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!

Mine is £35-£40 and that is for everything and we have a cat.

But we are vegetarian, we don't drink either and our only snack like treat is a bottle of coke (only if it is £1 or less) and a couple of bars of Lidl's 35p bars of chocolate on a Saturday night.

I swear by Lidl and quite agree with a poster unthread who refuses to shop at Sainsburys/Tescos etc where you seem to be paying 30-40p extra per item or £1.78 less if you are buying a jar of pesto.

I also don't think as a family we are not huge eaters. We consider eggs bean and chips is a perfectly adequate meal with a piece of fruit for pudding.

We also make great use of tap water.

Unfortunately markets don't run everywhere- here in Scotland thay are very rare.

Re: pasta and carbs, traditionally these are used as a cheap way to bulk out a meal so that you don't feel hungry.

It might not be paleo but it works.

Also, I think of a roast as a quite expensive way to eat meat (although depends on portion sizes and how you eke it out). Some kind of variation on stew : meat + veg + carb is how people on limited incomes all over the world consume meat.

We spend around £70-80 a week for 2 adults, 2 cats and a toddler who eats about as much as I do. I can get it down to less if I go to the local market which is very cheap, but with pregnancy and toddler sometimes I do end up online shopping…

I use a lot of veg in all my meals, we do eat meat, but if I was making for example a meat stew it would be at least 50% veg. We eat leftovers for lunch (mostly) (not perfect)

Sainsburys and tescos are stupid prices and the food (particularly veg) is not nice. morissons is better quality and cheaper.I do a weekly run to wilkos for nappies/cleaning products/soap/etc - so so much cheaper than supermarkets.

I don't know if it's cheaper to eat ready meals, I never really got into them. Most people seem to spend a bit more than us though and we eat pretty sexy stuff (lots of fish, posh cheeses)

Am very lucky in that my toddler is an eating machine who will devour anything!

Our food bill is higher but our chicken does last 3 meals. Roast, chicken pasties, chicken and noodle soup. But then the 2nd 2 meals are just for the children.

I think that the satisfaction we get from food is, to some degree, dependent on the source too. We're lucky to have an inexpensive butcher who sells in bulk if required: his chicken drumsticks are 6 for 3kg in a big bag. They don't shrink, are really tasty, and two each is enough. The equivalent cheap frozen drumsticks from the supermarket are whiter in colour, lose lots of water and fat on cooking, and because they are lacking in flavour and texture they aren't so satisfying. If I had to buy equibvalent quality meat form a supermarket our bills would be much higher.

Thinking about it, we don't snack very much either, which may be a factor in our bills as I know that preprepared nibbles are expensive. I rarely buy yogurt as two of the Dcs don't like it: I do make milk jellies most weeks though, split between little pots for packed lunches.

YY to those who've said that a freezer is key. If I didn't have the freezer I'd need to shop every 2 days and as our local shop is a small coop we'd be sepnding an absolute fortune.

This thread is really interesting.

I do get two meals out of a chicken but I always make sure I buy a big one (2kg+) for that very reason.I always make stock with the bones and the dogs get the giblets.

I am about to do my food shop for the week and have been inspired - going to make flapjacks this week instead of buying expensive cereal bars - just hoping I don't eat them all I wouldn't dream of eating a cereal bar but a yummy, sticky, homemade flapjack is another matter...

tinned tomatoes are not cheap - I always buy the plum ones as the cheap chopped tomatoes are rank - half stems. Sainsburys seems to have a lot of half price deals on the napolina tinned toms and when that happens I buy in bulk

We eat a roast every Sunday. If things are a bit tight I sometimes roast sausages as the "meat"
A hearty plate of Yorkshire puddings is a good filler and always popular :)

A few people have mentioned Costco.

That is not an option available to all though, you can only buy membership if you work in, or used to work in a certain profession.

Same goes for all of the bulk buy warehouse places too.

warehouses.costco.co.uk/membership/#close

And, as I said, you need transport, storage and the cash up front.

