2012 budget and your food bill

All of my channels of news are filled to bursting point with one word: Budget. While the financial types are frantically forecasting for the coming year, my thoughts turn, predictably, to my belly. If you’re wondering how the newly announced budget will affect how much you spend on food, read on.

I’ve always thought that VAT – particularly when it comes to food - is a complex concept. You only need to look to the McVities Jaffa Cake Biscuit controversy to realise that the supermarket is a veritable minefield when it comes to tax. You can release your death grip on the biscuit/cake tin for the moment though as the budget has savoury morsels in its sights for the moment. Many large supermarkets now have a hot counter where you can select a rotisserie chicken or hot sausage roll. Several times, I’ve lost The Boy only to find him rooted to the spot, transfixed by the teasing sight of juicy hot poultry spinning away like a baby staring intently at the whirrings of its wind-up mobile.

Currently, supermarkets are able to sell hot food – like the aforementioned chooks and pastry-clad animal offcuts – sans tax because they claim that they’re not designed to be eaten immediately and instead keep the produce hot to improve its appearance. The government plans to tighten up the loop hole that allows this; basically, if anything is sold above “ambient” air temperature, the government wants a slice of the price. The only exception to this rule is freshly baked bread. Although retailers have refused to speculate on future price rises, many expect that they will pass the extra costs on to consumers. This might also cause headaches for sandwich outlets that sell their offerings fresh or toasted as the hot variety – despite having the same ingredients – will cost more. Greggs are up in arms.

For those that like to live on chemicals, sports nutrition and body building drinks are going to be grouped with fizzy drinks to make them VAT-payable. This doesn’t bother me too much for two reasons. Number one: I’m not a huge fan of those types of drinks unless they’re used as a mixer (protein milkshake white Russian anyone? No!?). Number two: I’d rather eat real food than substitute them with the adult equivalent of formula milk.

Alcohol duty will remain the same, much to the disappointment of pubs and bars everywhere. There is no planned change to the escalator which rises the duty paid on beers, wines and spirits at the rate of 2 per cent above inflation until 2015. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) claims that this will lead to the average cost of a pub pint of lager rise to £3.17 and that beer tax has risen by 42 per cent since the policy was introduced four years ago.

Until this point, readers who don’t indulge in alcohol, protein gloop or ready-cooked chicken might have been feeling smug however don’t get too complacent yet. Filling your car might well be painful now but fuel duty is set to rise by 3p (per litre?) in August which will have obvious knock on effects to the cost of running a vehicle. However, this is likely to hit households twofold in a financial double whammy as fuel costs are linked to food costs. All of the food that we buy in the supermarket is transport by road at some point during its journey to the shelf so as fuel prices rise so do distribution costs – a bill that is picked up by the consumer.

How will the budget be affecting what you eat and drink? Let me know your thoughts on the 2012 budget.

How to make your own delicious hedgerow brew

Our ‘drinks cabinet’ (the top section of our free-cycled side board) holds everything from beers (pre-fridge storage) to a lovely bottle of red wine given to me by my Dad which we haven’t yet had an occasion to drink yet. My most prized bottles, however, are mismatched reused wine and spirit bottles which are filled with a glorious burgundy liquid and dark berries – sloe gin.

My parents made sloe gin and elderberry wine when I was very small and I was reintroduced to the warming wonder of this berry-infused spirit while spending the festive period with The Boy’s family. They drink it straight (in small measures) but it’s lovely with lemonade too. The beauty of it is that it is wonderfully simple to make and the key ingredient – the sloe berries – are free! I see it as my first foray into the world of home brewing though I suppose it’s technically infusing. The kit is cheap (or free too) as I picked up a funnel for a few pence from the supermarket and saved an old spirit bottle.

Fresh sloe berries and my first bottle of sloe gin

The sloe, or blackthorn, bush can be found all over the place but usually in woodland or as hedgerows in the countryside where they are sometimes planted as shelter for game birds. That said, I found mine on the tow path of my local canal which runs through our town and I’ve heard of people finding berry-laden bushes in the middle of cities. Their dark blue-purple berries look a little like hard blueberries but they are actually a drupe, like peaches. Blackberries, their fellow hedgerow buddy of the same season, are the same but are aggregated drupes – lots of small fruits as part of the same berry.

Before you go rushing out with your buckets at the ready, I must interject now. Tradition says that sloe season starts after the first frost of Autumn which is usually around October. Some people hurry up the process by picking the berries when they are ripe and then freezing them at home. Sneaky! You'll start seeing young fruit on the bushes from around next month onwards. A walking stick or broom can be useful for pulling the higher branches down to picking level. I tried to improvise with a flattened out wire coat hanger which sort of did the trick until some nearby fishermen used their net poles to drag them down to my level. Such gentlemen!

Once bottled, the spirit needs to mature so I bottled mine over 6 months ago and it’s just starting to mellow now. It’s getting to the time when I should think about removing the berries and rebottling the gin to allow it to further mature. Apparently, you can then top up the bottles of old berries with cider to make slider!

My sloe gin after 1 hour then again after a day

Although it’s a while until the sloes will be out, Gordon’s do a sloe gin which can be bought from the supermarkets. Bramley & Gage do a delicious organic sloe gin too; I wouldn’t be able to resist getting a bottle of their elderflower liqueur as well if I was ordering from their online shop! I would recommend saving glass bottles as you get them too – I like clear glass bottles (so that you can see how the colour is developing in the bottle) with screw tops and have a stash of them in the back of the cupboard. Just be sure to keep a bottle that will be big enough.

Sloe Gin

450g sloe berries, approximately
750ml gin, or there abouts
350g granulated sugar
A bottling funnel
An empty sterilised glass bottle
- Rinse the berries well and leave to drain in a colander.
- Prick each berry with a sterilised needle or knife and place into the bottle.
- Pour the sugar into the bottle through the funnel.
- Top up the bottle with gin so that the berries are completely covered.
- Turn the bottle every so often. At least once a week but more often if you remember. The gin will gradually become infused with the colour and flavour of the berries.

Coming soon: Sloe Gin cocktails for those balmy summer nights!

Snapshot: Adnams Beer

There's nothing quite like a good British beer. Or ale for that matter. I'm not particularly well versed on the subject so I'm afraid I'm not 100% on the difference. Anyway, a friend came back with from a trip to his ancient home counties with a lovely present - Adnams Broadside. I've never heard of the Adnams brewery before but it has a very interesting values when it comes to sustainability and the environment. They have their own charity, which supports good causes in their local area, and even turn their food and brewery waste into biogas. All in all, a pretty lovely company, really.

Oh and the beer is tasty too! The Broadside that my friend brought around was really tasty and full of flavour. I think I'd drink it on its own because its got a fruity taste that can stand up on its own.