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

So glad to hear your fucking dog manages to eat better than my kids. You proud of that?

Don't let it upset you and don't let this thread make you think you've done anything wrong or that feeding your kids supermarket meat is unusual. Honestly, only on here do I see such outrage. In real life, vast majority of people buy ordinary supermarket meat and don't give it a second thought. The only time I buy expensive meat is at Christmas!

@cjpark sorry if this is a silly question but do you mean you get half a sheep or pig?! Like not chopped up. Just a sheep sliced in half?

The fact a roast dinner can now be considered a cheap family meal is a terrible indictment of the supermarket meat industry. A £3.33 chicken costs less than half the price per kg of Morrison's cheapest cheese, and about the same as tinned chickpeas. It sounds like it should be impossible.

I'm not vegetarian, I'm not saying people shouldn't eat meat. I do think a bird should be seen as something more important than the cheapest way to put protein in your belly. I'd have chosen the pizza over the chicken today.

@Comedycook

So glad to hear your fucking dog manages to eat better than my kids. You proud of that?

Don't let it upset you and don't let this thread make you think you've done anything wrong or that feeding your kids supermarket meat is unusual. Honestly, only on here do I see such outrage. In real life, vast majority of people buy ordinary supermarket meat and don't give it a second thought. The only time I buy expensive meat is at Christmas!

This. There is a reason there is only a couple of corn fed organic chickens on the shelves in Asda but rows of standard chickens. That's what the majority buy. This forum is not representative of your average family

You can always tell a £3 chicken from the skin. Tears like wet printer paper.

[quote Noogar]@cjpark sorry if this is a silly question but do you mean you get half a sheep or pig?! Like not chopped up. Just a sheep sliced in half?[/quote]
No, you get the cuts of meat which roughly comprise half of the carcass - eg for lamb usually chops, cutlets and steaks, shoulder, leg, mince or sometimes kidney.

When you can't cook and buy everything ready made, the cost adds up.

Roasts are great value in my opinion! For 4 of us the veg probably comes in at around £2 (roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli for example) and then a chicken £5/£6 ish which will do at least 2 meals! We had a beef joint last weekend which was £11 and did 3 meals for 4! Admittedly 2 of our 4 are small children but even so…

Comedycook I really recommend eating food within it's season. Also, I don't know where you shop but that certainly hasn't been my experience. Then again, near me there is a marker which is always cheaper than the supermarkets.

It's very privileged to be able to pay for high welfare meat. Unfortunately too many people don't have a choice because it's either buy the cheap meat or starve We're poor. We don't eat cheap meat. We don't starve.

Some people think they'll die if they don't eat meat every day for some reason.

[quote Porcupineintherough]@QuestionableMouse that's bullshit. The choice is not animal cruelty or starvation. Low meat and no meat diets are also available.[/quote]
Well, no it isn't but I can't be arsed to argue with ya.

You can make a “roast” dinner from any cut of meat if having a tight month.
Sausages, bacon. Use chicken thighs if can’t afford a whole chicken.
Along with the gravy potatoes and veg it still makes a hearty meal

I don't think it's a massively expensive meal, but I don't think it's cheap either.

As pp's have said a lot depends on the meat you buy and it's quality. I'm not a fan of cheap meat for reasons of both taste and ethics.

It is cheaper than a lot of pre-made meals assuming you make everything from scratch and depending on the size of your family a roast will often suffice for more than one meal (though I'm not a proponent of the MN endless chicken).

I don't actually find making a roast a chore either - but after 20 years I've got it down to an art and I figure given I get two meals (possibly 3 at a push by which I mean 2 meals and a few sandwich's or enough meat left for a pasta dish or soup) out of it I'm saving some time there (there's only 3 of us though).

Rather than cheap, I'd regard it as a good value meal per serving and one that rewards your efforts with easy leftover options.

@CarrotSticks23

A free range organic chicken from Morrisons is £13 It depends how much you want to compromise on animal welfare for your roast really. Maybe she's not prepared to buy a £3 chicken?

It maybe it is how much money you have?!

@gunnersgold

You do have a choice , you don't have to eat meat ! We have a roast dinner with just veg and it's lovely ! Humans are so used to eating animals we don't stop to think about wetter we actually should and how much we should pay for their lives ! Sad really !

