reducing monthly food spend

Pollycat

danlightbulb wrote: »

I've been to the butchers and got 2kg steak for £8.80/kg which I thought was pretty good. Already sliced. Have frozen 2/3rd of it and put the rest in the fridge to eat over the next couple days.

And my 6 year old just helped me put the diced beef, potatoes and stock in the slow cooker which we are all having for tea.

How did you cook the steak? Fry? Grill?
TBH, if that's the steak you bought for £8..80 per kg I wouldn't have thought it was good to fry or grill.
What was the exact description? Did you ask the butcher for advice on cooking it?
I would say it needs braising in the slow cooker.
Cuts like braising,stewing, brisket, skirt steak etc need long slow cooking to tenderise it.
You need to buy rump, sirloin, T-bone, rib-eye etc steak if you're going to cook it quickly.

danlightbulb wrote: »

This was todays dinner with kids. Again I'm not pleased with it. I thought the content was generally ok, but the steak (bought yesterday from butchers) was really tough. Neither the kids nor me could chew it. Now I have another 1.7kg of the stuff left to get through...

No gravy?

Ellabelle

I also struggle massively with cooking, but can make a cake! (Our educations must have been similarly lacking!) Therefore, I tend not to do any actual cooking, or I just end up binning food.


One tip I have is buying something like three 'ovenable' M&S pasta ready meals for £7 (such as chicken arrabiatta/Italian sausage, etc.) -

Then, empty one into a pyrex cooking bowl-type-thing, throw in things like: canned butterbeans/cheap chopped brocolli/chopped bell pepper/some extra pasta/a few tomato's/whatever else you fancy (I sometimes add a whole head of brocolli, at 50p, from Sainsbury's).

Then, throw on some pepper, maybe some mixed herbs from a bottle, maybe a bit of extra cheese. Bung in oven (for a bit longer that it says, due to having added stuff). - This gets you a healthy, high cal, evening meal for one, for about £2.90.


Do you eat omelette? 6 med free-range eggs are less than a £1 at Sainsbury's. If I can do a ham and cheese omelette, i'm sure you'll be able to. (There's, of course, a lot of protein in a three egg omelette with a bit of ham and cheese) *give me a shout if you need omelette instructions*


Also, Pitta bread pizza (Pitta bread is about 70p for 6!) - halve the pitta bread. To the 'rough side' add: some tomato puree, some cheese, maybe some of those mixed herbs again, maybe a bit of bell pepper/leftover cooked chicken etc. Bung under grill - and you have cheap pizza! (have two, or three for the cals.)


Final thought - add a drizzle of olive oil to all the above. Great for more cals and more healthy fats, and is very cheap at a cals per penny ratio.

danlightbulb

Pollycat wrote: »

How did you cook the steak? Fry? Grill?
TBH, if that's the steak you bought for £8..80 per kg I wouldn't have thought it was good to fry or grill.
What was the exact description? Did you ask the butcher for advice on cooking it?
I would say it needs braising in the slow cooker.
Cuts like braising,stewing, brisket, skirt steak etc need long slow cooking to tenderise it.
You need to buy rump, sirloin, T-bone, rib-eye etc steak if you're going to cook it quickly.



No gravy?

On entering the butchers I couldn't see any rump steak, so I asked for it. The butcher pointed to steak in the counter, which I had looked at, called hipbone steak. I'd never heard of it before, but the internet says it is a variety of rump. I cooked it in the oven for 20 mins. It came out tough and dry. I didn't ask how to cook it, done steak in the oven before and thought it came out softer than if I fry it. Unfortunely I cannot grill and oven cook at the same time as my place only has a single combo grill/oven.

Fillet is my favourite cut. Tender and lean - but expensive.


Edit -I just fried up a piece in oil - was better.I must have overcooked it before. I'd still like a more tender/juicy piece though so will look for something different next time. Maybe I'd be better with sirloin?

The pieces were also a bit thinly sliced for me. I like steaks thicker. I just got what was on the counter at the butchers.

curiousralphy

Wow, that steak does look bad. My OH once served me a grey steak that looked a lot like that. This is how I taught him to cook a steak.

Put a couple of teaspoons of olive oil on a plate and sprinkle in a TINY amount of salt (sea salt if you have it) - then rub the steak in the mixture making sure to coat it as well as you can on each side. Heat up a non-stick frypan on the hob at top heat and when hot put the steak in the pan and turn it every 15 seconds continuously until ready and then wrap it in aluminum foil and serve after leaving it to sit in the foil for at least 5 minutes.

You will gradually learn to tell when it is cooked by pressing a finger into it and the firmer the steak the more well done it gets. To start with get a sharp knife and make a little cut into the thickest part of the steak, if still rare keep going and then cut into a different bit - once it is pink wrap it in the foil straightaway. You can gradually learn to cook to the "rare" or "well done" level you prefer.

I would echo pollycat, not all steaks work for quick cook. Generally the more expensive it is the better it will be for quick cooking. Cheap beef needs long slow casserole cooking.

maman

I'd recommend you Google Hairy Bikers Braised Steak. It's a really easy recipe and makes the most delicious gravy. It works for me every time. Although the recipe says steak and chips, it works just as well with potatoes and veg for a roast type dinner. I add mushrooms as well as onions and sometimes carrots. good luck.

danlightbulb

maman wrote: »

I'd recommend you Google Hairy Bikers Braised Steak. It's a really easy recipe and makes the most delicious gravy. It works for me every time. Although the recipe says steak and chips, it works just as well with potatoes and veg for a roast type dinner. I add mushrooms as well as onions and sometimes carrots. good luck.

That does look nice - thankyou - I need to go and buy a casserole dish now then, along with the powdered ingredients, puree, etc. One for next week maybe. I would add mushrooms and I could add bell peppers instead of garden veg? (I'm not keen on garden veg).

maman

danlightbulb wrote: »

That does look nice - thankyou - I need to go and buy a casserole dish now then, along with the powdered ingredients, puree, etc. One for next week maybe. I would add mushrooms and I could add bell peppers instead of garden veg? (I'm not keen on garden veg).

I add in the mushrooms with the onions at the beginning of the recipe. If you added peppers then it would be fine although the taste would be less traditional than normal gravy. When you're serving it up you can have chips or veg or anything else you fancy with it.

danlightbulb

maman wrote: »

I add in the mushrooms with the onions at the beginning of the recipe. If you added peppers then it would be fine although the taste would be less traditional than normal gravy. When you're serving it up you can have chips or veg or anything else you fancy with it.

Ive never been keen on the traditional 'english' sunday dinner. I think its memories of over-stewed cabbage, carrots and sprouts that I was forced to sit and eat as a kid.

I like mushrooms, peppers, chillies, garlic. Basically more 'Mediterranean veg', and spicy food.

Goldiegirl

I just wanted to comment on the suggested beef casserole recipe, with 3 Oxo cubes, a tablespoon of Marmite and a tablespoon of ketchup, with gravy granules for thickening. There is a lot of salt in those ingredients, even for an adult, and way too much for children.

I'll suggest again, that you get a cookery book that starts from the basics.

Cookery is a skill that is learnt like any other - you start at the beginning.

If you do that, you'll learn the correct way to cook various cuts of meat, and how to season your cooking with various herbs and spices, and not add unnecessary additional salt.

you'll soon be able to produce simple, attractive meals, that looks appetising and tastes good, rather than trying to cook things that you don't really know what to do with, that don't look good on the plate, and you end up not being able to eat.

danlightbulb

guys quick question for you. myfitnesspal is saying there is only 205 calories in a 225g rump steak. that cant be right can it?