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!

We manage about £50 a week food shop and about a £10 top up with more bread and fruit and milk if we need it and only about 2 of them meals are ready meals, for example a pizza or I'll do everyone soup (heinz!) with fresh made bread which doesn't cost much to make as I have all the ingredients in the cupboard. I get 10% off my food bill though to as I work for a supermarket. Though tbh we very rarely have dessert. I might every so often buy cheap ice lollies for the fridge but we aren't pudding people, if we get hungry later people just tend to have a yoghurt or a bit of fruit. I do think it's about trying and testing things. Some basic brands are honestly the same as the brands and it's not worth paying the extra but some are gross. One I recently found horrid were Tesco value crumpets. Never again!

I also shop at ocado but I think those who manage to do it very cheaply could be because they eat very little. I know we take 3 or 4 days to eat the smallest roast chicken on offer in ocado. So I never buy them because we get sick eating chicken day in day out.

We also have a toddler that has all her weekday meals at nursery.

DH and I are both very small eaters. I lost my appetite on my first trimester and we were having 2 chicken thighs for dinner for the two of us. Normally we only have 3. I know very few people who eat so little. We are also semi-vegetarians so we have a lot of beans and lentils. I buy them from the indian shop in large bags. Even if you buy tinned ones in waitrose, a tin of chickpeas is only 65p. And that's enough for a meal for the two of us. I seriously doubt you can get good quality meat for that price.

Sorry, I haven't got the time to read the whole thread, but surely you cannot compare food made from scratch to value ready meals, which are bulked up with water and nasty ingredients.
For the same nutrition, homemade food is cheaper.

Add message | Report | Message poster OneLittleToddleTerror Mon 24-Mar-14 15:59:24

We eat loads her lots of jelly bellys

We only spend about 60 per week for 2 adults and three small children.

A lot of our meals are egg based as you can buy 30 for about 30, egg fried rice with frozen peppers would come out at less than 2 for everyone.

I can't make a chicken stretch but I can make anything mince based stretch!

I bought Jack Monroe's book (off the back of the webchat) and we have successfully replaced 2-3 meals with something beany rather than meaty.

I do shop cheaply and make Chickens/roasts last for 3-4 days. There are 2 big eating adults here and quite a hungry 18mo. It only works with lots of cheaper bulking ingredients.

Sunday - Roast Chicken (large one for about £6) with sausage meat stuffing (cheap pack of sausage meat £1, bread crumbs, chopped onion, celery, apple, black pepper and sage baked in a loaf tin). i only serve the dark meat - so a large thigh each (and i would do a leg each for your 9 and 7yo and a some of the bits for the 1yo) with the skin on, and a couple of slices of stuffing, pots, parsnips, yorkshire, carrots, broc/peas/cauli cheese/cabbage. I also do a cheap pudding like apple crumble/rice pudding.

If people ask for more meat, then the answer is no, that is a big enough meal and there is pudding.

i then dismantle the chicken without anyone picking at it. i cut the breast meat into inch chunks, then pick every scrap of meat i can off the carcass. this all goes into an ice cream tub - no one is allowed to pick at.

Meals i get are 2 of these - Chicken and stuffing hash, mash and leftover gravy (made in the roasting tin) and steamed veg. Chicken and chickpea biriani and veg curry - Chicken and chorizo/prawn paella - Chicken and kabanos/chorizo pasta - Chicken and bacon pie.

4th meal is a meat free soup/risotto. i make a stock with the bones and veg trimmings which i keep in the fridge from the previous week. then either use it for a minestrone/tomato and red lentil soup, served with cheese on toast. Or a mushroom and pea/courgette risotto.

i buy the cooking/value packs of bacon from sainsbury for £1.10 and get enough for a pasta bake, chunks for the chicken and bacon pie, quiche lorraine/frittata for lunch.

If i get a large leg of lamb at a reasonable price, i get 3-4 meals out. Similar roast (not stuffing tho) to the Chicken. Then i mince 2/3 of the leftover lamb and do a lamb and red lentil mousaka served with a greek salad and pitta bread. A shepherds pie with mushrooms, carrots, onion, celery with a mash and cheese topping and leftover gravy made in the roasting pan from Sunday. Then i boil up the bone and veg trimmings (onion, carrot and celery bums a bay leaf and peppercorns) and use the stock and last 1/3 of lamb diced finely for a scotch broth and crusty warm rolls.

