AIBU to be confused when people say it's cheaper to cook from scratch?

[Blueskiesandcherrypies]

(Sorry another 'weekly food shop post'....)

I just don't think it is! I struggle to get our weekly food shop below £140pw. That's for me, DH, ds9, dd7 and dd1 (and soon to be newborn ds). We all love our food, though I tear my hair out every week planning meals everyone will enjoy rather than refuse and sulk about tolerate, and cook from scratch (just things like spag Bol, curry, carbonara, puff pastry 'pizza', roasts...) but I often think blimey if I could just chuck a few ready meals in the trolley and loads of bits from the frozen section (burgers, nuggets, kievs!!) we'd be quids in! But then we wouldn't be eating so healthily and I wouldn't know exactly what we're all putting in our mouths.

Weekly food shop includes packed lunches, loads of fruit for snacks, cat food, household bits, nappies.... but not alcohol, that comes out of DH's 'own' pocket rather than our joint account even if it's wine for me. We never have leftovers so can't stretch a meal over 2 days (DCs have growing appetites).

I am green with envy when I see people saying they can feed a family of four for £50 a week! Just....how?!

And ok, before you ask, I have been shopping at ocado lately but I haven't seen a huge price diff than when I used sainsburys.

Please help me see where I'm going wrong!

[kirkby1]

It's really hard to do it cheaply, we try to save money by sourcing local farmers and buy half lamb, half pig etc, they can often joint them for you, although you need freezer space. I boil bones to make soups after roasts and put plenty of lentils, yellow split peas or potatoes in. We raid the reduced sections and by trial and error know when our local shops do this, again we freeze a lot. The fruit and veg stall reduce prices at the end of market day, although the draw backs are that you need to be free to be there at those times.

[nappyaddict]

Minesapintoftea I have got it down to 1 tablespoon of washing liquid. I was using 50ml before. I am also washing what i call bright coloureds (not pastels) and dark on a fast 30 minute cycle.

Titsalinabumsquash Do you freeze your tray bakes/muffins/flapjacks or do they stay fresh for the fortnight?

elliephant Please post a link to this breakfast wrap you speak of.

[Offred]

Definitely works out cheaper for me feeding a family of six an around £80-£100 per week and shopping at ocado/abel and cole only eating (small amount of) organic meat.

I do mostly cook everything from scratch though, breads, pastry, veggie burgers/sausages etc. I don't think buying ready made things like pastry/pasta/veggie burgers does often work out cheaper tbh. I do sometimes use ready made things to save time/when I CBA. Never buy ready meals.

The outlay is time. Yesterday I began lunch at 8.30am, it mostly takes me 2 hours to cook the evening meal. I'm a uni student and do voluntary work so the time is not taken out of my potential working hours and so the investment of time is worth it for our family where the investment if money would not be.

When I work I'll cut down on cooking and spend more on ready made ingredients, although it is unlikely I'll ever buy ready meals unless they are good quality (v. Expensive).

[FabBakerGirl]

Chunderella - we don't have a butcher anywhere nearby unless I go right into town. There is a butchers counter at Asda and Sainsbury's but the Asda one is rubbish in that there is very little choice and the assistant isn't capable of any help. I went to Asda and there were two chickens priced at £4. The smart price one was noticeably bigger than the "Butcher's Choice" one. How? Made me think hmm.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

Longtime- i agree. I use magic chickens too. Anyone looking for 3 or 5 big slices of breastmeat with a chicken dinner ( except at christmas) will be disappointed.
My chicken dinner will always have some ( not all) of the following- home made stuffing, pigs in blankets or green beans wrapped in bacon, yorkshires, dauphine potatoes, mash and roast, hm potato croquettes, stuffed mushrooms, cauliflower cheese,stuffed tomatoes, spring greens stir fried with lardons, roasted onions, corn on the cob,asparagus ( v cheap in ALDI atm) Roasted winter veg, baked butternut, sauted courgettes, as well as all the usual veg like peas, carrots, parsnips etc.

I buy bargain veg as I see it, often it will dictate the whole theme of the meal. I like to pimp up my roasts too- Moroccan, Indian, Spanish or Italian spiced accordingly. And I always have loads of meat from these magic chickens for at least two other meals.

[LongTimeLurking]

Magic chickens and bulking out everything with beans and lentils is how most people manage to feed a family of 12 on £20 a week.

[CountessOfRule]

Yes, butcher chickens look a bit wrinkled compared with supermarket chickens.

In my experience and opinion, only a butcher chicken can be a magic MN chicken. For about £6 you can genuinely get a greedy roast, a second greedy-with-meat meal and stock/soup. And oh the flavour.

[FabBakerGirl]

Reformed on the label always makes me put it back and I assumed added water was a bad thing. I need to learn to read all labels I guess and stop making assumptions. I was told the Asda smart price bacon joint was the best in the shop as it didn't have any nasties in it. I did buy it a couple of times but DH was a bit sceptical and I have been getting the "branded" one now, albeit Asda.

[Grennie]

For meat, you look for added water. The water isn't an issue, it is the other stuff they put in to make the water stay in the meat that you want to avoid.

