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

[mamadiva]

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

How do you deal with milk, Chochosan?

I always find that's my undoing - I have meat, veg etc., but run out of milk and go to the supermarket to get some and then spend £80 while I'm there.

Paolosgirl! I finally made it back here. Sorry, I have been really busy. Here are the recipes I mentioned.

Lamb with garlic, pearl barley, tomatoes and assorted veg:

I use cheap stewing lamb (ask butcher if you have one) or a small piece of neck fillet. 250g or so will feed four adults or two adults with plenty of leftovers. You need a really big pan with a lid that can go in the oven. Fry onions, finely diced carrot, celery and garlic in olive oil v gently until softened and a bit golden. Lots of onions is good. They will break down a bit and give you lovely thick gravy. Add whatever vegetables you like and fry a bit more. I suggest courgettes and peppers or a mix of root veg. When they are softened turn the heat up to high and put in your meat which you have coated in a some flour (put it in a bag with a tablespoon of flour and some salt and pepper and shake it all about). Brown on all sides. Add a sloosh of red wine/vermouth/white wine/sherry if you have some. Add four or five chopped fresh tomatoes. Top up with liquid and add a generous handful or more of pearl barley. Bring to the boil and put in a slow oven, about 160C or so, for two hours minimum. Before serving, you can also add a can of chickpeas and heat through. I often add some dried oregano at the liquid stage and a squirt of lemon juice at the end.

Chicken with saffron, veg and tomatoes:

Same as above, really, except add a generous pinch of saffron when you add the liquid. Thyme is also nice in this. I often add spinach at the end. It goes really well. I use one chicken thigh per person which isn't at all expensive, even the organic ones, and add butter beans which go brilliantly with chicken. If you grow your own herbs, fresh parsley is nice added right at the end.

Beef stew:

Just as usual with loads of carrots and cheap stewing beef (about 100g per person), but add a tin of green lentils or add those little quick-cooking brown lentils with the liquid. Also, try a bit of orange peel if you have an orange in the house. It is genuinely delicious. You need about an inch or so of peel. I always put thyme in this, too.

Dal:

Add a few handfuls (four?) of chana dal to a pan of cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for at least an hour, stirring frequently. When the bits of dal are edible, either give it a whizz with a stick blender or mash with a slotted spoon so it goes thick. Then, in a small frying pan, fry a finely chopped onion in plenty of oil (you want it to go brown at the edges). Add a chopped clove of garlic for a few seconds, and a teaspoonful of whatever curry powder you like. Stir and fry for about twenty seconds. Pour the whole lot into the dal and simmer again for at least ten minutes. Add fresh coriander at the end, if you have some, and some lemon juice. You can also stir a chopped tomato in with the oil if you like.

I just serve the meat dishes with mash or rice. The dal is really filling and good for you and even children usually like it (so far).

Sorry, that was an enormous post.

Paolosgirl! I finally made it back here. Sorry, I have been really busy. Here are the recipes I mentioned.

Lamb with garlic, pearl barley, tomatoes and assorted veg:

I use cheap stewing lamb (ask butcher if you have one) or a small piece of neck fillet. 250g or so will feed four adults or two adults with plenty of leftovers. You need a really big pan with a lid that can go in the oven. Fry onions, finely diced carrot, celery and garlic in olive oil v gently until softened and a bit golden. Lots of onions is good. They will break down a bit and give you lovely thick gravy. Add whatever vegetables you like and fry a bit more. I suggest courgettes and peppers or a mix of root veg. When they are softened turn the heat up to high and put in your meat which you have coated in a some flour (put it in a bag with a tablespoon of flour and some salt and pepper and shake it all about). Brown on all sides. Add a sloosh of red wine/vermouth/white wine/sherry if you have some. Add four or five chopped fresh tomatoes. Top up with liquid and add a generous handful or more of pearl barley. Bring to the boil and put in a slow oven, about 160C or so, for two hours minimum. Before serving, you can also add a can of chickpeas and heat through. I often add some dried oregano at the liquid stage and a squirt of lemon juice at the end.

