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

[IceBeing]

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.....

boy this doesn't half assume a lot.

yes, homemade is cheaper if

you can cook (you know how)
you can cook (you have a cooker/cooking tools)
you have transportation or live within distance of a shop which sells nourishing food
you work hours that enable you to get to said shop/it is open 24 hours a day
you do not have any disabilities which preclude some or all of the above

and more.

yes, for the supremely determined person in challenging situations, it can be done. you can get two buses to get to the big cheap megastore at the edge of town rather than walk to the expensive shop on the fringes of the estate that sells shit. you can shop with a neighbour to take advantage of deals/share freezer space.

but sometimes it is exhausting and you want something that is a treat and it is easier and doesn't cost you as much in time and energy when you are already knackered.

That was my point earlier. I buy free range because cheap chicken is false economy.

However, my free range chicken would stretch as far as an organic chicken of the same weight.

I'm not convinced, I used to buy free range organic chicken - now I buy pasture raised and get several more meals out of it

The weight of meat is the same. So it really does go as far.

It depends where you buy food from. There is a massive market near me. You canbuy shed loads of veg for next to nothing. You could make loads of healthy meals really quite cheaply but people need to know how to cook. It's daunting being presented with a load of veg if you don't know what to do with it

My attempt (apologies for length - the 'rules' of the challenge don't really allow for brevity!)

1. Home cooked (reliance on canned soup, tomato puree, stock cubes, and custard powder to save time) based on my student days (we probably ate more toast based food in an average week then due to hangovers/laziness though)

1. 1 week's shop for 4 comes in at a little under £60 (tesco) / £51 (aldi)

skip dessert but keep the fruit and choose all value options and it's around £47 (tesco) / £42 (aldi). In all cases I assumed there were no special offers to be taken up (even though many of the items below were on offer) and that there are no leftovers each meal (there are in reality). There are leftovers from this list to carry into the next week - teabags, dried fruit, flour, barley, split peas, garlic, olive oil, and mixed spice but it was impossible to buy less of these and we are assuming no store cupboard items/parts of items. The free range question has a large impact - an extra £2.50 on the chicken but a £7 uplift on the eggs

penne pasta (1.5 kg) £3.00
medium cheddar (1 kg) £5.80
2 Campbell's condensed cream of celery/mushroom soup £0.95 each = £1.90 (cheaper option not condensed at £0.65 each = £1.30)
8 large onions (200g) £0.20 each = £1.60
2 can sweetcorn £0.35 (325g) = £0.70
2 can tuna flakes in brine (185g) £0.50 each = £1.00
basmati rice (1 kg) £1.80 (cheaper option long grain £0.40 for 1kg)
value stock cubes £0.20 (10 cubes)
4 sardines in tomato sauce (135g) £0.35 = £1.40
value tomato puree £0.35 (200g)
green split peas £0.68 (600g)
porridge oats (1kg) £0.75
4 boxes value mixed eggs (15 in a box) £1.35 = £5.40 (free range 20p per egg = £12)
6 large whole milk (4pts each) £1.25 = £7.50
garlic (3 bulbs) £0.50 (optional)
streaky bacon £1.04
whole chicken (1kg) £3.50 (free range was £6)
potatoes (2.5kg) = £2.50
2x corned beef (340g) £1.54 = £3.08
2x butter (250g) £1 = £2.00
flour (1.5kg) £0.45
olive oil (500ml) £2.00
caster sugar (1kg) £1.50
2 cans peaches in juice (410g) £0.32 = £0.64
2kg bananas (about 11 pieces) = £1.40
1.5kg apples (about 10 pieces) = £3.00
birds custard powder (300g) = £1.10
cocoa (100g) £2.00
pearl barley (500g) £0.55
2kg carrots (about 20 pieces) = £1.80
2kg value turnip/swede = £2.00
500g loose leeks (about 4) = £1.30
2 celeriac £0.30 each = £0.60
celery £1.00
greek style yogurt (500g) £1.00
2x multigrain loaf bread (800g) £1.00 each = £2.00
value sultanas (500g) £0.84
marmalade (454g) £0.27
4 x value pure orange juice (1 litre) £0.65 = £2.60
teabags (80) £0.27
mixed spice £0.85
ground pepper £0.35

breakfast (15 mins prep & cooking time on average) small glass orange juice plus:
porridge made with milk x 3,
2 eggs (any way you like) with toast x 2,
pancakes (eggs, milk, flour, oil) with sugar (make the ones for the dessert at the same time),
greek yogurt with banana.

