Healthy Eating Cuts Costs!

lobbyludd

mostly.

it definitely can be cheaper if you start from a base of not cooking anything from scratch and a very high groceries budget.

dip below a certain budget however and you'd be very stuck to feed a growing family without any recourse to processed food, and a stack of cheap carbs. Fresh meat and veg can indeed be very pricy when you are on a very tight budget AND are time poor, a combination that many of us are.

As an aside I've costed my efforts at growing veg to supplement - I'm no newbie to growing veg, but the size and quality of the plot I have plus the amount of time I have available means that my fruit and veg growing (apart from herbs) costs more that buying it seasonally would, so it's my hobby not a money saver.

Huge congrats OP on getting healthier food, that tastes great and costs less.

I do get fed-up with a certain holier-than-thou attitude where those who do not cook every meal from scratch (are they making their own sausages or milking their own cows?) are lazy/stupid. most people, are mostly doing their very best in a set of circumstances which only they fully know.

lets celebrate our own successes, like OP, rather than denigrate those whose lives we are not living.

recovering_spendaholic

lobbyludd - I agree with you (and the other posters), but I understand why an awful lot of people eat only fast food, ready meals and processed stuff.

The fact is we are surrounded by it - the food industry is shameless is its self promotion and the way it manipulates data to tell us that certain things are healthy - the whole low fat thing has more or less been debunked now and gradually people are coming to accept that sugar is just as bad - I say just as bad because ANYTHING taken in excess is bad for you.

The thing that I think is probably the worst though is the 24 hour availability of food. My daughter and her friends go out into town on a Friday and/or Saturday night and when they are finished in the clubs at around 2 or 3am they come out and go and buy McDonalds or Pizza or Burger King or KFC - all of which are open at that time - When I was that age in the eighties there was nothing open when we came out of clubs in the early hours. There is also a service round here where you ring up and they go to the drive through for you and bring the McDonalds to your house for £5 plus the cost of the food:eek:

I make most things from scratch, and try and offer healthy food, but I have to say that it isn't easy as both my daughters would much rather eat processed food, even though I don't offer it.

There will always be lots of people like posters on here who are doing their best to eat well and healthily with their families but I fear that things are too far gone for the situation to improve for the majority who don't know how to cook and don't want to.

Farway

JackieO wrote: »

How about someone just shows folk how to cook 'normal' stuff, the stuff our Mums or Grannies made We all survived without ready meals (in my Mums case at times without a decent kitchen as she had been bombed out twice)

Didn't Saint Dehlia do this, showing how to boil an egg for instance?

I am of similar generation as you, and really cannot see what is hard about cooking from scratch, not talking Egon Ronay here, just Nan's home cooking

midnightraven3

"nanas" home cooking was always best because then, people shopped locally and bought what was in season as that was what was available

i was reading how much healthier eating seasonally is, it makes sense really

moments_of_sanity

My 'Nana' made the best banana sandwich ever! Can you imagine offering a youngster one of them now! :rotfl:

We have certainly noticed a better quality and quantity of food since everything is home made. My DD said recently that now we are trying to limit the amount we spend on food and have been cooking everything from scratch she has eaten so much more food and is never hungry between meals. I look at the cost of food and am shocked, I can make a wholesome tasty quiche for 3 adults for about 50p if I am being extravagant with ingredients (can make for as little as 20p if no bacon/ham included) and cannot believe the price of quiche in the shops. HM chicken and mushroom pies can be made for approximately £1 and they again feed 3 adults.

We do occasionally have things in for speed in case we are busy and DD won't give up her fish fingers but on the whole we are eating so much better.

meritaten

I have ALWAYS cooked this way. and despaired over the way recent generations have relied on 'ready meals', junk food etc. its expensive to buy 'meals' and they are not nearly as good as 'home cooking'.
don't get me wrong - I have jars of 'ready made sauces' in the cupboard - I don't think they are so bad if you then use fresh ingredients with them. and sometimes you just don't have time to make from scratch.
but, I do think that 'real' cooking is best. just not always achievable.

[Deleted User]

meritaten wrote: »

I have ALWAYS cooked this way. I do think that 'real' cooking is best. just not always achievable.

A lot of the problems are I think caused by the pace of life today.Everyone is rushing around trying to save time .What do they do with the 'time saved' is it used to spend more time with their families or what. I too rush around at times as I lead a fairly busy life as I am full time carer for four of my DGS before and after school during the week.But I still also go to a coffee morning at U3A (this morning) quiz night (tonight) ,Book club ,(yesterday morning) .History club Friday afternoons Knitting club once a fortnight, and also find time to visit friends who can't get out and about (I'm lucky I am fairly mobile for my age )I usually spend Saturday mornings cleaning my house and Sunday mornings baking and menu planning.As I live alone I have less to do at home and the washing and ironing isn't a problem. I cook more or less from scratch (always make extra for the freezer )because I just prefer it that way.If you are in a full-time job outside the home I can see why and how ready-meals may help out,but even when I worked full time I still preferred to cook what I ate and maybe because I grew up in an era where ready-meals consisted of maybe a sandwich at a picnic I just never got into the habit of them.Plus the odd one that I have tasted just
A. didn't fill me up
B. tasted strange.
My late OH used to say he didn't like 'knitted food ' so he too preferred cooked from scratch food.Both of my DDs work full time and apart from prepping the veg for the youngest (I look after her children for her )she too cooks every night when she gets home and the boys have a cooked dinner in the evenings with meat and two-three veg.
I did try some ready cooked stuff when I was ill a few years ago (chemo makes you very tired) but really didn't like them much and used my 'good week' to stock up the freezer with HM meals.
But I gues its what ever works for you.For me its home cooked every time but that is just pure choice

juliettet

I'm different that my Mum bought quite a lot of tins & packets although meat was always quality and fish was plentiful. I decided early teens not to eat meat and survived on mainly dairy & veg. This was of course very worrying for her and became a bit of a battle. I took cooking at school and finally learnt the nutrition angle. Now I eat 80% home cooked food from scratch but on a Friday, a bought supermarket pizza or similar is a treat. I detest takeaways as the taste is too salty for me and goodness knows what is in them. I probably don't eat enough fruit but more than make up for this with veg and salad. I am still 'learning' at 52 to cook but would rather spend my money on quality ingredients which I'm sure work out better for me. I have found this forum very helpful. People are generous with their knowledge.

barneydee_2

I can not remember the last time I had ready meal the closest I have come is a shop bought pizza and there I tend to by the basic one & then just put on things I need to clear out of the fridge I.e cheese,cooked meat,onion,peppers.

I joined slimming world in February I am only following the plan but I have cut done on the amount of meat we eat & upped the veg & fruit cut out the processed bread & cereals I have lost two stone so far feel so much better for eating better & have got the shopping bill down thus saving money .

If I do see a ready meal that look nice I read the contents on the package & try to copy it my self.
Dee

Gigervamp

Since becoming ill, I've noticed our food costs have gone up a lot. This is due to my not being able to cook very often and hubby not being particularly good at it. He's always exhausted when he gets in from work, so food is often ready meals or freezer/oven food.

I hate it, and often crave what I call "proper" food, even dreaming about it at times!

Some ready made stuff is ok. I don't mind spinach and ricotta canneloni, and the ready prepped vegetables and mash that you nuke are not too bad.

It's not so bad in the summer, as I often have salad, new potatoes and some sort of protein such as a quiche or even just cheese or eggs. (I don't eat meat.)