Average price per portion?

FairyPrincessk

I probably wouldn't try reducing your portion sizes on the same recipe as that usually makes people feel deprived (as Ches points out). Just try it on new recipes where you're less likely to notice that there is less chicken and instead just think that is how it is 'meant' to be. Recipes that use meat as accent or one of several bits mixed together rather than a feature are good for this--things like stir fries, casseroles, meat and veg pies etc.

pinkparrott

This is all really relevant to what I've been thinking about today. I've been doing OK on the grocery budget in general. However I've been wondering how to reduce it as I've dropped down a brand and only bought what I need etc, tried not to waste anything.
However I think its just down making meals that are too expensive on a regular basis.
There's me & my oh and Ds age 9 and Dd age 7 . tonights tea was salmon pasta & pesto and it cost a total of £9.00 !!! Which is ridiculous, but as I've never done this before I was shocked. I think it was probably at the top end but I think I'm probably spending around the £7 mark on average. I think I will cost it out for a few weeks and see how it goes. We don't mind doing veggie meals and usually cook from scratch but I think were stuck in a bit of a rut and just go for the same meat heavy meals.
Even when I do veggies meals I tend to buy veg that's too expensive like asparagus if I'm doing a veggie risotto.
This has really opened my eyes as to where I'm going wrong so thanks op

HappyMJ

pinkparrott wrote: »

This is all really relevant to what I've been thinking about today. I've been doing OK on the grocery budget in general. However I've been wondering how to reduce it as I've dropped down a brand and only bought what I need etc, tried not to waste anything.
However I think its just down making meals that are too expensive on a regular basis.
There's me & my oh and Ds age 9 and Dd age 7 . tonights tea was salmon pasta & pesto and it cost a total of £9.00 !!! Which is ridiculous, but as I've never done this before I was shocked. I think it was probably at the top end but I think I'm probably spending around the £7 mark on average. I think I will cost it out for a few weeks and see how it goes. We don't mind doing veggie meals and usually cook from scratch but I think were stuck in a bit of a rut and just go for the same meat heavy meals.
Even when I do veggies meals I tend to buy veg that's too expensive like asparagus if I'm doing a veggie risotto.
This has really opened my eyes as to where I'm going wrong so thanks op

£9 isn't too bad for salmon pasta & pesto for 4. Salmon is normally around the £15/kg mark and a 100 gram portion would therefore cost £1.50 each. It's not as if you eat this food every day so the occasional treat to a nice meal is fine. We could all eat steak and seafood every day but not all of us can afford it so most of us buy this as a treat every now and again. Eating sausages and chicken is cheap but variety extending beyond that is also needed so don't worry about it.

FairyPrincessk

You might be able to reduce the price of this meal without changing anything except your supermarket or the way you buy your salmon. Aldi fresh Salmon is around £9.50/kilo. Frozen ranges between £7/Kilo up to £9/kilo depending on what you buy. You can get 5 wild pink frozen fillets for £3.50. Their pesto is 99p/jar and their basics range penne is 29p for 500gr. So, you could make this meal for under £5 plus the cost of the veg you serve. Of course that doesn't mean you should make all of those swaps (you may have ethical concerns about their fish, not have an aldi near you, not like their pesto etc.)--but it gives you an idea of how you might make changes if you want/need to save more.

Fish each week is our most expensive meal hands down--but I try to make sure we eat fresh or frozen once per week at a minimum for health reasons. I think it is very important to keep in mind what kinds of swaps you're making, particularly if you're trying to keep your budget low in the long term. If I need to cut spending in the short term then I don't sweat padding out a couple of meals with cheap carbs, but long term I try to avoid that and instead try to rely on veg or legumes to pad things out.

System

I like to cost our evening meals by the meals themselves. For the three of us i like to keep the cost to around £5 per meal. Sometimes it works out a little more but more often than not, a little less.

We dont eat processed food, just meat/fish. Ive weaned the family off pies and such like as i dont know whats in them and pastry gives hubby indigestion. I try and aim for a palm sized portion of meat/fish per serving.

pinkparrott

Thanks for the support guys, Fairyprincess - good advice re the supermarket, I do sometimes shop at aldi but I have to make a special trip, I was tired & unprepared so popped in to wait rose as its the one I actually pass on my way home - and wanted to get something healthy too. As were on holiday from sat for 10 days (camping) I decided to be organised after posting last night so I got some reduced sausages out of the freezer & used up the last of the potatoes for makers & used up the salad. So better all round today.
I'm definitely going to look at our favourite and see what we can swop.

betterlife

Hi, we are a family of 6, and when eating chicken drumsticks we would probably have 2 or sometimes 3 each! so that works out expensive, and doesnt happen too often (only if on offer or bought reduced) however, if i purchase a small chicken from lidl for between £2.50-£3, that chicken, will do use a roast, a curry and then the bones are boiled for stock and picked for soup, so much more cost effective (roast padded out with veg, pots and yorky puds, curry & soup padded with veg & lentils) could you use turkey mince? as taste pretty chickeny and quite often reduced, you could make meatballs, lasagna, spag bol, sausages, etc with that. personally i dont work out price per portion, just an over all weekly shop budget, some meals work out more expensive, and other pennies, i hate waste, so use left overs, and i also work on the principle, that if an animal had to loose his life to feed me, then every bit will be used, and none will be wasted xx

Goldiegirl

I'm glad I found this thread, as I was going to ask a similar question, albeit for a different reason.


On a thread in a different area of the board, about corned beef, people were saying that they don't buy it anymore as it's got expensive at £2 per can


You could make a corned beef hash with a tin and some veg to feed 3 people, at under a £1 per head seems like a low cost meal to me, so got to wondering how much like people spend per portion on their main meals


For myself, it varies hugely. If it's HM soup and rolls it could be pence. If it's a 'veggie' night, it'd probably be under a £1. We eat meat or fish 5 times a week, and it could be anywhere between £1 - £3. It just depends what we're having

Sally_A

Try looking at cheap meals from another perspective, don't plan your meals by cost, but plan your meals and see how cheaply you can do them.

Paella with garlic bread sounds dear?
Lidl currently have frozen Paella for £1.89 (down from £2.19), 9 slices of garlic bread 85p, or 2 baguettes 99p. Cheaper if you do your own garlic bread, 15p a mini baguette, butter and garlic minimal.

Beef stir fry? Buy the sliced beef in the pre-cooked sandwich section (£1.35ish for 100g, you may need 2 packs), add a tub of stir fry (99p each) and noodles (£1 tops) - should be under a fiver to feed 4.

welshbookworm

I work on 50p a meal.
Today's lunch is
Y/S quiche 30p
basics rice 10p
frozen mixed veg 10p
I can do cheaper, but after 5 hospital visits in 6 days, I want quick and easy at the moment.