How much does your dinner cost?

[Theblackdogagain]

Just thought I would start a thread where people try and cost out their dinner in case other people need ideas.
I'm doing veggie chilli con carne, for one adult and 2 teenage boys
Bag of soya mince about £2.50
Tin of Tom's, get in bulk from costco so about 50p
tin of kidney beans asda essentials about 35p
Mushrooms aldi essentials about £1
Onions asda essentials about 80p
Packet chilli mix 50p
End of rice tub no idea
Packet microwave rice 80p

I guess this shows I shop everywhere :-)

Went and bought veg from my local greengrocer this afternoon - today is my veggie day. I spent £5 - it will do for Friday as well. I'm going to say £2.75 - for rice and the stock cube.

I bought a reduced Charlie Bingham's chicken jalfrezi for 2 for £4 last week and froze it so we've had that tonight.

I’m had a breakfast - this was for four folk. Mushrooms £1 and used half the box, square £4.20 used six slices got four left, black pudding £3 a kilo used five slices, haggis - same as black, bacon £7.50 for 50ish rashers, eggs free coz I swiped them as I left the farm yesterday, hash browns £1 for a bag and used six think there’s about 15 left, toast - sunblest plain loaf 99p used 8 slices

Tonight (2 adults, neither of whom was me) it was salmon €7.49, cream €1, parmesan €2.99, a splash of white wine 50c, pappardelle from a posh cheese shop €2.99

So, about €7.50 a head, give or take - a very expensive night for us. Back to gruel tomorrow.

I had chicken traybake from the freezer - previously batch-cooked 4 portions.

Organic chicken thighs (2 per portion) red onions, garlic, red peppers, aubergine, spices, etc

Cost: £2.50 for the chicken, plus about 50 pence for the rest, so £3 a meal, plus 45 minutes oven cost.

We are having a pasta dish with 'homemade' garlic bread - haven't made the bread. 2 adults. Rough guesses -

Pasta - 40p
Sauce - 1.50
Vegan chorizo - free from a friend
Mushrooms - 20p
Onion - 10p
Olive oil - 10p

2 slices thick bread - 20p
Garlic clove and olive oil - 20p

£2.70, so £1.35 a portion. Clearly it would've been more had I not got the chorizo for free.

M&S Korean chicken thighs
M&S herby butter fries
M&S spicy rice
big dish of peppers and onions.
£21 for 4 adults.
Normally I spend about £14

We had beef stew, which made 5 portions. Aldi casserole beef was £3.79, then veggies, stock pot etc, so maybe £7 in total but obviously that's the cost for a bit of tomato puree etc, not a whole tube.

Had soft tacos

Mince was £2.50
Spice mix 29p
Salad 69p (used half)
Wraps 75p (2 spare)
Sour cream 99p (used half)
Cheese £2.50 (used 1/3)

3 adults

4 portions of dhal, two of them for tonight with rice and 2 for the freezer.

Brown rice 27p

Red lentils 40p
Onion 15p
Spinach 90p
1/2 butternut squash 60p
Tin of tomatoes 50p
Plus a bit for oil/garlic/spices

So maybe 70p per portion for the dhal And 85p when you add in the rice.

Chicken - £5 ish
Chorizo - £1,50 ish
Peppers - £2
Onions -50p
Garlic - 20p
Spices / stock - approx 50p
Cooking wine - £2 ish
Rice - 50p
Approx £12 ... wow! I've never really added it up!
That'll last me a few days.
Children:
Son - meatballs £1
Passata £50p
Whole wheat pasta 20p
Cheese 50p
Daughter
Filled pasta and sauce £2.50
Cheese - 50p
Chicken - £1
£6.20 for the kids -almost £20 for dinner tonight 😱

£114.50, including wine! DD1, her partner and I went to a very yummy SE Asian restaurant in central Edinburgh.
I normally eat a lot more cheaply at home - recently combined a pound of lambs liver, a packet of bacon, some greens, potatoes and stock, for about £5 total, that lasted me for three days’ dinners.

I was in a rush earlier and have hardly anything in as the shopping is due tomorrow so ran to tesco express and got us some fish fingers and fries to go (bloody £6.50 all in!) so the DC and I had that plus some broccoli from the freezer (£1 from Iceland if I remember rightly) DH won't eat until he is in from the gym so he will have to piece something together from the random bits lying around. We usually do much better but DH had no time to cook today, and I can't cook so quick frozen food it was

Lamb stew tonight. Lamb was about £4 and then there's an onion, a few carrots, a handful of slightly past their best cherry tomatoes, a stock cube ans a potatoes, so probably just over a fiver in total. It will do me, DH and teenage DS fir tonight and I'll have leftovers fir lunch tomorrow.

We’ve all got covid so I’m knackered.
Fish fingers - 10 in total for me, DH and DDs but mine are more expensive as they’re gluten free. £2
waffles - £1 a box, used half
1.5 tins of Aldi beans - about 60p

so just over £3 for us all. Not that healthy or remotely interesting but it’s fine for one night!

