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

@BananaPB

It's surprising how many people don't realise that the meat toppings on their pizza are probably as low welfare as a £3 chicken.

No one has said that? I wouldn’t eat a cheap meat pizza either. I eat much less meat than I used to - I will choose vegetarian food unless I know the meat is higher welfare. You don’t HAVE to eat meat. There is plenty protein in other sources of food which don’t include battery farming chickens and screwing over farmers to sell a whole bird for £3.

It's amazing that the supermarkets sell any mass produced chicken at all. Given how everyone on MN is buying the organic, cornfed, free range, £15 ones.

Or maybe, most people really aren't that bothered about a chicken and where it's come from. That they have other priorities, and would
rather buy cheap chicken than lentils.

I really have no time for judgy vegans. I'm not a die-hard carnivore, but i'm not losing a lot of sleep over chickens.

@kateg27

Do some of the people on here not realise that some people can't afford to buy organic meat? Don't you realise a lot of families are struggling to get by. I would never judge somebody for buying a cheap chicken ffs! The important thing is they are feeding their families. Judgemental posts like some of these would make some others feel absolutely rubbish.

I'm not judging people for buying a cheap chicken. Just saying that OP's friend might only buy free range chicken so for her it is expensive .

@Fridafever

Your post is odd to people I think because you seem quite into quality food in some ways (fresh herbs, making your own bread) but prepared to buy and eat horrible cheap meat. It’s a bit of an unusual combo.

It's not odd to me at all. I don't fetish "quality" food. I eat the things i like. Sometimes they are expensive and sometimes they are cheap.

I like to buy yellow sticker food when I see it. Yesterday there was a lot of reduced Sainsbury's Taste The Difference rump steak. That's their premium brand and loads of people would have been delighted. I let it go because I have tried their rump steak and didn't like it. If it had been sirloin or ribeye I would have bought it.

I buy what you would call "horrible cheap meat" and fish. It depends on what I am cooking. Frozen and tinned vegetables and fruit are often superior to fresh.

Same with herbs. I can't grow herbs because there isn't enough light in my garden. I buy fresh parsley every week and keep it in water because it is better than dried. Dried basil isn't very nice either. But I always use dried thyme because it makes no difference on the whole and dried oregano is usually better than fresh.

To me, cheap things are not value for money and expensive things are not necessarily a mark of quality. It's just what you know.

I don’t do a roast every Sunday but today I did. There’s only three of us.

I went to the butchers yesterday and instead of my usual chicken or joint I liked the look of some stuffed and bacon wrapped free range chicken breasts (yes I know this can be done at home and I have done in the past but they looked nice and saved me time). The three breasts were £10 but the potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, roasted veg (carrots, parsnips, shallots, pepper, courgette), and gravy were probably no more than a £1 more per person (I get a veg box so just use what I get). Definitely a relatively cheap meal and there’s enough chicken left over for DHs lunch tomorrow.

I just stick to lasagne. So much cheaper and easier to freeze and can chuck loads of veg and lentils in to bulk out the mince.

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.

The original post was pretty judgey. Mean-spirited posts get mean-spirited responses.

OP was very keen to tell us the exact cost of every element of her wholesome home-cooked meal in comparison with her friend's ghastly pizzas. It's not unreasonable for posters to point out that her chicken has an ethical and an environmental cost as well as a financial one.

Maybe she means it’s expensive for what you get. Not everyone is fussed about a roast. If you don’t do that sort of cooking often you have to buy the extras like the flour etc. Not everyone will use the extra cabbage or carrots or spuds midweek because they prefer other types of food. Some people just prefer pizza. Roast is a big effort if you aren’t arsed about it. About a million things I’d rather eat. Some smug “mate” chiding me for not cooking one may get a similar response. Talk of money usually shuts people up whereas “I like pizza” keeps them dropping hints about your general vulgarity and inability to behave in polite society.

