Ham economics

thriftlady_2

I'm sure many people are aware of this but it's worth repeating.

Ham is much cheaper to buy as a whole joint than in little packets ready-sliced.

An example
I buy Tesco finest wafer thin ham in 100g packs for £2.19 I usually get 2 packs a week for lunch boxes. I know it's not their cheapest ham, but I'm fussy and like it dry instead of soggy. So, that's £4.38 a week on ham.

For Christmas I ordered from my expensive butcher a large joint of gammon. It was a boneless joint weighing just a tad under 11 lb. It cost £36.15.

I know :eek: (I'm not telling how much the goose was - even more :eek: )

The gammon was beautiful, very moist and served us several meals, with half going home with my mum (well, she actually paid for it ).

Anyway, the point I am rambling up to is that 100g of this ham joint comes to
72p per 100g. So, although the joint seemed expensive it was much cheaper(two-thirds) than the ready-sliced packet stuff. If I'd bought the same weight of packet ham it would have cost £108 :eek:

So, the savings to be gained by buying a whole ham/gammon joint and cooking it then slicing it and packaging for the freezer are great.

TKP_3

Thank you - that's very interesting. I have never thought of costing ham like that! I'll be buying joints in future (love my freezer )

apple_mint

I stopped buying ham from the supermarket ages ago. I buy mine from the farmers market. I used to get a small one for about £7 but at Christmas we bought a long rolled gammon for £21 and cut it into smaller joints.

We cook ours in a slow cooker and then use it in a variety of ways:

Sliced - cold in sandwhiches
With meals covered in HM cheese sauce
Shredded in savoury pancakes
Chopped into HM casserole type meals.

In our case we buy it because it actually tastes better, but I suspect that it is also cheaper. I would love to have a slicer to be able to do lovely thin even slices.

Churchmouse

I do this all the time thriftlady, although not such large joints!!:rotfl: :rotfl: My family use a lot of sliced meats for lunches, other snacks etc. All men, all very tall with hollow legs! I've found even buying turkey or chicken breast joints from M&S works out cheaper than prepackaged stuff!:eek: I know I can't slice as thinly as the commercial meats, but if they are thoroughly cooled, most joints carve pretty well. If I buy a huge beef joint, then after Sunday lunch I can get several lots of meat sliced and packed for the freezer.

Knowing this, can you now explain why there are several packets of packaged meat in my fridge?:rotfl:

thriftlady_2

I was toying with the idea of buying a slicer, but the big metal cutting disc scared the life out of me :eek: OH pointed out that I usually put several of the wafer thin slices in a sandwich anyway, so why not just put one hand sliced slice in. I'd probably use the same amount.

It is worth doing these nitpicky calculations now and again to see just how much things really are. Thank you Tightwad Gazette for teaching me this:D

apprentice_tycoon

I buy ham by the joint too, I have a Kenwood electric slicer that cuts in the nicest thin slices, when it gets to the end it goes into quiche. The slicer was my prezzie last Christmas and it's been used every single day since for either HM bread or home cooked meat

apple_mint

Aaaahhh I think I will have to add one of these to my car boot 'wants' list. Last year I got a Kenwood Chef (with attachments), Kenwood Chefette and a Kenwood Ice Cream Maker - total cost for all three = £11. A Kenwood Slicer would feel at home in my kitchen :rotfl:

amyandoli

fantastic!
i encourage OH not to buy the prepacked meats in favour of HM egg and tuna and leftover fillers as well as cheese, but a joint would make more sense as i could make several meals from it!
thankyou!

apple_mint

thriftlady wrote:

I was toying with the idea of buying a slicer, but the big metal cutting disc scared the life out of me :eek: OH pointed out that I usually put several of the wafer thin slices in a sandwich anyway, so why not just put one hand sliced slice in. I'd probably use the same amount.

It is worth doing these nitpicky calculations now and again to see just how much things really are. Thank you Tightwad Gazette for teaching me this:D

The Tightwad Gazette lies by the side of my bed ready for the early morning sleepless hours .... great motivational reading I'm on my second read through and it's a book I'll keep for life. I wish it had been around 30 years ago when I got married!

You are probably right about the cutting disc, Thriftlady ... OH has panic attacks when he sees me handle a sharp knife (though I think he would loooooovvvve an electric slicer!)

apprentice_tycoon

Apple_mint, I saw them at bootsales for £4 this last summer, both Kenwood and Cookworks

apple_mint

Thank you Apprentice Tycoon ... I'm going to look out for the Kenwood versions. I have to say I'm impressed with the Kenwood Chef - mine must be about 30 years old and it is so well made.

As for the ham, I hadn't thought about freezing the portions of cooked meat until this thread. We generally cook a small joint and then incorporate it into the meals for the next few days. I might just buy some joints to cook, slice and freeze. That's if I can make some space in my freezer. Since I went OS 18 months ago, my freezer has never run down! I cook meals for 3 (one each for OH and myself and one for the freezer) and do batches of soup, goulash, bolognese, cottage pies, HM bread, scones etc.