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

I wouldn't be eating a chicken that was £3. But even if you can stretch to buying meat with animal welfare as a consideration, roast dinners are still inexpensive.

Agree it’s not expensive. We had one today
Chicken £3.50 (large so will do for sandwiches next few days to) from Tesco
Bag carrots 40p
Peas and sweetcorn - say max £1
Brocolli 40p
Green beans £1
Gravy 30p

So £6.50 for 4 with leftovers ….!! Definitely cheaper than a pizza!

@KingsleyShacklebolt just because you don’t buy into it, doesn’t mean it’s “rabid”. I don’t buy into “rabid” carnivore people who need to eat meat at literally all costs or it’s the end of the world for them. You sound like one of those 😂

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

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.

Bravo! I completely agree.

@smallybells

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!

I'm all for expensive high welfare meat, but that is a choice. If you were on a budget you could have bought a big bag of cheaper potatoes and some kind of green vegetables that hadn't been flown from Peru and that would also have cut costs significantly.

@Youcancallmeval

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

Agree completely. You can't get a cheap chicken that's had a decent life outdoors unless it's been reduced down near closing time.

YANBU

It’s key to choose on season, British vegetables, generally loose ones, not pre-packed if you want to stick to a budget too. And wins on the food miles and plastic waste front too.

So many people don’t seem to know what veg are in season any more.

@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.

Cheap meat always has a cost, it just isn't the purchaser paying it.
It is the animal, farmers and food processors who pay.

That said even reasonably ethical meat can make a good value meal.

@hibbledibble

I'm surprised someone who can afford a magimix, and a garden big enough to grow herbs, would buy disgusting and unhealthy cheap meat. Boak!

I have a Magimix. They have an exceptionally long guarantee. The OP might have bought it literally decades ago.

I'm not defending eating cheap meat. Or meat at all. I'm vegan, FWIW. But people do make different choices, the OP is entitled to make her choice, just as you are. If the OP wants to make different food choices she is more likely to look into doing so if she feels supported rather than harrassed & bullied. I do feel this thread has become rather a pile on TBH.

@HermioneAndRoger

I don’t think you have taken my point. That kind of preparation and frugality takes resources - not least time, space, and organisational skills.

I suppose it is a way of life but I don't know any different. I grew up in an extended family that valued cooking and I was taught to use everything and not waste it. I don't think it takes time to pop a few leftovers in the freezer. I hate food waste.

@Noogar

I wonder what the cost difference is in the oven/gas usage too. A pizza is like 10/15 mins in the oven.

That's true. I cooked some home made roast potatoes, stuffing, sausages & chops (found 1 pack of chops reduced so bulked it out with good sausages) & yorkshire puddings. Put some plum crumble in at the same time. Steamed some veg. BUT... the only supermarket I have within 10 miles drive (rural so v few buses) is the Co Op, which is expensive (their 'cheap' chicken is £5.50, a welfare one is about £8)

[quote Hdhdjejdj]@ElephantOfRisk I think Jack Monroe would agree with that. She mentions frozen meat quite a lot which must mumsnetters would turn their noses up at, but it’s an important source of protein for dc.[/quote]
It would take a lot of soul searching for me to buy another fresh peeled prawn from the supermarket chiller cabinet. Especially a pink cooked one. My supermarket does frozen langoustines - how posh is that?

Because of Jack Monroe I always buy frozen mince and frozen chicken breasts or fish fillets and seafood if I'm making bolognaise, chilli or a curry or a fish stew or paella. She's right. You really don't need fresh stuff for that and we could all do with saving money.

I also buy frozen chicken livers. They're 50p for 250g opposed to £1.10 for exactly the same pack of fresh ones. I have them with fava beans and a nice Chianti.

I think the amount of meat on a £3 chicken would barely feed my kids, how on earth do you get 3 meals out of it!

A roast definitely needn't break the bank. Gammon, pork and chicken can all be bought cheaply. Even beef can be a reasonable price in Aldi. Typical roast dinner veg is among the cheapest as long as you aren't buying all pre prepared. Shop bought pizzas are easier but both way less tasty and more expensive x

I remember listening to someone on the radio whose mother used to make a roast out of sausagemeat.

It sounded rather nice.

@hibbledibble I wish I did have a big garden!!! You can grow herbs in pots you know...........As for my Magimix it was a present many years ago.........I use it all the time.
Considering 94 % of the chicken sold in the uk is from intensive farming I don't think I'm that unusual in buying it.

We don’t buy cheap meat, so a chicken large enough to feed us all will be £9 or more.
I don’t buy non free range, we get ours from the farm shop. Roast chicken dinner is about £4pp when we do it.

I think it is an expensive meal, especially in our house where there is only 2 of us.

We love trimmings as well; So red cabbage, broccoli/cauliflower cheese, stuffing, Yorkshires, properly roasted potatoes with duck fat, swede mash, etc.

And obviously you have the condiments as well. Apple, Mint, Mustard, Cranberry etc.

So it does add up IMO. I would likely spend £10-15 on a roast but if it was from bare cupboard status its probably more like £25-£30 (if you have to buy all the gravy/stock cubes, condiments, bits and bobs for sides - flour/eggs for yorkshire puddings, breadcrumbs or stuffing, duck fat, star anise and apple juice for cabbage etc.

To have any garden you are fortunate. Many live in medium to high rises with no outdoor space whatsoever. You are also fortunate to have someone who can buy you such an expensive gift.

I don't eat any meat, and eat very cheaply.

Regardless of what others do, you can care about the ethics of your own actions. Cheap meat is very unethical. If you can't afford better meat, there is the option of eating no meat (which is clearly the best option ethically, but for someone eating battery farmed chicken is unlikely)

Hi OP
You haven't factored in cost of cooking in any of your posts, plus you clearly have storage space for things like 7.5kg of potatoes. I'm not saying it is unreasonably expensive but you need to be aware that costs mount up for example if you are buying a tin of peas rather than using frozen (because you only have a small freezer for eg).

But people do make different choices, the OP is entitled to make her choice, just as you are. If the OP wants to make different food choices she is more likely to look into doing so if she feels supported rather than harrassed & bullied. I do feel this thread has become rather a pile on TBH.

Given that the original post is a precisely itemised sneer at someone who eats pizzas for Sunday lunch I think it would be fair to suggest that one reaps what one sows.

Potatoes can be easily stored in most cool dark places. It isn’t really a luxury to have to room for a bag of potatoes.

I eat liver too. I make liver and mushroom stroganoff.

Not eaten pork in years.

My roast dinner is pretty inexpensive. We have a lentil loaf, potatoes, veggies etc.
Nothing that's died for us to consume.