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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Why o fecking why is decent food so bloody expensive???

192 replies

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 14:56

Trying to get more into the mode of cooking from scratch but would rather use free range food although am on vey limited budget

Bloody cheaper buying frozen shite ARGH have to feed 3 adults and a toddler for about £50 a week how the hell am I meant to o that...

Sorry but Tesco has pissed me off now

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CoteDAzur · 01/02/2009 21:50

DD is a very picky eater, but I find she eats pretty much everything if covered by pastry. So I cook and puree vegetables with meat or chicken, and close it up in pastry & oven cook. Instant hit

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 21:50

That might be an idea Sorrento, I think you can get them at the butchers can't you? I imagine he would.

DP is the way he is because his mum nevr gave him any veg or nothing because she didnt like it he has yet to taste a single piece of carrot and pepper..

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Ivykaty44 · 01/02/2009 21:53

springs to mind:

cottage pie

spag bog

chicken curry - use the jars of paste, use a dessert spoon of paste and coat the chx peices with it, then add a tin of tomatos chopped well. Put in a casserole dish and pop in the oven on a low heat gas 3-4 at most for a long slow cook. Cover to stop the top burning and cook for 1and a half to two hours. The last 10 minutes pull it out and pop some cheap yogurt in it to make it creamy - stir and put back in the oven. This is a cheaper way of cooking curry using premade curry paste but the jar will cost £1.50 and last 6 meals rahter than £1.50 for a jar of curry sauce. The plain yogurt can be used the following week - I get the really cheap basic plain yogurt or exchange for creme fraich.

Pasta - make creamy macroni cheese sauce by using the creme fraiche in the auce - make your own cheese sauce.

Pesto? pesto a teaspoon mixed with creme friache and stirred into the pasta and topped with a little grated cheese is one of my dd's fav - she has it with chopped cherry toms and sweetcorn.

her other fav is a roast dinner with no meat, mashed pots or roasties - lots cheaer with out the meat but I suppose a bit boring without the veg...

Lasagna? as it is pasta your dp may not notice as it is hidden. I make lasagna and just substiute the mince for tuna or pink salmon.

sorrento · 01/02/2009 21:53

It sounds like your Dh is eating more veg than he thinks he is, there are tomatoes in the heniz soup and jars of curry sauce etc.
With your DS - did you feed him jars of baby food or packets ?
I ask because I did with DD2 and it was the biggest mistake, she's my fussiest one and I honestly wish I'd had 3 days of hell by starving her and then made her eat the good stuff.
As for "it's trying to get him some sort of nutrition regardless of how bad it may be it's better than nothing." There is no nutrition in sausages just calories, he'd be better off drinking follow on formula than eating those.

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 21:54

no fish either argh why do I bother???

I think this stresses me out more than anything else you know!

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sorrento · 01/02/2009 21:56

I've seen the sausages with apple in sainsbury's and tesco's.
Please don't think i'm having a gid i'm not but I know from experience if you just go along with he'll eat sausages and that's all it'll continue for years and no child would starve themselves if they were deprived of all crisps, biccy's etc and just offered a proper meal.
My friends little boy made himself throw up at the dinner table and all sorts at age 5 because they didn't deal with it.

onepieceofbrusselssprout · 01/02/2009 21:56

x-posts with Ivy re the pesto pasta and curry paste.

(perhaps she was reading my recipe book over my shoulder)

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 21:57

I fed my DS a mixture of jars and homemade purees depending on what fitted in on day to day absis at the time.

He used to eat everything in sight and then a month after his 1st birthday he just stopped eating

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pieceandharmoknee · 01/02/2009 21:58

There is no nutrition in sausages?

What other foods are nutritionally beret? I might have to start another thread to find out

HarrietToo · 01/02/2009 21:58

I suspect that you won't necessarily save money by growing your own veg in the first year at least - there are a lot of start-up costs, since you have to buy your tools, etc. I've found that cheap tools tend to fall apart pretty quickly, and that old tools rescued from relatives' sheds need a lot of repair.