£1.57, got a pre packaged salad from Aldi. I did the food shop after work so wanted something quick.

Ds wanted to see his dad so had his tea with him. Dd is at Uni. So that’s all it cost me tonight. Messaged dd and she worked hers out at about £2.

Dd has turned into the ultimate bargain shopper. She is in a city with lots of Small independent Asian supermarkets and shops there she cooks most evenings and spends about £20 a week on food.

I had some local smoked salmon €4.99 for 2 slices on brown soda bread with real butter & lemon & black pepper - I estimate about €6 for thar?

Dh & dd had mushroom & Parma ham pasta:
1/2 a punnet mushrooms - 40c
3 slices of Parma ham - €1 50
200ml cream - €1?
1/2 a chicken stock pot 50c
Real butter to cook the mushrooms
Real butter garlic baguette - €2
Fresh parmesan - 50c
Marinaded Olives- €1
Very nice pasta €3
2 garlic cloves
Freashly grated black pepper
So about €4.50ish per person. For what they're eating I don't think that's too bad

For 6 portions:

Rice 42p

Paneer £2
2 red onions 30p
Garlic 15p
Tin tomatoes 40p
Tomato purée 25p
50g cashew nuts 70p
Garam masala 30p
Stock 20p
Chilli 20p

£4.92 for 6 or 82p each

I did a cottage pie tonight so about £4 for the mince , about £1 for the onion , potatoes and carrot and pennies for a stock cube , fed 2 adults tonight and have frozen a portion for husband to have next week when I’m away .

Tonight we had carbonara for 4.

Pasta was 40p for 500g value bag
Pack of 8 rashers of Tesco ‘best range’ bacon for £2.25
4 eggs - 80p
cheese - 30p

Total is £3.75 or about 85p per head.

Tomorrow is cottage pie. I batch cooked this and made enough for 12 portions, so does us 3 meals. I feeeze the other 2 pies for other weeks. The prices are of the ingredients divided by 3 pies.

Extra lean 5% beef steak mince - £2.50
Carrots, leeks, mushrooms, peppers - £1.25
Potatoes - 40p
Beef stock cube, splash Worcester sauce, herbs, spices - 35p
Broccoli on side - 1/2 bag frozen - 60p
Total £4.60 or £1.15 per portion.

I don’t tend to work it out, but figure to batch cook and make decent family meals like this cottage pie, with decent quality meat, with at least 2 portions of veg, for under £1.50 per head.

Shredded beef and sweet potato balti
Brown basmati rice with sunflower seeds
Flatbreads with Nigella seeds
Raita

Shredded beef - Sunday dinner leftovers from a pressure cooked joint. Joint was around £6 but had already had 6 portions eaten from it. It was around 1/4 of it if that so say £1.50.
Sweet potatoes were roasted with the Sunday dinner so ready to tip in to the sauce. 60p, but had been roasted with cumin seeds, turmeric and garlic and I never know how to price spices.
Curry sauce - three fresh tomatoes, 30p. Various spices, garam masala, a chilli - 50p for a bag of four. One onion, from a bag that cost 80p so 15p? Garlic purée, ginger from the freezer, let’s say the whole sauce cost £1 or so, yes I appreciate that is only because I have a store cupboard of ingredients.
Used oil instead of ghee as I don’t have any left, so negligible.
Flatbreads - half a big pot of yoghurt, maybe 70p, self raising flour, who knows, Nigella seeds and salt.
Raita - the rest of the yoghurt, mint from the garden, half a grated cucumber, some more garam masala. £1.30?
Pot of growing coriander because ours is dead, 75p.
Rice, ready made from Lidl, £1.20 for two bags.
Salt, pepper.

Fed 5, cost is around £7-£7.50 as far as I can figure, taking out store cupboard stuff. More obviously if I had to buy the spices.

Sausage and mash tonight. Sausages £2.50.
5 big potatoes £0.70
Green beans pack £0.90
Frozen peas, half a bag £0.80
Quorn sausages for the veggie, £0.75
Butter for mash £0.50
Single cream for mash (I'd run out of gravy honestly, so thought I best make mash extra creamy) £0.60

For 2 adults and 3 teens £6.95 or £1.40 ish per person.

Meatball and spaghetti bake

Meatballs £4 for 24 (Asda)(2 for £8 deal)
Wholewheat spaghetti 50p (half packet)(Asda)
Tin of tomatoes 32p
Red onion 30p
Squirt of garlic
Tablespoon of tomatoe purée
Sprinkle of oregano
One beef stock cube
50g grated cheese

£1.50 per portion. Fed 2 adults, 1 teenager, 1 eight year old and good portions too.

Lunch today was leftover roast potatoes and Brussels sprouts, end of a pack of pepperami some spices and one of our hens' eggs into a sort of bubble and squeak. It was delicious. Dinner was about £30 as two of us have Covid and my fellow teen Covid-ee thought it would be nice for me to 'have a break from cooking' 😀 It's a very rare treat though as I don't like all the packaging waste. I preferred the bubble and squeak.

(So I got railed into Dominos 🙄)