A piece of Beef = 3 meals (because no stock for soup). Roast. A beef an mushroom stroganoff and the rest i mince and make bolognese/meatballs mixed with some minced pork.

A piece of pork = 3 dinners. Roasted. Then sliced and cooked with onions mustard and cream, served with mash and veg. Egg fried rice with a handful of frozen prawns or chicken.

Gammon = 3 meals. Roast. Pasta, ham and cauli cheese. Cold with baked potatoes and salad.

Then there's mince. I do a big chilli and rice served with pittas. The following day we have enchiladas with the left overs (chilli and rice mixed together with a tin of mixed beans and sweetcorn/cubed sweet potato stuffed into wraps, a tin of tomatoes and a chopped large onion in the bottom of a baking dish and wraps layered on the top, topped with cheese and baked served with salad)

I also make tinned/smoked mackerel burgers and salad and pot wedges.

We eat porridge made with full milk for breakfast. Lunches are usually soup and sandwiches, baked potatoes, pasta and pesto, or left over leftovers! I also make banana/apple/sultana (whatever fruit is going) loaves for tea time/lunch treats.

This is not a diet if you are low carbing or trying to lose weight. But we are all healthy and do lots of exercise. I spend about £150 a month.

Fusedog which washing powder do you mean?

A few weeks ago I went to Lidl. When I got home I put the same shopping into Asda and Waitrose to compare. There was pennies different with Asda and iirc about £12 difference from Waitrose.

I use quite a few eggs also, helps that I'm rather fond of them and they make many an inexpensive meal.

Spanish tortilla -potato, onion, eggs. Other tidbits may be added such as ham, chorizo, green capsicum or tuna.

Boiled eggs cut in half lenghtwise with a mushroom and bacon sauce. Takes just a small amount of bacon or ham and a handful of sliced mushrooms.

Boiled eggs sliced lenghtwise in a sauce with peas,parsley and potato fried in little cubes and scattered on top.

On a bed of creamed spinach. Carefully break eggs on top put a small amount of white sauce around them and set in the oven. A little cheese can be sprinkled on top if liked.

Huevos a la Flamenca. A sauce made with onions,garlic, red or green capsicum, a small amount of chopped chorizo,tomato puree. Add peas a tiny bit of vinegar and let cook until sauce is done. Season with salt and pepper,carefully break eggs into the sauce and allow eggs to set in the oven or gently on the hob. A strip of ham lightly cooked can be served on top of each egg. Eggs can be fried and placed on the sauce instead.

Boiled eggs with tuna stuffing. Cut in half lenghtwise and very carefully remove yolks. Mash half the yolks with a fork, add a small tin of tuna and a bit of tomato paste or puree. Season and put the paste back into the egg-whites. Mix some mayonnaise with a few drops of lemon juice or few drops vinegar and if it's too thick a little bit of milk to make it a little more fluid.
Put a teaspoon of the mayonaise on top of each egg half. Crumble the rest of the eggyolk over the top. Can be served on a bed of shredded lettuce. If liked sliced stuffed olives can be added as decoration.

Poached egg topping a bowl of soup

Once you take into account gas, electric, water, your own time, it's not cheaper. But I have always cooked from scratch and I am used to eat my own food, in any case, because I've got coeliac disease, I can't buy any of these cheap biscuits, bread, pasta bakes, pizzas, pastries, etc. It's cheaper for me to make them all at home, but they are still more expensive than the wheat varieties.

TBH I would love to cook from scratch more but it really is a question of money. I can be left feeling quite gutted by the amount you can end up spending on just one meal, for instance a roast can be the best part of a tenner all in for four of us and there's rarely anything left over. I know cooking from scratch is better for you and when I try to batch cook to make it more economical, but to be honest when you are worried about money, it is so much easier (and economically more sensible) to fill your trolley in Iceland. I do sometimes buy fresh fruit/veg from the reduced section in Asda. Sometime economy has to win but it is a real shame.

going back to the pasta bake I make one which feeds all of us (me DH DS1 (9) and DS2(7) easily for about £3

250g pasta (half a bag of basics pasta) about 20p
tin of tomatoes 39p
herbs (5p)
large blob of Philadelphia type cheese 50p
handful of chopped chicken (this is always a leftovers meal) £1
handful of frozen sliced peppers 40p
handful of frozen sweetcorn 20p
the whizzed up end of a loaf of garlic bread as a crunchy topping 10p
cheese 30p

Sometimes I'll add a large chunk of boursin which makes all the difference. I buy it when its on offer and keep it in the freezer. £3.50ish feeds four.

