Eating in a recession

“Even in recession, foodies hold fast” is an article written by Eric Burkett and published on the delish.com website on the 10^th September 2010.  It basically talks about the recent findings in various polls that suggest that for a number of categories, not just “foodies,” people who are passionate about their given interest area do not cut back particularly, nor do they feel guilty about their spending even in these hard financial times.

He goes on to suggest that people however are perhaps more careful as to how they spend their money on their hobby / interest and that other factors might impinge on what they spend.  For example taking on more work due to lay-offs/redundancies and not wanting to say no to any extra work for fear that you might be next in the staff cut-backs, thus having less time to indulge your hobbies/interests.

I can relate to this, my husband and I are certainly eating out less often than previously but our spending on groceries has not decreased.  I am being more careful about not just throwing away leftover food – you know the stuff you carefully pack away after the first meal and think to yourself that you will have that the next day and then don’t? After a few days of bypassing that carefully wrapped package and moving it around the fridge to get to the other items you want you end up just launching it in the bin!  I am making more of an effort to plan to use up the leftovers in my weekly menu planning.  Actually, let me expand on that last sentence a little more as I don’t actually physically write out a menu plan for the week ahead, more that when I buy say a whole chicken, I think to myself that we will have one meal from that as a roast plus another meal with the leftovers and maybe even boil up the carcass for stock or as a soup base. Therefore that one chicken does the two of us at least two meals and maybe even three and I may freeze the leftovers so that we don’t get bored of eating the same thing/same meat two nights running.

I am also making more of any effort to do some batch cooking at the weekends when I have the time to do so.  For example, a couple of weeks ago my local supermarket was doing a special offer on their lean Angus steak mince and if you bought one pack you got a second free.  I took the two packs home and made one lot into spaghetti bolognaise and the other lot into chilli con carne.

I froze these in 3 lots of 2 servings of each, a total of 6 meals for two people ready in the freezer for a quick reheat or to use as a basis for another meal e.g. lasagne or pasticchio using either the bolognaise or the chilli for a tweak on the traditional.  I buy those plastic freezer and microwave proof takeaway type containers in bulk which means that I can package up the meals in single or double portions and these stack easily and the food can be both frozen and re-heated safely in them.  These containers also do last, if you are careful, and are not just single use but can be washed and used again.  I find that on those occasions returning home from a particularly hard day at work or a late one, that instead of thinking about having to cook something from scratch or going out to eat, I am now more likely to turn to those frozen meals than go out to eat. 

On the subject of going out to eat, this is still one of my favourite things to do but I do resent going out to eat and finding the food poor quality, poorly executed and leaves me thinking why did I bother as I could do so much better myself at home?  A meal out like this is such a disappointment and anti-climax as I always go out to eat with such high expectations and anticipation.  In these difficult times of recession I am now choosier about where I go out to eat, I would rather eat out less often but have a great experience.

Being more organised and having quick, but quality home-made microwaveable meals from my freezer or making a more concerted effort to use leftovers is my way of justifying the money I still spend on good quality ingredients.  I don’t see myself changing my food habits to buying cheaper inferior products which I will enjoy less and potentially waste more of ultimately.  I aim to just be smarter with what I buy and cook – what is your take on being a foodie and eating in a recession?