"Normal" people who cook from scratch everyday - tell me this gets cheaper

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By normal, I mean excluding those who can feed a small African village with one can of chickpeas, an egg, and a tomato. Normal people, who eat normal portions of normal foods.

We've canceled Hello Fresh to save money, so we've started meal planning with a recipe-building app instead, otherwise, we just cycle through the same 5/6 meals all the time.

One child is away this week. The remaining child has picked;

Cheesy broccoli pasta bake, Piri piri chicken wrap “fakeaway”, easy creamy chicken curry, penne arrabbiata with roasted peppers and pancetta, easy chicken jalfrezi curry.

£75 fecking quid.

It's not even a full shop. I'm not eating breakfast or lunch coz the price now just for evening meals is way too much. I've added a couple of yoghurts and crappy pizzas for the kids lunches and breakfasts and we already have cereal in.

I bought cat litter and cat food earlier or that would have been added too.

Admittedly, we had to buy a lot of spices because Hello Fresh used to send them in handy little packets and DD has used most of the ones we did have jazzing up her instant noodles. But, the spices only added around £10ish. That's still £65 without breakfasts or lunches.

Obviously, next week we won't need as many spices and should have some butter and oil left but still...

If this is the best we can do I am going to have to consider rehoming a child.

Why has a message I didn't write appeared under my name- and what I did write does not appear?

Got it, using the picks from Hello Fresh is bound to not be any cheaper than using Hello Fresh directly- try a different service which is much cheaper like Simply Cook-buy basic ingredients from any supermarket-it will be far cheaper than that. I disagree that Sainsbury's is particularly expensive-truth to tell Waitrose and Ocado aside, they are all much of a muchness, none of them is cheapest for everything.

Yes it gets cheaper! I did Gousto for a few months last year, built up a folder of recipes and then just bought my own ingredients. Works out about half the cost. On my good weeks, I'll do the ingredient prep after shopping, sorting what I need into those net bags you get for veg, and pop those in the fridge so when I want to cook I can just grab one. That was my fave thing about Gousto, all the thinking was done for me.

I generally use dried herbs rather than fresh though, that's cheaper.

Don't be fooled by a yoghurt maker - I bought one as I go through 1kg greek yoghurt a week just for me. You need a ton of milk - double the amount of yoghurt you want to end up with. Was not cost effective and I spent money on a gadget that is now in the loft.

Try https://savvybites.co.uk/
I'm veggie and there were limited options, but it's budget-friendly meals, especially when you're able to get to Aldi.

I'd calculate the cost of each meal on the ingredients you need to buy, not the store cupboard stuff like oil, dried herbs, flour. That'll give an idea of the cheaper meals you can fall back on eg a cheesy broccoli bake, or a tuna sweetcorn pasta bake (frozen sweetcorn being cheaper than tins).

And budget an extra £5 a week for restocking the store cupboard as things will run out but generally not all at once. Use vegetable oil instead of extra virgin olive oil for cooking - it's much cheaper and if you're throwing in garlic, chillies and other spices and herbs, you won't notice a taste difference. Different if you're making salad dressings from scratch.

Hello Fresh is marketing to people low on inspiration and time but have good incomes-the price per meal would only look good to people who usually eat out or have takeaways.
When I was working long hours I still cooked from scratch, but like the poster above got ahead at the week end-I always cooked a large roast on a Sunday, usually something like a hand of pork, or a slow roasting beef joint. I would turn the meat into meals until at least Wednesday, sausages or similar on a Thursday, takeaway or fish and chips on a Friday. On Saturday I had a little more time I would make pizza or a pie or quiche, then roast on Saturday and you are back around. I still use a very similar budget for food around £100 a month (not including takeaways or treats). Jocasta Innes's excellent "The Pauper's Cookbook" has a great section which she calls "programmed eating, which has some excellent tips.

Bulk buy. Amazon are great for heavy things like 5kg rice. Once you have it that’s you sorted for a month at least … we eat a lot of rice lol

sesame oil soy sauce curry powder harrisa etc. these things I have on subscribe and save thingy and get them delivered on a schedule.

then your just buying the main ingredients on your weekly shop

I cook loads with beans and lentils, good protein and so cheap. Wonky veg/ freeze leftovers/ good luck! It should get cheaper x

I don't think that dogs are supposed to eat chicken bones, are they? I thought they splintered too much.

