not a good cook but need to try and save money on grocery shopping!

~_Aridjis_~

I really need to get on track with my grocery budget but the trouble is I'm the world's worst cook, and I don't actually enjoy cooking, if I am honest, which puts me off doing a lot of cooking from scratch. I tend to buy a lot of things ready-made because, frankly, they taste better than any of my attempts to make a meal Does anyone else find this?


But it's so much more expensive to buy things ready-made. There's a bakers near me which does delicious little mini quiches, for example, but they're £2 each! I can't really justify paying £4 for lunch for 2 people, certainly not on a regular basis anyway, but when I make quiche myself it doesn't taste half as good!


We tend to eat the same old meals on rotation (mushroom risotto, vege-burgers with potato wedges, jacket potatoes and cheese, shop-bought pizza, slow-cooker root vegetable casserole, and pasta with veg) and I must admit it's getting a bit boring so I need to try and make the effort to do something new.


I guess I'm looking for ideas for simple but nutritious meals and about how to gain confidence and skills in cooking and how to eat healthily on a budget. I have just £170 per month to feed 2 adults, which isn't much, but I'm hoping it's do-able?

SailorSam

I think if you were to read through that thread on here where other posters say what they've got planned for each day of the coming week.
Pinch their ideas, pick out the ones that sound the tastiest and easiest to make.

BritishBibliophile

Visit your local library and raid their cookery book section, then go through them and scribble down in a notebook anything that looks good.

As with everything in life, cooking takes practise, I consider myself to be a fairly competent cook now because I did food tech for GCSE and got 2 years practise that way, as well as joining in with cooking with my Mum when I was a child.

But even now I'll often have to try a recipe three or four times before I consider it good enough to eat regularly. It'll be edible the first few times, but it takes a bit of practise to get it tasting good rather than edible.

Oh and also check out only cooking websites like BBC Good Food, there's a huge range of recipes for you to choose from without spending a penny on cookery books!

CAT££

Try Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food or Delia Smiths How to Cook for a good basic cook book.

[Deleted User]

Re Quiches - buy a ready made (savoury) pastry case and use a basic quiche recipe to fill and bake eg. eggs, cheese, onion

Try building up your stash of one-pot recipes - different casseroles and stews. A nice French style pork and bean casserole for example. Basically quite simple, just stick the stuff in the pot, bung in the oven/slow cooker. Can be served with potatoes, rice or noodles for variety.

I remember my mum used to make chicken leg Chasseur (packet sauce mix) and served it up with jacket spuds (also cooked in the oven). I really LOVED it, and didn't realise it was probably a more economical dish!

patchwork_cat

Are you vegetarian? A good thread was Mr Bad Example's, but I think a lot of his meals were meat based. However a good philosophy might be to try and perfect one new recipe a week. What sort of thing would you like to perfect this coming week and maybe people will help like with Mr Bad Example. MBE made this https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/154661=

trailingspouse

Any effort has got to be better than what I've managed this evening. I put a chicken in the oven at 4, then went out, came back at 6 all ready to do the veggies and sit down for a proper Sunday dinner at 6.30.

Only, I'd turned the wrong oven on - chicken in main oven, and I turned the top oven on. All I've got to show for two hours' electricity is a rather over-cooked grill pan.

And I'm starving - chicken won't be ready now until 8, and I'm too knackered to bother with all the trimmings. I think we'll just have jacket potatoes and frozen peas. Bother.

One reason you may feel that your cooking isn't as tasty as the shop-bought stuff is that there's a lot of salt in the shop-bought food. You'll quickly get used to things not being as salty, and you'll start to taste the food, rather than the salt. Be a bit more generous with the herbs and spices if you still feel your food is a bit bland. And make sure you switch the right oven on...

~_Aridjis_~

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Are you vegetarian?

One vegetarian and one non-vege. Thanks for that link, I'll have a look through it.

trailingspouse I feel your pain.. My usual trick is to get frying while I'm watching Pointless. I get a bit distracted and come back to the hob to find my onions have burnt

This evening we had a bit of a use-up: new potatoes, lettuce and pizza with red pepper on it. The spuds were a bit over boiled and soft. Oh well, better than undercooked and rock-hard I suppose :rotfl:

~_Aridjis_~

trailingspouse wrote: »

One reason you may feel that your cooking isn't as tasty as the shop-bought stuff is that there's a lot of salt in the shop-bought food. You'll quickly get used to things not being as salty, and you'll start to taste the food, rather than the salt. Be a bit more generous with the herbs and spices if you still feel your food is a bit bland.

Ah that's a good point.

madvixen

When I was learning to cook, I started out with soups. They're pretty quick, very cheap and really easy. Serve them with a sandwich for dinner and follow up with a pudding (apple pie and strudel are both £1 in Tesco at the moment).
Here are some of my favourite recipes:
Lentil soup
1/2 lb red lentils
1lb carrots (I use frozen baby carrots as they're cheaper than fresh)
1/2 lb onions (value ones will do perfectly)
4 pints water
Place everything in a pan and boil until tender (about 1 hour), stir it occasionally to stop the lentils sticking.
Liquidise the soup and serve.
This freezes brilliantly

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/877635/spiced-root-vegetable-soup

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/leekandpotatosoup_1920

We have a similar budget to you for our monthly food shop (£150 for 2 and a dog) and I make huge use of my freezer. Before I do the shopping, I hit the Mr T website and check out all the offers available that week. It's a bit time consuming but it allows me to keep the freezer stocked with half price and BOGOF offers. I always get cheese when it is on offer and I normally have at least 2 blocks in the fridge. It's so versatile and great for rustling up quick and easy dinners (omelettes, macaroni cheese and even cheese on toast for serving with soup). Potatoes are also a staple in our house and we often have a jacket potato or homemade gnocchi for dinner.

What sort of things would you like to be able to cook?

worriedindebt

The simplest way to eat well with few skills is to use a slow cooker.. Just put some cheap cuts of meat such as beef shin, or chicken drumsticks etc with some veg (onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes and anything else you fancy), and leave to cook down.

Soups, as mentioned above, are simple and can be really filling.. Even more so if you add beans, pulses or rice. Soda bread is a great accompaniment to soup and can be made in half an hour with no kneading and just a couple of ingredients.

Delia and Jamie will be the best TV chefs to follow.. They both have websites, and Delias also has videos to watch online showing basic techniques.

Hope you enjoy learning to cook.. I learnt at Uni and was told by one of the housemates that there are no rules to cooking, just use what you have.. This is pretty much true for savoury food, though puddings, cakes etc do need more precise measurements.
Have fun!