I think people that say it's more expensive to cook from scratch are cooking the wrong things! Obviously a big lasagne will be expensive, a stew won't be.

I tend to cook things that I remember my Nana cooking as she was from post war era when meat was scarce and everyone was on a very tight budget. A decent shortcrust pastry is not expensive to make at all and can be used for pies, pasties. Suet is also cheap and veg suet not as grim as beef. Again can be used for dumplings to bulk out stew or as a pastry.

I agree that people eat way too much meat. A stew in this house would be 6 sausages or that equivalent amount of other meat, root veg, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, peppers and served with rice or flat breads or dumplings. I would expect that to leave some leftovers too.

Cheap packs of bacon are a good way to bulk out meals. Diced up and chucked into pie fillings, stews, pasta dishes even chilli and lasagne means less of the expensive meat.

Doubling recipes is also a good way of cooking. Keep the meat quantity the same as recipe states. So for chilli I'd use a normal pack of mince. 4 onions, 3 peppers, 6 mushrooms, 3 tins tomatoes, 2 tins beans etc. that would last 4 days if I used bacon bits to pad it out.

Cooking with a slow cooker is a good way of forcing you to do cheap meals as you have to change what you cook. You can't faff around with pies or pan fried steaks or burgers which use a lot of meat for the quantity you get. Using the slow cooker I can do cheap cuts of meat, barbeque meat for wraps and pittas, stews, lasagne cheaply, pasta sauces, chilli, curries etc.

Curries are easy and cheap as well esp if bulked out with cauliflower and potatoes.

toad in the hole is a great way to make 6 sausages stretch between 5 people :-)

our market is great but only on a thursday and I work then.

And re snacks, they just aren't an option if you really are tight for money. The kids here eat fruit if they are hungry with maybe a wee bit if yoghurt (buy big pots as cheaper). If you have no overdraft, no credit and a set amount to buy food with you just don't eat snacks. I make sure the 3 meals are big nutritious filling ones with a pudding of basic sponge and custard or fruit and thick natural yogurt and they don't get hungry for snacks. And they are super active toddlers. I imagine teenagers are a whole other ball game though!

I don't think homemade pizza works out THAT much cheaper than bought frozen pizza once you have bought ham and mozzerella to go on top but it is so much nicer and more filling and my kids will politely eat frozen pizza but they really look forward to the homemade variety, eat loads and therefore stay fuller.

Teenagers ARE another ball game

I am slightly dreaidn the Easter holidays as there will be a fair amount of mooching about desperate for food

I envy you yuor super active toddlers

Oh good yeehaw, me too, also the thud of the cupboard doors as they rummage for food...

Oh and has anyone mentioned growing things? I grow herbs from seeds in pots in the kitchen window sills. Pots of dried herbs or bunches of fresh are so bloody expensive it's laughable. Just buy 40p pack of seeds from wilkinsons and stick them in margarine tubs. They thrive when not watered too often, if you snip the leaves with scissors they keep growing new ones so last ages.

Same goes for a lot of basic veg and fruit trees. Easy to grow in pots, far far cheaper than buying. And also foraging. Berries in winter, crab apples and wild apple trees. People have just got used to convenience and aren't prepared to put a bit of effort into reducing food costs by growing and picking.

And me wailing 'HOW can you be hungry, you've just eaten ffs '

Growing things is not usually an option for very poor people. A lot of "leisure poverty" on this thread! (I include myself. And exclude all the exceptions)

Growing things COSTS A FORTUNE

it is a very middle class way of thinking you are saving money. Madness growing maincrop potatoes for example. We do grow stuff but it is the expensive stuff or the stuff that just tastes loads better fresh - charlotte potatoes, purple sprouting, asparagus, cherry tomatoes

DameDiazepam I have just invested in a sandwich maker
I have discovered that if dd1 eats a full meal then slinks upstairs to do homework, all ills can be cured by taking up a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich and a cup of cocoa upstairs for her. It is oiling the wheels very nicely.