To think it’s impossible to food shop cheaply if you want to cook recipes from scratch

I should of also said batch cooking really saves time and money . I do all mine on a Sunday, ( currently waiting for things to cool so they can be frozen)
This rime I have done a
veg Thia green curry ( tesco jar )
Taco mince
Beef chilli
Marinated chicken for stir fry or salad
Small roast beef joint for sandwiches, salad and Sunday dinner

Plus a few other dmall things .
It takes me a few hrs but it means that the rest of the week I just need to take a packet out of the freezer for lunch and dinner .
There is virtually no cooking done during the week so this saves gas and time too.

I'm on a really tight budget and bulk buy my herbs and spices from amazon (400-600g mainly). I probably only buy one every few months now so not a big expense as buying all at once. I also keep it to specific ingredients that I use in lots of different recipes eg chilli, garlic and mixed herbs.
I don't really follow recipes because they tend to use too many ingredients/too much expensive meat. If I do follow recipes I'll half the meat and bulk out with vegetables or beans. For example this curry but with 2 chicken breasts and extra vegetables https://www.aldi.co.uk/slow-cooker-chicken-curry.

YABU. Once you've bought the dried herbs and spices they last ages, you don't have to buy a new jar every time you cook!

Another hack is to grow your own herbs from seed (some are easier than others of course) or to buy packets of fresh when they are discounted ans then freeze them. Or if it's a herb that doesn't freeze well, like basil., buy one of those pots you can get in the supermarket and then divide it up into several smaller pots and these grow very nicely indoors so yes a £1.30 outlay but you'll get a summer worth of basil if you are careful how you do it (Google divide basil plant foe a YouTube video on how to do it)
There's also a garden near me with a massive rosemary bush that overhangs the pavement so I often grab a sprig or two who saves me buying it. I've also seen herbs on Olio (free food waste app).

Disagree. I feed three adults for less than £100 a week on food made from scratch. Admittedly we are vegetarian, but we also only eat food made of "exotic"ingredients. So the outlay justifies the initial cost.

It's always worth Googling to see if there's a substitute you can use in place of the given ingredient.

For instance, instead of tahini, you apparently can use a nut butter. But better still, you can make your own tahini- it's just sesame seeds, with some light-or-flavourless oil (which you can also use for the hummus).

I have a decent herb selection, but sometimes a recipe calls for something I just won't use again (or not for another year or two anyway!) so will either Google for an alternative, or leave it out altogether.

Nan bread is relatively simple to make and the ingredients are store cupboard staples which could be said for a lot of herbs and spices if you like to cook. I generally don't bother with hummus as it never tastes quite the same.

We grow quite a few of our own herbs (sage, mint, rosemary, thyme and oregano) which means that we don't need to buy. You don't need a lot of space for it or need to be a gardener (I most definitely am not).

We are a family of 6 and I have spent £130 this week but that includes cat food and some toiletries. I meal plan and we haven't got much meat this week although the meat we have is high welfare. This weeks menu has:

Roasted summer veg orzo soup with wholemeal flatbreads
Chicken satay, brown rice and carrot and cucumber salad
Peanut and coconut curry (using the batch of roasted summer veg from the soup) + homemade naan
King prawn arrabiata spaghetti
Pizza (from scratch)
Quiche Lorraine, salad and smashed roasted new potatoes.

It can be done but it does take time and I can only cook because I'm off work at the moment.

There are plenty of recipes that don’t need ‘exotic’ ingredients, or those you’ll probably use just once.

I find that recipes from Waitrose or M&S in particular are likely to need several ingredients you’d probably have to buy. Presumably they concoct them on purpose with items you’re less likely to have in the cupboard.

Try checking the BBC Good Food website.

Yes it is expensive at the outlay but once some of the ingredients are bought they last for ages and are there for next time or for other recipes. Or some things can be frozen for another time. I suppose it kind of depends on if you’re going to use these ingredients again or if it’s a one of as a novelty. It also depends on what new things and therefore how obscure and expensive the ingredients are.

iv found that it is a balance buy a couple of extra things in a shop at a time to put towards trying something new but not thinking I’m going to try 3 new recipes this week and need to buy all the ingredients in one shop to make them.

£100 a week?! We do hellofresh which is not the cheapest way to shop and cook, and we spend less than that. More like £45 for 4 nights. So it's definitely doable if you meal plan, more so if you batch cook

Jars of herbs and spices last for ages though so if you just buy one or two a week it shouldn't be unaffordable. Very easy to build up a good stock of them and just replace as they run out

For hummus if you use the dried garbanzo beans and cook in a slow cooker your homemade hummus will be much cheaper. Olive oil is still a good buy as you dont use a huge amount, and as pp said tahini is quite expensive but a little jar goes a long way.

I agree that herbs fresh or dried can be expensive , but with dried ones the will last you a while / few recipes.
Don't get either from a normal supermarket tho , go to a Indian/ Chinese/ Jamaica etc grocer's. Or if you can get a cash and carry card for somewhere like Costco or go with someone that has one.

It's a bit of a pain to do the extra travelling but imo it's definitely worth it .
Don't buy huge amounts that you won't get through , ( my local Indian sell spices in 250 g 500 g 1kg and 2 kg bags ) .
There is also huge range of flour , dried pulses, and a small but good range of fruit & veg .

The only expensive ingredient for hummus is the tahini and you can get a jar for less than £3. So yes there is an upfront cost but you will more than make your money back. If you only ever buy for solo meals it is going to cost more

agree that some recipes use some obscure ingredients but I would just avoid those.

also agree about bulk cooking - if you expect a radically different meal every night then you will struggle

I highly recommend batch cooking. We spend £100/£150 a week on everything including (but not only) food. We cook from scratch most nights doing spag bol (lasts two nights) pasta bake, risotto, chicken pie, Chinese noodles or egg fried rice etc. But we cook for 5 of us including two teenagers and make a lot of two night meals. For 2 of you, you want to cook a lot then freeze and store so you're not eating the same meal for 3 nights on the trot and can spend a bit more on making interesting meals.

I think we have gotten very used to being able to "cuisine dip" throughout the week, which leads to having to buy multiple spices etc each week. And that makes things much more expensive.

I think you can cook from scratch relatively cheaply, but not if you want foods that go with naan breads, hummus etc on different nights throughout the week.

Can you make hummus this week, but in bulk and have it 3-4 times? Make flatbreads as well (the flour & water ones so cheap)
One night have halloumi & roasted veg with it
Another with couscous stuffed peppers
One night with marinated chicken breast (use spices you have in)