My first real shopping list - will this be about right?

hendersonb

nearlyrich wrote:

Not sure if you really need 3 types of stock cubes, I usually just use the vegetable one's
Fragata Garlic Cloves 100g looks more expensive than fresh garlic, it keeps for a while in a dark dry place and you can't beat fresh garlic flavour IMHO.

Bay leaves are available from Tesco 49p for 10g

Scottish Casserole Steak Medium is this a tin? you might find the fresh stewing steak works out more economical and it might even taste better.:xmassmile

1) Garlic - No idea about fresh garlic - if fresh is better cheaper then I'll go for that - think i'll need maybe about 10 cloves during the month - will they keep this long and if so how much garlic in weight will that roughly be? Or can I order garlic cloves by number on tesco online - couldn't find them

2) Bay leaves - Since found them on the site my original search for "bay leaf" turned up nothing

3)Scottish Casserole Steak - This is fresh (I think!!!) £3 odd per pack - was guessing that this must be what I need to try a beef stew/hotpot - Gran used to do a lovely hotpot.

moneysavingplumber

Personally I think you'd be better shopping once a week and planning what you are going to cook and buying accordingly. 5 Kg of spuds might be enough for you on your own but are liable to be sprouting and soft in a months time if you're keeping them indoors.

If you're new to cooking try and keep it simple. The best food is simple, I've been mad about cooking since I was a kid and my cooking's actually got simpler. There's nothing wrong with basic meat and two veg, you can always marinate a pork chop in honey and mustard before you grill or bake it, fresh steamed veg is lovely even without special frills. Potatoes can be mashed with butter and milk, roasted, sauteed, even rosti'd! Explore simple food first and then elaborate as you gain confidence would be my advice.

hendersonb

So do you think I should just delete what I have on the tesco shopping list and go to the supermarket weekly?
The idea of doing it online was so I could work out my budget, I've never really shopped for ingredients for meals mainly just the ready meals. Usually just go once a month and fill the freezer with microwave meals. Freezer is now totally empty and am due for next shop.
I was hoping to be able to do most meals in slow cooker so it is ready for me comming home, the recipies i've seen seem quite simple through everything on - go to work come home and enjoy...

rosy

I think if I were you I would start by doing one weekly menu plan and shop, as you might find that if you plan one month and find that you don't stick entirely it for some reason, you'll be left with lots of perishable stuff that you can't use up. Using the slow cooker is a great idea but you'd be surprised how fast and easy other kinds of cooking are too, to ring the changes. For instance, you could chop up some veg and chicken in advance ( you would have to do this for your slow cooker anyway ) and do a five minute stir fry when you got home ( with egg noodles to go with it, which you just boil for two or three minutes). This means that you'll get a crunchy texture ( for the veg not the noodles!!) which will be different from your slow cooker meals. Also pasta can be really quick ( fresh pasta from the chilled counter only takes three minutes to boil, though it is more expensive than dried, but even that only takes ten minutes ). There are loads of fast and very easy sauces you can put with it too. If you can spare some time at the weekend you can make a batch of tomato sauce and freeze it. This is really easy and miles tastier and better for you than jars. I do it like this - big pot on a low heat, put in a little splash of olive oil ( doesn't have to be an expensive one ) and crush three of four garlic cloves in it. Cook for a couple of minutes so the garlic doesn't burn ( you dont want it to go brown ). Then pour in four packets of passata ( Tesco do 500g packets for 36p) and squeeze in half a 200g tube of tomato puree, a pinch of salt and about a teaspoon of dried mixed Italian herbs ( you buy this in one jar already mixed ). Stir it all and let it bubble away for about an hour, stirring occasionally. It might splutter a bit! Once it's done, you can freeze in batches and defrost as required. You can add canned tuna to this, you can make bolognese sauce with it, add chilli powder for a sauce for chilli con carne, it's very versatile and once you've put in the initial effort it's as simple as opening a jar. Sorry I've gone on a bit there, main thing I really meant to say is that once you start cooking you'll might even find that you don't see it as a chore and start to enjoy it, so I suggest you don't restrict yourself to the slow cooker on it's own.

rosy

Meant to add - garlic -you need to buy a bulb of garlic, you can't buy individual cloves. A bulb looks almost onion shaped with a papery white "skin". Inside it is made up of the cloves which have a pinky/purple skin. If you get a garlic crusher(looks like a nutcracker with little holes at the end) you can put the pink clove in it, squeeze hard and the white garlic will come out crushed leaving the pink skin inside the crusher. You can also just peel the pink skin off with a knife but it's fiddlier! I've just weighed a bulb of garlic and it's about 40g, has about ten cloves in it. This is approximate but you don't have to worry about exact amounts anyway. It's about 30p or so for a bulb of garlic ( Tesco value ones had about three bulbs for 69p I think) and they keep for a good couple of weeks in a dark cupbaord ( I keep mine under the sink and sometimes for a lot longer than two weeks!)

