Cheap food shopping tricks please

geordie_joe

Edwardia wrote: »

Curry was specifically invented for the British army, to disguise rubbish/rotten meat.

No it wasn't, Curry was a generic term used by employees of the British East India Company to describe any food with a spicy sauce. It comes from the Tamil word for sauce which is kari.

Curry Powder was "invented" for the British, but not to disguise anything. It was just merchants putting the right blend of spices into a jar so the Brits could take it home and make kari in the UK.

Edwardia wrote: »

Learning about food can save money too.

That depends on who you learn it from!

Edwardia

http://www.vsc.co.uk/january-vsc-recipe-of-the-month/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8370054.stm

http://www.arrse.co.uk/naafi-bar/50133-army-curry.html

take your pick..

Arlandria606

stephen77 wrote: »

Michelin starred chef are not using value lines for there best dishes. They will cheaper cuts.
However you missed the point, I was saying to eat the same foods every day to get the cheapest diet.
A cheap diet is likely to be meat free anyway.

Perhaps you need to explain yourself more clearly, then. If you were trying to say that eating the same thing over and over will get boring, the word you're looking for is "monotonous", not "momentous" - and your apparent distaste for "cooking from scratch" is ridiculous, as only buying things ready-prepared for you in the supermarket is far more limiting than the wide range of things you could prepare yourself. Especially if you take the time to learn a little bit about food and how to cook it.

Eating, say, chicken every day for a week does't have to mean you're eating the same meal every day. Plain roasted. Chasseur. Hunter's. Spatchcock with garlic butter. Curry. Pie. Stew. Southern fried. Piri Piri. Soup from carcasses and leftovers. Kiev. Escalope. Leftovers shredded on a pizza. Stir fry. Baked wrapped in pancetta with an Italian tomato sauce. Coq au vin. In a white wine sauce. Honey mustard. BBQ wings. Roasted with lemon and thyme. That's what, 20 different things to do with chicken just off the top of my head. Shall I do potatoes next? Sounds like you could use some new ideas in your cooking repertoire.

As for your claim about Michelin starred chefs not using "value lines" for their "best dishes", that's not what I said. I said that they were increasingly using cheaper cuts of meat - which they are. As for whether those dishes are their "best" or not, that really depends on how you're measuring "best".

stephen77

Arlandria606 wrote: »

Perhaps you need to explain yourself more clearly, then. If you were trying to say that eating the same thing over and over will get boring, the word you're looking for is "monotonous", not "momentous" - and your apparent distaste for "cooking from scratch" is ridiculous, as only buying things ready-prepared for you in the supermarket is far more limiting than the wide range of things you could prepare yourself. Especially if you take the time to learn a little bit about food and how to cook it.

Eating, say, chicken every day for a week does't have to mean you're eating the same meal every day. Plain roasted. Chasseur. Hunter's. Spatchcock with garlic butter. Curry. Pie. Stew. Southern fried. Piri Piri. Soup from carcasses and leftovers. Kiev. Escalope. Leftovers shredded on a pizza. Stir fry. Baked wrapped in pancetta with an Italian tomato sauce. Coq au vin. In a white wine sauce. Honey mustard. BBQ wings. Roasted with lemon and thyme. That's what, 20 different things to do with chicken just off the top of my head. Shall I do potatoes next? Sounds like you could use some new ideas in your cooking repertoire.

As for your claim about Michelin starred chefs not using "value lines" for their "best dishes", that's not what I said. I said that they were increasingly using cheaper cuts of meat - which they are. As for whether those dishes are their "best" or not, that really depends on how you're measuring "best".

stephen77 wrote: »

If you want cheap as possible.
.

Okay I got the wrong spelling on autocorrect for monotonous.
I think I explained cheap as possible clearly enough though with "cheap as possible".

I did not say "cheaper" I said "cheap".

Where did I say I had distain from cooking from scratch?

While your giving suggestions of how to use up left over chicken, which are all good ways to use up left overs.
I am saying "cheapest" i.e. no frills what's so ever, the very very basics just to provide nutritional so you can survive. The above recommendations will all cost extra money. Albeit not massive, but they do no fit the criteria of "cheapest".
Hence it would be a boring diet.

stephen77

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Tells us more about your cooking skills than anything else!

I can cook inexpensively and better than any meal out I've had for a long time, using fresh ingredients from the market stall, and without the assistance of cheap supermarket packets. The trick is to use economies of scale and your freezer.

This evening it is HM spicy creamy butternut squash soup.

If you want to make a quick judgement about my cooking skills based on one post. Then so be it.

I am really talking about buying value lines like
plain white flour,
cheap low fat spread.
value bread,
bog standard potatoes

It would not include eg maris piper potatoes as they normally cost more, butter instead of low fat spread etc.

This will not include any herbs or spices as they are adding cost from cheapest.
hence this is why it would not be appealing.


As we are saying the last meals we cooked.
On Sunday I had pulled pork with apple sauce and roast veg.

I set my alarm for 4:30am to wake up and put my pork shoulder in the oven, that I rubbed salt, pepper & sugar in the evening before to. Then when back to bed.
After waking in the morning, I basted my pork a few times.

