The FastDay Forum

This may be true in Australia but not over here.

Since I began dieting I cut off a lot of things, alcohol and other stuff and, as I said earlier, I cook everything from scratch, no process food and no junk food either, only fresh and helthy food.

I eat less, but it doesn't matter, as the prices keep going up, I don't see any difference on my bill at the end of the day. I thought it was because I did too much at a time (once a month), but no, it's not that,

2 years ago I spent 30 euros and had enough food for 2 weeks (I am talking only food, not cleaning products on soaps and shampoos), now I have to spend 50 euros for the same results. And I live in a small town so imagine if I lived in a big city.

As I said earlier also, I recently compared prices from the big town where I lived before and here and the prices in the big town are 10% more expansive.

And I can't even imagine how it is if you live in Paris !

Surprised to hear that Manderlay as the principle of cutting consumption and thus spending of money is the same worldwide. I guess if you werent doing fasting then it would be even more than you are actually spending.

Cutting alcohol from say 5 bottles of wine plus some beer in the household a week to 1 or 2 bottles itself cuts at least $50 a month if not more. (a reasonable bottle here is $10)

Is there massive inflation going on over there? (I should probably read more about international affairs than i do)

Sorry but no, I eat less but spend the same. Not more, just the same.

I never drank as much alcohol that what you describe, it was only 2 bottles of wine a month, as I recieved a lot at home so it's 6 euros less on the bill. No idea how much it is in dollars.

I always buy only what I need, always in the same shops and, yes, the prices have been up from some time here. Now, I don't know how it is elsevhere but here, when I compare my tickets from last year, the same exact products, they have all been up.

Since we have been with euros, the prices are wild and eacb year passing is worse. The baguette, just that, costs 27% more, chicken 47% more and the list could go on and on.

We should never leave the francs for the euros, that was an enormous mistake.

Food prices have gone up globally, Manderley, not just in eurozone countries. As I posted earlier, some items in the UK are up to 40% more expensive than 2-3 years ago. Much of this can be blamed on the weather - floods, cold springs, wet summers etc have ruined many crops while big businesses speculating on the food markets has seen the price of grains, rice and other food commodities rocket - your chicken has gone up in price because grain costs more, for example.

I have seen a huge increase in prices in France. I spend time in both England and France, and years ago we used to bring stuff from France to England because it was better value, especially things like olive oil. This is no longer the case, and now I take stuff to France. I think in England it is much easier to shop around. I use "bargain" shops like Home Bargains in England, but they don't seem to exist in France - at least, I have never seen any. In our small town there is very little choice of shops, and even at the weekly market food is horribly expensive. In England I buy mainly organic fruit and vegetables, I am happy to pay more for quality food, but in my experience, basic food in France costs more than premium in England.
I'm sorry Manderley, this doesn't help with you original question, but just think, at least by fasting you must be saving some money, it would cost you more if you were eating normally on 7 days rather than 5.

I have been following this thread with interest. I am conscious that I spend a lot on my food shop and there's only 2 of us - only me from mon morning to fri night! I find I come away from the till with an internal conversation going something like this:

'Sheesh, £60! I spent that last week - I planned my meals and I don't waste anything - how can this be? Oh well THIS week I bought washing liquid, oh and I got that '3 for £10' meat deal (some for the freezer) and yeah there was that half price bottle of wine, too.' So I mentally take off the price of all the 'big' things - but of course next week there will be another load of 'big' things to take off the price!

I do think supermarkets can be both friend and foe - you do get some things cheaper but then some things are more expensive (in season fruit & veg are often a similar price in my local greengrocer but you can either get more for the same money or they're often bigger, like the enormous peaches I've been getting lately. Some things, however, aren't so good) and unless you are able to spend time (and petrol money) driving around all of them and also going down to the greengrocer, it's hard to know which things you're saving money on and which are costing more.

I also have the ethical dilemmas when I shop - fairtrade or not fairtrade? Organic? What about ecological cleaning products? On top of the health dilemmas - bread? Should I get block butter (more ecological packaging) or spreadable butter (might actually be able to get some onto my toast)?

In fact the best way for me to save money is to take my husband food shopping - he hates it so much I whizz round and really focus on the list and we're out in half the time it usually takes. But then I am one of those sad people that actually really enjoys food shopping... Probably why I spend so much...

September & October are budget months!!!

Greenmonster everything you've said rings a bell with me. Its a series of dilemas - do I buy locally, ethically, move expensive food, in small quantities, and make sure we eat it all, or buy cheaper bulk food from the supermarket (which the kids prefer). Do I make my own food from scratch, which involves carbs, like home made bread, pastry, cakes, which is good value for money, but suffer the weight consequences, or buy a pure diet of meat and veg, which is more expensive, but rarely any is wasted, and I feel great on it ?

Greenmonster everything you've said rings a bell with me. Its a series of dilemas - do I buy locally, ethically, move expensive food, in small quantities, and make sure we eat it all, or buy cheaper bulk food from the supermarket (which the kids prefer). Do I make my own food from scratch, which involves carbs, like home made bread, pastry, cakes, which is good value for money, but suffer the weight consequences, or buy a pure diet of meat and veg, which is more expensive, but rarely any is wasted, and I feel great on it ?

I think it's all a case of balance. I shop local as much as possible - market and Asian greengrocer etc because it keeps money circulating in the local economy rather than ending up at the HQ of some huge corporate. I buy local too, where possible, to keep local food producers in business. I prefer to pay more for my meat and eat less of it because the retailer supplies organic, traceable meat which I think is really important given the problems of things like adulterated meat (horse when you thought you were getting beef) or contamination from intensive rearing (salmonella/e.Coli outbreaks etc). Plus most of the meat they sell is rare breed so I'm doing our farmers a favour there too.

