Eating Well V's Eating Cheaply??

tiddly_widdly

Thank goodness this thread is returning to a more normal posting. I have to admit I have recently been thinking along similar lines as Leila. Noodles and Hotdogs?? There's as nutrition in there as is in dog *****. However I understand why people do it when hard up Im sure I would do the same as a little junk food once in a blue moon isnt going to kill anyone. But I know what she means when she says it seems to be a game to some posters as to how to get it for the cheapest, maybe its the way their post has been written I dont know.
What I do know is that however it has been written and achieved I have benefited from peoples ramblings on here. I have got my food bill down from approx £120 per week to £70 per fortnight ( plus top ups at the local coop for bread milk etc. Iam feeding 5, myself, DH, DS 17, DD1 15, DD2 10. So 4 1/2 adults really.
I have to say it has been done because of my irritation initially with the way food was going up in price.
I make a two week menu and a list of all the ingredients needed and buy only that. after checking what I have left in stock.
I find a 2 week menu works welll for me as I can spread ingredients over a couple of meals without over buying or getting board with what we eat.
Ive cooked from scratch for about 10 years due to kids allergies and intolerances and also reading labels and not likeing the fact that they are stuffed full of chemicals and crap. I compare every ingredients list as I shop. it takes time but not only do you get the best value but the one with the most of the actual REAL ingredients. Someone one here said she buys value tomatoes cos to her a tomato is a tomato. Fine, but if only that were true! There is a lot less tomato in the value tin and more sugar and salt than if you pay a bit extra for the black tin( sorry cant remember the name) with a far higher percentage of tomatoe and not as much salt and sugar.

I also prefer to make sure that my meals are well balanced and cooked from fresh as the kids have school lunches at £2 per day each. Which then allows them their 'junk food' fix if they wish. the youngest one has very balanced hot meals but the older 2 who knows.

Im sorry for my ramblings. Please dont take offence but everyone keep on posting it is helping us all

Penelope_Penguin

leiela wrote: »

TBH the posts that worry me more than those with a lack of protien are the ones with a lack of fruit and veg. I do throw alot of veg in my meals they do pad them out and make them go futher which is very handy, but there are still basic nutritional requirements our body's need.

leiela wrote: »

you can't get too much fruit and veg, but i do think when people pad out meals with fruit and veg to extremes, it's not a case of too much fruit and veg (because in my mind thats impossible) but a problem of a LACK of fats and protien.

Sorry, I'm confused now, which is it

MrsE_2

leiela wrote: »

i see so many meals where people seem so focused on making it cheap, they forget that our family's health is important. Some people who seem to thing throwing tons of veg in makes it healthy, and try and pad out thier meals as far as possible, but neglect to concider protien or good fats. while other just seem to have no concept of nutrition at all and thier meal plans simple come down to how much it costs at the end of the week, and feed thier family junk night after night.

leiela wrote: »

tbh i was more concerned by the family's who post meals plans that compleatly lacked fruit and veg than i was concerned about people not eating enough protien haha... far to many familys seem to live off bad carbs and bad protiens.. blah.

These two posts (both from you in the same thread) REALLY confused me

MrsE_2

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Sorry, I'm confused now, which is it

I'm not a copy cat I promise:o

Great minds & all that:D

MrsE_2

tiddly_widdly wrote: »

it takes time but not only do you get the best value but the one with the most of the actual REAL ingredients. Someone one here said she buys value tomatoes cos to her a tomato is a tomato. Fine, but if only that were true! There is a lot less tomato in the value tin and more sugar and salt than if you pay a bit extra for the black tin( sorry cant remember the name) with a far higher percentage of tomatoe and not as much salt and sugar.

