Challenge-£1.99 ready meal or what else.

the_optimist

The other day I found out I didn't have enough mince. Then I found a left-over shredded wheat (I think only about 6 months old ). I crumbled it up and mixed it with the meat, it tasted good and nobody noticed.

So there's another way to make your spagh bol cheaper

pol

I always throw in a handful of red lentils with the mince to bulk it out. My sister likes oats!
You could always add a tin of butter beans, or baked beans for the extra veg too.

pol

piglet6

OK, studentphil - I admit, you inspired me last night... :rolleyes:

We usually have minced beef in the freezer, but last week we discovered we were out of stock so when I went to Asda I bought 2 packs for £4, and kept them in the fridge. Your post last night spurred me into action (and kept me up this morning until gone 4am!!) and I cooked both packets off, turning one into cottage pies, and the other into chilli, in order to make freezer meals. I don't normally "price up" meals, because although money is not plentiful, we are not particularly "profligate" in the House of Piglet, so we can usually afford our weekly food purchases without too much worry - we buy what we want as we potter round Asda (and because our tastes are not particularly extravagant, we usually find ourselves within budget!).

Anyway, I decided to cost out the meals I made last night, for this thread. Please don't knock the amount I paid for each individual ingredient (I am not suggesting that these prices are the ultimate in money-saving, merely quoting the amount paid for each individual item - as retrieved from the most recent/appropriate Asda receipts! - although this exercise in itself has pointed out to me that I overspend on certain items and I will be looking to address this going forward - so thanks for that!:T). My shopping list was as follows:

2 x mince - £4
1 red onion – 39p
1 white onion – 24p
2 x Asda Smart price tomato – 30p
2 x Napolina tomato – 33p - bought when Asda had them on offer at 2 x 6 = £2
3 x carrots – 20p
3 x peppers (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green - not a money-saving pack at all!!) – 1.28
½ a punnet of mushrooms – 29p
1 leek – 37p
Oxo (4 cubes - 2 into each dish) – 24p
Garlic/Herbs/Spices – 50p (estimated on the generous side!)
Baked beans – 27p
Cannelini beans – 40p
Flageolet beans – 27p
Potatoes - 80p (also estimated on the generous side - but we like plenty of mashed potato here!!)

Total = £9.88

For this, I made 12 x portions of chilli (which we will either eat with rice, pasta or a jacket potato) and 6 x portions of cottage pie (and these are fairly generous portions!!). At 18 individual meals, this equates to less than 55p per portion (obviously this does not include rice/pasta/jacket potatoes with the chilli, and excludes the vegetables we would normally serve with the cottage pie - we would usually have something like broccoli, carrots and green beans with this...we like our veggies here in the House of Piglet!!:p).

However, I think this proves that we can do a lot better than £1.99 for a ready meal... :rotfl:

Actually, I surprised myself because I wouldn't have thought that these meals would have worked out so cheaply...!! :rolleyes:

Piglet

piglet6

For the record, I realise that my peppers, onions and leeks were very overpriced, and will be looking to source these more cheaply going forward. :rolleyes: Plus, my choice of beans to add to the chilli was not ideal (I would have liked some kidney beans!!:p), but they were what I had in the cupboard, so I used them - and having eaten the first portion of chilli, with pasta, this evening, I can confirm that they worked pretty well!!;)).

Piglet

studentphil

piglet6 wrote:

OK, studentphil - I admit, you inspired me last night... :rolleyes:

We usually have minced beef in the freezer, but last week we discovered we were out of stock so when I went to Asda I bought 2 packs for £4, and kept them in the fridge. Your post last night spurred me into action (and kept me up this morning until gone 4am!!) and I cooked both packets off, turning one into cottage pies, and the other into chilli, in order to make freezer meals. I don't normally "price up" meals, because although money is not plentiful, we are not particularly "profligate" in the House of Piglet, so we can usually afford our weekly food purchases without too much worry - we buy what we want as we potter round Asda (and because our tastes are not particularly extravagant, we usually find ourselves within budget!).

