Gubu.ie

Striking a Dickensian tone with the Title, given how we are apparently facing into a winter of despair (according to the pundits).

Anyways we had porridge for dinner, not because we cannot afford dinner, but both of us were too tired to cook and I make a mighty fine porridge. This one had almonds and pears in it.
I was saying maybe we should buy in a bulk load of porridge oats, because in fairness with a bit of sugar and a dash of milk it makes a very acceptable supper. And it's cheap.

Which got me on to thinking about my childhood. Brought up with not much in the way of money, and a lot in the way of kids, we had minced meat almost every day of the week. It was just the way it was. It was very Russian/Eastern European, in a way. Cabbage and minced meat and potatoes.

Late 70s and early 80s, my mother used to go to Carlow once every two weeks for a big shop in the discount supermarket, Three Guys, which my mother insisted on calling Gubays. Cheesus, the cornflakes were rank. But we had to eat them. Our mother stood over us. And we did eat the bloody cardboard yokes until the day my brother poured out the last bit of the box and out came the mouse droppings too.
That was the end of that. No wonder I've got such a good constitution!

For this winter I will probably get better with lentils and pulses, as I can get big bags of them in the Indian section of a supermarket not too far away.

What are your plans and tips for recessionary victuals? Are you cutting back on the avocados? The prosecco on hold? Or will you continue to have lashings of ginger beer and wagyu beef?

I like the thread title !

I've tightened up a bit with my food shopping.
Im now more focused on shopping for my weekly meals.
Whereas before I had less of a plan.

I have certainly tightened up my food shopping. To be honest food is where I spend my money - I don't drink, buy fancy clothes etc. But I like really good food! And now I am just walking past the good cheeses and cherries and special herbal infusions Like a pleb.

Baked potatoes are a really good cheap meal. And I love them.

Baked potatoes are savage and you can do so much with them.

We've tightened up on the shopping a little, but weren't particularly extravagant in the first place. A big change for me is takeaway coffee consumption, for which I would have been very extravagant. I now buy 1 or 2 a week whereas previously it would be 1 or 2 a day!!

Which got me thinking about whether or not most people who were heavy consumers of takeaway coffee are much the same as me, and have cut it back.

It's a pretty obvious saving in recessionary times, so I expect others have done the same. The reason this interests me is I live in a town that has:

a) one of the lowest commercial property vacancy rates in the country
b) one of the highest, if not the highest, % of commercial properties occupied by coffee shops in the country

I'm predicting a storm in a coffee cup ahead for my little town!

Takeaway coffee became such a huge thing in Ireland - as a non-coffee drinker I have been fascinated by it! Those big paper cups with lids are almost like a comfort blanket for so many. But anyway I understand coffee is a big thing for most people.
In fact it is going to be one of our problems. Himself is a monster coffee addict and his air-pressed Lavazza x at least 4 a day I guess is going to be next to impossible to pry from his clenched hands.

But feck me, coffee is gone so expensive! It's been slowly creeping up and now it's seriously a reason to hesitate.

I could roast dandelion roots...

I'm an addict no doubt, but paying 3.50 a pop to feed my habit is madness!
I still drink a truck load of coffee at home.

That's funny ye mentioned coffee, I've stopped buying takeaway coffee except if I go for a walk on Saturdays.

During the week I brew it at home and bring it to work.
It's too expensive to buy as a takeaway and not always that good.

Mirabeau wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:47 pm That's funny ye mentioned coffee, I've stopped buying takeaway coffee except if I go for a walk on Saturdays.

During the week I brew it at home and bring it to work.
It's too expensive to buy as a takeaway and not always that good.

This is what I am thinking, I imagine most are the same, it's an obvious place to cut back so surely that is a business sector that is suffering badly at the minute or about to.

I take a bit more care & attention with the shopping now.
Try and use everything in the fridge before I go out and buy more.
The old reliables - tinned sardines & mackerel are making a comeback.