Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

WASHER

She should have shove brisket in the slow cooker with a little red wine, and it wouldn't have cost £14, I couldn't afford to pay that for a joint of meat.

Butterfly_Brain

WASHER wrote: »

She should have shove brisket in the slow cooker with a little red wine, and it wouldn't have cost £14, I couldn't afford to pay that for a joint of meat.

Oooh I love Brisket it is really tasty and my favourite for slow roasting or put in the pressure cooker yum

LilacPixie

Brisket would of been a fiver at most. That being said I prefer my local butchers meat as I feel it is better value. I would rather pay say £6 a kg for beef at a butcher than £4 a KG for the same cut in asda/tesco only for it to shrink away during cooking because of the amount of water in it

Butterfly_Brain

Martin should have an hour long show and let us teach the nation
Now that would be serious viewing

lindadykes

I find it hard to believe that she used the "I haven't got time" excuse. I work full time and although my family is now grown up and there is generally just 3 adults (self, DH and DD) I cook from scratch every evening, even when I get home late after 6pm. I also bake all our own bread - we just don't like the taste or expense of ready meals.

I did like her acknowledgement however that things taste better - they do. It was interesting to see how the younger twins seemed to really tuck in and enjoy the home cooking, I'm afraid I'm with many other OS'ers in that the other child needs to be told to eat it or do without. When he was supposed to be trying the chilli he put a miniscule amount on his fork and said yuk, then was asked to try one more mouthfull - he must have a very small mouth!!!

LilacPixie

I feel that they were just lazy. She works part time yet spends more than what I imagine her wage to be on food which was totally uneeded if she wasn't lazy.

I wrote a whole big rant on why my opinion is lazyness rather than ignorance but i lost it.

competitionscafe

maman wrote: »

My main query is why they didn't do all their shopping in one hit in Asda. It's not that I object to using local shops but we all know that going out midweek for bits and pieces (like a £14 piece of beef :eek:) is what can run away with the budget. And it did!!

Surely going to a supermarket is more likely to blow the budget as you tend to pick up loads of extra stuff that you don't really need. Plus properly hung beef from a good local butcher is likely to be much tastier and more tender than anything from Asda. I don't think £14 is unreasonable for that big piece of beef which fed 8 people. A large takeaway pizza from Dominos or Pizza Hut is not far off £14 - for a piece of bread with cheese and a few toppings! When you shop locally you tend to buy exactly what you need plus you are supporting a local business (rather than a gigantic American corporation like Asda/Walmart) and a good butcher or fishmonger is usually quite competitive on price as well as being better quality.

competitionscafe

Re the macaroni cheese - I also noticed the lumpy white sauce and also thought it odd that she showed it to her already made and asked her if she knew what it was instead of showing her how to make it. :rolleyes:

I love artichokes but they are not that cheap and an odd thing to put in macaroni cheese! Artichokes and bacon are a great combo and artichokes and cheese works well (there is a spanish dish which has them as the main ingredients) so it could work, but still I would probably leave em out. She also put grain mustard in the cheese sauce - I always use English mustard or dijon (which Allegra seemed to have the worlds biggest jar of!) as it really brings out the flavour of the cheese and the sauce does not taste 'mustardy' so it doesn't matter if you don't like mustard.

Massive kitchen envy at Allegra's kitchen. You could'nt swing a guinea pig in mine, never mind a cat.

LilacPixie

I like my butcher, he is from another generation and is very old school. I find he is better value than supermarket plus as I am in regularly on a Saturday and usually one day midweek he always seems to give me sound advice on the cut of meat or what is particularly good. He will also do the prep work for me and has no problem ordering in a specific item I require.

Did you all see that recipe for the lamb thigy?? serves 4 at a very reasonaly £2.80 per person. I was thinking !!!!!! I could feed 4 on £2.80

Jesthar

LilacPixie wrote: »

Brisket would of been a fiver at most. That being said I prefer my local butchers meat as I feel it is better value. I would rather pay say £6 a kg for beef at a butcher than £4 a KG for the same cut in asda/tesco only for it to shrink away during cooking because of the amount of water in it

Wish I had a local butchers, we do have farm shops but they are blooming expensive. Must try harder to find one...

In the meantime, I shop at Morrisons these days, and the meat there is pretty good (not to mention British reared) - beats out Tesco and Asda hands down. Can often get brisket with anywhere between £1 - £2 a kilo off, and a kilo joint will do six or seven meals for me, or a good Sunday lunch with three or four friends. Just stick it in the slow cooker with a couple of inches of boiling water, absolutely melts and the stock is out of this world... Their half shoulders of lamb are in a similar vein, decent quality and usually fall off the bone after cooking.

Interesting show, but I'm still gobsmacked anyone can spend that much money on food! And next week is worse?!? Sheeesh...

Incidentally, did anyone else laugh out loud at the first round of 'essential' store cupboard ingredients beign several different types of oil and vinegar? :rolleyes: I just have one type of each - veggie oil to stop my pasta sticking and malt vinegar for the rare occasion I have chips!