Also with mince, steak mince is good quality. You can buy decent steak mince at ALDI fairly cheap.

But if it hasn't got added water, and is steak mince, then their won't be much difference between meats. The exception to this is if it is raised ethically. Free range means it has been raised to higher standards. But there is a lot of variation within the term free range.

[AmberLeaf]

Casseroles are a fab place to start with cheaper cuts.

Im very unfussy, I like nice food, but I don't mind lowering my standards a bit, though I am an excellent cook...and modest too! so think that makes a difference

[FabBakerGirl]

See, I am not fussy at all as I didn't get fed properly as a child. I never knew when I would next have food so I will eat anything really. DH is more fussy than me. My kids are pretty good but it drives me mad that DD won't readily eat pasta.

DH loves casseroles and I haven't made on e for ages so maybe that would be a good place to start. I have a slow cooker so could use that. Certainly saves cooking twice a night when I use it.

[AmberLeaf]

I agree with the less ingredients thing. I actually got into Aldi because my Mum bought some pasta sauce [dolmio type] and told me that the ingredients list read the same as if you made it at home. No unrecognisable things or numbers etc.

I don't mind a 'dirty' sausage every now and then [that sounds rude and it's not meant to!] but I rarely buy burgers because the good quality ones are too expensive.

If you are just talking about simple cuts of meat, where it is in its 'natural' form, then you can see what it is. So I think taking a step down with food like that is perfectly acceptable/sensible TBH.

[FabBakerGirl]

I will try, thank you. For years I was buying the two for a fiver chickens without thinking anything and then I must have read on here that they can't have been good quality.

I find that the more ingredients I don't recognise on an item the less I will buy it and I think when there are so many fillers in a meat product I assume it isn't a good quality item. Am I wrong? I am fussy about what my children eat but don't want to be wasting money if a step down item is fine.

It is never cut and dried though. If I buy tinned custard it costs me 17p as it has less sugar in than the branded one.

[AmberLeaf]

I think I know what you mean

Well, I have on the whole always bought meat on the cheaper end of the scale, 'good' meat ie expensive, is not unknown to me, so I do have some point of reference!

How meat is cooked/seasoned has more of a bearing on the taste outcome than price IMO/IME.

I am trying to think of a time where I have bought cheap meat that was disappointing and I can't really think of one. Actually, buying a basics beef mince, the fat content was higher than I like, but that kind can be ok if you are making a ragu.

All you can do is try.

[FabBakerGirl]

I mean as in not 10% meat in a sausage ( I am fine with these as have found 90% meat ones) but can't think how else to explain. The cheap chickens at £3 I wonder how good they really are. Are they full of water and tasting like nothing? Oh I can't think how to explain.

[AmberLeaf]

What do you mean by good quality?

Do you mean ethically sourced and all that sort of thing?

Or do you mean, cooks well and tastes nice?

If it's the first, Im not sure exactly, but I think there is a general standard for meat sold in supermarkets, if it's the second, the proof is in the pudding or the stew

[FabBakerGirl]

Thank you for all the tips on different meats.

Stupid question alert -

I would not buy the basic meat as I would worry about how good it was so how will I know if I am buying cheaper cuts that it is still good quality?

[ZingSweetCoconut]

Daddy

how many pizzas though?
not so bad on your own - it's the 8 of us here....

[CuddlesNKisses]

MrsKoala - I share your anger! Not only does my DH waste half the toilet roll, but his whole family will waste a kitchen roll in one day. They'll use it to 'cover' up food on a plate - just use a damn plate or saucer for gods sake or put it in a plastic tub. They'll use it to wipe away water which a kitchen cloth can easily do. No sense!

[horsetowater]

£749.23 per pizza

[merrymouse]

Ha Ha Old Daddy. Gwyneth Paltrow has some budget chicken recipes on Goop this week - maybe you could try those next?

[horsetowater]

MrsKoala your DP sounds like he has 'dirty' issues. Get him some exposure therapy and some rubber gloves. Probably cheaper in the long run.

[OldDaddy]

I was following Jamie Oliver's speedy Pizza recipes - They were great and just under the stated budget when he then suggested I "take them out into the garden and bung them in a wood burning pizza oven". needless to say having one installed raised the price a little - Just over £749.23 per pizza. I was very disappointed and will not be cooking from scratch again.

[MinesAPintOfTea]

I stumbled across this list of budget meals on the BBC food website this lunchtime whilst looking for a specific recipe. Might be of interest to anyone looking to cook to a budget.

The other thing I have to add is that somewhere upthread there was a discussion about the cost of cooking dried pulses. I minimise this by batch cooking: I'll make 2-4 times as much of a main dish as we need and freeze the rest. Barely costs more in power than cooking what we need that day and heats up fast when I need a lazy meal to which I just add rice/pasta/microwave jacket potato especially if I remember to get it out of the freezer in the morning

MrsK I think you need to put your DH in charge of loo roll shopping. That's just daft. Maybe a selection of face/cleaning cloths for christmas?