The takeaway tax: How price of your hot lunchtime snack will go up 20 per cent!! :O

That's because you are not being too smart about it. Veg and meat bought in bulk does, almost always, work out cheaper and more nutritious than ready meals. Of course, if buying in bulk is not an option, then you may have a point.

As somebody else replied, I think the difference here is that I'm talking about a weekly shop. Where £1 bananas covers my week of breakfast, £1 peppers £1 onions £1 mushrooms, £1 tomatoes £1 pasta and say £5 meat could cover lunch and dinner for the week. Then add another £1 for pineapple & £1 for a melon & that's desert.

I'll add on another £2 for unseen variances.

So that's what, £15 for a very nutritious, healthy weekly diet compared to a ready made curry (which only covers dinner), which gives you hardly any vitamins, minerals, etc, costing £2.50 a week, remembering that only covers your dinner.

You clearly aren't going to just eat a plate of carrots and brocolli for your tea are you?

How many bananas do you have for breakfast? That just would not sustain me. Not even two would for breakfast. Let's say three bananas for breakfast. That's 50p (or more) gone in one breakfast. The cheapest hand of bananas I can buy is usually a pound, perhaps a little bit more. That pound would last me just two days. On my budget buying what you buy would not make any financial sense. I can get a tin of sradines for 39p and that would do one breakfast. I would get my veg frozen, a mixture of veg, for just £1 at the freezer shops. £5 for meat is just expensive. That's almost 3 days of meals for me. No. Instead I would get two trays of tempura batter fish for just £2; I would 7 packets of noodles, that's £3. I would then get two Quorn Lasagnes, that's £2.

I can get a ready made curry for just £1. If I had to get the raw ingredients to make that curry, plus the cost to cook the stuff, I would be losing money. The last time I did that I was spending up to £6 just on the ingredients alone.

So it would appear the budget is going to make a quick stop by the old Gregs a bit more expencive! Hot food bought from bakeries and supermarkets is to become more costly thanks to George Osborne's Budget, it emerged today.

The Chancellor has decided that VAT at 20 per cent should be added to all hot takeaway food, not just products sold by fast food chains.

What are your thoughts on this? my thoughts are noooooooooooooooo!

article explaining the tax increase below...

http://theoffshoreonline.com/articles/2012/03/22/uk-budget-2012-takeaway-tax-how-price-your-hot-lunchtime-snack-will-go-20-cent

As somebody else replied, I think the difference here is that I'm talking about a weekly shop. Where £1 bananas covers my week of breakfast, £1 peppers £1 onions £1 mushrooms, £1 tomatoes £1 pasta and say £5 meat could cover lunch and dinner for the week. Then add another £1 for pineapple & £1 for a melon & that's desert.

I'll add on another £2 for unseen variances.

So that's what, £15 for a very nutritious, healthy weekly diet compared to a ready made curry (which only covers dinner), which gives you hardly any vitamins, minerals, etc, costing £2.50 a week, remembering that only covers your dinner.

in some ways I envy you

But then again I don't think I could plan that well!

The same is true of rice, pasta and potato.

How many bananas do you have for breakfast? That just would not sustain me. Not even two would for breakfast. Let's say three bananas for breakfast. That's 50p (or more) gone in one breakfast. The cheapest hand of bananas I can buy is usually a pound, perhaps a little bit more. That pound would last me just two days. On my budget buying what you buy would not make any financial sense. I can get a tin of sradines for 39p and that would do one breakfast. I would get my veg frozen, a mixture of veg, for just £1 at the freezer shops. £5 for meat is just expensive. That's almost 3 days of meals for me. No. Instead I would get two trays of tempura batter fish for just £2; I would 7 packets of noodles, that's £3. I would then get two Quorn Lasagnes, that's £2.

I can get a ready made curry for just £1. If I had to get the raw ingredients to make that curry, plus the cost to cook the stuff, I would be losing money. The last time I did that I was spending up to £6 just on the ingredients alone.

If you want a cheap and nutritious breakfast, just buy a big sack of porridge. Get it when student loan comes in, and it'll last all year. I will be the first to admit that it is very bland, however.

Add sugar. But then I guess it becomes unhealthy after.