Things that are cheaper to make than buy?

shokkyy

Definitely bread is cheaper to make than buy, and a whole lot tastier. And a very similar dough recipe will also make your pizza base.

Definitely jam is cheaper to make than buy, particularly when the fruit costs you nothing. It's not hard to pick blackberries and windfall apples or something, even if you don't have any fruit bushes or trees yourself, and either make jam or stuff it in the freezer to keep you in puddings all year. Of course that fruit is also yum in crumbles, pies, etc. And if you can invest in a few fruit bushes or trees in your garden, that takes care of the bill for fruit.

Good casseroles/stews/pies can be incredibly cheap to make, particularly if you use mince or a cheaper cut of meat, even sausages, and nothing from the supermarket will come close for taste. And if you're pressed for time just make a really big casserole at the weekend and stuff it in the freezer. Ditto soup.

I hardly ever buy green veg, garlic, chillis, anything I can easily grow myself. Tastes better, no chemicals, and costs peanuts to grow. And when those ingredients are free, that does make a big difference to the bill for cooking those casseroles/stews/pies.

Popperwell

jem132 wrote: »

I was wondering do any ov you know any good veg soup recipes my dh bought 3 of each of aldis super six.

I have recipe books and lots of websites but if you know the basics of making soup you can just about chuck anything into the mix and can't really go wrong whatever you do...

Governor

Popperwell wrote: »

If I lived further away from the shops and needed to use the bus more maybe it is cheaper to(and nicer)to make more items food wise at home but if you take into account the cost of energy, the time it takes to make something, I often find it is easier just to buy something off the shelf. I suspect it gets cheaper making your own when there are a few living in the house but when alone probably not.

Never turn your oven on just to make one batch of cakes (or anything else) - it takes a lot of expensive electricity / gas to bring an oven up to temperature. Try to batch cook and then freeze. Works on the same principle of driving lots of short journeys as opposed to fewer but longer journeys - much cheaper on fuel!

Mrs_justjohn

I can make soup cheaper than I can buy it?? But you have to make in quantity.

I make my own stock with a chicken or ham joint (technically costs nothing) may need to add a couple of stock cubes and throw in a reduced 'stew pack' or pack of carrots and Bobs your uncle......This will make 6 pints of soup for around £1 - you can add lentils but you don't have to. You can add potatoes but again you don't have to....

It's also a great way to use veggies that are past their best that are destined for the bin!

Popperwell

Governor wrote: »

Never turn your oven on just to make one batch of cakes (or anything else) - it takes a lot of expensive electricity / gas to bring an oven up to temperature. Try to batch cook and then freeze. Works on the same principle of driving lots of short journeys as opposed to fewer but longer journeys - much cheaper on fuel!

Mrs_justjohn wrote: »

I can make soup cheaper than I can buy it?? But you have to make in quantity.

It is also a great way to use veggies that are past their best that are destined for the bin!

Thanks everyone...I eat a lot of meals that do not need cooking(salads/fruit/cereal)when I do I try to do quick meals vai a microwave. grill or slow cooker.

Wish my freezer was larger, it is full now so at present if I want to do do that or batch cook, it will have to go into the fridge part and be used in days...

Like the idea of using up veg/fruit that may otherwise be wasted but lately have found ways to make a lot vegetables last longer so less is thrown out now...

vanoonoo

jem132 wrote: »

I was wondering do any ov you know any good veg soup recipes my dh bought 3 of each of aldis super six.

my standby go to soup is one onion, two carrots, one tin toms, one clove garlic, half a white cabbage and a stockcube cover with water in a large pan and boil til veg is soft then blitz with stick blender

with the super 6 this week you would come in at

onions 13p
carrots 6p
tinned toms anything up to £1 but half a carton of passata is about 20p atm
garlic 10p?
cabbage 20p if using the one in super six
stock cube 10p or less?

so for about 80p (probably less) you get at least 4 big portions of very nutritional soup prob far better value than a tin or packet of supermarket stuff (altho I still love heinz but cant digest it due to ingredients). even with soups at 50p a tin this comes in cheaper per portion. I havent included cost of fuel as you'd have to heat a tin of soup anyway

you can bulk out by adding soup/broth mix or lentils or meats or add other flavours and change the veggies used but this would all change the costings

FrugalFranny

For price you'll be hard pressed to beat the supermarkets, but as people have mentioned already the nutritional value, flavour and lack/reduction of chemical additives is all in 'home mades' favour. Bread and jam really can be a light meal in itself even with just using your own bread, it fills you up a lot more I find than the store bought stuff.
Home made 'Take-Away' is what I'm working on right now, I found the recipe in this book for 'southern fried chicken' passes for a real 'Take Away'.Ok, it's not 100% kfc but with a few tweeks I'll get it there

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Takeaway-Secret-Favourite-Fast-food/dp/0716022354/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351063322&sr=8-1

Tried to convert the OH to home made 'scotch eggs' to no avail, sometimes I'm tempted to just buy a sack of M.S.G and throw it in everything he eats, that's what he's really after from what I've seen him sneak off to buy. All I can taste when he gives me a bit is bland + chemicals...

penarthian

A slow cooker is a bonus in any kitchen. Soup can be made from one pint stock and one pound of veggie bits. I use the thick bits of leeks and the ends of carrots plus the chunky bits of onions, all left behind when preparing other dishes. After a few hours a whizz it with a stick whizzer or you can food process it.
At the moment I have a steak and kidney pudding in it for tonight, so much cheaper and bigger than shop bought and i know whats in it! At Christmas I use one to reheat my homemade Christmas puddings and another to keep my gravy warm.

Dinah93

We needed to cut down our outgoings with maternity pay recently, and I was really depressed that it seemed the cheapest way to eat was processed foods. I ended up starting a blog to keep track of how we were doing making our own cost wise (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) and surprisingly I've found we can eat real meals for less than a ready meal a lot of the time if we're careful with which recipe we pick, and by tweaking down recipes to have less meat (still a lot more meat than a ready meal mind!) and more veg, hence eeking it out to a few more potions, and freezing those extra ones for lunches another day.

One of my favourite finds was old fashioned ginger beer for under £1 for over a litre, but at the end of the day that's a treat not an everyday meal, and it's finding how to get the prices down on those that's going to save the real money.

My big saver is ham I think, Tesco seem to have the big Christmas size joints of uncooked ham for half price a lot of the time, and they freeze well. Cook and slice and it's about 1/4 the price of the packets of sliced ham.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I grew tomatoes in my garden this summer, but didn't really think about what I was going to do with them- it was more the excitement of being a green-fingered nurturer of life. I ended up with a load of green ones that very slowly and begrudgingly turned red with the aid of a couple of bananas. I ate some of them in sandwiches, but to be honest they were pretty tasteless. I then decided to make soup, which involved further expenditure (2 tins of value kidney beans and a jar of chilli powder). The resulting product looks distressingly like cat sick. It tastes ok, but not great, and certainly not as nice as the lovely fresh soups in the supermarket.

I think I'll grow something else next year.