Things that are cheaper to make than buy?

lally666young

If you thought like that about energy you wouldnt eat. I use my slow cooker and it costs pennies to use, as does my oven as it is electric. I can control it better than gas and we have a quooker tap as it is cheaper than a kettle and heating up the boiler for a sink of pots. I swear by my sandwich toaster as well as it only needs to be on for 5 minutes and you get a lovely toasted sandwich at the end of it.

noonesperfect

Is that a new edition of the "Bero" cookery book?

Mine is falling apart - I think I may be paying Morrisons a visit if that is the case :cool:

VfM4meplse

I am certain that the food I cook and then freeze - gerenally soups and curries - are much cheaper than ready meals. I also happen to think making cakes and bread (I happen to love baking) or anything else that involves the oven is cheaper to buy. I'm not one for processed food, so with the exception of bread, my choice is to go without.

DawnW

With baked goods, such as cakes and biscuits, it is worth noting that HM ones are often much bigger and heavier (in a good way ) than bought ones - so is it worth comparing size and weight wise as opposed to how many? How much does a pack of value scones weigh in comparison with the same number of HM? And how big is a bought sponge cake in comparison to HM? My sponge tins are HUGE in comparison. I suspect that the price comparison would look a bit different if we did this, in the same way as ready meals - buying enough ready meals for a family with large appetites (say a couple of teenage boys :eek:) would cost a fortune :eek: but you can make a big tray of shepherds pie, lasagne etc for a fraction of what this would cost, with something like 500g of mince and a load of veg, which can easily be disguised if necessary in these types of dishes. (I never found the need to do this, but knew others who did - if one child didn't like say peppers, and everyone else does, they had permission to just pick them out and leave on the side of the plate - chances are another of the pack would soon swoop on these :rotfl:)

Even leaving aside the chemical additives argument, which I totally agree with.

quorlia

To the person who asked about yogurt all you need is an airing cupboard or thermos flask. I have a fancy yogurt maker which is a glorified slow cooker but it's not really necessary. (I once tried using my slow cooker using instructions in a book but even on low it was too hot)

Simply warm up some milk to blood temperature (sometimes you get better results if you boil it then let it cool) then stir in live plain yogurt (check the label - Yeo Valley organic is definately live but there are cheaper ones that are live too) at a ratio of about 1/2tsp to a cup of milk. Pour into a pre-heated thermos or wrap it in a blanket and put in the airing cupboard and leave overnight. It needs to be kept at around blood temperature for 5-8 hours - the cooler it gets the slower it will "yog". Save a bit for your next batch. If a batch goes watery (you get a sort of whey-like liquid) then you need to get some fresh starter yogurt. I find I need to buy one small pot of yogurt about every 2-3 months and I make a batch at least once a week depending on how hungry the kids are!

VfM4meplse

quorlia wrote: »

I make a batch at least once a week depending on how hungry the kids are!

I take it you get a mild result with the Yeo Valley?

How do the kids eat it, plain, with fruit etc?

homecookmum

I love making soup, it tastes better than tinned and is MUCH cheaper. All you need for a hearty winter soup is: root vegetables, stock cubes, a couple of handfuls of lentils, mixed herbs and seasoning. I use a large soup pan (pressure cooker size) and it costs somewhere between £1 and £2 depending on which veg is on offer at the supermarket. I've never measured exactly how many bowl I get out of it, but it lasts several days and tastes wonderful.
Yes you can buy all sorts of foods cheaply at the supermarket, but it doesn't taste nearly as good as home made and the ingredients are not so healthy or wholesome. I'd put my fairy cakes up against Tesco's any day of the week. They wouldn't be much more expensive, but they'd taste a lot better and I'd know exactly what was in them.

valk_scot

Popperwell wrote: »

That has always been my concern...

With a pressure cooker you can make a stew or soup or cook a whole meat & two veg type meal on the stove top in under twenty minutes. So how much would that be for gas or electricity? Not much I expect, just a few pennies and pretty negligible if you were cooking three or four meals at once.

troubrs

Definitely a home made curry! Last weekend we had Goan King Prawn curry, Chicken Tikka, Naan Bread (shop bought I'm afraid but on special offer in Asda for 50p) & Chicken Korma with Potato bhaji (potatoes & tomatoes home grown). I reckoned the whole lot cost around £9 - a takeaway would have cost around £30 for the same to feed 2 adults & 2 kids. Since leaving the 'career' job I've become a dabhand at cooking curries, as I also have a bit more time to do it from almost scratch too

thriftyniftyme

We make our own curries, we make all the 'trimmings' too (make them in big batches and freeze - far easier). TBH though, although HM curry is really cheap, the savings on the trimmings aren't all that great.

We have also started to make our own chinese food. We have the Gok Wan book and a paperback one called chinese cookery secrets, I would recommend both. It can be very frugal, although we are assisted by having a chinese supermarket very close by though - the ingredients are so cheap there compared to mainstream supermarkets! Most of the recipes are surprisingly simple and quick to make.

As well as being a lot cheaper, I find this works really well for me as I have a lot of allergies and can't eat takeaways.