To think cooking from scratch is not always cheaper?

[IonaNE]

A few posts on another thread (not primarily about this) have got me thinking.

In my local ASDA Weight Watchers ready meals are £2 each. If I buy one for each night of the week (to make life easier for when I get home from work), that's £10 for a hot meal on every evening of the week. For this I get a balanced meal that, over the whole week, contains chicken, beef, prawns, pasta, rice and potatoes, vegetables and a variety of sauces. On top of that it's exactly as much as I need to eat, there are no leftovers, I am not using energy by cooling unnecessary stuff in the fridge. I don't need to keep a host of jars of sauces, oils and spices which would otherwise be needed to cook all this from scratch either. And finally, I am not using energy to cook all that from scratch, and then to wash up all that was used in the process. (I do use energy to microwave the meals, 5 mins each; and the microwave is very cheap to run.)

I can cook from scratch all that is in those meals. I don't enjoy cooking but I can do it if necessary. But I don't think that I would get that variety of hot food for just £10 a week. Furthermore, if I bought all the ingredients, they would be in portions much bigger than what I need for one supper. Then I would either need to freeze them; but also: does everyone who cooks from scratch only eat a WW meal-portion of everything before they freeze the rest? I find I eat larger portions if I cook. And while I'm not overweight, I really don't need to put on weight.

So I think eating ready meals is actually cheaper than cooking from scratch. It is also less time consuming (=more time for other things) and provided you choose the right ones and read the labels, not necessarily less healthy either.

An 8pz steak isn't a normal portion though; it is a big indulgent celebration meal surely.

I actually had an 8oz steak in the pub yesterday. It was nice but to be honest, after a while I was just bored of eating meat and withing there were more mushrooms and onion rings.

You see I'd have that with 3 small boiled potatoes and vegetables. Not a fried mushroom or onion ring in sight. We're all different.

according to these websites:

Love Food Hate Waste

Bupa Portion Size

The NHS site

SF gate

All these state potaion should be around 100g

WRT the point about the supermarket keeping your meal frozen it's not actually costing you more the more you have in your freezer, that point only works if you intend to not need so unplug a fridge or freezer, or of course if you would have got one specially to store food because you dont already have one.
The energy saving advice I have seen recommends filing empty space in freezers with screwed up newspaper and empty fridge space with bottles of tap water apparently cooling down air makes your appliance work much harder.

8oz steak is a Lot though, it's not something most would eat daily. That's over 550 calories of meat. So by the time you add sides your looking at over 1000 calorie meals.

Here Adults would have about 150g steak, kids 100g.

tobys mum ^^

a 4oz steak would be a sensible portion of steak.

Well since alot of official advice has been making people fatter and fatter for the last couple of decades with their low fat high carb advice, I'd take those websites advice with a pinch of salt (maldon of course)

So for a start is it being weighed cooked or uncooked? The first website shows a joint of cooked beef and suggests using the scales, erm yes 100g of cooked roast beef as part of a full roast would be plenty for anyone. It depends what you are having with it

Hmm we are all different true. Boiled potatoes are not my cup of tea unless they are very new and smothered in butter.

But there are six people in our house, (5 adult sized) and while we are not on a budget, half a pound of meat each at a go would cost a massive amount.

XiCi exactly. I'm 5'10 and a size 10 with a bmi of 21 so am about people telling me I eat too much.

no-one is saying you eat too much food or are fat.

we're kjust saying 200g+ is a LARGE portion of meat.

you might not agree, but you'd be wrong.

Dont think anyone is telling you you eat too much Toby, just that it's a large portion of meat! I physically couldn't eat that much meat. DH could easily, but wouldn't just because we don't as a matter of course. We eat a lot of vegetables. Neither of us are overweight either. Like you say, we're all different.

The "amount of meat" question is also heavily influenced by what meat people are eating - an 8oz rump will typically have 25% more calories in than an 8oz fillet, and will "fill you up" appropriately different.

I also think the biggest difference is the sedentary / non-sedentary individuals, when you're only eating/needing 1200 calories a day, 3-400 calories from a steak is loads, when you're on over 2000 it seems perfectly reasonable.

It depends what you have with it is the point I've been making consistently. Someone said above that with 'sides' an 8oz steak would be more than 1000 cal. Not necessarily. Yes it is a large portion of meat in so far as it would be the focus of the meal, and with other meals you'd have less depending on what else you are eating but shocking no!

8oz of chicken is similarly a lot though.

I guess that's why I find it odd. I'd be completely bored if a huge piece of meat was the focus of my meal. I like variety- meat, veg, sauce, spices, small amount of carbs. In order for it to not be a really high calorie meal I use a small meat portion.

I don't think meat is particularly calorie dense though. But yeah, I like lots of different things on my plate.

As tobysmum said, it depends on the meal as a whole. My meals are protein based with sides of vegetables. It may seem alot of protein if you have a big side of chips with it as is the norm in the UK but when you have a decent piece of fish or meat with some vegetables it's not a huge amount

8oz of any meat is a lot of meat it is a "double" portion.

Whether you eat 8oz of meat as the only thing in the meal, or with something else, it's a large portion of meat regardless.

And of course I use sauces, spices etc
I love to cook. I don't just have a hunk of meat and a piece of broccoli on my plate!

I know the OP has gone, but if a freezer is going to be used, it is more efficient full. Running it with a bag of peas and a tub of ice cream is the worst of both worlds.

I've never bought my meat at the supermarket so don't know how it compares to the meat I usually buy. But yes each portion worked out at around £4 per 500g. I find this amount of meat feeds me and H for one meal, with enough left over for my lunch.

If I made the mince into burgers it would do 4 quite hefty burgers. H would have 2 and I'd have 1, with the leftover for my lunch.

If I used the meat for a curry, I might add spinach and potatoes and that would bulk it up for 2 meals so it would go twice as far.

It doesn't seem like masses when we eat it.

Goodness.
Buy the pauper's cookbook by Jocasta innes and get going!
Prep meals are work of devil.

I remember when ex H took the kids away for 5 days with his dad. It was a lovely break for all of us, but I was buggered if I knew what to eat!

We were a family of 7 so I was used to cooking for a large family, cooking for one was so alien to me that I did indeed spend the week eating ready meals or takeaway! I didnt spend loads but I didnt enjoy the food tbh, it didnt taste as nice as home made and I didnt think that the quality was very good either.

But, I can see why it would be a practical alternative to having a massive freezer full of portions of cooked meals or eating the same thing for week!