Challenge-£1.99 ready meal or what else.

Sammz

Jar of Ragu - £1
Mince - £2

1 portion - 75p

studentphil

Yes, cutting out the peppers and courgettes will help, but what cheaper stuff could I use instead to keep the veg content up?

piglet6

studentphil wrote:

Yes, cutting out the peppers and courgettes will help, but what cheaper stuff could I use instead to keep the veg content up?

We always add grated carrot to our minced beef recipes (it cooks down and makes the mixture thick - you can't really tell that its there and it really bulks the mince out, whilst making one of the 5 portions a day of fruit/veg). Plus, its really cheap...

Piglet

Wolfhound

Hi, I use value plum tomatoes and I can't really see the difference between those and the branded ones. The key is the mince, some of the cheaper varieties are full of gristle and fat. Mr Wolfhound will turn his nose up at any cheaper meat, so, buy cheap buy twice ! If I have to throw it out, what have I saved by being cheap. Studentphil might be a lovely big guy who needs his grub;) Good luck Phil.

Chipps

tawnyowls wrote:

Even so, how much would it add on? I buy my mince from the Co-op if I can't get to the butchers - very good lean mince, and it costs £2.20 for a pound of mince (less if I can get the 2 packs for £4 offer).

Wow! didn't realise the co-op was so dear! At our butchers, best mince is 4 lb for £5. And even at full price is well under £2/pound.
It's a good job we have a butchers in our little town - and no co-op!

wayne

got a feeling this thread is gonna run and run lol.it doesn,t matter what you can get for your 2 quid phil just dont buy the ready meal.we stopped buying them last new year(was our resolution to make dinners from scratch) but i was still buying the odd microwave burger for my snappin.soon stopped that after watching saint hugh fw on channel four.absolutley disgusting the sht they put in any ready meal.

overlykeensaver

aaah student days....
you could always add a tin of beans or chickpeas to the leftovers to make them go even further (or if you are very keen, soak dried beans/chickpeas overnight, then cook and add to the pot)
You will loads of great advice and help on this thread!

davsidipp

the other thing with ready meals is the salt and dodgy ingrediants in them , by cooking it yourself at least you know what goes into your meal.

studentphil

The key to making it cheaper is looking to find something more seasonal than pepers and corgettes which as they are imported cost more.

studentphil

So say if replaced the peppers with Leeks or carrots, then I would cut the price by about £1.