I need to learn to cook !!!

Kazipoo

Made a homemade chilli last night for tea, I have always made spag bol from scratch, I'm fussy and don't like lumpy veggies!!

Mine is pretty similar to everyone elses and in fact, when my daughters were cooking this during a lesson at school, their teacher asked them to take a jar of cook in sauce, I refused to let them as they know its just as quick cooking it from scratch!

Anyhow, I finely chop the onion and garlic and add the mince and onion and garlic to a frying pan together, brown the mince and drain off the excess fat, then I take a stock cube and make a small amount of beef stock and add that to the pan, I then add herbs (italian seasoning and mixed herbs) and spices (pinch cayenne pepper, 1/4 tspn chilli powder, 1/2 tspn paprika) and let it simmer until the stock is almost gone. Then I add a carton of passata (42p asda) and mix well. If necessary I add water during the process. I also start the pan off for the spaghetti at the same time as I begin to brown the mince, that way the whole meal can be cooked in under 30 mins. You can add lots of veggies to the mix, whatever you fancy really, but my kids are fussy so we keep it simple.

To transform to a chilli I simply add more chilli powder and cayenne pepper to taste and a tin of baked beans or kidney beans if thats what you like.

Mince £2.00 800g Morrisons, plenty to feed 6-8 people
Passata 39p - 49p depending on where you buy it (this year have Roma tomatoes to grow to make own passata)
Onion 30p bag Morrisons (growing own this year)
Garlic price varies (attempting to grow own after an unsuccessful attempt last year)
Herbs dried bought, although have abundant supplies in garden that I really should utilise!

Total price generally no more than £3 - £4 for the 6 of us.

Have faith in yourself, practice makes perfect!!

MrsE_2

doelani wrote: »

I am really doing something wrong, I buy ready made sauces in jars, I am a terrible cook so have only attempted to make bolognasise once without the jar and hubby complained it did not taste the same..

Buy ONE cookbook - Jamie Olivers Ministry of Food:D

Start with that.

I was an ok cook, could do a mean roast but used jars & sachets to "cheat", I only ever bought ready made puddings & cakes.

Saw the programme, bought the book - got the t-shirt:rotfl:& started to re-learn to love cooking.

Moved on from that really quicky, I make all sorts now. Still learning, but START WITH JAMIE;)

valk_scot

Ministry of Food has to be one of the best cookery books ever written and I say that as the veteran of 40 years of home cooking and the owner of umpteen cookery books. Forget the library books (unless you can get MofF there) and just go out and buy a copy of Mr Oliver's masterpiece.

As to cooking costs well, you can economise to the point of spending practically nothing if you really have to but then again, most of us are fortunate enough to have at least a workable budget for food. It's not always about feeding six folk for £1 a day, thank goodness, more about getting the best value you can for the money you've got. So if you don't like the cheaper fatty mince, buy the better one, yup, but use less and add some of a cheaper ingredient to your bolognaise to pad it out a bit. I'm not a fan of adding lentil or oats but I might add some soya mince, or more probably diced carrots, onions, peppers and mushrooms. This helps with adding vegetables to a meal of course but the vegetables also contribute to the depth of flavour in the sauce so you don't need to use a ready made sauce at all at this point, just some tinned tomatoes and a pinch or two of herbs.

MrsE_2

valk_scot wrote: »

So if you don't like the cheaper fatty mince, buy the better one, yup, but use less and add some of a cheaper ingredient to your bolognaise to pad it out a bit. I'm not a fan of adding lentil or oats but I might add some soya mince, or more probably diced carrots, onions, peppers and mushrooms. This helps with adding vegetables to a meal of course but the vegetables also contribute to the depth of flavour in the sauce so you don't need to use a ready made sauce at all at this point, just some tinned tomatoes and a pinch or two of herbs.

I buy the 5% fat mince (Waitrose do a big one for just over £3.00).

Then I add lots of veg, this makes it even more healthy:D

LondonDreamer

Ditto all the recommendations for the Ministry of Food book. Even if you're not a Jamie fan, it's an excellent resource. :money:

I sometimes make spag bol from jar sauces, even though I know how to make them from scratch. Usually when the jars are a good deal, bought a load of Ragu when it was on that 2 for £1 offer recently. Do have to ask though, how much mince are you getting for £6? That's the bulk of your cost and where you could potentially make the biggest saving. I buy my mince when it's on the 3 for £10 meat deal. I only have Tesco locally, but I think the majors all offer a similar deal. Last time it was 750g of lean steak mince, pretty good quality. I then bulk it out with an equal volume of mushrooms (about 250g) and including two jars of cheap Ragu, it made 12 portions for about a fiver.

lisa26_2

I also have to ask how much mince you are using for it to cost you £6?! It must be an awful lot! I have a bolognese in my slowcookr today that will do 6 portions and I have 1 x 500g pack of mince in it that costs £2.00 full price (I got it reduced :-) lol!). I used to always think I needed/wanted loads of meet in any meal but I was told by a trained nutritionist that the protein/meat part of a meal should on average be roughly the same size as a pack of playing cards.....quite small really!!