[quote Granllanog]@HermioneAndRoger I have a magimix and grow herbs in the garden. I also make stock from bones and have a well-stocked freezer and pantry.[/quote]
Yes we get it. By dint of your virtue you have the money, space and equipment and skills to make your own bread, grow your own plants, buy in bulk to get portion sizes down, presumably also cooking on a decent tariff rather than the high per unit tariff paid by the hoi polloi and their prepay meters.

All of which begs the question - why did you buy factory chicken when you are so fabulously well organised and set up?

Interesting that hardly anyone on here will admit to buying intensively farmed chicken and yet that is what is being bought by the majority of people in the UK.....................Typical mumsnet!!!

I grew up in an extended family that valued cooking

But they didn’t value food?

@KFCforTea

Interesting that hardly anyone on here will admit to buying intensively farmed chicken and yet that is what is being bought by the majority of people in the UK.....................Typical mumsnet!!!

I buy bog standard chickens from M&S or Waitrose. I presume so do the majority of their shoppers given by the amount on the shelves.

All of which begs the question - why did you buy factory chicken when you are so fabulously well organised and set up?

This

@Youcancallmeval

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

This - watch a few videos of the condition chickens are kept in and you’ll be horrified. Not just for the welfare of the chickens but also for your own health.

We only eat decently kept free range chicken - which is still not perfect as regards meat production but a lot better than battery. And that’s expensive, but it’s worth it when you think of the impacts on everyone from battery farming, from antibiotic overuse to environmental impact.

Rather than buy a very cheap chicken, I’d prefer something vegetarian - and the rest of your veg / potatoes sound great. Why not have a nut roast instead with it!

Nah she's probably feeling guilty cos she can't/won't do a Sunday roast..I started doing these when kids were around 3-4 so it's part of our Sunday night tradition...with gf/bf/ friends etc
Takeaway Pizza on a Sunday for family dinner..wtf?!

Loveshelly Your ethics are a privilege. Not everybody is in the financial position to make the choice between organic, finest, grass-fed, f**king happy chickens. Some people are hungry and trying their best to feed their families.

@kingsleyshacklebolt if you read up on factory farming, the issues with it go far beyond basic animal welfare issues. It's horrific for the environment (from global warming to local water supplies) bad for people in the communities where the commercial farms set up, bad for the mental health of the workers and creates conditions that will spread antibiotic resistance and create novel influenza viruses that will give us another handy pandemic some day.

Don’t forget to add the cost of fuel.

A chicken that lived on grass alone wouldn't be very happy, I expect.

We always have free range so chicken isn't cheap for us.

@SheSaidHummingbird

Loveshelly Your ethics are a privilege. Not everybody is in the financial position to make the choice between organic, finest, grass-fed, f**king happy chickens. Some people are hungry and trying their best to feed their families.

This.

This - watch a few videos of the condition chickens are kept in and you’ll be horrified. Not just for the welfare of the chickens but also for your own health

I've seen them. Factory farming is unpleasant. But it doesn't keep me up at night

We only eat decently kept free range chicken - which is still not perfect as regards meat production but a lot better than battery. And that’s expensive, but it’s worth it when you think of the impacts on everyone from battery farming, from antibiotic overuse to environmental impact

It's worth it if you can afford it.

Rather than buy a very cheap chicken, I’d prefer something vegetarian - and the rest of your veg / potatoes sound great. Why not have a nut roast instead with it

I massively crave meat if I don't eat it...and my children wouldn't touch a nut roast.

Its only on here that people seem so horrified by the idea of standard supermarket meat. IRL, everyone I know buys it, even my vair middle class friends.

@BoreiPuriHagafen

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

Lucky you. I have to buy £3 chickens or my family don't get chicken. This is the real world.

@SheSaidHummingbird
You have no fucking idea of privilege if you think it’s ok that people with less money SHOULD be able to eat what people with more money do.

Check your privilege

@malificent7

A veggie roast can also be delicious. Ive made nut roast...also quorn roast, veghie sausages and burhers are good on a roast. Must be accompanied by mustard, mint sauce and cranberry sauce.

Nuts are more expensive than chicken.