“Value” or “Taste the Difference”?

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 27 July 2011 in Featured, frugal | 13 comments

This month’s Which magazine* includes a section about supermarket food prices (apparently 57% of people are looking for reduced price food more now than they were a year ago, and 60% are using offers more – but 43% think most supermarket promotions are on unhealthy food) and an article about whether we should pick the value version, the standard one or the premium brand of various food products.

The Which people compared the prices and made relevant ingredient comparisons (eg, the amount of meat in a lasagne ready meal) between each of the different levels, and also did taste tests.

I obviously won’t type out the whole article here but they did recommend the budget option for: butter, natural (not fruit) yogurt, frozen peas, spaghetti and for use when cooking stews etc, carrots, frozen fish, cheddar cheese, kidney beans and tinned tomatoes.

And they suggested the following premium products were worth splashing out on: bacon (less water), beef mince (less fat), sausages (less bulking agents), ham (less water/additives) and ready-meal quiche. They added that you should go premium or at least standard on teabags, fruit yogurts, cornflakes and ready meals like lasagne.

Funnily enough, this roughly matches where we spend our money – John has a thing about expensive bacon & sausages but we’re happy with cheap yoghurt and butter, and use budget carrots and cheese for cooking.

One thing I’d possibly disagree on is the tomatoes: I find the cheapest ones tend to include a lot of “stalk” ends (not a problem in a curry, more of a problem in a quick sauce) and more citric acid & other acidic preservatives (John has an intolerance to lots of acids like that), so we tend to go for standard or premium ones if they’re on offer so as cheap as standard.

Aside from the things they looked at, I often buy value plain flour for basic baking (especially for dusting) and in the non-food sphere, the cleaning products I buy (including washing powder) tend to be the basic range too. Back in the day, when we used to buy them frequently, I also used to rate value oven chips over branded ones. We also buy a lot of super cheap brand stuff – the cost equivalent of value brands, just not from the major supermarkets – like rice, vegetable oil and pickled vegetables or chutneys (mostly from shops specialising in Asian or Mediterranean food stuffs).

Having said that, a peek into our cupboards to “research” this post showed me that by far the most common label is Morrisons standard own brand. I know from experience that most things were bought on offer so they’d have been cheaper or about equal to the budget brands – but bearing in mind Which’s findings, I think we could swap to budget in a few more areas.

What do you think? Do you always go for one product class or mix and match for different things? Do you actually prefer the value option of anything? And is there anything you always pick premium for?

I would love to hear people’s value product recommendations – and ones where the extra money really is worth it for premium!

* I don’t buy Which magazine, or any magazines, regularly but signed up for a subscription in June when we were buying a few things for the house. I don’t swear by Which but lacking any other up-to-date information sources, we thought it was worth at least checking out. I like that Which is about buying quality items that will last; I dislike that it promotes consumption, often in the form of gadgets – whenever John & I read it, we both feel “well, maybe I do need a new camera…” pangs. Baaaaaaaad.

I might love my neighbours and broccoli but I hate squishy seed potatoes

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 26 July 2011 in growing | 8 comments

You know how seed potatoes go squishy and brown by the time you harvest your new potatoes?

Is it just me or is putting your hand into that BALL OF VILENESS, the vegetable equivalent of Satan’s diseased gonad, enough to put you off growing potatoes for life?

…

Just me?

I heart my neighbours – and broccoli

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 26 July 2011 in growing | 6 comments

My attempts to grow broccoli this year were one big flop – they all went to seed during the hot spell in April.

My attempts to grow broccoli-substitute rapini were also a big flop – they went to seed too (although since they only need about 45 days to grow, I might be able to squeak out another try of those this year).

Then yesterday, I bumped into one of our dog-walking buddies while out with Lily-dog. We’ve been walking the round hound in the evening recently so haven’t seen him for a good few weeks, perhaps a couple of months. We chatted growing successes and failures this year, and he mentioned he had some spare broccoli – already in pots and starting to bud – and would I like some?

I said I would – expecting a few little seedlings. He dropped four of these bad boys off yesterday afternoon.

You know that empty bed I mentioned the other week? Empty no more!

I don’t really have any plants to share at this point but I think a pack of eggs, some freshly made lemon curd and whatever else I can conjure up will be heading his way soon.

Thanks neighbour!

