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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

337 replies

Granllanog · 03/10/2021 17:51

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

OP posts:
rwalker · 03/10/2021 18:16

Definetly do a roast for £10 normally pay about £6/7 for beef or get a big piece on offer and cut it into 3 .
don't buy the expensive beef cheap joint in slow cooker with stock cube.

Tbh she sounds lazy and doesn't cook .

LadyMuckington · 03/10/2021 18:16

We’re vegan and it literally costs about £3 to make our roast (I don’t use a meat sub) and it feeds us for two meals.

AbsolutelySure · 03/10/2021 18:16

Cheap if you buy chicken and pork, but beef and lamb is really not cheap

Noogar · 03/10/2021 18:17

I'd not bother with the meat if it's that cheap.

FourteenSixteenTwentyTwo · 03/10/2021 18:17

I just feel sad that the majority of people happily expect an animal to cost £3 -£4

Instead of feeling sad for people who buy cheap meat, why not feel sad that the government doesn’t set a fair living wage to deal with poverty? Why not feel sad that 2.5 million people used food banks in the last year? And in terms of the value of animals - until the government changes regulations on battery farming any price increases will do nothing to change welfare. None of that is the consumers fault.

Ihopeyourcakeisshit · 03/10/2021 18:18

@Comedycook Bloody love your honesty there!

Noogar · 03/10/2021 18:18

But don't blame anyone buying it. I'd just rather go without

CiaoForNiao · 03/10/2021 18:18

@Loveshelly

Tbf all the trimmings on a roast are extremely cheap. And those Morrison’s pizzas from the fresh counter are pretty good.

I just feel sad that the majority of people happily expect an animal to cost £3 -£4

I wonder if the meat on them is free range/organic though? Or is it one of their £3 chickens chopped up and turned into pizza topping?
Fruitbatdancer · 03/10/2021 18:19

I mean YABU, all of you are being Unreasonable for the simple fact no ones mentioned Yorkshire puddings!! At least 40p for home made versions of those! Grin

Dutchesss · 03/10/2021 18:19

Wow that an animal lived, died, processed by people and it still only costs 3.33
There is something so fucked up about that.
I 100% agree with this.
However, OP didn't say it was a whole chicken, she may have had something smaller.

Frogsandsheep · 03/10/2021 18:20

Everybody has a choice.

@Loveshelly

So what you’re saying is that families living in poverty should have to always choose not to eat meat if all they can afford is cheap meat?

Lots of people will buy the 3 for £10 meat because it is what they can afford.

I am very fortunate that we can afford more expensive food choices but many people can’t, including many people I have worked with.

I don’t think people realise how much financial privilege they have.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 03/10/2021 18:21

I suspect the £3.33 chicken comes from Waitrose, where a small - note small - chicken is part of their 3 for £10 range. Waitrose’s chicken is the best welfare standards I’ve found, so if they’re happy to sell it at that price (it would be more expensive on its own) then I’m quite happy to buy it.

Original poster
Granllanog · 03/10/2021 18:22

@Loveshelly

3.33 for a chicken Wow. Just wow
Morrisons from their buy any 3 items for £10 offer.
OP posts:
JesusInTheCabbageVan · 03/10/2021 18:22

We used to occasionally eat cheap pork until we saw a brief feature on how they're raised. I had a broad idea, obviously, but they showed tiny piglets having their tails cut off and being castrated without anaesthetic. Their screams were awful. We decided on the spot to stop.

It's entirely possible to eat both ethically and cheaply. If you choose not to, that's up to you, but there's something wrong with you if you understand exactly what you're funding and still don't care.

EdgeOfTheSky · 03/10/2021 18:22

Even if the OP had bought a £6 chicken it would have been a cheaper meal than the pizzas.

And more nutritious.

And there would have been some leftovers for another meal, even if just a sandwich for one.

CarrotSticks23 · 03/10/2021 18:24

@Dutchesss she said it was 1.4kg. That's a big breast!

I don't think anyone is judging OP but it is OP who has started a holier than thou thread laughing at her friend. Maybe her friend isn't happy to buy a battery farmed chicken and is therefore chosing not to.

Hdhdjejdj · 03/10/2021 18:24

I buy British meat, preferably free range and/or organic. We eat vegetarian meals regularly too. The meat imported from overseas, most likely the rubbish that ends up as pizza toppings worries me.

notanothertakeaway · 03/10/2021 18:25

Agree with OP. Meat is expensive, or can be, but the veg and trimmings are cheap if you make them yourself

We always have home made stuffing, Yorkshire pudding etc in the freezer, so can do roast dinner easily

Frogsandsheep · 03/10/2021 18:25

Tesco do that same offer too.
£6.50 for a chicken or £3.33 for a chicken is a huge difference for some families.
If you don’t think it’s a big difference, maybe you’re not in a position to judging people on the food they buy!

Noogar · 03/10/2021 18:25

I guess they probably only just about break even on the 3 for £10 offer. Or a small tiny profit but then make all the profit on the other stuff.

Noogar · 03/10/2021 18:26

[quote CarrotSticks23]@Dutchesss she said it was 1.4kg. That's a big breast!

I don't think anyone is judging OP but it is OP who has started a holier than thou thread laughing at her friend. Maybe her friend isn't happy to buy a battery farmed chicken and is therefore chosing not to.[/quote]
Yeah that's what I was thinking. Her friend might only buy free range chicken and so to her it is an expensive meal.

SuperStarRose · 03/10/2021 18:27

Roast chicken here too with roast potatoes I cut myself from a bag of potatoes and frozen peas. Followed by homemade apple and frozen summer fruit crumble. Crumble made in minutes from flour butter sugar.

Couldn't be bothered with carrots, stuffing or even gravy today. Just wanted a meal to feed everyone once they had time to eat. No sitting around the table today as everyone has places to be and things to do so they're helping themselves as and when

MrsWooster · 03/10/2021 18:27

Free range chicken from Ocado is £7 or £8 and feeds me and two dc for two meals so less than £1.50 per person plus veg etc for roast /stir fry on day two, or a jar of Pataks korma sauce on day 2.
This isn’t simply a trade off between animal welfare and affordability for the majority of people.

skodadoda · 03/10/2021 18:28

@longestlurkerever

Chicken is cheap (or can be). Other roasting joints tend to be expensive
Pork is cheap although I suspect it won’t be for very much longer.
Christmas1988 · 03/10/2021 18:28

I couldn’t eat a chicken that costs £3.33 it’s clearly had an awful life, people think foie gras is inhuman a £3.33 chicken is worse!