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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to try and settle the 'which is cheaper, junk or cooked from scratch' debate once and for all

642 replies

IceBeing · 27/08/2013 13:05

I have seen both sides of this recently on MN and on the box.

So. submit your meal plans here.

  1. Choose junk or home cooked
  1. Give a shopping list plus price for a weeks worth of food for a family of 4, assuming no reliance on a 'store cupboard' and no meal sharing.
  1. Give an estimated weekly cooking time plus shopping time.
  1. indicate if your plan relies on a local aldi/lidl etc.

Lets sort this the JEFF out please.....

OP posts:
racingheart · 28/08/2013 22:06

Ice I must have missed your post. I'll go and find it. But I'm assuming that people want to get in the five a day and eat reasonably healthily. Could do it cheaper if it was freshly made high fat low veg and protein. But it was balanced. (Still want to take a look at your version.)

What's interesting though is that while you try and work it out and make sure it's all balanced nutritionally and fits the budget, all the cheap treats start glinting at you. That Orwell quote is so accurate. I just tried to do a test sainsbury's shop online from scratch (so including all the spices and cooking oil etc) and kept forgetting it was supposed to be the junk free version, and chucking in cheap choc mousses to liven things up for the children.

Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:09

shrinking that looks tastey but your are over my daily £4 and have only tabulated 1 meal.....

toffee again looks fab (will be trying some of that!) but you came in nearly double the minimum on price.

OP posts:
Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:11

racing the point was to determine if ready made crap is cheaper to live off than cooking from scratch.

Obviously you don't get anything like nutrition from the cheap crap - that is the problem facing the seriously poverty stricken.

I loved your list - but lots of people can't afford that....

OP posts:
Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:11

I know what you mean about mousse...I have to pretend the toddler stuck it in the trolley Blush

OP posts:
racingheart · 28/08/2013 22:11

Ice I'm being dim but I can't find your weekly shop for £28. What page is it on?

BoffinMum · 28/08/2013 22:12

I've just perused the Iceland website. Frankly it's pretty hard to feed the family on a low budget using conventional food whilst bypassing Iceland. Their main meals work out about 25-50p a person for the protein component.

shrinkingnora · 28/08/2013 22:13

Yeah, should have said that was just out of interest really... I'm too lazy to cost up a whole week!

Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:18

Was checking out the girlcalledack recipes.

They certainly aren't cheaper than value meals.

I selected some at random and got a part of main meal for over £3 and a loaf of bread that cost more and weighed less than a tesco value loaf.

Her thing is feeding two people, one of which doesn't eat much for the sake of the other....it isn't a long term strategy for anyone....

I mean obviously it is cheaper to eat very very little real food than a healthy amount of calories from crap food...

makes me feel so Sad

OP posts:
nickelbabe · 28/08/2013 22:21

mrskoala
you've got a 1yo, so I assume a pram? is there anyway you can leave him with someone for a coyple of hours so you can do bulk shop using the pram as a trolley?
if not, then can you bulk buy one at a time? ie buy masses of pasta one day, masses of rice the next, all the meat the next etc? it's easy if you've got a freezer for that - just chop things up to freeze in portions and save for when you're ready to make the meal.

Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:21

Racing it was early on...(don't do pages). It wasn't a whole week it was a day but with obviously exchangeable elements that cost the same amount so you could scale it up to a week.

it came out at £3.81 per day for a family of 4 eating 7000 kcals a day

it involved a lot of lemon curd on white bread Sad

OP posts:
Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:22

shrinking yup me too Blush

OP posts:
shrinkingnora · 28/08/2013 22:24

Okay, I'm fired up to give this a try. Will see what I can do. If I'm not back in an hour send help. And do you know what else? I'm going to live it for a week because we are totally broke and could do with getting the bills down as much as possible.

shrinkingnora · 28/08/2013 22:25

Am assuming three meals a day plus snacks to the total calories we should be eating for our ages. And drinks.

BoffinMum · 28/08/2013 22:28

In extremis I would get five packets of frozen veg from Iceland (£5), big packs of: mince, lamb, chicken breasts and sausages from Iceland (£12), a big bag of plain flour (80p), some margarine (£2), some cheap jam (£1), a couple of loaves of brown bread (£2), some big cartons of milk (£3), half a dozen eggs (£2), a big box of Weetabix (£2), some fresh potatoes (£2), some tinned tomatoes (£1), a couple on onions (50p), some gravy granules (£2) and a cheap block of cheese (£2). Total about £35 ish. Then I'd get a big pack of cheap ham for about £4, a packet of apples and a packet of bananas (£5). Total £44ish. Out of that I would make a cottage pie, a bolognaise, a chicken and pea pie, a chicken risotto, a chicken soup, a toad in the hole, cowboy bean bake, a vegetable curry, a lamb stew, and a vegetable stew with hidden eggs and grated cheese on top. That's ten main meals. Breakfast would be Weetabix or toast, and lunch would be sandwiches and a bit of fruit. I think we could last for about 10 days with frantic rationing, so for a week that would be about £30.

racingheart · 28/08/2013 22:36

Ice, you've asked all us cook-from-scratchies to cost an entire week, but only done one junk meal yourself and then assumed the cost is the same each time. Is it? Generally, do Iceland and similar places make sure a family meal is a fixed price, whatever you choose?