Growing from seeds is the cheapest way, but you also probably won't have a very high success rate with germinating seeds in the first year, because you're learning what types of veg do well in your soil. For example, at the moment I've got a mix of young veg in my veg patch from an autumn sowing - 100% germination success rate on broad beans (but some then got chocolate spot and had to be taken out), high success rate with lambs lettuce and winter salad, zero spring onions and out of a whole row of carrots (autumn sowing variety), 1 successfully germinated. So if you can find cheap vegetable plug plants (our local market stall does them), I recommend going for those in your first year, just to keep optimistic and make sure that you have success from something. There's nothing worse than putting all the effort in and having no plants grow.

It's pretty obvious, but the way to save money by growing your own is to work out what you buy already which is expensive, and then grow that. So raspberries are expensive to buy, but usually pretty easy to grow, and after a few years you can get a real raspberry thicket in your garden. Herbs are another winner, and little lettuce leaves.

If you count the cost of your time, I think growing your own probably actually costs more - but that doesn't stop me doing it

sorrento · 01/02/2009 21:59

did something happen ? after his first birthday ?
I know my DD's lack of fruit and veg eating coinsided with the baby coming along. It was like she was taking control of what she could, although I don't think my jar feeding helped

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 22:04

It was quite strange Sorrento nthing significant happened but we went to visit family downin Glasgow which was a 5 hour train ride whilst we were there he just stopped eating and thats been him since.

Has anyone tried the Jamie Oliver Ministry of food spag and meatballs? Just watching the demo video and they sound lovely.

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sorrento · 01/02/2009 22:07

I'm 100% certain I read that sausages and burgers shouldn't be given to under 5's because their tummies are so small what ever meat and food is going in should be as good as possibly can be. www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3322404/Savvy-shopper-sausages.html

sorrento · 01/02/2009 22:09

Crickey mamadiva, no logical explanation then

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 22:24

He has had blood tests and at one point they thought he may have a phobia but nothing has been found as of yet but we manage.

That article has just made me feel kind of guilty now , it's mainlythe safest bet thathe'll eat though so think I will atleast go for butcher sausags and pay that bit extra for those atleast.

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sorrento · 01/02/2009 22:42

I think that's all you can do by the sounds of it, but you're not feeding him those horrible frozen things my friend gets, I doubt they've ever been near a pig.

svalbardy · 01/02/2009 22:49

Mamadiva, what about veggie sausages?
at 2.6yo he's not going to know they have no meat in them... and some (by no means all) are quite nutritionally decent... good luck!

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 22:53

That's an idea. Do Quorn ausages taste any diffeent to normal sausages?

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Ivykaty44 · 01/02/2009 22:57

I love veggie sausages - I am not veggie, just dont object to eating sausages without meat I do think though they have a "taste" rather like the taste but not sure whether a small child would notice...?

Does LO like chicken nuggets? cos you can make your own quite cheap and at least you would know that it was actually chicken in the nugget, or make potato cakes and stuff some fish in the middle.

As for your dp I think I would have to tell him to sort himeslef ourt hes not helping is he

brusellsinaswimsuit,I thought you were peeping at my book

svalbardy · 01/02/2009 23:05

Quorn is made from fungus, so not particularly nutritious... I'd go for the ones that are predominantly veg/nut/barley kind of thing... veggie-haggis ones are great!

Ivykaty44 · 01/02/2009 23:12

I thought though that mushrooms were good for us - are they not?

mamadiva · 01/02/2009 23:17

Yeah, so chicken nuggets how do you make them then?

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Ronaldinhio · 01/02/2009 23:21

you can make your own chicken nuggets with breadcrumbs, bit of garlic, egg yolk, seasoning..they don't notice then if the meat is thigh etc and you know what's in them

my mum mixes cream crackers in with the breadcrumbs...v nice

sorrento · 01/02/2009 23:22

I put grated apple in nuggets too, adds a bit of moisture and another fruit portion lol

Ronaldinhio · 01/02/2009 23:23

aren't m&s doing 12 "decent" sausages for 4 quid?