Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

ANY_CHANCE

Is chuck steak cheaper than stewing/braising steak ....whats the difference between them all???????????

MrsE_2

ANY_CHANCE wrote: »

Is chuck steak cheaper than stewing/braising steak ....whats the difference between them all???????????

I never understand that either

I use cheap frying steak for stews & casseroles:o

MrsE_2

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I'm baffled by the fascination with puddings - isn't that what fruit and yoghurt was invented for?

And I would argue that making a prescriptive list that must not be deviated from excludes the possibility of saving on extra offers. For example, I may intend to go out and spend £5 on some salmon fillet - but if I can get hold of the same number of portions of tuna fillet on special for the same price, or even some lamb steaks and a packet of posh bangers, then I have more variety or even another meal sorted.

And I am still uncertain as to how buying more than you need and then trying to work out what to do with the castoffs is more economical than buying what is necessary. Why buy 2lb of mince and risk everyone getting sick of the stuff, when you can buy 250g of mince and everyone's happy?

Maybe it's just me...

I agree with the merits of the first part of your post:D

As for the last bit, we are greedy beggars & eat 500g of superlean mince between 3(sometimes 4) of us:o

rosemary54

wow can't beleive how long this thread is!no time to read it all.Just watched this week show a day late.If I were to have £210 a week to spend on food I would be living on smoked salmon and caviar!where do they buy meat?£48 a kilo for fillet steak!!!!Mr T's top price organic is "only"£24 a kilo,they need to change shops.
Why don't they do home shopping?then they would stick to the list and see cost as they add each item

BUT they were a lovely family so hope the job situation gets better

agree with Mrs E why make masses of stuff,ok to bulk cook and freeze but would get sick of so much meat in a week anyway!

spendaholic

westcoastscot wrote: »

Hi Spendaholic,
A litttle off-topic, but would you care to share your apricot cut and come again cake? sounds delish - I love apricots and almonds.
Havent seen the programme yet - forgot about it - but will have to look on i-player
Pauline :-)

Oops!! meant share the recipe not the cake (although you can do that too!!) sorry

Sure ... only it's currently at home and I'm currently at work. Will post it ... probably tomorrow if that's ok? It's delicious and the "cut and come again" thing really works. There's only me and it's supposed to run to 8 portions ... but it's lucky if it lasts 2 days. :rolleyes: At least it's low fat ...

rosemary54

patchwork_cat wrote: »

I disagree about the inverted snobbery -even when the family are saving £120 a week at £210 it is still well beyond the reach of most people. Also how many people live in £630K houses? It is a very small minority of people - the average house price in this country is about £160 000. They should be helping the likes of my friend who is divorcing her husband and currently spending £120 on shopping and desperately needs to reduce this to feed her 2 kids. ( yes I have told her about MSE, but ...) She is an example of the average.

Without having worked it out exactly but based on what OH gives me for housekeeping(tho the figure includes all household shopping plus things like birthday pressies)I think I must spend around £100 a head a month and I consider we eat very well BUT I do cook almost everything from scrach as 1/ I enjoy it and 2/ I like to know exactly what is in the food I eat.( family is 3 grown up sons around at various times of the year as away at uni who have big appetites)

1 thing I have figured out is that if I do buy treats like choccy bars or biscuits they vanish instantly and as not cheap that is an area where it is easy to cut back

talulahbeige_2

redmel1621 wrote: »

One thing I think is a bit of a shame, is that they don't provide the recipes for the rest of the 'tumbledown' meals...last week they showed how to make the chilli, but also mentioned the braised mince would make a bolognese sauce and cottage pie...they could do with putting these recipes up as well.

Thats because they want you to buy the book that has come out along with the show.

On another note, i only watched the first episode (i tend to do the things they suggested anyway) but who wants to eat 3 meals a week of mince meat. Now I love a good cottage pie, spag bol and chilli but to eat it 3 times a week is too much red meat and monotonous

AlwaysHappy

I really enjoy this show, its appalling how much the family were spending, but fair play to them for their positive mentality and already having reduced their spend so much. The programme is now compulsive viewing and I am toying with the idea of getting the book - not very money saving I know!! I just wondered when they were asked what leftovers they had and she produced bits of tomatoes out of the freezer - where were they from? and what tomato bits were they anyway. I'm always interested in what bits and pieces people chuck in their freezer for later and don't want to miss a trick.

spendaholic

talulahbeige wrote: »

Thats because they want you to buy the book that has come out along with the show.

On another note, i only watched the first episode (i tend to do the things they suggested anyway) but who wants to eat 3 meals a week of mince meat. Now I love a good cottage pie, spag bol and chilli but to eat it 3 times a week is too much red meat and monotonous

I'd still make the meals, but freeze 2 days' worth for another week/month rather than the same week. If I try that with all of the recipes, I'll eventually have a different "readymeal" to take out of the freezer every day. :T

katiekoo_2

I saw that the two chefs were on BBC Breakfast telly this am but managed to miss their segment whilst making tea. Were they answering criticism of the show?