I could choose a meal - say - kedgeree - which works out at about 30p per person or home made pizzas and frozen veg, which are, again 30p per person for a huge Pizza express sized pizza with loads of topping, but am trying to do exactly what you asked and check the real cost.

One thing we haven't discussed much is that the junk food is designed to be over fatty, over salty and over sweet to get you craving it and over-eating it due to those cravings rather than genuine hunger pangs. It could be that the girl called Jack is so slim and eats so little because she is really well nourished, so doesn't get cravings.

Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:37

boffin wow that is getting close...although I need to point out I didn't go to iceland with my estimate...

Also is it that much less crap if you buy I can't believe they are really sausages from iceland than buying I can't belive they are really steak pies from iceland?

Surely the actual food value is still in the red zone....

OP posts:
DownstairsMixUp · 28/08/2013 22:41

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

racingheart · 28/08/2013 22:43

Grin at I can't believe they are really sausages.

Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:45

racing if you add up calories in her recipes they are nowhere near the 2000 kcals a day the average woman is supposed to eat.

secondly the duplicateability of my day...

well the potato products are interchangeable at that price...as are the veg. Cheese can be exchanged at that price for ham/cream cheese etc. crisps come in different flavours....

the fish fingers were 60 p for 10...

you can get 700g of sausage rolls at 88p
600 g of mince and onion pie for 75p
cottage pie or fishermans pie for 1 pound
tin of chilli 54p
tin of curry 53p

which brings me up to 7....

all averaging less than £4 quid a day

although I feel ill now.

OP posts:
Original poster
IceBeing · 28/08/2013 22:46

Okay well under a late surge by the 'scratchers' I will give you all till tomorrow...but the gavel is poised!

OP posts:
MrsKoala · 28/08/2013 22:53

Boffin - just looked at Spud and it's very expensive so even if it took my card it would bankrupt us!

Nickel - i am trying to pick up extras but we go thru things like weetabix, nappies, milk, toilet roll, yogurt, detergent, etc so quickly that it's all i can do to carry the essentials. If i went out for just pasta, or something i would not be getting things which were needed - if that makes sense.

MrsKoala · 28/08/2013 22:58

i think the issue with the 'scratchers' tho is that it isn't universal, you can have someone who lives near cheap markets/has transport and time to drive around saying 'oh well, near me i can by x,y and z' but that doesn't mean everyone can. for example I've never ever lived near a cheap butcher. I think the prices need to be universally open to everyone. Foraging, growing own etc should also be out. The stuff shouls all come from a recognised shop in the uk which everyone has access to/delivery from.

BoffinMum · 28/08/2013 23:06

Well the Iceland sausages and cheap jam would be the sort of crap they fed us at boarding school, so survivable. And the rest of my meal plan is quite high in fibre and low in sugar, so not too bad. It would be a bit bland though. If people were imaginative and scrounged free fruit and veg from green grocers at the end of the day, or neighbours, and built up a little stash of curry powder, black pepper and mixed spice there would be further scope for improvement and variety from time to time.

racingheart · 28/08/2013 23:07

But where's your breakfasts and lunches, Ice?

I've included ingredients for home made soups and sandwiches and pasta bakes etc in the £40-50, as well as fresh ground coffee, tea, milk for the week, choice of cereals at breakfast etc.

Got it all in an online Sainsbury's shop which came in at £52, including all the cooking oils and cayenne peppers Wink and a wildly extravagant £5 for 800g of really nice cheddar on special offer, which will last for two weeks. Also included a whopping 46p for eight chocolate mousses which I hope doesn't lead to disqualification for lurching over to the junk camp.

You put that gavel down, Ice. I want to see your whole list for three meals a day including tea, coffee, all the stuff that people who eat junk food also have to buy on top.

garlicbargain · 28/08/2013 23:08

Another big up to BOF for the Orwell quote - and, yes, it's disgusting that the same old patronising crap is still being rammed down our hungry throats.

... and, thinking about the food value of crap, this is a more interesting question than it might at first seem: why is there such a large price difference [in Macdonald's]? Are there different country polices?

Yes! Macdonald's uses a very precise algorithm, which takes into account the average income of a country, income by sectors, and food prices. So clever is this, the US government - and most others - use it as a guide to standards of living. Coca-cola used to do the same, but I'm not sure they still do; the price of a Coke doesn't seem to vary as much as a Big Mac.

If a French Macdonald's (ooh, it sounds nice in a French accent!) is fearsomely expensive compared to a British one, this would suggest that the price of food and the standard of living are higher there. Just going by those EU/UN standard of living charts, that would seem to be right.

Still off topic, has anyone else noticed that Italy's suddenly got wildly more expensive, while Germany seems to be cheaper these days?