Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

jinky67

http://www.mostlyeating.com/2009/06/skirlie_fast_savoury_oats.html

thought about this instead of stuffing?

weezl74

HowlinWolf wrote: »

Weezl. Hmm, I've been having a look at the shopping list I'm not sure you'd get away with 80 tea bags for 2 adults and 2 teenagers. For one I'm not sure that many teens wouldn't want some sort of pop or juice to drink and I don't think 80 teabags is enough.


right ho. Hmmmmmmn. Perhaps we need to get the family to go vegetarian, and up the drinks...

I'm not sure that the Kiwis are a good use of money. You can't make a whole lot with them, you need two to make a fruit portion and they aren't really teen friendly.

agreed. As soon as Avocet pointed out they aren't a portion I'm utterly on board with them disappearing!

I think it would be better to buy less volume of each fruit but get more variety and at least if you had bananas you could make banana cake (or did i miss the presence of bananas on the list).

If I cook with the bananas then will people still count this as a piece of fresh fruit eaten in the day?


Are you assuming that the 100 is just for food? What about toiletries for the family or cleaning products?

Yep! I was thinking that 80p a day for all food drinks and snacks was doable at just above a subsistence level. But I think to include cleaning stuff and toiletries it would be too much for people in the uk to embrace because it would be too radical. Happy to be challenged on that idea though.

I think it might be good to add something in like a Mr S basic ham joint as this can be cooked chopped up and used to make sandwiches, pad out baked potatoes, or use in things like carbonara or pasta dishes which are pretty cheap to make. If you sliced half finely for sandwiches and chopped half up into .5 cm cubes you could make at least 2 or 3 meals seem like they had meat content iyswim.

I shall include this in the one that doesn't need fresh fruit everyday, but still has the 7 of the '5 a day' thanks

I think the carrots and onions look quite expensive and not sure that cauliflower is going to be that popular with teens.

I agree they are pricey. With my limited brain I can't match their colours for cheaper though. I probably haven't said but I'm trying to make sure our mythical family are eating their colours too, and I figured sweetcorn every day and sometimes twice might be a sticking point :eek: can anyone match the colour groups rule without letting pulses count more than once a day? It'd be helpful if so

What about minestrone soup, the one I make in the slow cooker uses tinned toms and tinned or dried beans. The tiny amount of pasta in it swells up well and it becomes quite filling. The ingredients can be tinkered with depending what is available in the bottom of the fridge and it makes at least 4 huge portions. It usually does 2 adults and 1 toddler for 2 meals plus 1 additional adult lunch. Will post recipe if you like.

yes please!

PS the carrot cake disaster is being eaten just not in cake shaped bits!

glad it's being consumed

homegrown_life wrote: »

We use Pure spread which doesn't have the hydrogenated oils, it's a little more expensive than the buttery spread on your list. You can bake with it fine. It doesn't taste like butter though!! But we like it.

*Goes to investigate costs.....:)*

HowlinWolf

I had a play about with what I would buy at Mr S for about 100 to try and make as many meals as poss. This is what I have so far and it beats the nearest supermarket (Mr A) by £11. I think the remaining £7 of the budget would need to be spent on additional fruit and veg and the gammon joint could be swapped for a basics one for half the price.

Total £93.43
Fruit & VegetablesGuide price in £
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Apples (650g) 0.85
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Bananas (8) 1.19
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Lemons (4) 0.88
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Pears (650g) 1.04
2 x Sainsbury's Basics Carrots (1Kg) 1.60
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Mushrooms (400g) 0.89
3 x Sainsbury's Basics Onions (1.5Kg) 1.77
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Peppers (600g) 1.27
2 x Sainsbury's Basics Potatoes (2.5Kg) 1.98
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Tomatoes (450g) 0.75
1 x Sainsbury's Celery 0.78
2 x Sainsbury's Garlic 0.50
1 x Sainsbury's Green Chillies (50g) 0.49
1 x Sainsbury's Swede Loose (Approx 750g) 0.75
Dairy
3 x Sainsbury's British Fresh Pasteurised Milk 6 Pints (3.41L) 6.75
2 x Sainsbury's Family Free Range Eggs (15) 3.16
4 x Sainsbury's Basics Salted Butter (250g) 3.52
2 x Sainsbury's West Country Farmhouse Mature Cheddar (400g) 4.00 any 2 FOR £4.00 - valid until: 16/02/10
Meat, Fish & Poultry
2 x Sainsbury's British Beef Lean Steak Mince (500g) 5.50 any 2 FOR £5.50 - valid until: 21/02/12
2 x Sainsbury's British Freedom Food Endorsed Outdoor Bred Pork Mince (475g) 3.00 was £2.00 - valid until: 23/02/10
2 x Sainsbury's Lamb Mince (500g) 5.00 2 FOR £5.00 - valid until: 04/01/11
2 x Sainsbury's Freedom Food Endorsed Whole Chicken (Approx 1.3Kg) 7.26 was £4.54 - valid until: 16/02/10
1 x Sainsbury's Smoked Gammon Joint (750g) 4.00 any 3 FOR £10.00 - valid until: 09/02/10
2 x Sainsbury's Butcher's Choice Sausages Pork Cumberland (454g) 2.00 was £1.99 - valid until: 09/02/10
Frozen
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Peas (1.81Kg) 1.74
2 x Sainsbury's Mixed Chunky Vegetables (1Kg) 2.82
Tins, Jars & Cooking
1 x Sainsbury's Vegetable Oil (1L) 0.98
4 x Sainsbury's Basics Peeled Tomatoes (400g) 1.24
Packets & Cereals
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Cornflakes (500g) 0.46
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Fruit & Fibre (500g) 0.64
2 x Sainsbury's Basics Wheat Biscuits (36 per pack - 550g) 1.50
3 x Sainsbury's Basics Plain Flour (1.5Kg) 1.29
3 x Sainsbury's Basics Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg) 1.29
5 x Sainsbury's Strong White Bread Flour (1.5Kg) 3.95
1 x Sainsbury's Fast Action Dried Bread Yeast (56g) 0.79
1 x Silver Spoon Caster Sugar (1Kg) 1.22
5 x Sainsbury's Basics Pasta Shapes (500g) 2.15
2 x Sainsbury's Basics Long Grain Rice (1Kg) 1.46
1 x Sainsbury's Country Soup Mixture (500g) 0.60
1 x Sainsbury's Red Lentils (1Kg) 1.76
Drinks
1 x Sainsbury's Gold Roast Instant Coffee (500g) 5.99
4 x Sainsbury's Basics Tea Bags (80 per pack - 250g) 1.12
4 x Sainsbury's Basics Cola (2L) 0.68
1 x Sainsbury's Basics Double Strength Apple & Blackcurrant Squash with No Sugar Added (1.5L) 0.58
4 x Sainsbury's Basics Orange Juice (1L) 2.24

