to think that a roast dinner isn't necessarily an expensive meal to cook?

[Granllanog]

Just been chatting to a newish friend, she asked what we were eating today and I said I had cooked a roast chicken dinner........she said she loves a roast but considers it an expensive meal. I asked her what she was having today and she said they were having fresh pizzas from Morrisons (£10).
I told her my roast dinner cost less than that to make!!!

Obviously, if you buy a very expensive cut of meat then the cost will be higher but a roast doesn't have to break the bank surely? Today we had a simple chicken dinner, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, swede, peas, carrots, stuffing and gravy.

Breakdown of today's simple roast
Chicken .........1.4 kg £3.33 (part of a multibuy offer)
Potatoes .......... 30p (taken from a large 7.5 kg bag)
Carrots 25p
Peas (frozen) 30p
swede 45p
parsnips 30p
homemade stuffing 25p onion, fresh herbs, my own breadcrumbs
homemade gravy 10p spoon of flour and some gravy browning

If she isn't much of a cook then she will be buying everything ready done which would be more expensive. A roast is usually a from scratch meal which is why it is affordable (depending on the meat).

Chicken is cheap (or can be). Other roasting joints tend to be expensive

I agree OP, love a roast and as there are only two of us here a roast means that I get two dinners for two plus a lunch for me out of a chicken.

Our meat alone was £10 today for two of us 😂 £2 for a bag of potatoes, £5 ish for some asparagus and other greens 🥦

I think it depends where you shop / who you feed! We buy ours from a local butchers and greengrocer. It is an expensive meal, but worth it for a comforting Sunday treat!

Yep a roast chicken or pork are cheap….. lamb & beef not so much!

We often roast an extra large chicken as it then makes about three meals for us. Roast dinner one day and then probably another meal, such as chicken fried up with chorizo and rice - then I'd make soup.

Agree that other roasts are pricey though. I love lamb - we never have it because it's too expensive.

It's a cheap meal in ingredients, but it costs time to make and some people can't be bothered to cook. That said if she seems it too expensive versus her ready made pizzas then there is something very wrong with her thinking. Roast dinners are also an excellent way to get a good variety of food into kids as most will eat variations of it and they are easy to feed a large family.

3.33 for a chicken
Wow. Just wow

I agree op, I always bake a sponge pudding as well, cheap as chips to make.

Chicken yes

Beef or lamb, no

Chicken and pork is cheap. But a joint of beef or lamb can be a tenner alone.

Depends whether you are prepared to eat unhappy chickens really. A well kept chicken is expensive.

Roast is relatively cheap imo. Especially with chicken. Even with beef a joint can cost £7 plus £3 on veg- so equal to her £10 and far more nutritious

It really depends but a roast can be relatively cheap if no thrills. If I have chicken I have to have sausages (butchers), roast, cauliflower cheese, parsnips, carrot and swede mash, peas etc. It does make sandwiches for lunch the next day and a bubble and squeak tea.

Mmmm- fresh pizzas (bread, a tiny bit of tomato purée, cheese and a negligible amount of topping) - what a great Sunday lunch!

I’m not a fan of cheap meat- it comes at a huge cost to welfare imo, but your veg on its own is a better meal than “fresh pizza” .

@Loveshelly

3.33 for a chicken Wow. Just wow

What’s wow about that?

Obviously frills. But they can add thrills 🤣

I agree with you. I had pork - £4.90 but enough for a second meal eg stir fry tomorrow so let's say £3, potatoes 50p, sweet potatoes 50p carrots 30p, parsnips 50p, broccoli 60p swede 50p, lidl gravy granules 10p, lidl apple sauce 10p lidl stuffing 30p. £6.40 plus electricity and gas, serves 3 adults with leftovers for lunch tomorrow, and pork for stir fry tomorrow as said above. No making my own either here as I cheat on gravy and stuffing

I can make a roast chicken dinner for four of us for about £5. It's one of the best value meals for me to cook.

Pork is fairly cheap too.

All the sides are cheap... potatoes and veg.

Beef and lamb is expensive though. I wanted to buy a leg of lamb the other day and it was ,£19

I've often made a 'roast' by stuffing chicken breast with homemade stuffing. So it can be done quite reasonably once you have all the trimmings. It's not noticeably different to a roast (though we do love roast beef here too)

@Eminybob
Wow that an animal lived, died, processed by people and it still only costs 3.33
There is something so fucked up about that.

Yet on my thread where I said food is too cheap everyone disagreed and said it’s too expensive and I’m some rich bitch.

3.33 for a living creature is too cheap IMPO

I wouldn't buy or eat a chicken that cost 3 quid.

This doesn’t surprise me at all. People have some funny ideas about the cost of food. I am always amazed when people complain about how expensive food is, so eat pizza instead. Pizza is a complete rip off and nutritionally a load of shit too. It’s incredible adults with dc think like this.

@Loveshelly

3.33 for a chicken Wow. Just wow

Welcome to the real world

You'll come under some fire here OP for buying a cheap chicken that hasn't been organically farmed, and hand reared by virgins who periodically dusted its feathers with a handcrafted Jamie Oliver kitchen implement.
But yes, I know what you mean.