If you have a local butcher they will often do a huge bag of lamb or beef bones for a few quid - sometimes for nothing.

if you make a mince based meal e.g. bolognaise, chilli, shepherds pie, you must bulk it out to reduce the cost per meal. Add lentils, grated carrots etc to bulk and make two portions instead of one….
Freeze the other for a busy day (homemade ready meals).
Cook a whole chicken £5 and make it last three meals (minimum).
Roast dinner Sunday (pad out with pigs in blankets and homemade sage and onion stuffing)
strip bird and freeze in portions for homemade pies, chicken pasta etc.
buy smarter…(not to be rude)
use everything. ….If you make pigs in blankets Sunday have sausage casserole to use up remaining sausage cut into chunks so they go further.
Bacon and tomato pasta to use up bacon.
leftover chicken to make fajita's (bulk out with mushrooms and carrots etc…and bulgar wheat (use some salad use the rest
for lunch)…. You get the idea I am sure.
if u really need to stretch the budget stick chicken carcass in slow cooker to get every last scrap of meat off and make into soup add homemade dumplings and veggies (lentils and beans for added protein).
I cook for dh and x2 ds (18 & 20) and our complete shopping breakfast/ lunches and dinner £250 per month (max)!

Maybe use less meat than the recipe says and whack a few more carrots and some
xhickpeas or some other bean in instaed. I read a tip about adding oats ro
mincw things to make it for further.
you’ll accumulate all the flavourings over time so that will get less costly.
I cook from scratch a fair bit and it doesn’t cost much now. I use a small
Amount of meat and then supplement with loads of veg. Good luck!!

Chicken thighs have more flavour than breast meat and they're much cheaper. I save the bones in the freezer. All the veg trimmings get washed and saved too. Together they make a pan of good stock. Strained, with frozen veg or passata and seasonings, you get a panful of soup. I use up any stale bread to make garlic bread or croutons.I admit I'm a very keen cook - as much as possible is home made, bread, biscuits, crackers, etc, pasta, soft cheeses, butter, flatbreads, sauces, granola, the whole shebang. Yes, it's a load of work but it costs about half to a third less than buying everything ready prepped. Pies are a good way to stretch meat/chicken, so is ravioli. Paté costs c.£17/kg to buy and £5/kg to make. When Morrisons offer £7/kg salmon I get a whole fish (the man will fillet it free) cut it into portions and freeze them. Same with anything on offer. 6 or 8 pies use the same oven time and they'll freeze too. I try to make enough dinner to have leftovers for lunch then following day. Hope this is helpful. Good luck! 😃

Like @WhatsitWiggle , I did gousto for a while and put all the recipe cards in a binder, and given i have a good spice cupboard can replicate them for cheaper. It certainly broadened the range of food re nationalities, so I feel more confident with Nigerian or Indonesian for example than I did before Gousto. I would never have tried some of the stuff without the measured things, but once I've tried it, can replicate. It's a taking off point that you can then move on from. It made me a more confident cook. I just do it more cheaply now.

Even better - buy the whole chicken. IDK what breast costs there days, but when I use to buy them you could get the whole bird for the same as 2 chicken breasts.

One night's meal you can piri piri the whole bird and you will have plenty of meat left over for sandwiches or curries.

Pulled pork is also cheap meal. Pork shoulder is less than £4kg, so do a 2-3kg joint and you have plenty of meat for leftovers.

See if there are any Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Jamaican, African ect shops in your area. They tend to sell bulk packets of store cupboard ingredients like herbs, spices, pulses and some do have online stores or sell through takeaway apps like deliveroo. Tumeric for example is £1 for 45g jar in Tesco but it's only £1.79 for a 400g at my local worldfood store. If they also have a greengrocer they will often sell veg in bulk - 10kilo of spuds or 5kilo of onions, some veg can keep for weeks or months in a pantry, utility room or garage providing it is cool and dark (don't wash them till you are going to use them & keep your spuds and onions separate though. With perishable food like fruit and veg try to shop in season if you can as 1 the food tastes better and 2 it tends to be cheaper when in season.

You can bulk recipes out with cheap ingredients like lentils, chickpea's, kidney beans, black eyed peas, pearl barley, soy mince, finely diced or grated veg, breadcrumbs from stale bread (i use the crusts) or oats. Can be a good way of getting veg into your kids too if they go through a phase of rejecting them like mine did at one point. Reduce the amount of meat based meals you eat and also the amount you use in a dish - so maybe 500g in a stew rather than 1kg and balance it out with extra veg. Still buy your 1kg though as now it will make 2 meals and cost less than 2 x 500g packs. Remember that leftovers can make other dishes - roast chicken on sunday with all the veg, bubble and squeak on monday then or maybe chicken & leek pie or a hearty chicken, veg and barley soup. Shift to cheaper brands or supermarket brands, this can take trial and error to find out which alternatives you like. Shop around. Don't stick to one particular supermarket shop or shops in the same area as prices can differ significantly. Depending on your part of the uk there will be budget chains such as Farmfoods, Heron or Home Bargains - worth checking out as they can have some great deals.