Octopus I agree with you, when I was very skint and before the coeliac diagnosis I would have batchelors noodles for dinner. And if very, very skint, the 19p noodles from sainsburys (they must be much more expensive now).

Octopus the answer is not to have roast. We almost never have them, maybe 2-3 times a year. Any meal base on meat is going to be expensive.

Though Iceland and farmfoods is probably going to be cheaper. I don't know how they get prices so low?

Mrs Koala, with two older teenagers and DH, I spend at least £150 a week! That includes some beer and wine and all toiletries, cleaning stuff though. When DS is around and if we have visitors it's closer to £200pw .

I am quite sure, however, that if I didn't work full-time and if I had more time to shop around and spend time cooking (although I mostly cook from scratch) I could cut the food bill by half to a third. It's a balancing act between time and money and for me time wins. My nearest Lidl would add 90 minutes to my shopping time and that is a big bit of my weekend or a long detour on the way home from work.

Teenagers really do have hollow legs. Yoghurt to my ds is a pack of four, not one yoghurt - and they can go through a packet of tunnocks teacakes as fast as I can pour a glass of wine!

Though I have to declare that we don't have roasts because no one likes them in my household except me. DH is brought up as a veggie so doesn't like any meals based around meat. (So fried rice with a handful of chicke is ok but a chicken breast with veg is not). DD prefers carbs and just eats rice, pasta and potatoes.

I have a family who won't eat ready meals, as the PP says eating £10 of meat at one sitting will push up the cost. We do eat meat but rarely in great slabs. If I cook meat then it will usually be bulked up with nutritional fillers, like lentils, vegetables or pulses. If I cook a lamb cassoulet half of the content will be haricot beans and vegetables. I can make a dish for four people with a handful of chicken meat pulled off the bones.

A big bag of frozen chips from Morrisons costs much less than the same weight of fresh potatoes. I compared recently and was shocked at how much cheaper the chips were. So , no, YANBU. It is a lot more expensive to eat healthily from scratch, especially when you factor in the cost of fuel for cooking. Hence why the poor tend to eat crap.

It depends on what type of food you're cooking. I can make a spag bol WAY cheaper (and healthier) than buying it as a ready meal (although our nearest supermarket is a Waitrose so their ready stuff might be more expensive than others).

My biggest money savers for cooking from scratch are going to the butchers', their meat is about 2/3 the price or less (again comparing with Waitrose). Tinned products are cheap (chopped tomatoes, beans, sweetcorn), as are lots of fresh veg (onion, carrots, potatoes - and lots of others if you buy in season) www.bbcgoodfood.com/seasonal-calendar/all

I also like this website: resourcefulcook.com/ it actually prices per portion (of course you need to be able to obtain the ingredients at their target prices, I think they're based on Tescos)

Pissing DH simply won't eat beans, lentils, chickpeas etc nor eggs unless Spanish omelette with lots of bacon. He avoids creamy sauces. We have a lot of macaroni cheese, beans on toast, etc when he is away with work.

DC1 also won't eat eggs except baked into cake because he used to be allergic to them (contact allergy, now outgrown) and is still anxious about them.

I am determined to teach DC2 and DC3 to eat boiled eggs at least. They are so useful, nutritious and cheap. And I will make sure they like beans and lentils because they're useful. I've already succeeded on baked beans and hummus!

I have no time for fussy husbands. Just about acceptable in a three year old, but quite unseemly for an adult man.
I don't pander to grown men. I can understand perhaps a few singular dislikes for particular foods- liver or tripe for instance, but to write off the whole legume family seems bizarre. There are so many types of bean and pulse- he doesn't like any of them?

It's the texture he dislikes, so yes it's all of them.

Let's say that PIL didn't teach him a wide range of tastes. He eats far more now than he used to before we were married, but legumes are a step too far.

And yes it's

I eat only paleo/primal so nothing is processed (except I have a bit of butter). I don't find it expensive. Also if you eat mostly meat, fish, eggs, nuts, veg you aren't as hungry as if you mainline carbs so you might well eat fewer meals too. Most people eat too much. 60% of people in the UK my age are overweight!

Also eating heathily particularyl low sugar stops what I call ODDD:
Obesity,
Diabetes
Dementia (the 3rd diabetes)
Depression.

Countess will your OH eat pakora?