hendersonb

Thanks rosy, maybe give some of the suggestions a go, don't like pasta or fish though, I'm guessing that many rice dishes could be made in similar ways though to the pasta dishes - been trying to read up a bit on cooking but can't find many really basic sites that help - they all just assume you have some knowledge of cooking - guess my sheltered life has backfired a bit on me. When I stayed with parents dinner was always made for me - if they were going out I could find it in the mirowave.
The other reason for the SC was that most of the stuff could be frozen for non cooking days.
I may try the tomatoe sauce one sunday (my only day off), don't fancy spending an hour in the kitchen just yet. Although if I find a good easy recipie for home made soup I may give this ago as I love home made soup but haven't had it in years.

The main reason for a monthly shop just after payday is so I can see exactly what money I can blitz on bills.

Pink.

hendersonb wrote:

I miss home made food, especially soup but never really had an idea how its made, was always done when I was at school/college/work. I've saw some recipies for soup for a SC and really want to try these.

Hi hendersonb,

Have a look at this thread: Brrr it's cold.. soup? There are lots of ideas for homemade soup in there that can easily be adapted to the slow cooker.

The best thing you can do when learning how to cook from scratch is take it a little bit at a time....try cooking something you fancy, and if you enjoy cooking it and better still enjoy eating it, then keep it in mind for another time. Don't forget we are all here to help out if you get stuck.

Good Luck!

Pink

moneysavingplumber

hendersonb wrote:

The main reason for a monthly shop just after payday is so I can see exactly what money I can blitz on bills.

You'll have less money to pay those bills if you buy a load of food that you simply throw in the bin because you didn't use it. If you're as new to cooking as you say, then i think you would be better off eating very simple, freshly prepared food to begin with. I love sauces and curries and stews as much as anybody else, and love cooking them, but I crave simple food too. If I were you I would start by buying weekly around two heads of brocoli, 1.5 kg spuds, 6 carrots, 1 swede. Then nip to a local butcher where you will (hopefully, assuming it is a good butcher) be able to buy single cuts of fresh marinated meat where they will actually advise you on the best ways of cooking it too. You can buy a single, different cut of meat for every day of the week, it may seem expensive but interms of cost-effectiveness (assuming you use it all) you will save money in the long run. They also often have a superb array of speciality sausages packed with herbs and spices. As you gain confidence in the kitchen you can then start to experiment with rices and pastas, sauces and stews. Brocoli and carrots can be steamed or boiled together (10 minutes for carrots, 5 minutes for brocoli), potatoes you can part boil for 10-15 minutes and roast at gas 8 for 45 minutes, or fry in olive oil for 15 minutes, or fully boil them and mash them adding a little butter and milk. Swede can be blanched and roasted the same as potatoes, or sauteed. If you want a gravy you can buy granules to start with or use basic stock, mix a teaspoon of cornflour with a little water and add as the stock boils and whisk in to thicken.

moneysavingplumber

hendersonb wrote:

been trying to read up a bit on cooking but can't find many really basic sites that help - they all just assume you have some knowledge of cooking - guess my sheltered life has backfired a bit on me.

I never thought I'd see myself say this, but Delia Smith's books are very good for complete newbie cooks.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0563384301/qid=1136511896/sr=8-3/ref=pd_ka_3/026-3632205-4477213

I bought this for my wife, if only she'd read it........ :snow_laug

This may seem a bit obvious, but if you miss the home-cooked stuff so much, why not phone home and ask how it was done? It was my mum that taught me to cook, and although I'm a 35 year old grumpy plumber bloke, myself and my mum swap cooking tips like a couple of old grannies talking over the fence al the time!

suki1964

If you really cant cook then I reccomend Delia Smith How to cook books. You can proberly borrow them from the library or if not get them second hand from ebay or Amazon. She also has a website http://www.deliaonline.com/

Whilst you are finding your feet in the kitchen I suggest just buying enough fresh ingredients for one or two dishes to start and going into the supermarket yourself rather then shopping online. This will give you more of an idea of what things and amounts look like, theres nothing worse then ordering online and finding you have 10 bulbs of garlic when you really wanted just 10 cloves