Caitríona Redmond chats about cooking on a budget as cost of living rises
Caitriona Redmond . Photograph Moya Nolan
According to research from supermarket analysts Kantar, the cost of Irish groceries has increased by 6.5% - the highest rise in a decade. With price increases indicated for key shopping basket items like butter, eggs, flour and bread, there is an undeniable pressure on Irish people who are experiencing rising costs in energy, fuel and transport too.
Weekend columnist Caitriona Redmond joins iefood editor Ciara McDonnell in a special live stream to discuss how best to combat these price increases in the home.
"We are all feeling the pinch," she says. "Granted, some feel like it's a battle to get from week to week and others are having to tighten their budgets more than expected. The cost of living crisis is a universal issue that we have to confront."
Since March of this year, Redmond has been tracking the cost of a basket of groceries across all major Irish supermarkets. She will be outlining the price increases that she has observed, as well as sharing her tips for getting the best value for money when doing the weekly shop.
As well as talking about the value of own-brand products, she shares her key store cupboard items, as well as discussing the basic principles of staying on a budget in times of rising costs.
In 2009, Redmond was made redundant from her full-time job, and found herself dealing with a drastically reduced family budget. Her family were one of over 10,000 families affected by the tracker mortgage scandal, which led to her family being billed several hundred euros more per month than they should have been. During this time, her family budget for groceries was €80 per week.
During the pandemic, the family business of driving buses was affected, rendering her husband John out of work for months at a time. And so, the family harnessed the budgeting tools that they had honed to perfection, and began to tighten their financial reigns once more. As a result of her experiences, Caitriona Redmond is a voice of compassion and reason for families who are experiencing financial crises.
She says that she is looking forward to having the opportunity to talk about the reality that families all over Ireland are facing, and hopes that by sharing her story and the lessons that she has learned, she will help people who are experiencing
"I know how hard it is from bitter experience. It's overwhelming to even process it. From ESRI reports to political parties talking in the Dáil about the cost of living crisis we are being bombarded from all sides with statistics but what is it like to really live with less?"
Join us as Caitriona shares the tools and techniques that keep her family running, especially when times are tough.
"Let's strip away all the technical stuff and chat about how this effects families up and down the country. In real life. Hopefully me sharing my experiences will help."
