fall back on in hard times. I always used to tell my clients to make sure that they had at least three months and preferably six months wages put aside in a cash account as a 'cushion', then they could think about further investment. Does anybody do that these days?
I think my cheap standbys would be either soup, baked beans on toast or cheese on toast and an apple. Shepherds/Cottage Pie might be another with a banana for afters.
That’s not a bad idea @fidgetbones. Perhaps it could be like Ready Steady Cook. What can you make with half a pack of pasta, a tin of beans and some celery.
When I first started work, money was always tight, I was glad to have something leftover at the end of the month. I worked with someone who said she never felt safe unless she had money for six months bills squirrelled away. At the time that seemed unimaginable to me. It probably took 20 years to have that size nest egg behind me. Then I found out that when I needed some of it for an unexpected bill, my ex husband had spent it.
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I don’t know if this is true.
If I was cooking to a budget my first port of call wouldn't be Waitrose TBH.. then again it wouldn't be any of the other 'big' supermarkets either.
The prices at my local Asda has shot up that much it's like a ghost town..conversley the Lidl just the down road has a full car park most days.
I also think people have got out of the habit of saving money so they have something to fall back on in hard times. I always used to tell my clients to make sure that they had at least three months and preferably six months wages put aside in a cash account as a 'cushion', then they could think about further investment. Does anybody do that these days?
I think my cheap standbys would be either soup, baked beans on toast or cheese on toast and an apple. Shepherds/Cottage Pie might be another with a banana for afters.