weezl74

misskool wrote: »

I've frugalised weezl's recipe (sorry!) used 200g of sugar, 300ml of veg oil and 2 tsps of bicarb. I used 2 tsps of cinnamon and 1 of ginger.

Raisins were rehydrated in 2nd dunking of 3 teabags so nil cost there (unless your household double dips).

still light and fluffy and could probably cut down to just 1.5 tsp of bicarb as I can still taste it.

fab! did it still make 32 portions? that'd take us below the 5p per piece threshold if so:T

note to self: no double dunking when miss kool comes over

HowlinWolf

Penelope, as I said I don't have a teenager so it's just my point of view

weezl74

HowlinWolf wrote: »

I had a play about with what I would buy at Mr S for about 100 to try and make as many meals as poss. This is what I have so far

brilliant, thanks :beer: looking forward to the meal planner

What's mysupermarket givng you as the 5 a day counter (top left)?

xxx

misskool

weezl74 wrote: »

fab! did it still make 32 portions? that'd take us below the 5p per piece threshold if so:T

note to self: no double dunking when miss kool comes over

If you cut very small pieces then yes. But I eat rather large slices

Working on the stuffing ball challenge....
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/sageandonionstuffing_1328.shtml)

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
 16p (if buying one onion)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
 10p (maybe?)
1 tbsp dried sage 10p (maybe?)
finely chopped
 80g/3oz fresh white breadcrumbs 
4.7p (47p for 800g value loaf of white bread)
salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten (0.9p value egg) but can be left out and bound with water?

Method
1. Sweat the onion in the oil, until soft but not coloured

2. Mix together the onion, sage and breadcrumbs and season well.

3. Add enough of the beaten egg to bind the mixture together and use to stuff meat or poultry or to roll into individual stuffing balls. 

4. If making stuffing balls, cook in the roasting tin with the meat for 30 minutes.

Dried onion is 35p for 40g, wonder how that equates to a fresh onion
Or perhaps someone can work out how much one onion would cost from a value pack?

HowlinWolf

Wow Weezl I never knew it did that. It's telling me I have 287 portions.

Will post meal planner later. That might take a bit more thinking about (though I have some initial ideas) as I don't eat beef or pork but assume that most people are less fussy than me. I don't know if that would do a whole month yet as I'm don't have your skills but I have a feeling I could probably do the majority of meals from that.

nopot2pin

weezl74 wrote: »

About the cheese in the tart, would anyone be prepared to try a cheeseless version

Yes... I can do this
I thought I would catch up with the thread before I started to make this

SunnyGirl wrote: »

Re Cheeseless Tart Just a quick thought but how about trying it with cottage cheese? It'd still have some 'stick' to glue everything together, it's a milk protein and still frugal if you buy the plain Smart Price/Value one - any good?

I did wonder about using either cottage cheese, or soft cheese, in the filling part of the recipe anyway. Half a tub of either is much cheaper than chedder. Also, I dont think the milk will be required, if either is used, as it would be far too runny with it.

weezl74 wrote: »

Also, what do people think... less FRESH fruit but more variety of fresh fruit, or a piece of fruit every day even if it's an apple every day?

I like apples...but I dont want to eat one every day. I think a wee bit of variety is better

weezl74

HowlinWolf wrote: »

Wow Weezl I never knew it did that. It's telling me I have 287 portions.

Will post meal planner later. That might take a bit more thinking about (though I have some initial ideas) as I don't eat beef or pork but assume that most people are less fussy than me. I don't know if that would do a whole month yet as I'm don't have your skills but I have a feeling I could probably do the majority of meals from that.

no I'm sure it'd be grand. Feels picky to say this and I don't mean it to, but you have to get to 868 portions (so it delivers the same 5 a dayness as the asda list) and meets the 7 portions part...

It's really tough though and it took me a lot of rooting out unnecessaries to get all that F and V in. But I figured we should cos that seems to be a lot of people's concern with subsistence living.

Anyhow, I feel a bit like I've rained on your parade now and I didn't mean to, I'm sure we can use the spare £11 to make up the difference

Please don't give up! We need a sainsburies version too!