Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

cw18

FZwanab wrote: »

Also, there are certain meals my 9 year old will not eat too, especially curries, so I really don't want to make mealtimes a battle ground and I'd just make beans on toast or scrambled egg on toast instead. That way hubbie is happy he is getting his ruby and child is happy = happy mummy.

When my three were young (now 25, 20 and 18, with only the youngest still at home), there were very few meals where I'd cook two different things. The main one was when DH and I had braised liver - the kids normally had fish fingers for that meal.

Other nights like for a big stew or fish dinner there is no choice in the matter, I know its not spicy and I say it will help make them big and strong so they eat it. Even some adults won't eat curries like some elderly people so no good forcing it, mealtimes should be happy and as stress free as possible.

Count me in on that one. But DS doesn't like beef stew or steak and kidney much. So I've now batch cooked both and frozen in individual portions - and once every couple of weeks we have our 'own thing'. TBH, it's taken me a long time to even be able to cope with the smell enough to cook the curry - and I'm now leaving DS to reheat his own (and cook his own rice).

p00

rosieben wrote: »

I was puzzled by the cheffie saying 'you have too much cheese in the fridge so pass me those 3 packets and I'll use them up ' ......... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

But did you notice that there was still 2 unopened packs in the fridge after he 'used them up'? And would they really buy that mush cheese in one go anyway.

Not bad recipes though.

xxp00

cw18

p00 wrote: »

But did you notice that there was still 2 unopened packs in the fridge after he 'used them up'? And would they really buy that mush cheese in one go anyway.

They admitted their £3.01 overspend was down to cheese...

they couldn't remember how much they needed for the macaroni cheese (clearly put cheese on the shopping list without the qty, so not quite grasped the concept of the shopping list yet), and instead of the 160g they needed they bought 1600g :eek:

[Deleted User]

I enjoyed the programme and yes it is all to easy to tear bits of it apart but what struck me most was the fact that this was a nice real family, who worked together, with dad taking a full and active part. Some very good food ideas too but I hated the cheap processed hot dogs

FZwanab

Just in case there are newbies here you can freeze hard cheeses and rinds too.

beckstrous

I thought the cheese man was interesting - I had no idea cheese rinds were edible and I like parmesan especially.

I thought it was good that they went to local shops. I would prefer to get a little bit of good meat and have it once a week than eat rubbish meat more often. I only buy free range or organic chicken and always a whole chicken (unless there are whoopsied chicken pieces available) - I just don't think it is economical to buy chicken any other way.

This won't be news to any of you but we use up every last bit of our chickens and freeze the cooked meat for other things. There are only two of us but we get the biggest chicken we can find. It lasts us ages. We have two portions of chicken meat left in the freezer and I will probably buy another chicken tomorrow - I think this will be about the 6th one we have had all year.

One thing that's helped us budget massively is, oddly enough, starting a veg box scheme. We use Riverford and they are fab. It is not cheaper than standard supermarket veg (though it does work out cheaper than supermarket organic) - but because it gets delivered to you in a box, with a newsletter and recipes, we find that we treat it with more respect in a funny sort of way - we are loath to waste any of it, and we plan our meals around what is in the box. We get one every fortnight for between £10-£15 (depending on which we choose) and a fruit box every week for just under a tenner. It's all down to personal taste but I think that the veg we get is fab and so much tastier. And things that have mud on them, like carrots and potatoes, actually last longer than their supermarket variants.

We are lucky to have a great butcher near us (not expensive). We are moving soon and there is a great butcher there as well (also not expensive), and a fishmonger, which is superb. There's a farm shop too but that is very expensive so we will only go there for treats.

Sorry, went a bit off topic there! We try to spend around £55 a week for two of us and this includes things like loo roll, washing powder, alcohol etc as well as food. I am sure some of you do a lot better but I don't think that's toooooo bad....

Trinny

Hi All

I saw some of the programme - before OH "king of the remote control" moved over to a more manly channel. We are new to OS and although we work fulltime, we have no children.

You can see by our grocery challenge - in my sig that we still have some way to go moneysaving - but a blown month for us is £200 on food. Which makes £2,400 per year - still pretty shocking but i am a work in progress - and still no where near 17k

To spend 17k per year - next weeks family are probably going to have to eat out a few times a week and not in fast food restaurants, or are an enormous family. We eat organic, free range, fairtrade as much as possible, and we are still no where near - infact a rubber free range chicken costs us £7 and it gives us at least 4 evening meals with it.

Its been good catching up on all the comments. I find it hard to understand why the bloke needed to take the week off just so that they could make "proper food". I bet it was more the case that he wanted his chance to be on the TV.

Making most of those meals, would take a few mins only - less if you are organised and if there are two of you helping in the kitchen. I guess at OS Hq its easy to forget that lots of families are completely clueless about shopping and quantities - i still cant believe how much cheese they bought - and cant believe that they didnt realise how much they were buying - because they had no idea how much they would need.

Thank goodness there are programmes like this - as there are obviously plenty of families who really need this kind of advice

Trin

Rikki

I had a thought that made me smile.

Their local supermarkets profits are down, their local butcher has increased trade and the takeaway on speed dial is struggling through lack of repeat business.

Just me then.

tr3mor

Bongedone wrote: »

How was the Willow butter 50p. Never been that price in my ASDA.

Willow is margarine wrapped in paper. It's certainly not butter!

:money:

doelani

I missed this last night, watching locatation, location ,location at house I could never afford lol Just watched it on iplayer and have it set up to record rest of series.

I really enjoyed it although not much we do not already know, basic stuff. My problem is KNOWING it and DOING IT.

I could not feed my family mince based meals more than once a week, not even sure I could eat it more than once a week :rolleyes:

Her storecupboard is nothing like mine. I have

gravy GRANUALS
casserole MIX
pepper sause MIX

anyone see a patern here? lol

I will try better , I will try better............