Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

karenccs67

I'm new to this thread but I saw an episode of this series a couple of weeks ago and was slightly disappointed. The familys weekly shopping was over £300 a week and the chefs brought it down to £200ish. My disappointment wasn't in the food because it looked great but realistically how many of us now have this amount of money each week just to spend on food. I hope the book that accompanies the series has receipes that are affordable to the majority now feeling the pinch during this credit crunch.

ALIBOBSY

OH picked the book up for me at tesco for a tenner as a treat for me .
Pleased to say when I read it that it goes much further than the actual programme itself.

I have 3 home made loaves a la the book in the kitchen cooking (never made good bread no matter how I try lol.

Got the braised mince on which smells yummy.

I made the choc bics and they were nice but very chocolatey kids want them a bit less "slap in the face chocolatey" so will try half milk choc with the plain next time. In the book it emphasizes mixing alot at the initial stage (it mentions 7-8 mins worth of whipping). It also says if no nuts to use extra chocolate in it.
Having looked at the amount of mix and the fact it should do 20 biscuits, I found the desert spoon of mix they talk about was too big. I used a heaped teaspoon and piled the mix high if you see what I mean. I also cooked it slightly longer (5 mins or so) than they say so the bics were a bit firmer as we like crisp bics.

They discuss the timesaving stuff in the supermarket that is good, and bad.
There is much more talk about freezing ahead and working smarter not harder.

There is a section about best before/sell by dates etc and what they mean.
Allegra says something like these are legal requirments, but we need to use commone sense and our noses and whilst she can't make a definate statement she believes these dates have "an element of flexibility".

So I would say the book is very much old style, much more so than the programme would suggest.

I know it will be a goody as its already got food stains on it :rotfl:. All my best, most used books are covered in stains and marks .

ali x

pavlovs_dog

i bought the book too, there's loads in there that i'm hoping to try.

i feel like i've got a bit more excitement for food again (that will probably disappear once i'm back to work in september :rolleyes: bt hey ho)

thriftlady_2

The onion bhajis from the book were yummy-but next time I shall double the recipe:drool::drool:

ALIBOBSY

Mmmmmm sat here all full up and satisfied lol. Made some of the mince into cottage pie which was seriously yummy. The bread was gorgeous as well, by far the best homemade version I have done. Crispy on the outside soft in the middle.
Lovely
ali x

Jo_anne_2

I think I am going to have to buy this book! I quite enjoyed the programmes but was a bit gobsmacked at how people could spend that much a week on food.

I was inspired to look through my storecupboards and see what I could make with what we have in the house. I made some really yummy custard cookies with out of date custard powder and flour (thanks to the link on another thread ). I have also made a batch of the braised mince which should make a few meals this week, I hope

avinabacca

karenccs67 wrote: »

I'm new to this thread but I saw an episode of this series a couple of weeks ago and was slightly disappointed. The familys weekly shopping was over £300 a week and the chefs brought it down to £200ish. My disappointment wasn't in the food because it looked great but realistically how many of us now have this amount of money each week just to spend on food. I hope the book that accompanies the series has receipes that are affordable to the majority now feeling the pinch during this credit crunch.

What's disappointing about cutting their food bill by a third? Well done to them, I say! :T

mollymunchkin

I made the poached chicken today and made it into chicken pie tonight. It was really nice and I got loads of meat off the chicken. Good job really as the free range chicken cost me a tenner from the butcher! Sorry, but that's the last time I'll do that, I'll get one from Tesco next time. The pie was lovely. I know chicken pie is old hat to lots of folk on here but this is the first time I've made one :j Tomorrow I'm making chicken and rice and then a chicken curry. And a chicken soup from the stock of course but this will go in the freezer as I will be sick of chicken by then.

Triker

I've bought the book too :o:o:o:o:o:o:o and I haven't seen the programme , just read the discussion on here, googled it, read some recipes, resisted for erm.....a week and then like a moth to the flame just bought it. £10 squid, asda.;)

I have to say I am impressed and will try out some recipes asap.

Gigervamp

mollymunchkin wrote: »

Good job really as the free range chicken cost me a tenner from the butcher! Sorry, but that's the last time I'll do that, I'll get one from Tesco next time.

Blimey, how much does your butcher charge for FR chicken?

It's £2.96 a kilo at my butchers, so it's comparable to Tescos broiler chickens which are between £2.79-£2.99 a kilo.