lunch (30 mins each on average to cook - prep is done with dinner the night before):
spanish omelette (eggs, onion, potato, little bit cheese if desired) x 2,
tuna pasta bake (see 'dinner'),
scotch broth (carrot, turnip, onion, white part of 1 leek, barley, split peas, stock cube, 1/2 of the bacon diced) x 2,
stovies (corned beef, onion, potatoes, carrots, stock) with oatcakes (oats, flour, butter, sugar) x 2

dinner - average prep time 15 mins, cooking time varies for each:
roast chicken with potatoes, carrot & swede mash, leeks (green parts), stock cube/ flour for gravy (1hr 20 max cooking)
tuna pasta bake (cook and drain pasta, layer with tuna, sweetcorn, grated cheese, 1 1/2 onion finely chopped, pour over condensed soup and sprinkle with more cheese) x3 (prep all 3 bakes in 1 go in the prep time) (30 mins)
cupboard paella (fry 1 onion until soft, garlic, 2tin sardines, 1 cup basmati rice, add tomato puree and brown, add soaked split peas, 2 cups stock made with cubes cook on low heat (15 mins ) x2,
macaroni cheese (milk, 1/2 onion finely chopped, white part of 1 leek, pasta, flour, butter, cheese) (30 mins)
celeriac soup with bread (celeriac, white part of 1 leek, onion, potato, milk, stock (made out of the chicken carcass, onion, carrots, and celery if you have time as taste is better but otherwise use stock cube) (30 mins)

dessert - average 30mins prep and cooking
bread and butter pudding (bread, butter, sultanas soaked overnight in cold black tea, marmalade, sugar, eggs, milk, mixed spice)
peach cobbler with custard (peaches, sugar, flour, butter, birds custard powder, milk)
apple crumble with custard (apples, sugar, flour, butter, mixed spice)
chocolate brownies (cocoa, flour, oil, eggs, sugar)
crepes suzette (pancakes with marmalade, sugar, orange juice)
bara brith (flour, egg, sultanas soaked overnight in black tea, sugar, orange juice, marmalade, mixed spice)

1. Cooking and prep time combined would be max 12 hours over the week - this assumes the cook is as new to this as we were as students and that they are not multitasking while stuff is cooking. Most of the dishes are 1 pot and desserts would go in at the same time so this would actually be a lot less.

1. Prices are from tesco and aldi on mysupermarket.co.uk.

that's massive

sorry

Sad that those who had ethics and bought free range when they could afford it did not maintain those ethics and give up meat when they couldn't 'afford free range.

Is aldi on mysupermarket?

Not Aldi, Asda

mistyped sorry!

Well when your backs up against the wall littlemog you develop a tough skin.

The life of a chicken suddenly doesn't mean as much.

On the bright side, the new thick skin means its impossible for someone on the internet to make me sad or guilty.

I think everyone having a go at loopy is being really sanctimonious

Agreed. Also quite hypocritical of you've ever eaten meat in your work canteen, eaten a shop-bought egg mayo sandwich, eaten meat in the local chain pub etc!

I have the luxury of cash and can ensure I buy only free range organic top welfare eggs and happy pig bacon etc. However I'm not under any delusions that the pork belly I had for lunch from the work canteen was from a happy pig!

If I had the choice (cash constrained) between eating meat not at all, or eating it a couple of times a week from low-welfare animals tbh I would probably choose that. Choice between low-welfare meat every day and high-welfare twice a week then I'd go for the nice meat twice a week.

I actually tried to do a full week menu for 4 people, costed and caloried up from tesco this afternoon. It's bloody hard! I ran out of time and hadn't sorted it out after 30 mins.

My conclusion is it is easier to eat healthy nutritional calories cooked from scratch than ready meals or take away. However if you're seriously poor then the empty high sugar calories are cheaper.

Re coking from scratch debate - tinned veg and frozen veg defo counts as cooking from scratch. Who the hell buys fresh toms to make a tomatoe sauce? That is v expensive and only worth it flavour wise for a v short season in the Uk.

You can't beat a good home made meat/veg soup with all sorts thrown in from the fridge that need using up, with Tesco value stock cubes which are about 10p a packet. I make enough for all my work lunches throughout the week, plus extra for the freezer. I was looking at the price of a tin of soup today, really expensive and far too salty for my taste.

With cooked from scratch food, you know exactly what's in it (no added sugar and salt and MSG to 'add taste' for example).

Okay, have just costed up what we had for supper:

Quiche
200g flour - 6p
100g baking fat - 22p
6 eggs - 54p (add 60p if you want free range)
1/3 pt milk - 9p
75g mature cheddar - 38p
Tomato - 20p
Onion - 20p

500g Steamed potatoes - 35p

250g frozen peas - 25p

Small tin naturally sweet sweetcorn - 35p

Homemade flapjack
150g Oats - 12p
110g Baking fat - 28p
60g Syrup - 9p
75g Sugar - 13p

5 Apples - £1

Served 2 adults and 3 children with 3 pieces of quiche and 5 pieces of flapjack left for lunches tomorrow. We had value cornflakes or value porridge with semi skimmed milk for breakfast and marmite sandwiches with carrot sticks, home made cake, cheese, crackers and fruit for lunch.

