Help me reduce my astronomical food spends.

BakerBoy

As everyone else has said, planning your meals make a vast difference. I plan suppers 7 days in advance based on what we have to use up and just add some other ingredients to the list of stuff to buy. We spend about £250 per month. The wife batch-cooks and freezes portions of bol sauce/sausage casserole etc for our three year old. I cook something every week and freeze at least two suppers worth for future weeks.

It's important to us that we have a tasty evening meal as I rarely eat during the day and need it to look forward to after work. We buy seasonal, local veg from a farm shop because we like it and because it's a damn sight cheaper than buying from supermarkets. Bread from a proper baker, tasty and not full of air so goes further. Supermarket is always the last visit for food we can't get elsewhere. Meat is a bit different for us, I sell it in my shop so take it home if it goes out of date. That would add another £40-60 to our monthly bill. Fish only from a fishmonger, wouldn't touch the supermarket stuff.

We eat a lot of Thai food as it is really quick to prepare. If you eat a lot of chicken breast maybe look for a butcher who fillets chickens -a properly filleted chicken yields more meat than a supermarket bird and may actually be better value. One breast does two of us easily. Food which involves a lot of labour is usually cheaper from an independent than a supermarket, which has the ability to sell mass produced stuff cheaply but struggles to compete with butchers and farm shops.

Eating well is a priority for us, so we put a fair bit of effort into it.

Butterfly_Brain

madnotstupid wrote: »

sorry for the duplication and I don't know how to delete - you can read it in stereo!!!:rotfl:

Click on the post
Click edit
Click delete post

x

Butterfly_Brain

I couldn't believe the price of that ham :eek: It is much cheaper to buy a gammon and make your own ham. I do this it costs £5 from the farm shop, I boil it for a few hours roll it in breadcrumbs whilst it is still hot, allow it to cool and slice it on the slicer, this lasts all week in the fridge for sandwiches, or you could slice and freeze into daily portions.

When I cook I just cook double of everything this way your HM ready meals stack up really quickly. But if I make casseroles I quadruple the recipe, because I like them to cook very slowly for four hours, this saves on energy costs. One thing to remember though is when freezing stews and casseroles under cook them by 45 minutes, so you will not ruin them when reheating.

Butterfly_Brain

Mediterranean Pork Stew
serves 4
1¼ lb (570g) diced pork
oil for frying I prefer olive but you can use any sort,
1 large onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed (or to taste, I use 2 cloves)
1-2 tsps of sweet paprika
1 sprig or ¼ tsp dried thyme
1 can tomatoes
1tbsp Tomato puree
1 large red or green pepper seeded and sliced, I use a mix of both
six olives, halved
100g(4oz) button mushrooms, quartered
2 teaspoons cornflour
salt and pepper

In a large stew pot

• Flour and fry the pork until browned
• Remove from the pan and add the onion and garlic and cook gently until the onions are translucent
• Return the pork to the pan and sprinkle over the paprika and thyme and season to taste
• Stir in the green pepper, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes and tomato puree and bring to the boil
• cover the pan and lower the heat and leave to simmer for an hour or until the pork is tender, stirring occasionally
• Mix the cornflour in a cup with a little cold water to a smooth paste, add a tbsp of the hot liquid from the stew pot, then stir into the stew.
• Bring the stew back to the boil and simmer for 1-2 minutes stirring until the sauce is thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning and serve.

To freeze allow to cool then remove any excess fat from the surface. Freeze in a rigid container. To use defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat gently, stiring occasionally until bubbling and cooked through.


I serve with new potatoes and spinach or broccolli, it is very nice with kale as well.

Butterfly_Brain

Sausage, Bacon and Mushroom Crumble
serves 4

8 sausages cooked and sliced
4 rashers of bacon cooked lightly and chopped
4oz(100g) Button mushrooms, quartered
4oz sweetcorn
Mushroom sauce (1oz butter, 1oz flour and milk) plus finely chopped mushrooms that have been soaked in the milk, I prefer to use cornflour for a smoother sauce.
Crumble Topping
500g plain flour
250g butter or margarine
Fresh herbs (mixed), finely chopped
50g rolled oats


Put the sausages, bacon, mushrooms and sweetcorn into an ovenproof dish

Make up the crumble and sprinkle over
Pop into the oven at 180c Fan until the crumble is golden

I also make it using bisto powder (I cannot stand granules) Just mix 3 Tbsps with cold water and add boiling water until nice and thick. My family seem to prefer it that way in the winter, but like the sauce one in the summer.

You could use cheese sauce and add some grated cheese to the crumble for a different meal or use breadcrumbs instead of crumble

ERICS_MUM

madnotstupid wrote: »

sorry for the duplication and I don't know how to delete - you can read it in stereo!!!:rotfl:

we like a bargain - you've given us a BOGOF ! :T

ERICS_MUM

I know this is going back donkey's years but Mum used to have a pressure cooker and made delicious stews in it. I was terrified of the beast and the noises it made, I had to hide in the front room when it was on !

Coming back into this century now. OP do you throw out a lot of food or do you eat everything you buy ? Do you freeze left overs but don't use them up, and find them 3 years later so freezer-burned that you don't know what they are ?

Linda32

shoei wrote: »

We use the rice when we a starving and come in late, take 2 minutes to spice up with some herbs and salad.

Oh I see, in that case this is perfect for your circumstance. :T
Normally everything works out cheaper to make it yourself, but the alternative for you (due to working everyday) is paying for food out. So this way is cheaper which is what this is all about.


My OH has the Uncle Ben's packet rice with chicken hot dog sausages. He has this because its quick and filling.


We both work at a Nursing Home and get a full cooked meal at lunch time. So in our case this works out as a perfectly good dinner for him. I usually have a cheese sandwich.


Its all about what works for you.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the recipes B/Brain I have copy and pasted them onto my cooking file
Cheers

System

Lots of great advice here, I have one thing to add....

Ham on the bone shouldn't be that expensive, even for 1 slice, as I pick it up for my Mum sometimes... If you still have it, could you weigh it and check they haven't accidentally overcharged you? £2.93 is a lot, this must equate to about 0.15kg looking on the Tesco website (if that is who you shopped with), which would indicate to me they've either weighed it with something on the scales or given you part of the bone it came on as well LOL

If you have been overcharged (or you're cheeky enough to say you have) you can just ring Tesco or whomever and they should refund as a gesture of goodwill.