Ways to beat inflation and energy costs

Maurice123

I offer my suggestions to help with your finances.
a) Stop buying takeaways. A pizza can be made for 50p. Why pay £10?
b) Take the advice given by Martin Lewis on energy saving.
c) Buy an Air Fryer if you can afford £50 at Lidl. The costs of cooking are between 33-50%
    of cooking in the oven.
d) Vegetables are very cheap in the supermarket. There are so many tasty and filling recipes you can make. Cauliflower cheese, chilli con carne, macaroni cheese are just some.
e) Make sure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to.

racyguy

Maurice123 said:

I offer my suggestions to help with your finances.
a) Stop buying takeaways. A pizza can be made for 50p. Why pay £10?
b) Take the advice given by Martin Lewis on energy saving.
c) Buy an Air Fryer if you can afford £50 at Lidl. The costs of cooking are between 33-50%
    of cooking in the oven.
d) Vegetables are very cheap in the supermarket. There are so many tasty and filling recipes you can make. Cauliflower cheese, chilli con carne, macaroni cheese are just some.
e) Make sure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to.

I agree with all five points but you do need to caution the claiming of all benefits.
No one is 'entitled' to any benefit until such time the DWP/Pension Service agree and make an award. You are only entitled to make a claim.
Secondly claiming and being awarded some benefits brings upon the claimant responsibilities. I would say be careful what you sign up for. 

bg844

I agree with all five points but you do need to caution the claiming of all benefits.

No one is 'entitled' to any benefit until such time the DWP/Pension Service agree and make an award. You are only entitled to make a claim.
Secondly claiming and being awarded some benefits brings upon the claimant responsibilities. I would say be careful what you sign up for. 

I think that’s just common sense. 

Maurice123

I thank the other two contributors for their confirmation. As far as benefits go there are free services who can help to clarify whether anybody is entitled to or not. I mean benefits that somebody is entitled to. For example Although I am an amputee I am not entitled to any benefits, because I have no carers.
However I wanted to address Biblioklept who questioned politely my assertation that you could make a pizza for 50p.
First Aldi do actually sell a 49p pizza. It is a cheese and tomato and weighs 114grams. It is called Everyday essentials cheese and tomato pizza.
Jamie Oliver has a basic pizza recipe. His recipe uses various ingredients which you would have to buy but Tesco estimate that it makes 8 portions and the cost is about 49p. It is a very attractive pizza for a large family. Yes you have to have a basic cooking ability and an oven. In this instance an air fryer would not be suitable. I can supply the recipe if anybody is interested. If you are single or a couple you can buy a pizza pack of bases. Pizza bases cost 99p
but you get 385gms for that and about 75gms is needed for a pizza so  5 pizzas at a cost of  20p per base,  from that you can select your ingredients, but use better ingredients and spend one pound. Not impossible for most people.
The jamie Oliver recipe takes one hour 20minutes to complete. The £10 pizzas are comparable to his recipe. So 49p plus cooking time. Why do you think there are so many pizza takeaway shops?

bg844

I can confirm that frozen pizzas are 60 odd pence in Tesco, had one a few weeks ago which I put my own toppings on and it was surprisingly quite nice.

For example Although I am an amputee I am not entitled to any benefits, because I have no carers.

Just letting you know this isn’t true. You can be treated as needing help even though you don’t receive it. I hope you decide to put an application in because whoever told you this is quite frankly out of touch.

SueHeath

Hello @Maurice123 nice to see you - as we are talking pizza's i will add what i do with a really cheap shop brought pizza - i nearly always have one or two in the freezer if i have any sandwich meats left and they are at risk of being thrown away i chop them up and freeze. Same with any fresh peppers/chilli's/mushrooms. That way you can top your own pizza at no extra cost 

poppy123456

Maurice123 said:

For example Although I am an amputee I am not entitled to any benefits, because I have no carers.

Disability benefits such as PIP and AA are not awarded based on the care you receive. They are based on the help/care you need, regardless of whether you receive that help or not.

poppy123456

racyguy said:

Maurice123 said:

I offer my suggestions to help with your finances.
a) Stop buying takeaways. A pizza can be made for 50p. Why pay £10?
b) Take the advice given by Martin Lewis on energy saving.
c) Buy an Air Fryer if you can afford £50 at Lidl. The costs of cooking are between 33-50%
    of cooking in the oven.
d) Vegetables are very cheap in the supermarket. There are so many tasty and filling recipes you can make. Cauliflower cheese, chilli con carne, macaroni cheese are just some.
e) Make sure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to.

Secondly claiming and being awarded some benefits brings upon the claimant responsibilities. I would say be careful what you sign up for. 

I disagree. Having claimed benefits myself for about 10 years i've had no issues at all. Both my PIP and ESA i have been successfully awarded after every review. I've always found the call centres to be polite and respectful.

Not everyone will have the same experience as you've had and this shouldn't put people off from claiming what they are entitled to.

Maurice123

Thank you bg844 and poppy123456. I will look into it as prices of everything are rising.

poppy123456

Maurice123 said:

Thank you bg844 and poppy123456. I will look into it as prices of everything are rising.

You're welcome. If you're under state pension age it would be PIP. If over state pension age, it would be Attendance Allowance.

racyguy

bg844 said:

I agree with all five points but you do need to caution the claiming of all benefits.

No one is 'entitled' to any benefit until such time the DWP/Pension Service agree and make an award. You are only entitled to make a claim.
Secondly claiming and being awarded some benefits brings upon the claimant responsibilities. I would say be careful what you sign up for. 

I think that’s just common sense. 

Thanks, but sadly lacking in many people.

racyguy

bg844 said:

For example Although I am an amputee I am not entitled to any benefits, because I have no carers.

Just letting you know this isn’t true. You can be treated as needing help even though you don’t receive it. I hope you decide to put an application in because whoever told you this is quite frankly out of touch.

It all depends on which benefit you are looking at.
For PIP You have to match various descriptors that make up PIP. For Attendance Allowance it is more or less down to whether you get help or need it but don't get it. This benefit is only for those over 65.

janer1967

@Maurice123 I am an amputee and I get enhanced pip and uc lcwra and I don't have a carer 

I do have other conditions namely severely vision impaired but when I first claimed pip it was just for the amputation  and the affect this has on daily living and mobility 

Karen7788

Just tried to enter my meter reading online and the wait time is 59 minutes to access the site. 

Maurice123

Just tried to collect my government prepayment allowance. Guess what? Local post office cannot help me, I have to find a Paypoint shop. Okay go on to Paypal web site to find nearest one. Nothing comes up!! Do a bit of private research, find one in North Tawton miles away. Lady kindly offers to go for me. Lets make it really easy for disabled people!!! Just to help lady in PO says I need the original documents. What documents, I had notification by email.
Very well organised government.