I just meal planned a week's meals and bought all that I needed from Tesco.

£47 to feed 5 x 6 meals, and 7 x 1 meal, so total portions 37. Total cost: £47

1. Roast Chicken with Roasted Potatoes, braised carrots and roasted vegetables (courgette, tomatoes, aubergines). Followed by Rice pudding.
2. Chicken salad
3. Chicken Pie with new potatoes and peas
4. Pasta with bacon & vegetable sauce (bacon, tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, olives)
5. Sweet and Sour Chicken
6. Tuna and sweetcorn Pasta bake

7.Baked Potato with beans and cheese

Additional fruit (apples, pears) and yoghurts available
Total cost per portion: £1.27

Admittedly, this was helped by the promotional £2/kg offer for chicken.

See i'm not convinced by the aldi free range chickens.. I'm really not!.. they SAY free range and I buy them trusting the label.. but every proper free range chicken I've bought from the butchers had these long, really hard to separate legs from the body.. they were obviously, strong, well used legs.

But the aldi chickens.. even though are marked free range.. are short and easy to get off after cooking.. much like a battery hen.

I think I use a mixture.. but cooking from scratch is a learned thing.. nobody can just come along and do a list.

I could write out a list of every ingredient and whatnot I use and how cheap it is just to be told that 'I don't liiike that though'.. but am I shit working out calorie content. Cooking from scratch is generally better for you in the less preservative point.. it could be high in calories or fat but would probably be better for you health wise.

I would so love to be able to shop in a butchers and a nice market.

I am of people who say they can shop cheaper in their local shops than supermarkets.

Maybe its because I live in the South East, but I tried local butchers etc and then walked out nearly having had a heart attack at much it had cost me.

Even my local market is expensive.

I saw a programme where someone who has a large family bought a whole pig, the butcher chopped it up and then the family froze it. They said it was cheaper then buying from a supermarket.

That would cost a small fortune round here.

I hear you - when we lived in London and "local butcher" and "farmers market" stocked prohibitively expensive food...

And I'm very aware that my cost of fruit and veg is prob substantially lower than if I was buying the same things in the UK (£2 for 5 perfect avocados) hence being able to spend more on eggs

I agree about labeling untransparency...I was very smug about my free range buying until I looked into it and Realised how much of a mug I was being taken for as a consumer who trusts pictures and labels. Now I only buy our meat and eggs from this local farmer, which is easy because he's at our market, 10min walk from my house, every Sunday. It's easier to make ethical choices when convenience is a positive factor

About to get sucked in to bedtime madness so jumping in at page 4

Variety eg 1kg mince cooked up for savoury mince with mash night one, spag bol night two, chilli night three. You use a basic big meat source and s-t-r-e-t-c-h. In this context a big joint is more cost effective than a small one and should theoretically be served hot, cold, hash and soup. I can never do this with a chicken but a leg of lamb when on offer does four of us at least this.

Fuel costs meat usually means either expensive and quick cooked (fillet) or cheap and slow cooked (shin beef). There is not yet enough emphasis on saving fuel. Hay box/slow cooker/remoska/halogen/microwave/tiered steamer cooking. Junk microwave stuff is less expensive to cook.

Travel costs and access to shops It is cheaper for me to get a supermarket delivery than get the bus to a supermarket, and I live in an area with access to city living, huge markets etc. Getting access to eg markets isn't always cost effective. There is no point in me spending £4 on bus fares instead of free delivery (in the right circumstances) when I am going to save less than £4 and knacker myself carrying.

Bulk buying is really useful if you are cooking from scratch. This assumes you have the money for the outlay plus ways of dragging it home plus somewhere to store it. Otherwise it will be even more expensive buying eg lentils by the 200g.

Just the actual cost of ingredients aren't the sum total of cooking.

Look forward to coming back and catching up.

Part of my job is to sell at farmers markets and I would warn that not all farmers are honest. Particularly the ones struggling to make a living from a small holding (I'm looking at you Dave with you fake farm eggs).

Lots of people eat junk but kid themselves that it good home-cooked stuff.

Mostly it's something involving pasta and a tin of tomatoes. They are malnourished.

But you knew that, didn't you?

Just wanted to say lentils, beans and spices are mega cheap in an Indian supermarket. I go once a year and fill the larder.

A 2 kg bag of red lentil 69p ( ish)

*Lots of people eat junk but kid themselves that it good home-cooked stuff.

Mostly it's something involving pasta and a tin of tomatoes. They are malnourished.

But you knew that, didn't you?*

Care to elaborate on that? As far as I'm concerned there is nothing wrong with a meal of pasta, tinned toms and the addition of an onion and some frozen mixed veg. Especially with some beans or pulses in there for protein.