Oh yes all those poor people who don't want to serve lentils and beans for every meal.

Mumsnet is in a world of it's own

[quote Hdhdjejdj]@CatKittyCatCatKittyCatCat If you have no inclination to make your dc decent food, I have no sympathy. That’s quite a different matter to lack of money. I understand the issues of child poverty but I didn’t think we were talking about that on this thread, given the OP’s friend can afford £10 for 4 pizzas.[/quote]
How the on earth did you get to “no inclination to make your DC decent food” from my post. Because I said people might not be inclined to go thrifting for casseroles if it involves two buses?

@bigbeachedwales you chose to have children I chose not to but have my dog instead!

My post is making a point that you can make a meal as expensive/cheap as you want, yes I chose to have an expensive piece of meat today but that will last 2 (3inc dog) of us all week used in various meals, so divided cost wise probably not that much. Yes the dog will get some so it's all used. A few weeks ago we had a supermarket chicken and the dog got the remnants of that too, again so it was all used and nothing wasted (how many of them posts do you see on here...how many meals can you make from one chicken?!...we only use the breasts, what a waste etc)

I also bulk buy chicken breasts from a wholesaler and freeze them down that's probably the only real meat we eat (dislike pork and lamb), does that make me 'proud' no it makes me look around to get the best meat possible for the money I spend. As I also said its not an everyday thing its a rare treat.

@KilljoysDutch

All these people with the luxury of buying organic free range chickens need to remember that it is a luxury and for a lot of us the cost of your chicken needs to cover 2 or 3 meals.

We don't eat loads of meat but when we do it's organic and from a farm shop - and is definitely a luxury. If all I could afford was a £3.33 chicken I think I would rather become vegetarian. That £3.33 chicken would not have had a good life and the thought of that would take away any enjoyment I got from it with each mouthful.

OP I guess your friend isn't into eating cheap factory farmed meat and that's why they consider a roast an expensive meal, which I'm sure a lot of people do.

@CatKittyCatCatKittyCatCat you said some people may not be inclined to have things in a kitchen which allowed them to cook food. I think that would be odd if you are a parent. You are also saying that they could be two bus rides away from any shops. Maybe, but some people have to go shopping at some time, whether it’s for food or other essentials. Chances are they’ll encounter somewhere that sells pans. On my local freecycle people often want household items, including kitchen items. There’s always that option.

Roast dinners don't have to be expensive, and are going to be much better to eat, than rubbish pizzas.

[quote Loveshelly]@FourteenSixteenTwentyTwo
Everybody has a choice.

We as a country are simply happy to ignore all the problems that eating cheap meat produces.[/quote]
Everybody does not have a choice. I have multiple allergies, coeliac disease, Crohn’s disease with triggers and a child with severe ARFID. One of the very few foods that we can both safely eat is chicken. I can’t afford to pay £13 for a chicken on a single parent of 4 wages.

And I’ll add to that I make all my own food from scratch, (see previous allergy/coeliac/crohns fun times) and we eat some veggie meals, but when you need protein for muscle repair and to keep you healthy and your sources of protein are limited , can’t have nuts- allergic to most, can’t have legumes in any great quantity, they set off the crohns, lactose isn’t a friend either, allergic to shellfish…

We’re fortunate enough to be able to afford slightly higher welfare. £8 fir a chicken, we stick to cheaper veg , and make sure it’s bulked up with veg. Roast over 2 nights, sometimes enough left for a third meal, plus soup for lunch from the veg. It’s not cheap, but I think our most economical meat meal (assuming you apply similar welfare standards to all meat in line with your budget). I’d do them more often if I had time.

If all I could afford was a £3.33 chicken I think I would rather become vegetarian

Well that's easy to say but if you were actually in that position, you might feel differently. Oh and I reckon a lot of restaurants, unless they specify otherwise, use bog standard non organic meat. And what about supermarket sandwiches and the like? So chances are you eat factory farmed meat without even knowing.

I have a teenage ds...he wants to eat meat. If I served up chickpeas and other vegetarian delights, he'd not be very impressed.