Cook batches of several easy recipes that can be frozen in portions or some people will just meal prep and freeze the ingredients and cook them after they are defrosted. Doesn't have to be full meals either, can be a base sauce, stock, soup base, curry sauce, gravy, could even just be a single type of veg or a veg base for a casserole, stew or even mirepoix. You can also further reduce costs by cooking things that use some of the same ingredients - chilli and bolognaise sauce for example. Oh an be sure to research on what will freeze and what wont though as some things like fresh salad veg esp if diced/sliced, potato or rice.

Try every once in a while to physically visit shops especially around the time they do price reductions and don't be afraid to take more than you can use to freeze them. Sometimes you have to look after your family's needs and be a little selfish. Obviously only if you have the public transport locally to do this as think you mentioned you don't drive.

Last but not least not all recipes have to be fresh and homecooked. Even Jamie Oliver will cheat and use jars or packets, who doesn't appreciate a combo of cutting prep time and being a little cheaper. Cheap doesn't always mean bad, many cheap items lack all the filler you find in brand names in order to keep them cheap so sometimes can be healthier (not saying that they will always be the healthiest option).

Sure some of these tips will have already been mentioned but hope there is at least something here that helps a little.

Wow I'm impressed. My brother lives in Truro, I'm in Wolverhampton so presents to his family over the years have includes spices, asian vegis, mangoes (the small juicy ones you don't actually eat but bite in to and suck the flesh out) and samosas, proper ones from the sweet centre. Oh and sweets. Jelbies bought by the kilo.

OP

You can buy spices online. https://www.asiansupermart.co.uk/indian-spices-and-herbs

https://www.matthewsfoodsonline.co.uk/collections/spice

I've just got the cook book by Cardiff.mum (Ashleigh Mogford), called Thrifty Feasts. All the recipes are where you can feed a family of 4 for £5! She shops at Aldi (but it's totally transferable to the other shops), and explains how to plan the meals to share ingredients for the week, which is a big way to help save money. And how to make it so meat isn't the bulk of each meal, so it's not so expensive! And she does loads of one pot and air fryer recipes 👍 It's great! It's on Amazon x

Your wonderful dc want to take charge of the catering. They will be rehoming themselves before long, so it will be good for them to tackle the challenge of feeding you all on a budget - that's a real life skill. Hello Fresh is a good introduction to home cooking and so are the fancy recipes but, after 50 years of marriage, I see them as a way of becoming comfortable cooking with what you have available. In the 1970's that was whatever the greengrocer had in season and a limited variety of meat and carbs. Now the choice is vast! I always have a good variety of dried beans and pulses, rice, pasta, couscous, Bulgar wheat etc in stock and some meat in the freezer. And lots if spices, and herbs in the garden. Combining them is fun and creative. Over the years I have stopped using recipes and use whatever I have in the fridge. Recipes are great for inspiration but don't feel bound to follow them religiously. Let your dc use their imagination too and experiment. It's fun and you will save money!

Chicken breast is the most expensive chicken meat

Hello fresh is so expensive for what it is. I cook for 5 adults and we have meat every meal, it's much cheaper not to use Hello fresh, which I've used in the past. You can still get the hello fresh recipes on the website and make your own.

Supercook.com is a great website that you type in the pantry, veg, ingredients you have and it will recommend online recipes. It's great for inspiration and using up stuff you already have.

Sainsburys has a great international food section- I buy my spices in the bags there, much cheaper than the expensive £(ish) pots for very little.
You don't need a huge spice cupboard, only a few.

Learn to fillet a whole chicken, loads of videos on YouTube, very easy with a sharp knife and good kitchen scissors- whole chickens are much cheaper than filleted.
If you spatchcock a chicken it cooks quicker than an unspatchcocked one!

There are loads of "recipes" for making various spice mixes such as peri peri or fajita mixes, which are great if you have those spices in but sometimes it's worth just grabbing the £1 pots/packets for ease and quickness.

I don't think I'd ever use Hello fresh again even as a "treat", I find the meat portion size to be small and seemingly for 2 adults and small kid portions for the rest. I do make their recipes still and just buy the ingredients and diy it.