This week’s meal plan

Posted by louisa on Monday 25 July 2011 in weekly meal plans | 2 comments

I’ve not done meal plans for the last few weeks – it started when I wasn’t going to be here/cooking for a week during my drama-packed week earlier in the month, then I was off and on poorly for a week so not eating much, then it was my birthday week (so lots of eating out or at least not me cooking!) and then it was now. However, in between all that, we’ve reached quite a few dinner times without an idea of what we’re going to eat (and all our Swillington Farm meat frozen solid) so I think it’s time we returned to planning!

Sunday brunch – sausage & eggs
Sunday dinner – beef & mushroom casserole with butter dumplings*, and veg

Monday lunch – pate on toast** sliced beef & mustard in a bun
Monday dinner – (John away) sticky sticky spare ribs

Tuesday lunch – sausage & eggs
Tuesday dinner – leftover beef & mushroom casserole with dumplings & veg

Wednesday lunch – ham sandwiches
Wednesday dinner – chorizo & courgette frittata

Thursday lunch – samosas and salad
Thursday dinner – (John out) pasta with John’s special pasta sauce (from the freezer)

Friday lunch – pork pies from Wilson’s in Armley***
Friday dinner – celebratory**** meal out – probably bargainacious curry.

Saturday brunch – bacon & eggs
Saturday dinner – chicken legs, with new potatoes from the garden & salad

* ie, dumplings made with butter not suet.
** damn you mouldy bread! I only bought the pate because I knew I had you to use up. Then you went mouldy. *shakes fist*
*** well, John will have a yummy pork pie – Wilson’s do very nice pork pies. I will have a cornish pasty and wish I could have a pork pie without it giving me indigestion. Damn you pork pies. *shakes fist*
**** we’re, hopefully, completing the sale of our old house, I think that deserves a £6 a head curry ;)

Extreme frugality – a good thing or a bad thing?

Posted by louisa on Friday 22 July 2011 in Featured, frugal | 14 comments

Extreme frugality worries me. I’m not talking about when people have to do it from absolute necessity – when they have no other choice because either their kids will starve or they’ll immediately lose their home etc. I mean when already frugal people declare they’re going to tighten their belts to a supermodel-thin level by choice – as various frugal living bloggers do from time to time.

Of course, personal reduction challenges can be useful in themselves or very interesting as self-reflection exercises. They can help break bad habits, force you to try new things (dried pulses can be fun!) or reveal things about yourself. A great example of this is Consumption Rebellion‘s $2 a day food challenge – it was fascinating to see how quality of food can affect someone in the short term as well as the well known health effects in the long term.

“How low can you go” can be interesting too – watching as people reduce their outgoings by choosing cheaper alternatives or cutting out luxuries – but at the same time, I worry that it can become a one downmanship game, an unspoken “you have to be –> this frugal to be a frugal blogger” competition. I also worry that with some people, there is a martyrdom aspect to their new “extreme” path, as if they’re trying to atone for previously spendthrifty behaviour. They wear their extreme frugality as a hair shirt.

Most importantly though, I worry that general extreme frugality is like a short-term extreme diet. Everyone knows those diets are bad news – that they’re more likely to result in bingeing behaviour at weak spots and people tend to regain all the weight lost, and more. Extreme frugality doesn’t seem sustainable and could impact their (and their families) general attitude to frugal living.

Perhaps I’m being unfair. Obviously “extreme” is a very subjective term and what I might think of as “extreme” frugality isn’t what the people doing it think – although from descriptions, I suspect there is some overlap.

I also suspect it very much depends on the individual’s goals/priorities. My priority is kinda indicated in the blog’s title (and certainly on the About page) – I want to live well on a budget rather than super-frugally because I’m really interested in the ongoing journey not the destination. Admittedly part of that is because I don’t have to live super-frugally – we have enough money for our day to day living, aren’t having to save for anything in particular at the moment and don’t have debts (other than a mortgage) to pay off — but even if I was saving furiously/paying off debts, I think I’d prefer to have a slightly larger amount to spend day to day and less going into savings/debt relief – I want to enjoy my life, to live a really good life. While I suspect it’s easier for me to say this now than if I was living it (life with debt is scarier than most debt-free people think), I’d rather spend a little longer paying off those debts than be miserable and potentially risk my health in the meantime. Perhaps that’s just me though, and I’m worried about “extreme frugal” stints because it’s something I would be reluctant to do, without a very good immediate reason.

What do you think about “extreme frugality”? Have you given it a go at any point? What was your experience? Do you think my worries are unjustified? Do you think I’m being unfair?

I’d love to hear other people’s opinions on this.

(Photo by sufinawaz)