Also, try to meal plan. I can't do a single meal cheaply but if I plan for a full week so everything gets used up and any leftover portions are frozen for later then I can feed me & OH on probably £30 a week and he's a skinny minnie who needs feeding up!

doelani

lisa26 wrote: »

I also have to ask how much mince you are using for it to cost you £6?!

I do probally use to much meat in these emals, for lasange on mondy packet is 750g cost £3.50. the £6 was a large and small packet not sure of weights

LondonDreamer wrote: »

Ditto all the recommendations for the Ministry of Food book. Even if you're not a Jamie fan, it's an excellent resource. :money:

will has a look at this as a few have mentioned it

I sometimes make spag bol from jar sauces, even though I know how to make them from scratch. Usually when the jars are a good deal, bought a load of Ragu when it was on that 2 for £1 offer recently. Do have to ask though, how much mince are you getting for £6? That's the bulk of your cost and where you could potentially make the biggest saving. I buy my mince when it's on the 3 for £10 meat deal. I only have Tesco locally, but I think the majors all offer a similar deal. Last time it was 750g of lean steak mince, pretty good quality. I then bulk it out with an equal volume of mushrooms (about 250g) and including two jars of cheap Ragu, it made 12 portions for about a fiver.

wish I could make 12 portions for £5 lol I do alwyas add loads of onions and peppers to bulk mince out , noone like mushrooms.

angeltreats

My husband hates mushrooms but I chop them up very very finely and he has no idea they're in there.

doelani

Right for tmorrow I am going to TRY and make the lasagna myself ( Well the red bit anyway ) lol

I have mince, onions, red pepper. In cupboard I have dried mixed herbs , not sure if I need them. I ahve the white sauce, lasanga sheets so ok there.

I will call into shop later and buy anything else I need. Well once I figure out what I need lol Now need to trawl through recipes to see what else I need lol

OK I have seen mentioned

Passata
Chopped tomoatoes
Tomatoe puree

Do I only need one of the above?

Also need to get garlic......never cooked with garlic before in my life lol

angeltreats

I've never used passata, I just use tubes of tomato puree.

I made some lasagne yesterday, I'll write out the steps for you of how I made it in case it helps.

Chop up an onion and two cloves of garlic. Fry them for a few minutes in a little vegetable oil.

Throw in the mince, give it a bit of a stir and cook till it's all brown. Add two carrots chopped up small and some mushrooms chopped very finely.

Throw in a tin of tomatoes, and fill up the tin the tomatoes came in with water and throw that in too. Add a good squeeze of tomato puree, a crumbled beef stock cube, a good shake of dried mixed herbs, about a teaspoon of ground coriander and a little shake each of cinnamon and ginger. Also add a big glug of red wine - probably about a glass. Add a few twists of salt and pepper. Simmer this for about half an hour, by which time it should be nice and thick. Take it off the heat.

Then make some white sauce (you have a jar of this but I'll go over the steps anyway). Measure equal amounts of plain flour and butter - I use an ounce and a half of each for a lasagne. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat (don't let it burn). Add the flour and stir it around with a wooden spoon. Cook till it's lightened a bit in colour - the resulting mixture is called roux. Take it off the heat. Measure out a pint of milk. Add it a bit at a time to the roux and mix it around and keep beating till the roux has absorbed all the milk and there are no lumps. I tend to add it in about four goes. When all the milk has been added and it's nice and smooth, put it back on the heat and bring it to the boil and cook till it's thickened a bit. Apparently lots of people use a whisk for mixing in the milk to get rid of the lumps but I just use a wooden spoon.

When the white sauce is done, get out the dish you'll be using to make your lasagne. I use a rectangular Pyrex. Pour a wee bit of white sauce in the bottom and spread it around. Cover the bottom with a couple of sheets of lasagne. Then build up your layers of bolognese sauce, white sauce and pasta. Finish with a layer of white sauce on top, and then grate some cheese on top.

Stick it in the oven for half an hour or so and that's it!

I'm sure everyone does it slightly differently, this is just how I do it, hope it helps a bit.