Also a roast chicken is an easy weekday meal and leaves leftovers for lunches etc. I sometimes cook 2 at the same time, and I can make 3 meals from it such as fajitas and Vietnamese pho (Marion grasby recipe for cheats pho) after the initial roast chicken, plus still have some for lunch.

So many good ideas on this thread,
honestly it's worth persevering. Once you have experience you get creative because you start to understand what flavours work and you also have built a store cupboard of basics and a head full of recipes.

You will get to the point where you can shop the discounts and be able to plan recipes on the fly.
I look at what meat is on offer and what veg are on the special 6 and plan recipes with them
Yellow sticker meat if it's a good price gets frozen for future use.

Learn how to make a basic tomato sauce. Can be used as a base for chilli, with pasta, for Bolognese etc, just need to add spices to change the flavour, freeze in portions.

It will get cheaper as you stick up your store cupboard, but is this all from the recipe app? I’m surprised by how much yogurt they want you to buy. There’s a fair bit of cheese, maybe use the store cupboard hard cheese tubs instead of fresh Parmesan if it’s just for dressings.

Also, if cooking from scratch is the aim then I noticed two pizzas & a Nando’s hot sauce on the list - I’m not sure if you’ve added to the list after the app ingredients & if you have then I love a pizza as much as the next person. I was just surprised it came from the app.

I’ve started using a similar app called sidekick. It does meal bundles of 4 or 5 meals with the aim (I think) of actually using all of the things you buy, so not leaving half a pepper etc. it also has some bundles that have less ingredients in them so you can build up your store cupboard at a steadier pace.

I’m totally with you op, it feels like you literally can’t walk into a supermarket without parting with at least £40.

If you have just given up hello fresh, you probably need to rebuild a basic pantry again. So the first few weeks will be expensive as you need to get almost every ingredient. But it will reduce once that pantry is in place and you are buying the fresh food weekly and restocking individual pantry items which have been used up - rather than everything.

So this week, you need both rice and pasta, for example, but you'll probably get another week or 2 of meals before you need to replenish one or both. Spices and seasonings will generally last months - especially if you can manage with the basic spice and herbs and mix them yourself at home - rather than needing different pre-mixed packets for Korma and Tikka Masala and Chilli and piri piri.

It's also cheaper (and easier) if you can make 1 batch of a meal to eat twice - so make enough of the sauce for 2 meals and freeze the second half, to enjoy next week.

And do a mix of meals involving a lot of cheaper ingredients to bulk it out - extra veggies, tinned beans or lentils, etc - rather than lots of meat. It's both cheaper and better for you.

£75 for four people a week seems quite a reasonable budget for food.

If you are struggling and need to reduce costs further, try turning it on its head and view it from the other end of the equation.
Within your household income first decide how much can be allocated to the food budget - then deduct a set sum for the breakfast/lunches. Porridge for breakfast and sandwiches or soup for lunch are likely to be the cheapest option.

Calculate how much per person, per main meal is left, and then meal plan and shop within those limits. In a very frugal month perhaps aim for £2 per person per main meal or less.

So a very simple example with chicken. Perhaps in one meal the budget is too tight for enough chicken per person. Fewer chicken pieces, button mushrooms and a few new potatoes (or even a tin of them) and make a chicken, mushroom and potato pie with your own pastry, and using a simple white sauce of flour, butter or spread, milk, flavoured with half a chicken Oxo cube. Very filling for four people and much cheaper.
Your family seems to enjoy a lot of yoghurts which can mount up in price. Buying a very large tub of plain yoghurt such as 1kg Asda Greek style creamy (£1.65), adding a spoonful of jam to mix in each portion can be cheaper (stock up a variety of fruit flavours, raspberry, strawberry, blackcurrant, apricot over time - these can also be used in making desserts such as sponge puddings).

Another method to slim down costs is to reduce the portion sizes of main meals and introduce more filling puddings. For instance a couple of cheap tins of peach slices can be cooked until soft in the microwave and then made into a fruit crumble.

Aldi and Lidl you get much more for your money and the meat is really good from Aldi in my opinion. I think the meals you have on the list are fine for the week and I think you will find once the spices are in the cupboard going forward it will work out cheaper, I would consider getting a cab back from Aldi or Lidl as I think you would still save money (depending how far away it is) a large pack of chicken thigh fillets is £4.99. I switched from Tesco to Aldi for a lot of my shop and it had saved me a lot of money with no adjustment on quality, in fact the meat is better.

Some great suggestions here

If you look at the price per Kg , the cheapest way to buy chicken is to buy the whole bird and portion it yourself . You then will have the bones to make stock , which is the base for so many things and freezes really well .