Strictly Cheese Sandwiches

Germanshepherdsmum

What are you going to eat if you can’t afford to buy bread MOnica? I don’t believe anyone can’t afford own brand bread and spread.
Indeed Norah, if making cheese on toast I don’t butter the bread. However we will now be told the fuel to make the toast is unaffordable.

Isn't that the point of this thread GSM? What, indeed, can you eat if you can't afford bread? Ann Widdecombe thinks people shouldn't eat it, if they can't afford it, so what should they eat?

You might not believe it, but there really are people who have no money left after they've paid their rent, council tax and utility bills - all of which have legal consequences if not paid.

IMO, to eat a decent nutritious vegan diet you need to be a bit of a foodie and have the dedication and time to plan and make meals. I know of only two life-long vegans and they are of Indian origin so they have the knowledge and skills that comes with that background.

For poor people buying pots of hummus, guacamole or Linda McCartney sausages isn't an option and the average poor working person wouldn't have the time or inclination to be preparing pulses, lentils, tofu etc, into tasty nutritious meals that the whole family would eat.

Germanshepherdsmum

What are you going to eat if you can’t afford to buy bread MOnica? I don’t believe anyone can’t afford own brand bread and spread.
Indeed Norah, if making cheese on toast I don’t butter the bread. However we will now be told the fuel to make the toast is unaffordable.

Own brand bread and spread is rarely available in local newsagents who will add 5 or 10p to prices in order to make a profit.

M0nica

Not if you do not have the money.

Interesting. A small budget does not include bread flour?

What is in a small weekly shop and what is the price/person?

Store bread is "price of a large wholemeal loaf of bread at £1.30"

If at the end of the week/month there isn't enough left of your wages/benefits to pay the bills and buy food you have to make a choice. It isn't a choice anyone should have to make. It is much harder now because if you have very little to spend on food you can't go to the big supermarket, which is probably a bus ride away, so you go to the local shop which has little choice and charges more.
Years ago when people were paid weekly they would run up bills at the corner shop and pay it off each week. They could also go in there with very little money and ask for 1 slice of bacon or two eggs. That's all gone and those who can't cope find it so much harder.

M0nica

None of the items you mention, Norah, are being sold in our village Co-op, nor to the best of my knowledge in the Co-op in my local town.

The Co-op in the town is a town centre Co-op. The other town centre supermarket is Waitrose and there is a Tesco right on the outskirts of the town, which can only be accessed by car or bus. The clientele at the Co-op are mainly the old and poor living in the numerous alms houses and housing association properties in and around the town centre. I go to it as the post office is there, and I shop for a friend and Waitrose does not stock te read she likes but the Co-op does.

As you say, I merely know what people on a strict vegan budget eat. and, with due respect, the vast majority of the population have different eating patterns to you, not better, not worse, but different.

Interesting.

I make hummous at least weekly, have never purchased, however I see it in the shops all the time. As well as peanut butter, dry beans, pulses, lentils, nuts, tofu - all staples.

I realize many people are not vegan or vegetarian - but I do know many people eat vegan staples like hummous - or it wouldn't be sold in pots in shops. Same to lentils/ pulses and tofu.

Sad people don't attempt vegan food - typically reasonable staples.

What are you going to eat if you can’t afford to buy bread MOnica? I don’t believe anyone can’t afford own brand bread and spread.
Indeed Norah, if making cheese on toast I don’t butter the bread. However we will now be told the fuel to make the toast is unaffordable.

Not if you do not have the money.

Germanshepherdsmum

Might you not be buying the bread and spread anyway? Usual staples.

Mum made open cheese bread/toasts. She didn't use anything except cheese, on a thick slice of bread - and toasted it all over.

I thought that ^ was what we were posting about this whole time.

My husband and I preferred hummous on toast and our children prefer peanut butter with some jam. No dairy spreads.

Might you not be buying the bread and spread anyway? Usual staples.

To make sandwiches you need to buy a whole loaf, probably 4 oz of cheese, plus a pot of spread/butter.

From that you may well be able to make a 30p sandwich. I do not know I have never tried, but supermarkets do not sell 30p sandwich kits, only whole loafs, lumps of cheese and tubs of spread.

Well I don't eat sandwiches so I'm not gonna even try!

Riverwalk

You can't make anything for 30p!

Yes, you can!

A pre-cost of living crisis cheese sandwich, for a start.

You can't make anything for 30p!

Riverwalk I already make something similar, but it costs a lot more than 30p!

It's a perfect example of something I eat, ie without refined carbs, but with meat and dairy.

