Despite the huge increases in food prices, it’s still feasible to get a nutritionally balanced diet on a budget.
Too often politicians behave in the same way that insensitive, second rate doctors do when they have to break bad news to a patient. Both ministers and doctors hope that by belittling the problems that their patients, or the electorate, are suffering with, it will enable them to feel less anxious. They are wrong. Neither patients nor constituents are heartened by an assumed optimism and a nonchalant demeanour. If a family’s future is imperilled by possible disaster whether from debt or medical disasters, specious reassurance about the outcome does nothing to allay justifiable fears. A woman with a lump in her breast, a patient with unexplained intestinal bleeding or a householder whose grocery or supermarket bills rose by 12% last year and household energy bills by amounts too frightening to contemplate, doesn’t want to be told that there is nothing wrong. Conversely, patients in a tight spot, or someone who has to balance a tight budget with costs rising and a static income, will react to a careful and realistic evaluation of the situation.
Haven’t we been here before?
Recurrent periods of depression, recession, inflation and deflation have, over the last 60 years, destroyed the nation’s, as well as households’, budgets. As a child in the 1930s I received my first lessons in national economics from my father as we drove past the dole queues and he talked about the difficulties this caused for women feeding their families. During the war, rationing produced inflation, shortages and relative poverty for those unexpectedly living on a serviceman’s pay. In the 70s the level of inflation, as it affected many families, was grossly underestimated. But whether the family budgetary difficulties are related to inflation, depression or war, the need is to make certain that everyone remains well nourished, warm and that the mortgage is paid. A well-planned menu in a Norfolk household and careful shopping isn’t going to reverse the ever rising worldwide cost of meat or the international cereal shortage, but it may help a family to flourish despite a 50% increase in the cost of frozen peas and free range eggs during the last year. It is alarming to go to the butchers or the local supermarket. The bill for lamb chops that a few years ago could be paid for with loose change now needs several crisp notes. The weekly shop at the supermarket for bread, milk, vegetables, and other routine foods and household commodities has, within a year, risen by around 30%. The size of the bill at the supermarket checkout now always seems to require a credit card.
What should we do?
Ministerial injunctions to stop wasting food are all very well but saving £500 a year won’t be enough to keep the local bank quiet or answer the problems in the west caused by increased oil and petrol prices, global warming and poor harvests. Nor will this saving on the average family food bill solve the financial challenges that have arisen because of the burgeoning economies and increased prosperity of China, India and several other Far Eastern countries.
Even if the individual western householder can’t alter their country’s economy so as to alleviate depression or recession, a determination to organise their food so that family meals are planned, but their culinary interest and nutritional content is not compromised, will save money and maintain a healthy diet.
More time will have to be spent shopping and later in the kitchen. The weekly shop is still necessary to stock up the basic raw materials for cooking but the famous supermarkets should be forsaken for those that are rather more downmarket. The difference in cost is astounding even if the weekly order has to be supplemented by a near daily shop.
A wander through the local markets and stallholders will often provide bargain offers that will fit into the planned diet and occasionally reveal a higher quality item cheaper than it would be in a supermarket.
Back to basics
The aim is to feed the family, however large, without making meals boring or lacking in nutrition. The chops from the down market stores may not be so good, and the beef not top quality Aberdeen Angus, but with ingenuity, and a return to cooking rather than simply preparing meals, pounds can be saved. Standard fare may have to be casseroles rather than steaks. However with the right spices, taste is restored and slow cooking tenderises most old flesh. Macaroni cheese is cheap, spaghetti Bolognese, provided that the mince is of reasonable quality without too much fat, is delicious. The meat in meat pies may rely heavily on offal, but the protein is sound and offal is often rich in iron. Baked potatoes, eaten with their vitamin laden skins, can be enlivened and accompanied by foods including grated cheese, coleslaw, ham, baked beans and (for those who like it hot) chilli con carne. Eggs have increased in price but nutritionists and doctors no longer brand them as danger foods for they are rich in vitamins and protein, cheaper than meat and, even if not Omega 3 enhanced, not responsible for dangerously high cholesterol levels. Buying according to a planned menu will reduce waste and ensure a balanced diet. Buy as many local products as possible and use seasonal vegetables and fruit when available to satisfy the rule for five portions daily. An emphasis on fresh local produce may enable another generation to experience the excitement of the first strawberries, pumpkins, apples, asparagus and the pleasure of enjoying genuine new potatoes with spring lamb.
In the war when food was short we were issued with vitamin supplements and vitamin-rich cod liver oil and rose hip syrup. We are now due for another period of financial stringency and again we can reinforce our immune systems by taking a daily multi-vitamin, mineral and trace element supplement, easier than the cod liver oil and rose hip and rather more certain.
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