Cooking from scratch

Sniggle_2

Is cooking from scratch really cheaper?
What about time? We both work full time in the city and this type of cooking takes time....BUT we really need to get our food bills down.

Does anyone have any quick cooking from scratch recipes/ideas please?
Or maybe meal suggestions that use store cupboard staples.

Thank you xx

themarsbargirl

Yes and much better nutritionally too! I would suggest investing in a slow cooker so you can chuck dinner on before leaving for work and come home to a hot cooked meal and/or batch cooking at weekends.
If you cut out meat some days it further brings the cost down. I grew up only having meat at weekends.

themarsbargirl

Quick Ideas-
Cheats pizza (mix s/r flour with water to a dough, roll out, fry, spread with tom puree, add cheese, grill till bubbly)
Cous Cous salad with chicken/halloumi/whatever
Pasta
Sausage and Mash
Rice with curry/bolognese etc
Stirfry

pablakeman

My student staple atm is bolognese which takes about 15 minutes ... mince, onion, mushroom and tinned toms! lots of herbs and a few dashes of worcestershire sauce.

What I do is I have lots of meat in the freezer (I get it when it is on offer) - chicken breasts; mince, sausages, baon etc... and my cupboards are full of the essentials (check other posts, I am sure somebody else can link?).

If you want to save time get up 15 minutes earlier to give you time to chop up everything in the morning? I will be working at a big 4 accountancy firm when I finish (in Edinburgh, not London) and am hoping to still have the time to make food from fresh.

Also make enough for 2 nights in one go and reheat the next day, or do it all at weekends and stick in freezer?

Sniggle_2

Wow you Must all be so organised!Great ideas, thank you. I've really got to sort my life out.
Is there a thread for what to cook in the slow cooker or can you give me ideas on here please?

Auntie_Sceb

Not always cheaper on the face of things BUT not much more effort to cook a load and freeze then it works out cheaper.

A favourite of mine I'm doing tonight is vegetarian moussaka. I'm doing 8 portions (there's 2 of us). This recipe does about 4 generous portions it's not particularly quick but you can make loads in advance. (I also take this to work for lunch as have a microwave)

Ingredients:

100g green lentils (or red if you prefer) - washed (or could use tinned chickpeas)
1 chopped onion
6 chopped mushrooms
1 tin of tomatoes, chopped
1 chopped red pepper (or any)
400 ml stock
1 Aubergine (and or courgette)
3 potatoes, boiled and sliced
150g grated cheese, or to taste!
250 ml milk
2 tbpn plain flour
2 tbsn olive oil (I used marg instead)
Oil for frying
(I doubled quantities and added a carrot and a parsnip for 8+ portions)

1. Fry the onion, pepper and mushrooms in the oil until softened. Add the lentils and the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender.

2. Slice the aubergine and fry the slices in some olive oil - or you could roast them on a baking tray.

3. In a saucepan make a roux with the oil and flour, add the milk and 3/4 of the cheese.

4. Pour the vegetable mixture into a casserole dish (or individual dishes). Layer aubergine slices on top and then a layer of potato slices. Finish with cheese sauce and then top with the remainder of the grated cheese. 5. Bake at 200c for 30-40 minutes, the cheese should be browning and bubbly on top!

Auntie_Sceb

I also make from scratch a massive chilli, bologenese or cottage pie with or without Quorn (use lentils, kidney neans chickpeas) bulk out with any veg and freeze.

Pasta bake tomato or cheese based.

Another thing I've done is made pies (I did buy the pastry - but intend to learn) and made loads. Cheaper and definitely healthier as I just do a lid to cut the calories.

pablakeman

Sniggle wrote: »

Wow you Must all be so organised!Great ideas, thank you. I've really got to sort my life out.
Is there a thread for what to cook in the slow cooker or can you give me ideas on here please?

I am not that organised but I always make sure I have stuff in. Being a student atm, I am lucky in that I can go shopping 2/3 times a week to Aldi. However, when I move to my new flat in Edinburgh my first job will be to go shopping and stockpiling stuff! I will get it from where I know is cheap. It is different with fresh food, but with frozen a bit, and especially store cupboard stuff it lasts for ages.

Also, rather than replacing something when it runs out, replace it before it runs out. If I am down to two tins of something I then buy a few more. This way im not rushing out to the expensive, convenience shops to buy anything!

I hope my organisation doesn't falter when I am not a student!

SailorSam

Sniggle wrote: »

Wow you Must all be so organised!Great ideas, thank you. I've really got to sort my life out.
Is there a thread for what to cook in the slow cooker or can you give me ideas on here please?

Slowcooker recipies


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=1332010#post1332010

Auntie_Sceb

I've also been looking at freezing my own vegetables to stir fry. With the plan to buy veg when cheap and freeze.

http://www.simplebites.net/diy-stir-fry-vegetable-freezer-packages/

Would take a bit of time to prepare and blanch vegetables but you can cook straight from the freezer so would be quick in the long run.

Auntie_Sceb

Just seen your other thread for the recipe for Moussaka I cook from frozen microwave for 5 mins check then 5 mins in the more usually does it - alternatively 20 - 30 mins in the oven. Same for the other meals I suggested. Chill bolagnese I add a couple of drops of water and heat in pan from frozen. (but I don't use meat)

What kind of meals do you want recipes for?