Is OS *REALLY* cheaper?

apprentice_tycoon

I think that the only way to prove your point once and for all is to actually put it on a plate in front of him.

You'll need to buy a 99p ready meal like shepherds or cottage pie (shepherds is lamb, cottage is beef), bolognese or lasagne and make a family sized version to your own recipe.

Weigh the bought one when it's out of it's box and make a note of all your costs for the homemade recipe then work out the total weight so that you can tell him that your family version weighs the same as x amount of RM portions.

You'll be able to show that yours cheaper per portion and it goes without saying that it will taste much better and will be far healthier with regards to fat and salt etc and if you have a freezer you can make the point that it's just as much a 'ready' meal as the bought ready meals

reverie

This thread reminded me of something. During an OS blip when I first met OH having already wooed him with my cooking, I needed take something round to his house for us to eat. I felt it was too early in blossoming romance for me to be setting up camp in his kitchen so I bought an M&S posh ready meal, lamb shanks for 2, £9.99 :eek:

Anyway, for some reason I wasn't hungry and he ended up eating the whole thing (enough for 2 people). When he'd polished it off he proclaimed how those ready meals weren't bad at all really, and quite a good size, quite filling really.

Then I told him how much it was and that it was actually meant to feed 2 people. I've been doing the cooking ever since :rolleyes:

tim_n

wooing with food? I wish I was so lucky... infact I wish my girlfriend could cook. Recently all the women I've dated have been reliant on my kitchen skills = )

No poisonings yet...

hrdolly

Home made every time. It's not just the food, it's the whole experience of cooking, kids coming in from school, the welcoming smell of food being prepared and served up. I was a latchkey kid for about 4 years and hated coming into the empty house. On the occasions when my mother was in when I got home, I loved the noises and smells coming from the kitchen, it felt and smelt cosy and secure.

Justamum

tim_n wrote: »

wooing with food? I wish I was so lucky... infact I wish my girlfriend could cook. Recently all the women I've dated have been reliant on my kitchen skills = )

No poisonings yet...

I wish my hubby could cook. He very occasionally makes soup - but is heavy on the potatoes so it's like trying to eat wallpaper paste.

lynzpower

I think of OS being "finest" food for value prices.

I wont eat anything not OS any more unless I literally have no choice

One portion of Finest spag caronara is 3.29!3.29!!!! :eek:
carbonara is something we have when we are DOUBLE skint LOL

pot of creme fraiche 45p
couple of rashers of value bacon bits 10p
half a packet of spaghetti 20p max
onion 5p
handful of mushrooms 15p
bit of stock if you need it, negligible pence
total 95p

tesco finet veg with acacia honey 2.89!!!
chantenay carrots ( any carrots would do) 30p max
babycorn ( they dont roast well, not sure why there here, but round our local market you usually get 3 trays for a quid, so 33p
greenbeans much the same 40p
butter ( what 5p?)
blob of honey what 10p
TOTAL about 1.20 all in. This I expect would make enough for 2, if not more, your finest one wouold serve one if you are lucky. So ridiculously easy to make ( ie chuck in pyrex, chuck in oven)

What also needs to be borne in mind is that ready meals have the additional "expense" of the plastic trays, which given restriction on oil weve seen, cost more, as does the transportation & shipping & refridgeration of these so called meals. SO of course cooking without these added costs is going to show a saving at home

competitionscafe

catkins wrote: »

Hi, I don't buy ready meals because I like cooking and like to know exactly what I am eating but I must ask what sort of ready meal can you get for 99p? Is that for one person?

I was wondering the same thing, perhaps some of the pasta ones but pasta and a bit of cheese etc, is so cheap, quick and easy anyway. Most ready meals that are meant to be a 'meal for one' are very small portions anyway, especially for a man.

It's also as already mentioned, not just about cost but about taste and knowing what goes into your food. Processed food is often very high in salt as well - check the labels of ready meals and you might be shocked! Some also contain trans-fats (hydrogenated oils), as well as preservatives, colourings and other things.....

I have yet to eat a ready meal that tastes anywhere near as good as homemade - most of them look awful and taste from awful to just okay - or are just very bland. The only ones I have tried which taste good enough to use as a standby or keep in the freezer for when you really really can't be bothered to cook are some of the M&S and Waitrose ones (you get what you pay for I guess) but even M&S and Waitrose sell some poor to average ready meals as well as half decent ones.

It's also not much more effort to cook say 6 or 8 portions of something, eat 2 and freeze the rest than it is to cook 2 portions of something from scratch. So you can make your own 'ready meals' for when you don't want to cook.

jcr16

sometimes O/S isn't always gonna be cheaper. but at least u know whats in it. and in the long run u are benefiting from it.

i have learnt so much from this site. i have learn't how to be O/s using just the basic of basic stuff and value everything. but as our circumstances have changed although were alot better off. i still keep to my O/S ways. yes i may be buying dearer foods and better quality meats and veg. but imo it is a far better way to be eating the food's.

i now can't help but look in other peoples shopping baskets and when i see the ready meals i just wanna tell them all about MSE and tell them how they can be saving money and eating better. but a little person in my head tells me i'd prob get labelled a nutter.

soz gone a little off topic.

yes long and short of it O/S can be cheaper

lil_me

For me it's more about what is in it than the costs. I did a very expensive meal for us last night, well by my standards anyway. Chicken Tikka Masala, Sheek Kebabs, Keema Naan, Keema pilau rice with some Raita for the kebabs aswell. Ingredients alone probably cost me over £10 inc the chicken breasts, lamb, cream, yoghurt (HM) etc and in total with preparing it and cooking it took me hours rather than minutes. Ok I could have got a take out bag, or gone to the local takeaway, but I know what's in mine. I know it was all fresh ingredients, cooked completely from scratch without any jar sauces etc etc I can also control the salt and fat levels. Difference I noticed the most, today unlike every time we've had a take away curry or one of those bags from supermarket, I don't have an upset stomach! Now that is telling you something when other curry gives you an upset tummy every time from takeaways etc, you not only don't know the source but you also don't know what has been done with it. Oh and it tasted absolutely fantastic

HappyIdiotTalk

Pink-winged wrote: »

For me OS cooking is more about quality rather than price. Home made food tastes so much better and as previous posters have mentioned you know exactly what's gone into it.

Amen!

I completely agree. Ready meals simply do not compare to home cooked meals. I do most of the cooking in our house, and although I am not the best cook in the world, I can still hands down turn out meals that are far superior to the equivalent ready meal, even the taste the difference ones.

And I do think its cheaper too. I can make two large knock your socks of pizza's for less money than your average supermarket industrially made pizza. Infact my HM pizzas are so good I would still go to the effort of making them even if Sainsburys started selling theirs at home made OS prices!

Supermarkets are getting less and less attractive to me these days. I increasingly look at items on the shelves and think, I could make that, mine would be nicer and then walk on by.