With my potato & carrots. I par boiled them first, then drained and left in the saucepan to keep cooking a little under there own steam production, yet not damaging the potato so they fall apart, once a little cooler I got some of the pork juice that was coming out of the pork to coat the potatoes and carrots in to give a rich porky flavour to the meal.
Once cooled for a while and about 1:00pm. I set up my roasting tray for the potatoes and carrots and poured quite a lot of pork fat over the veg with a little lard as well. then roast them, half way through the roast I basted the veg again.
To make the apple sauce I had three left over apples from the week (well two apples, I bought another one to make more sauce). I cooked the apples in butter to they softened, then added sugar to sweeten to my taste. Then blitzed with hand mixing to a fine paste, with minimal pulp, then reduced down a little to increase the flavour intensity.

So yes I have a distain from cooking from scratch.

Edwardia

In 49 days there will be a blaze of publicity for the cookbook from the blog by single Essex mother Jack Monroe and that might well answer the cheap diet is boring dilemma

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/jack+monroe/a+girl+called+jack/10013935/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Called-Jack-delicious-recipes/dp/0718178947/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389274107&sr=8-1&keywords=a+girl+called+jack

Free delivery for both but with Waterstone's you get loyalty points if you have loyalty card.

And for those who don't know about Jack's blog here's an article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22263706

Arlandria606

stephen77 wrote: »

Okay I got the wrong spelling on autocorrect for monotonous.
I think I explained cheap as possible clearly enough though with "cheap as possible".

I did not say "cheaper" I said "cheap".

Where did I say I had distain from cooking from scratch?

While your giving suggestions of how to use up left over chicken, which are all good ways to use up left overs.
I am saying "cheapest" i.e. no frills what's so ever, the very very basics just to provide nutritional so you can survive. The above recommendations will all cost extra money. Albeit not massive, but they do no fit the criteria of "cheapest".
Hence it would be a boring diet.

OP didn't ask how to eat for free (which would be the "as cheap as possible" option). They asked for tips and tricks on reducing their overall costs. That's what they got from most responders, but you seem to be saying that following these suggestions - even though you're following some yourself by cooking pork shoulder - will lead to a very boring, same-y diet that no-one could possibly enjoy.

No-one has suggested to OP that for every single purchase it must absolutely be the cheapest option possible. We've all shared our own methods of cutting costs and making the most of what we have to spend. What exactly is your problem with that?

Also, your reading comprehension needs work. Where did I say I was talking about leftover chicken? Please, do tell me how I can get an entire chicken to roast from "leftovers". From your description of your skills, you're clearly due your stars any day now.

One last thing: if you want to fix that pulled pork recipe so it's not so dry and tasteless, I know what you're doing wrong, and it won't cost you a penny in extra ingredients.

Arlandria606

Edwardia wrote: »

In 49 days there will be a blaze of publicity for the cookbook from the blog by single Essex mother Jack Monroe and that might well answer the cheap diet is boring dilemma

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/jack+monroe/a+girl+called+jack/10013935/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Called-Jack-delicious-recipes/dp/0718178947/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389274107&sr=8-1&keywords=a+girl+called+jack

Free delivery for both but with Waterstone's you get loyalty points if you have loyalty card.

And for those who don't know about Jack's blog here's an article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22263706

Thanks for sharing, I'd not heard of her. She sounds inspiring! That's the kind of non-professional-chef cookbook I like to see, based on skill and ingenuity rather than fame. Such a shame that she had to do it, but hopefully the royalties from the book will keep her on a slightly bigger budget.

stephen77

Arlandria606 wrote: »

OP didn't ask how to eat for free (which would be the "as cheap as possible" option). They asked for tips and tricks on reducing their overall costs. That's what they got from most responders, but you seem to be saying that following these suggestions - even though you're following some yourself by cooking pork shoulder - will lead to a very boring, same-y diet that no-one could possibly enjoy.

No-one has suggested to OP that for every single purchase it must absolutely be the cheapest option possible. We've all shared our own methods of cutting costs and making the most of what we have to spend. What exactly is your problem with that?

One last thing: if you want to fix that pulled pork recipe so it's not so dry and tasteless, I know what you're doing wrong, and it won't cost you a penny in extra ingredients.

The Op did say "grocery shopping" this involve buying. Not a free meal.

The second part of my original post you quoted asked the OP.

stephen77 wrote: »

Post a average weekly shop and we can see where you could make some savings.

Basically I was asking the OP to say what they buy and then we can offer tips based on what they eat. I was just trying to tailor my tips to there grocery shop. That was it.
I can could get there shopping bill very cheap, i.e. cheapest but it would not be very interesting diet. Conversely I could make smaller reductions and keep it nice and varied.
The only direction we have, is they want to spend less than £300. I do not know if they want to make that £300 into £280 or say £150. I would change my advice accordingly.

I never once said any one offered any boring tips. I have thanked your 15 tips as they are good tips.

If you thought my post about a boring diet was aimed at yours or other posters on here. It was not. It solely was me reading the OP question and wanting more direction.

stephen77

Arlandria606 wrote: »

O
One last thing: if you want to fix that pulled pork recipe so it's not so dry and tasteless, I know what you're doing wrong, and it won't cost you a penny in extra ingredients.

Can I have your pulled pork tip please?