To think it’s impossible to food shop cheaply if you want to cook recipes from scratch

[onetwoshoe]

There’s a few recipes I want to try from my cookbook but all of them command different, infrequently used ingredients which I’m not sure I can justify when spices and herbs are now over £1 dried, more if fresh.

Another example is that I’d like to try making my own naan bread but shop-bought is cheaper, goes further and lasts longer. I’d love to make hummus homemade but again, cheaper to buy it from a shop than the initial outlay of all the ingredients separately.

AIBU to think it’s impossible to cook nice, different meals from scratch for two adults every night on a food shop of less than £100 a week?

We do have the odd night of jacket potato and beans or similar to bring the cost down but I just think most times ingredients are very costly right now.

These days almost everyone has a smart phone and enough data to read webpages. It's odd that in many other much poorer countries people cook their own food just fine.

@Mynaddmawr likely the pizza and chips you chose; you can get very cheap bleak looking pizza and chips from no frill brands.

💯

I definitely agree. It is so expensive cooking from scratch. Not everyone can afford to bulk buy things or has the time to batch cook ! The cost of food in general is absolutely ridiculous! Of course tho this is mumsnet so I’m sure there’s folk who batch cook in their sleep n get 16 meals out of a chicken ! How r ppls shopping so cheap !! By the time I buy formula, nappies, loo roll , toiletries I’m already at like £30 before I’ve got a meal together !

People make cheap daal on one burner on the side of the road in India and Nepal, but of course if anybody does the same in the UK, they must be privileged.

These days almost everyone has a smart phone and enough data to read webpages. It's odd that in many other much poorer countries people cook their own food just fine.

You're taking an extremely blinkered and sheltered view. If it was easy as that why does anyone earn minimum wage when there are courses out there to become a specialist in almost anything. In terms of your last point, you should look at what happens when big food brands hit those poorer countries.

Mince and root veg can be delicious. As long as the cook uses all the root veg and the seasonings available cheaply. Horseradish, for example, is a pernicious weed if you have it in the garden but the root is hot and spicy, and you dont have to have roast beef. It is fab with parsnips, and with cheap fish.

There's very good reason that the know how category live longer and eat cheaper (and probably more tasty) than those that don't. I won't be rude and suggest that poor people have worse diets and health outcomes because they don't prioritise food and health, but ignorance is often part of the problem.

Not everyone can afford to bulk buy things or has the time to batch cook !

Or have the space to store it.

I think it’s cheaper. We cook most things ourselves. Maybe it’s cheaper in uk still, but it costs way more to buy pre made things where we live.

I also cook extra often so either a portion goes in freezer or fridge for next easy meal, or main ingredient I might roast more of so the next day is faster. Today we bbqed chicken. Leftovers will go tomorrow in ramen type noodles and veg to use up random bits in fridge.
I always make extra new potatoes or baked potatoes when I roast or boil, so the next day easy potato gröstl type thing or frittata can be made much faster.

@Papyrophile there is a lot of evidence that poorer people have poorer diets and poorer health outcomes than wealthier people, people here just seem to be extremely sheltered and ignorant to understand why that is the case, hint, it's not laziness.

If it's so much cheaper to cook from scratch I would love you to tell the profiteering private sector catering company that provides lunches for our primary school, I can assure you they do not cook from scratch and their primary objective is profit.

So the global majority can cook with very little, because they can purchase their ingredients fresh and locally and for very little.

Those same ingredients shipped to a cloudy island can make cooking in this way expensive. Not all ingredients, but some are.

OP was asking if it was possible to make food cheaply from scratch. It is for me. If people don't want to do that and prefer to blame their inability on not having privilege, they are of course free to do so. But I thought this was a thread to ask how to do it.

I live in a small London flat btw.

Hm… I don’t know… I made bread rolls, chipotle chicken (which is basically just chicken, tomatoes and spices) and coleslaw tonight. The chicken is costly but I made enough for leftovers. £7-£8 for 8 portions. But I buy mayonnaise, yeast, etc routinely and I always have herbs and spices.

How r ppls shopping so cheap !! By the time I buy formula, nappies, loo roll , toiletries I’m already at like £30 before I’ve got a meal together !

I didn't buy formula. Supermarket nappies are cheap. Loo roll is cheap. Things like shampoo are 80p for 500ml and last ages.

Buy a couple of kilos of mince and make a big batch of chilli or bolognaise. Freeze in portions

Can I jump on this and ask how you make your naan and flat bread please? X

You don't need to cook Asian foods. Though it's cheap to cook simple versions with bulk spices. There are cheap European peasant foods with readily available ingredients.

One simple way to save on herbs and spices is never buy them in jars, that's such a waste of money. You're better buying them from an Asian shop in bigger amounts. Way cheaper, often a broader selection, and a rapid turnover means they aren't old

If you don't have an Asian shop close by, go into the world food aisle of your local supermarket. As an example, 37g of M & S cumin is about £1.50. You can get 100g of East End cumin from Tesco for £1.30. And it's brilliant quality.

@Lentilweaver I cook from scratch myself, but I am privileged to have the funds to afford the fresh food, cupboard and freezer space, Tupperware, and ability to understand the health benefits. People here are wildly unaware of what it is like for a lot of people. It can be possible to cook some things cheaply from scratch, but depending on what your diet looked like previously, it may not be uniformly cheaply, it wasn't for us and we are a generally healthy, slim, educated family.

Basil cuttings grow roots really easily in a glass of water. Then you can pot up and keep on the windowsill. Makes one supermarket plant last even longer. Also make and freeze pesto in ice cube traysfor a pasta sauce.

I make hummous by putting a can of chickpeas in a nutribullet container, add garlic, lemon juice, salt, chilli, cumin and tahini and whizz up. Eat it over several days, no dramas.

If you want to eat cheaply, veg and beans in endless combinations.

It also depends on what the objective is, if you just want to eat cheaply, yes you probably can find a way to eat a bland diet cheaply, if you want to eat with variety not only for pleasure but for the health benefits that brings, then that costs money. And yes,
it frustrates me when people make out that it is easy for everyone, it isn't. If it was, we wouldn't have the obesity crisis we have in this country.

Have you looked on social media for inspiration ? Instagram has a lot of budget family meal experts like Cardiff.mum , tamingtwins who have websites with full recipes of budget meals.

It’s even cheaper to cook 4 portions, eat 2 and save the 2 extra for another night. The Instagram account BeatTheBudget is another great account for batch cooking. She cooks like 5 portions, freezes 3 and defrosts 2 portions from a previous week’s meal prep.

Spices are cheapest from the international foods aisle (the South Asian section has massive bags of spices )

Supermarket plants are often about 20 in one pot. If you have some spare pots (or food containers) and soil then you can split them up a bit and they last longer with more space. Pinch out growing tops to use and two side shoots then grow making a bush.