I'm strict about keeping my total average food budget to less than £3 a day. I've been lucky in having free food available, but if anybody seriously has any ideas for cheap, low carb meals, I'd love them to share.

growstuff I make a really tasty very low carb moussaka:

Make the usual lamb/beef sauce using 500g meat, tinned tomatoes, onions, garlic, relevant dried herbs & seasoning. Whilst that's simmering slice two medium aubergines and drizzle well with olive oil and put in high oven until softened and golden brown. Layer the aubergines and sauce and top with a mixture of 500g full fat yoghurt, 2 beaten eggs, big handful of full fat mature cheddar and tablespoon of parmesan and sprinkling of nutmeg, then bake/grill until topping bubbling and golden.

Even with the cooking time it's very economical as it yields 4/5 good portions - I eat one and freeze the others. It reheats easily in the microwave.

It's important to use full fat yoghurt and cheese to prevent the topping separating. If you haven't got aubergines you can use courgettes.

None of the items you mention, Norah, are being sold in our village Co-op, nor to the best of my knowledge in the Co-op in my local town.

The Co-op in the town is a town centre Co-op. The other town centre supermarket is Waitrose and there is a Tesco right on the outskirts of the town, which can only be accessed by car or bus. The clientele at the Co-op are mainly the old and poor living in the numerous alms houses and housing association properties in and around the town centre. I go to it as the post office is there, and I shop for a friend and Waitrose does not stock te read she likes but the Co-op does.

As you say, I merely know what people on a strict vegan budget eat. and, with due respect, the vast majority of the population have different eating patterns to you, not better, not worse, but different.

Oreo

Do they?
Thanks for explaining foodstuffs but really think you have no idea what most people eat who are on budgets ( or off them)😂

I merely know what people on a strict vegan budget eat. That's all.

Do they?
Thanks for explaining foodstuffs but really think you have no idea what most people eat who are on budgets ( or off them)😂

Oreo

Sorry: Favabeans - you know favabeans?

Oreo,

Tofu is mainstream soy protein sold in 400g boxes.

Avocado-fafa*bean*- salad. Sorry for the lack of punctuation.

hummous, Sorry, lack of punctuation, again.

peanut or almond butter. Surely you know nut butters?

I Have never knowingly eaten a chick pea either.I hardly think people on a tight budget would know or buy those things.

You of course, may believe what you wish.

However chickpeas/ garbanzos (other name) are in hummous. I'd guess most people eat that delicious quite popular healthy snack.

Norah

M0nica (for the) Price of tomato slice, a few rocket leaves, a slice of tofu - if not a sum under 30p quite close. Sandwiches, as you know only use small bits of veg. My weekly shop of tomatoes and rocket will last all week. I drain, press, slice tofu, marinate, spice, fry. Wrap slices. Freeze. A box makes 10 sandwiches.

Comments like the above make me realise what an alternative world so many people on this thread live in and how judgmental they are.

Where in the inner cities and food deprived areas of this country do you find shops selling tofu and bags of rocket at prices that any one trying to feed a family on £50 a week would even think of buying? How many of these families would even know what tofu is or where to buy it?

Well, M0nica, you quoted me, replying to a question of what we eat in sandwiches. The person asked about meatless and cost.

I said what our sandwiches that day consisted of. Quite cheap food one can find anywhere. I also said what our other usual sandwiches contain: "Chick pea salad, avocado fava salad, mushroom and pickled onions, veg and avocado, crispy tofu, hummous peanut or almond butter. Aquafaba mayo (chickpea boiling liquid). Anything really, without meat or cheese."

I stand by what I posted. Not judgmental, a factual answer to what we eat.

Everyone knows tofu, it exists, has for decades. Some may think they don't like tofu, doesn't mean it's not available and reasonable. Same with pulses, dry chick peas, rocket and tomatoes.

Ann Widdecombe made a wrong comment.

I also posted: "I suspect if we are not poor we really have no idea what goes on in the homes of poor people with children. It must be quite hard, perhaps not judging others would do us well?

We all need basic nourishing food, heated homes, clothing, transport - everyone has those needs, or it seems so to me."

*"Quibbling about cheese, bread, and sandwiches solves nothing, perhaps we need to vote for people who can put good policy in place."*

Sorry to quote this long post but, I don’t know what tofu is or
Avocado fafa or hummous peanut or almond butter.
Have never knowingly eaten a chick pea either.I hardly think people on a tight budget would know or buy those things.

I think the information was for fellow posters, though useful for wider dissemination.

All very useful information for people who can barely afford basic foodstuffs. 🤔

I use an OXO greensaver storage container in the fridge, which has a carbon filter. It’s very effective, even with cut salad leaves.