Chicken with saffron, veg and tomatoes:

Same as above, really, except add a generous pinch of saffron when you add the liquid. Thyme is also nice in this. I often add spinach at the end. It goes really well. I use one chicken thigh per person which isn't at all expensive, even the organic ones, and add butter beans which go brilliantly with chicken. If you grow your own herbs, fresh parsley is nice added right at the end.

Beef stew:

Just as usual with loads of carrots and cheap stewing beef (about 100g per person), but add a tin of green lentils or add those little quick-cooking brown lentils with the liquid. Also, try a bit of orange peel if you have an orange in the house. It is genuinely delicious. You need about an inch or so of peel. I always put thyme in this, too.

Dal:

Add a few handfuls (four?) of chana dal to a pan of cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for at least an hour, stirring frequently. When the bits of dal are edible, either give it a whizz with a stick blender or mash with a slotted spoon so it goes thick. Then, in a small frying pan, fry a finely chopped onion in plenty of oil (you want it to go brown at the edges). Add a chopped clove of garlic for a few seconds, and a teaspoonful of whatever curry powder you like. Stir and fry for about twenty seconds. Pour the whole lot into the dal and simmer again for at least ten minutes. Add fresh coriander at the end, if you have some, and some lemon juice. You can also stir a chopped tomato in with the oil if you like.

I just serve the meat dishes with mash or rice. The dal is really filling and good for you and even children usually like it (so far).

Sorry, that was an enormous post.

Oh god, sorry. I didn't mean to say that twice.

just been lurking on reading this thread - some good ideas!

Horton - could I ask what "chana dal" is and where would I be able to buy it?

Does anyone have any good veggie recipes, we try and eat meat only 2-3 times a week so I am always looking for more veggie ideas.

thanks

Chana dal is yellow dal a bit like split peas. If you have an Indian grocer, they will have it. You could do dal more quickly with red lentils but chana dal is much tastier. Or you could use yellow split peas.

£66.95 a fortnight seems alot to spend on meat to me. I have my Dh, 2 adult Dss and a 12 yr old Dd + me and I don't spend anything like that much on meat.
What seems to bump our food bill up is stuff for packed lunches. Everyone but me and ds1 takes a packed lunch in our house and buying a variety of healthy stuff so they're not boring or full of junk seems to cost a fortune.

Thanks for taking the time to post - I really appreciate it

You've taken care of dinner for the next few nights for me!

Oh good! Sorry it took me so long to get round to it. Somehow the snow means everything takes five times as long to achieve even though I've barely left the house.

I meant to say, if you want to make the pulses like chickpeas or butter beans even cheaper (in fact practically free), use dried ones. Soak them overnight and give them a good boil for ten or twenty minutes in a saucepan of water, then drain and add to the pan before the casserole goes in the oven. It is a lot cheaper but not quite so convenient.

Thank you Horton I will be adding dal to next weeks menu - am introducing lentil chilli this week.. can't do too many new things in one go

Horton I thought that "chana" was chickpeas?

ohhh, someone is adding me to their menu??

sholay is chickpeas. Chana is a yellow dahl.

If there are any indian shops near you - stock up there on lentils. You can buy a pack double the size of ones you woul buy in big supermarkets.

nelix2000
thanks for the sticky onion!
will try it out asap. sounds v good

For those with fussy eaters (dh's included) have you tried dips and raw veg? I have a fussy ds and a fairly fussy dh. Both of them will crunch their way through a plate of cucumber, peppers, carrot sticks etc with a dip made of soft cheese and milk. There are loads of other veg work well like this too - sugar snaps, baby corn etc. Not all that cheap at this time of year, perhaps more a summer thing, but you can get carrots and celery cheap now. The dip works perfectly well with value/basic soft cheese.

Works especially well IME as a TV snack - they barely notice what they're eating .

£66 might seem a lot, but that is tonnes of meat, and you don't have to eat it every night, in which case a box will last longer than a fortnight.

It is usually the meat and veg that people complain about being expensive...I can't imagine the original poster finds it hard to find cheap carbs, and the costs I reckoned amounted to £47 per week only if you eat meat every day, and don't make use of your leftovers.