Napolina;)

I prefer the Heinz ones, but I buy whatever are cheaper out of Heinz & Napolina.
They make nice sauces & are lovely with a cooked breakfast.

tiddly_widdly

Thanks Mrs E
I like to use them blitzed in my mixer with a couple of red peppers, onion, carrot, mushrooms and oregano and basil, with some passatta as a rustic bolgnese sauce. the passata gives the bolognese a 'creaminess' rather than just a watery tomatoeness, more like the jar ones without the E numbers.

lka200

Leiela...im sorry but you are contradicting yourself left right and centre on this thread.
You stated in your first post that people throw loads of veg into a meal to bulk it out and that they think that this is healthy...then later on you post that you do the same
You also state that you and hubby require 200-300gr of protein each per day...then later on you say that too much of one thing is bad...Im confused.
I think i understand what you were really trying to get at in all of this and that is...
People who find themselves with a rather comfortable budget for food who choose to eat unhealthily/cheaply/unbalanced meals are the people who you dont understand and that they should be cooking and serving more balanced/healthy food.
The problem with that view on the OS boards is that most of us on here are working with strict budgets and the majority of us do try our very best to eat in a healthy way but also in a cheap way. The fact that you have said that you wouldnt eat pasta with a tin of tomatoes on it does really beggar belief ...i know that there is probably not a great deal of protein in the meal but maybe some peole like to eat it...and i can think of a lot more foods more unhealthy than that.
I am a vegetarian so get most of my protein from quorn/pulses and beans.
Im sorry but i dont believe that eating 200-300gr of protein a day is at all healthy although i do understand that you and hubby need to have a high protein intake.
There is just me and my 16yo son here at home and i try to cook and eat the healthiest meals i can...but we do also like fish fingers chips and peas/ a fry up and if i liked curry sauce and saw a jar for 15p then i would probably buy it and serve it on a busy/tiring day.
You still havent told us how you manage all what you claim on just £50 per week which is really what we all want to know.
Personally im not interested in your storecupboard stock or even your meal plans as they are far too protein packed for me.
we just want to know how you do what you do on a budget of £50.
Also if your only problem with other peoples meal plans are pasta and a tin of toms or a packet of instant noodles (im sure they arent eating these everyday anyway)i dont think that those folk have got much to worry about...phew...big post

SarahShattered

tiddly_widdly wrote: »

Someone one here said she buys value tomatoes cos to her a tomato is a tomato. Fine, but if only that were true! There is a lot less tomato in the value tin and more sugar and salt than if you pay a bit extra for the black tin( sorry cant remember the name) with a far higher percentage of tomatoe and not as much salt and sugar.

I didn't know that!!!! I figured I might get a bit less tomato, but not that there was a difference in sugar and salt....

~~~~~~~hmmmm..... off to check labels more closely!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~

tiff

All I know is my Mum bought a tin of Napolina plum tomatoes, and there was 1 tomato in it. She then bought a tin of Lidl 33p tomatoes which was chock full.

gingin_2

leiela wrote: »

Chicken Masala With roasted Squash served with Brown rice

Chicken (800g)
1 Squash
Spinach (fresh)
Curry powder
Tikka paste
Coconut milk
Onion
Peppers

Costs about £5.50 does 2 meals, sometimes 2.5 :P

most people could probabally cut down the chicken in the last 2, we use alot because me and my husband are body builders and we need the protien.

That sounds delicious but I cannot see how your costings work? If I were to make it with regular chicken breasts I can't see me being able to make it for less than £9- £10? I can't buy a squash for less than £1, coconut milk for less that 80p a tin and value peppers work out at around 30p each. I stopped buying fresh spinach as it was just too expensive, but I am sure it was more than £1-something a bag. I make the ingredients minus the chicken at around £3.50- £4 alone? OH eats a high protein diet and we, as a family, eat meals to suit this. Of that 800g chicken, the kids and I would eat 300g of the meat between us and he would eat 500g (he eats between 400 and 500g protein in one meal), how do you make up the rest of the protein for 2 people on that budget, when as a family of 4 you are only eating 400g meat for one main meal?

It's the same for chicken and sweet potatoes, which is also one of our faves - 5 chicken breasts between 4 of us ( 2 between kids and I and 3 for husband) at a weight of 150g each, I can't buy for less than £6 - to be fair I don't buy value. Sweet potatoes - let's say 800g - would be around £1.30, according to tesco + other veggies/salad, works out at over £8 per meal.



Sorry if I have some of this wrong, but I still can't see how you manage it on that budget. My shopping bill is closer to your original budget than £200 a month, I am comfortableish with it, as I can't see how I can cut it down further, other than getting husband to give up his training. Would be fascinated if you could write out a whole day's meal plan to see how you fit all that protein in on £50 a week.