To get annoyed when people parrot that it's always cheaper to cook from scratch?

[Katypp]

Caveats: Home made food is usually:
A. Nicer
B. More nutritious
C: Made with proper ingredients that you can control
D: More filling
E: Not made with fillers, starch etc

But it's not always cheaper!

Time after time, when people post about food costs, the trope is always make it yourself, you'll save money. This post is in frustration after yet again, someone tripped it out on a budgeting forum. Someone commented that Tesco budget hummous is quite nice, to be told, as always, you can make it cheaper yourself.
You can't. Eastman's hummous 69p

Tesco chickpeas 60p + lemon 30p = 90p and that's before you add olive oil and tahini.

Yes I know you can soak your own chickpeas and buy in bulk at an Asian grocer etc, but that level of organisation for most people is beyond the effort of just picking up a tub on the weekly shop.

For the record, I am a very keen home cook and have also run a food business and written about food in the past. I enjoy cooking, but I am sick of people trotting out this line without thinking about it, especially on budgeting and money-saving forums.

@Mossstitch I checked online and with the cost of meat and prawns and other bits going up for 1 of our weeks it was £10.50. But I know some weeks it will be a lot more than £10 😢 I just love the convenience but it is a lot of money! I may have to have a think maybe 2 weeks on 2 weeks off see how we get on

Saving money is about being savvy… get your salad, veg, unprocessed meat, houmous, (luxury)almond butter, fruit juices, fresh baked bread and cheeses from Aldi and Lidl…toiletries, cleaning products etc Wilko, Poundland etc, branded stuff you love and don’t want to do without from Sainsburys Asda, Tesco, Morrisons..
work out what’s best to cook from scratch …. Slow cooker, microwave etc v conventional energy zapping methods.
Unfortunately due to the cost of energy cheap microwave meals maybe become a necessity.

And what about the petrol or delivery costs from using different places? If you don't have transport either.

Yeah I agree with the travel costs. My family member used to drive way out of way to 1 shop because they had item like 5p cheaper... If shops are close together it does work.

Note that poundland etc may have smaller packaging for the smaller lroce so always check

@dawngreen I totally get that. It makes so much difference where you live and your circumstances. I can brag about the fact I live near a local traditional market - walking distance - and that we grow fruit and veg and swap surplus with the neighbours, but none of that is realistic to someone in a city flat with no transport. We are very lucky that we can shop "savvy" at Poundstretcher, Lidl, Wilko et al, but so many others can't.

I live in the outer suburbs/ semi rural area of west yorkshire. We have a market each month but its pricey.

I guess that depends if its an artisan "farmers market" or local producers like ours in the midlands, 4 days a week grubby spuds and wonky carrots market.... Dirt cheap

That's actually city centre living where I am. Meanwhile my closest wilkp is now 3 miles away and PROPER shote branch😂

@Bubblebubblebah a lot of the problems are caused by councils raising rates. When I moved here 25 years ago we had a vibrant town full of independent shops plus the Wilkos of this world all in walking distance. Now we have massive supermarkets and retail parks outside the town so you need transport to get anywhere. Some of the things, like the market remain, but a lot has vanished and left deserted buildings. I am not really sure whom it benefits. Certainly not the local shoppers.

The worst is that all the branches in these retail parks are shite. The wilko is embarrassment to wilkos. Big cities still get loads but yeah, the rates can be a killer

Totally agree. Plus its the same everywhere it seems. Just came back from a break in the south west and we had the same rubbish shops, no independents and the pandemic has killed off the department stores.

Apologies OP. We have meandered off your topic!

I never understand this. Councils get no money for empty buildings, and only a tiny bit of money from those pop up sweet or phone cover shops. Why don't they let the useful shops in on a fair rate that will enable the high street to thrive. Must be better income overall than running a ghost town

Local councils don’t get to benefit from business rates that the shops pay. It gets passed straight to central government. This is the problem. Our council just milks the car park revenue which further kills off town centre trade when people can park at the out of town retail park for free:

As our high street now has so little, I get almost everything delivered, monthly meat box, weekly fruit and veg box, and dairy plus eggs and coffee from the milk man. Even loo roll gets delivered. On paper it’s more expensive but when I compare with what I used to spend at the supermarket every week, it costs the same overall and the quality is better. I am only tempted by supermarket offers once every month to six weeks, when I go in to bulk buy jars, tins and packet foods.

I agree @myfaceismyown , the shops moved to the retail park. I'm not going to walk there because it is nearly 3 miles away. It's on a busy road, so I won't want to sit in traffic to go there.

If I wanted something from the likes of Next, DP and New Look, I'd rather go the nearest big city, and i could shop online. I've been to the retail park but didn't go into the fashion shops.

If they were in the town centre I'd be more likely to pop in and maybe buy on impulse.

2 tins of Tuna,
2 tins of tomatoes,
1 tin of sweet corn.
Some cheddar cheese if you want to.
Heat up in a pan.
Serve on pasta
Cheap nutritious cooking from scratch.
Not sure if it counts but it does taste good.

@Lilyhatesjaz , of course it counts. If you bought that as ready meals it would cost a fortune

We have a family favourite that is similar.been in the family since my grand era! It was her go to meal.it’s now ours.the first meal we have when arrive anywhere we need a quick meal.the only meal we made sure we packed if we went anywhere.super easy.
our is :
two tuna
but instead of tinned tomato’s we use Campells condensed cream of tomato soup👌
pasta
cheese on top
and if we are going all out posh ha, boiled eggs on the side.

another go to is jar of dolmio,frankfurters chopped in and all stirred through pasta.

One friend who had a business had to pack in his landlord wanted him to sign a 25 year lease after they put up his rent. He lived there too for a long time. He is close to retiring too.

@MummyInTheNecropolisYour daughter should try cheaper seeds like pumpkin or sunflower, possibly nuts (but they are pricey and peanuts would NOT work tastewise). Make sure she does not get lazy with grating the parmesan before blitzing (I am sure rough grating is fine), as I managed to burn out the motor of a stick blender by not doing so! You could add cheddar if you have some to use up. You can use young carrot top leaves or healthy radish leaves or parsley. None of my suggestions are authentic, but I am sure that the Italian peasants that made up the recipe used what they had to hand. If she is into this, she could try experimenting!

Well pesto name comes from the process of it being crushed, rather than ingredients so even carrot tops are acceptable and actually nice! 😁 You can have red pesto too. So all is ok

It's free around here too: apples, blackberries, pears all free. Falling off the trees along the path, and outside people's homes with help yourself signs. But there's not so much of that in urban areas.

I picked a bag of free brambles the other day. Turned them into a crumble which cost two cooking apples, sugar, gas to cook it down, crumble topping involves butter, flour and sugar and then the whole lot goes in the oven. But yeah, free.

Except it’s not free because the butter is over £2 a packet now just for starters.

And a crumble is a luxury not a meal. So while it’s a nice cheap-ish luxury it’s not sustaining.

Well they are free if you eat them as they are like you would the pricey ones from the shop 😁