£10 to £15 for food a week?

Gothicfairy

One thing that always works out price wise is dried beans / pulses / buckwheat / soya mince , as long as you remember to soak it you can make most things with beans and pulses and it cost next to nothing per portion and soya mince is perfectly good in slow cooker lentil curry / chili con carne as a padding.
Also I have found you can make a risotto type thingy with buckwheat and it also works in plenty of soups and stews to add bulk.

pourwitty

Gothicfairy wrote: »

One thing that always works out price wise is dried beans / pulses / buckwheat / soya mince , as long as you remember to soak it you can make most things with beans and pulses and it cost next to nothing per portion and soya mince is perfectly good in slow cooker lentil curry / chili con carne as a padding.
Also I have found you can make a risotto type thingy with buckwheat and it also works in plenty of soups and stews to add bulk.

i think soya mince/quorn mince is very expensive, 1.99 for 500g IF that
i personally buy a 50p can of beans/chickpeas and a 1kg bag of sweet potatos or something, it goes further in terms of padding things out and is more filling.
or 4 cans of beans for the same price as a little bag of mince
lentils are very good but they seem to have shot up in price, but what hasnt(!)

Gothicfairy

Not quorn but dried soya mince that you can buy at Indian supermarkets..it works out about 99p per 500g

I don't buy canned beans as they are more expensive, I always go for dried as they are cheaper and you can add as little or as much as you want.

pourwitty

Gothicfairy wrote: »

Not quorn but dried soya mince that you can buy at Indian supermarkets..it works out about 99p per 500g

I don't buy canned beans as they are more expensive, I always go for dried as they are cheaper and you can add as little or as much as you want.

not everyone has access to indian supermarkets sadly
Also i still think it's too expensive/luxury and pretty much one use (a bulker with no flavour.)
where as veg can be used in everything and you can make things from it, it also adds flavour and volume
where as mince adds texture and volume and you can't really make things from it, you put it in things you have already made
I'll have to try it in a chilli when i'm feeling flush though.

Gothicfairy

Most major supermarkets have Indian sections and it can be bought there, I disagree about not being able to make things with it though...

Meatballs
Meatloaf
Curry
Pie
spag bog

The list goes on and on and unlike veggies it does not go off..I eat a ton load of vegetables and love them but there are days in the month when there is nothing fresh in the house and dried beans / soya mince really makes those days easier.

Not sure how you can say 99p for 500g is expensive though ?

Chell

Gothicfairy wrote: »

One thing that always works out price wise is dried beans / pulses / buckwheat / soya mince , as long as you remember to soak it you can make most things with beans and pulses and it cost next to nothing per portion and soya mince is perfectly good in slow cooker lentil curry / chili con carne as a padding.
Also I have found you can make a risotto type thingy with buckwheat and it also works in plenty of soups and stews to add bulk.

Do you think dried beans are cheaper though? For someone ot used to cooking (like the OP), I think tinned beans are the way to go. Value kidney beans are very cheap. Dried beans take a lot of time and don't forget the energy cost from boiling for an hour or so.

Red lentils cook well in a slow cooker without boiling and are cheap to buy. It is worth adding some to soups and tomato pasta sauce. Sometimes you hardly notice they are there but they add protein making a meal more filling.

pourwitty

also, always be nice. i'v had plenty of free stuff for being nice;
obviously you cant factor this into your plan/budget but free eggs or cake are always good.

Gothicfairy

Dried beans are cheaper for sure and they only need soaking overnight then about 10 minutes in a pressure cooker or a couple of hours in a dream pot ( that is what I use and that costs nothing bar the first boil)
I wouldn't boil them on the stove for an hour or so as that just makes everything damp here..for me it is about cheap and doing without normal cooking methods so I tend to have to think slightly differently about most things. I could not store as many cans of beans as I would use in a month so dried are much easier in that respect as well.

Red lentils are great as are puy or turtle and can be found cheaply now in most stores.

pourwitty

Gothicfairy wrote: »

Most major supermarkets have Indian sections and it can be bought there, I disagree about not being able to make things with it though...

Meatballs
Meatloaf
Curry
Pie
spag bog

The list goes on and on and unlike veggies it does not go off..I eat a ton load of vegetables and love them but there are days in the month when there is nothing fresh in the house and dried beans / soya mince really makes those days easier.

Not sure how you can say 99p for 500g is expensive though ?

it's not 99p in a supermarket 'world food' section, i'v seen it in supermarkets and its about 1.80 for less than 500g.

also, as i'v said you're not making the curry or pie with the mince, it's a bulker and not a cheap healthy one, you could get more volume and taste with a veg. (sweet potatos, carrots, parnisps take a LONG time to go off, which is why i buy hard root veg)

Don't get me wrong, i like it and i use it in cornish pasties, but it doesn't add anything to the flavour unlike a veg bulker.
99p for a flavourless bulker is expensive to me, i only have £15 a week and i just don't see it as good value when there is a kg of veg for the same price.

pourwitty

Gothicfairy wrote: »

Dried beans are cheaper for sure and they only need soaking overnight then about 10 minutes in a pressure cooker or a couple of hours in a dream pot ( that is what I use and that costs nothing bar the first boil)
I wouldn't boil them on the stove for an hour or so as that just makes everything damp here..for me it is about cheap and doing without normal cooking methods so I tend to have to think slightly differently about most things. I could not store as many cans of beans as I would use in a month so dried are much easier in that respect as well.

Red lentils are great as are puy or turtle and can be found cheaply now in most stores.

Do dried beans have the same texture and taste? i imagine they would as lentils do.
i'll have to look how much they cost in asda, i only spend 55p a week on beans.

Edit- on mysupermarket there is a 500g bean mix for 70p (it says sold out so maybe they have stopped it?) if not i'm a dried bean convert