Anyway, I decided to cost out the meals I made last night, for this thread. Please don't knock the amount I paid for each individual ingredient (I am not suggesting that these prices are the ultimate in money-saving, merely quoting the amount paid for each individual item - as retrieved from the most recent/appropriate Asda receipts! - although this exercise in itself has pointed out to me that I overspend on certain items and I will be looking to address this going forward - so thanks for that!:T). My shopping list was as follows:

2 x mince - £4
1 red onion – 39p
1 white onion – 24p
2 x Asda Smart price tomato – 30p
2 x Napolina tomato – 33p - bought when Asda had them on offer at 2 x 6 = £2
3 x carrots – 20p
3 x peppers (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green - not a money-saving pack at all!!) – 1.28
½ a punnet of mushrooms – 29p
1 leek – 37p
Oxo (4 cubes - 2 into each dish) – 24p
Garlic/Herbs/Spices – 50p (estimated on the generous side!)
Baked beans – 27p
Cannelini beans – 40p
Flageolet beans – 27p
Potatoes - 80p (also estimated on the generous side - but we like plenty of mashed potato here!!)

Total = £9.88

For this, I made 12 x portions of chilli (which we will either eat with rice, pasta or a jacket potato) and 6 x portions of cottage pie (and these are fairly generous portions!!). At 18 individual meals, this equates to less than 55p per portion (obviously this does not include rice/pasta/jacket potatoes with the chilli, and excludes the vegetables we would normally serve with the cottage pie - we would usually have something like broccoli, carrots and green beans with this...we like our veggies here in the House of Piglet!!:p).

However, I think this proves that we can do a lot better than £1.99 for a ready meal... :rotfl:

Actually, I surprised myself because I wouldn't have thought that these meals would have worked out so cheaply...!! :rolleyes:

Piglet

Piglet, you can do a lot with not very much!

You do very well!

Penelope_Penguin

I've just been watching St Hugh of Fearnley-Wittingstall on video, aiming to convert people from ready meals. He made 100 portions of ragu-based meals for £96. Best bit was, this was a few £ cheaper than the equivalent ready meals, but his was made from organic, free range meat, organic fresh veg, and even a slosh of red wine.

If you saw what went into the ready meals, including beetle :eek: :eek: , you'd never touch them again.

Penny. x

cupid_s

I just made 6 portions of pad thai for lunch for my lab tomorrow (that would be main meal for 4) for £1.87. So 12p less than your ready meal for 1, and damn tasty if I do say so myself

recovering_spendaholic

This makes 12 giant portions of spaghetti bolognaise:

1lb extra lean mince - £1.60
0.5lb streaky bacon - £0.80
8oz mushrooms - £0.50
half a head of celery - £0.35
two tins of chopped toms £0.60
2 large onions - £0.50
2 peppers (out of value
peppers bag from Tesco) £0.40
italian seasoning £0.10
4 oxos £0.40
big squirt of tomato
ketchup £0.15
1kg spaghetti £1.10
parmesan cheese £0.75
TOTAL £7.35

I fiddle about with the seasoning and fry the bacon and beef in a little olive oil at the start, but I haven't costed those as I always have them in and you don't need the olive oil - a bit of veg oil or margarine or butter will do just as well.

studentphil

recovering_spendaholic wrote:

This makes 12 giant portions of spaghetti bolognaise:

1lb extra lean mince - £1.60
0.5lb streaky bacon - £0.80
8oz mushrooms - £0.50
half a head of celery - £0.35
two tins of chopped toms £0.60
2 large onions - £0.50
2 peppers (out of value
peppers bag from Tesco) £0.40
italian seasoning £0.10
4 oxos £0.40
big squirt of tomato
ketchup £0.15
1kg spaghetti £1.10
parmesan cheese £0.75
TOTAL £7.35

I fiddle about with the seasoning and fry the bacon and beef in a little olive oil at the start, but I haven't costed those as I always have them in and you don't need the olive oil - a bit of veg oil or margarine or butter will do just as well.

12 meals--- you are winning so far!

studentphil

cupid_stunt wrote:

I just made 6 portions of pad thai for lunch for my lab tomorrow (that would be main meal for 4) for £1.87. So 12p less than your ready meal for 1, and damn tasty if I do say so myself

What is pad thai?