I long ago gave up by eco cleaning products because they are rubbish. A clean house is more important than ethics on that score.

I try not to waste food, but if I have to chuck anything it goes in the green recycling bin for composting.

I make what I can - it doesn't have to be carbs, btw, I do stuff like chutneys and spice pastes and often trade them with friends.

Totally agree on the meat front, I try to mainly only buy from the butcher, farmers market, or eat our own pork from the small holding. But all the stuff I make myself to preserve our home produced fruit and veg, such as chutneys and jams, are high sugar, so I've stopped eating them. Hence I have a cupboard full of marmalade, crab apple jelly etc, which I'm gradually giving away to friends.

Its not easy

A few years ago I opened a separate account and transfer the 'food budget' into this, I then withdraw an allocated amount of cash for the week..food, cleaning product and so on. This has made such a difference to my bank balance...it stopped me buying the offers which really are always there its just a huge marketing tool to get us to spend more. I don't really need the shelf to be stacked up with the same product!! It used to make my family laugh...and don't get me on to bulk buying!! Ha ha!

And I can't even imagine how it is if you live in Paris !

Very expensive, I'm always shocked that if you go out of IDF food is so much cheaper, even the same product in the same chain of supermarket!

We try to keep to a budget of €100 per week for me (vegan), my husband, and my kids aged 5 and 21 monthz, and we are nearly always over...and I cook everything from scratch, we eat nearly no meat (at most my husband has a couple of slices of ham and a piece of chicken a week) and my son eats at school 4 luchtimes a week. I make things like vege sausages myself from pulses, I make a lot of things I can freeze (as far as possible in my tiny flat)...I even make my own vegan cheese LOL, and still I can't seem to cut costs.

I watched the Jamie Oliver programme. I like him though I know his mannerisms infuriate some people.
I liked his fish pie which included, for those who didn't see it, carrots and onions in the fish base and pea puree in the mash on top. BUT,although he made the point that frozen fish is cheaper than fresh, he could have gone even cheaper by using those frozen coley portions (flavour doesn't matter that much when you have so many other flavoursome ingredients) - and why add expensive prawns? Very nice but this is supposed to be cheap!

But eating seems so complicated these days - apart from the cost, there's the ethical side and then "wonder food of the month", which turns out next month to be a baddie after all! At least 5:2 is simple in theory or should be!

My budgeting is scuppered by family who come home from time to time, it's lovely but I am thinking I should have some store cupboard ingredients (cheap) so I can just produce a meal quickly without rushing to the shops and buying something expensive without thinking about it. So a weekly budget wouldn't work with me.

Sorry, an earlier mail from me gave rise in the cost of living as too low - I didn't check the date!! Glad someone corrected it!

Depending on what you eat on fast days, you might spend less, the same or even more.
I spend more, because I eat slim noodles. Slim noodles cost me around 3,5 euros per pack (whether I buy them from Greece or order them from the UK. That's 7 euros per day for the noodles ONLY. That's around 10 euros on a fast day. I never spend that much on food, I eat Med style and it is cheap.
But I believe that one must make sacrifices in order to lose weight and compared to diets like Atkins or Dukan, I still spend less.

Forgot to add... Water fasts would deffo cut the cost.

I think food prices have increased across the board and more like 30% in a couple of years not 10%.

For example, about 3 years ago there was uproar because bread had gone up to 70 pence per loaf, because of a bad wheat crop that year. Now its £1.30 for a loaf, yet no one has really complained about it.

Its the same with meat, lamb went ultra expensive after Chernobyl, but its stayed ultra expensive, I have bough lamb once this year and that was a cheap cut. Beef is around £8 kg for minced beef, and £13kg for anything decent. I can't justify a kilo of meat for a Sunday joint anymore. Frozen chickens used to be my meat mainstay, they were brilliantly cheap, maybe £1.80 for a whole chicken. Now a frozen chicken is £4 +. I get a kilo bag of frozen chicken breast for £4.50 and have no waste. I don't care anymore if its carbon miles are all the way from Poland or New Zealand, I couldn't afford meat if I didn't buy the cheapest stuff around.

I always lurk around the reduced shelf, I even stalk the lady with the reducing machine some weeks when money is tight. I remember with fondness a completely soaked August Bank Holiday weekend where I managed to buy enough BBQ packs of meat for £2 each, enough to last us 2 months. Their best before date was that day, so I took them home, split the packs and re-bagged and froze everything in meal size portions of steak, sausage, bacon chops, lamb chops, and chicken breast pieces.

I now make my own bread as its much, much cheaper than buying store bought stuff, unless the bread has been reduce to 10 pence a loaf at the end of the day.

Toilet rolls, the cheapest brand may not be ultra soft and may not have as many pieces on a roll, but you are only wiping the unmentionables before throwing it away. Even if we bought 12 rolls of cheap toilet paper as opposed to six soft rolls, to make up the difference in sheet numbers, it is still cheaper over the week to buy cheap stuff. Its even better for us as we have a Cash & Carry card and use it for bulk buys. We get 24 toilet rolls, cheap stuff, for £2.48. It costs £5 for 12 rolls of Andrex brand. yet the cheap stuff will last nearly as long as the expensive stuff per roll.

I would love to be in a financial position where I could buy steak if I wanted it, instead of waiting for a Birthday meal, or lots of other stuff. But on the other hand I paid over £100 for some woodturning tools (it may end up being a business is how I justify it). Its how you prioritise. Now our chef son is living at home with us again, we tend to buy small amounts of better quality stuff, but what he can do with it makes it worth it.