I appreciate that this is cutting it fine within budget if you get through lots of milk and cheese as well etc., but I do still find that I eat much better quality food than most people I know, and yet I pay less.

You can buy dairy from most veg and meatbox suppliers, but that is when things do start to become expensive, so I would stick to the milkman or supermarket whenever budget is an issue. I hardly drink any milk so I just get 1 litre each week with my box, and because it's skimmed, it lasts all week.

Like some of the pp, we hardly have any meat (I am veggie), just the occasional roast/sausages for dh and the dcs. I meal plan and shop online, and spend around £50-£60 per week, including all household goods. Used to be able to do it for £40, not in the so distant past, so def sympathise re food prices going sky high. We have quite a lot of organic stuff but have to say have mainly gone back to normal veg as it has got too expensive.
I use a lot of lentils/beans, and that saves a lot of money, I buy the dried beans/pulses, boil them up and freeze them in meal sized portions so just get out of freezer, add a tin of tomatoes and an onion, and add it to pasta or rice, and it's a quick and nutritious meal.

That is really sensible, doing the boiling in advance, madhair.

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That does sound a lot, christiana. Where do you shop? I try to keep our weekly shop under £100 but we eat tons more meat than that as DD is a tiny carnivore and doesn't think a meal is a meal unless it includes at least a little meat. We do buy at least two bottles of wine and a big pack of little beers, though. I think you can definitely get under £100 a week with eating mostly veggie.

I think a roast chicken carcass is better for stock and also you will have some leftover meat which can be used for sandwiches or pasta sauce or risotto. Gammon is also great for this. If you boil it, you can have soup with peas and barley from the stock and quiche or risotto from the leftover meat.

Our major costs come from DH being a fussy bugger and insisting on boneless chicken etc. It drives me bananas.

We aim to spend about £50 a week too, 2 adults 2 children and it is hard, we spend much more if we actually go to the supermarket rather than online, although stingy tesco seem to have cut right down on the discount codes . Our staples are stewing beef, chicken, mince etc. We also get the cheap pizza bases for 99p and add toppings/more cheese these are nice.

I have taken note of a lot of recipes on this thread because we tend to be very unadventurous and I must admit I don't think I have ever had lentils lol. We seem to stick to the same things each week shepherds pie, beef stew, sausage/chicken casserole, spag bol, corned beef pie etc, we need to branch out a bit I think.

Doesn't help that I can't cook and I am determined to try a new recipe each week, I haven't started yet ....but I will.

we often go over budget too, and lunchbox stuff doesn't help, although we do leftovers in dd's lunchbox. If we have chicken wraps we do an extra one for the lunchbox etc it would just be constant ham sandwiches otherwise.

We also buy mostly frozen veg because we are useless at using up fresh stuff before it goes manky, although I do get a stew pack each week which is good value because it usually has a mix of turnip/carrot/onion/leek/parsnip etc and only costs a quid.

Although the milkman is more expensive than Tesco per pint, having it delivered does save you £15 a time from all those 'popping out for milk' trips.

Mamadiva, yeah I know what you mean, means you're being a good mum. I had just wondered if it was maybe food textures or colours might put him off but the odd autistic trait doesn't mean autism, just a more interesting mind. I think it's quite useful to use SN techniques on all children anyway, we're all on the spectrum somewhere aren't we?

Re his behaviour how about food additives? Some kids are more sensitive than others so once you get in the swing of more home cooking you might see an improvement. Things like sweeteners or artificial colourings can have mad effects. Nigel Slater's Fast Food is another easy and inspiring recipe book (have a look on Ebay).

Nigel is fab. I heartily second that recommendation. Also, Nigella has a decent section on cooking for children in How To Eat.

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Paolosgirl,I an going to try your dahl recipe tonight.I've got loads of pulses and lentils,but use them for the same thing over and over,so it will be a nice change!

christiana I'm with you here. I am also struggling to get weekly shop much below £100 and I never buy expensive cuts of meat (but I never buy cheap meat either - just good quality sausages, free range or organic mince, good quality bacon and an occasional whole organic chicken).
I think food has just got a lot more expensive. I am wondering whether we need to stop buying fruit and veg at the supermarket. Other than that I'm right out of ideas.