Eating healthy for cheap

Slowly57

*sucking on a damp rat is not healthy, no matter how organic it is*

Fantastic resource here too (no rats) http://frugalfeeding.com/frugal-recipe-index/

NewShadow

Slowly57 wrote: »

http://frugalfeeding.com/frugal-recipe-index/

The tips on this page were great: http://frugalfeeding.com/tips/

This one especially:

#3 Treat yourself cleverly. Being frugal doesn’t necessarily mean that one must avoid pricey ingredients. Instead, showcase the attributes of each and every expense by using no more than one or two in each meal. There isn’t any need to disguise the delicious flavour of asparagus, for example, behind another strong flavour. It is also advisable to be able to recognise the flavour profile of each ingredient. For instance, parmesan cheese has a rather punchy taste and can therefore be used parsimoniously.

Buying really good cheese, and then just using a little of it - or really decent meat, or stupidly expensive oil - can make a cheap meal seem luxurious and doesn't ruin your palette with richness.

(alternatively some cheaper brands can be just as nice, if not nicer, than their luxury counterparts - try a range and see what's worth spending on to your taste and pocket)

Slowly57

The recipes are awesome http://frugalfeeding.com/2011/09/29/autumnal-indian-soup/ mmmmmmmm

[Deleted User]

As someone who grew up during the 1940s and 50s (rationing continued for 9 years after WW2 ending in 1954) My late Mum did her best to feed her brood of 3 children with what she had.

Certainly no fish fingers as she never owned a fridge or freezer.

Fish was bought from Alf the fishmonger every Friday morning .He was a ovely chap who would open the conversation with Good morning Mrs B how are you and how's the family After exchanges of pleasantries they would get down to business.

My Mum would ask what was in season (although she knew very well ) He would say which was a good buy and what had just come in.She wasn't (being scottish) very keen on cod, but haddock was acceptable to her,(cod at a pinch in HM fishcakes) Kippers were popular and mackerel as well so we had our dose of healthy oily fish.

She also (if she could find them) bought tinned sardines or pilchards. Meat was bought usually on the day it was to be eaten, or at most it would be consumed the next day,bit longer if it was a cold winter.

Fruit and veg we mostly had from our garden as she was a prolific gardener and we foraged for things if and when we could. We were lucky that we had a relation in Herne Bay who owned a market garden, and a trip down there on a steam train was fantastic day out for the family as we always came home laden with stuff.Rhubarb was grown in a large patch, and we had two apple trees in our garden as well which helped.

Very little sugar was in our diet because to buy it you queued up at the small Sainsbury shop, and it was weighed out in dark blue paper cones from a large bag.

Tea was also sold loose like this, and eventually it came in packets. Brooke Bond with a 'divi' stamp that was collected and stuck on a card which when full was worth 5/- (25p)

There were no snacks,crisps etc that children get today you had three meals a day (if you were lucky) and before bed it was a mug of cocoa (again if you were lucky) Sugar being quite precious, as a child I never had in any sort of drink, no orange squash it was milk or water when I was a little girl, and I have never had sugar in tea or coffee, in fact apart from a jar with caster sugar in in my cupboard there is no other sugar in my house.

When I make an apple pie I sweeten it with honey when I stew the apples
So our diet may have been a bit boring and stodgy at time (lots of milk puddings ,semolina ,rice ,tapioca etc when the fresh fruit wasn't available) but I think on the whole it was fairly healthy.

Health was looked after as much as possible as before 1948 there wasn't the availability of going to the Drs unless you paid for it No NHS back then.My late Dad was a chemist, so we were all fairly healthy, and he had his 'Big Black Bottle' on the shelf which tasted disgusting, but seemed to cure almost anything.

Trying to get a crafty day off from school wasn't a good idea as you would be dosed up with this revolting concoction which soon made you want to rather return to school than have another spoonful :):)

Probably my diet as a child was a bit more healthier than a lot of children's diets today :) well I am still alive and kicking.

But then I never ate pizza's either and even today I find the idea of eating a pizza to fill you up a bit odd I would rather have a cooked meal and to me pizza isn't a meal just dough with things on top, just as well have beans on toast cheap and probably just as filling


JackieO xx

freyasmum

Slowly57 wrote: »

The recipes are awesome http://frugalfeeding.com/2011/09/29/autumnal-indian-soup/ mmmmmmmm

That soup looks amazing! Thanks for posting.

I have been thinking of things that I can make with my pearl barley and lentils as my OH is not a fan. He doesn't like soup either, so that's my lunches sorted :j

I love this time of year, even just for the fact that we can have soups and other belly-warming meals

We make a beef casserole with 1kg beef, tossed in 2 tbsp seasoned flour, three or four carrots chopped into nice big chunks and a couple of onions, sliced. Pop in a beef stock pot or two and cover with perhaps just over a pint of boiling water. Cook on 150 for until tender and falling apart.

Or, for steak pie, omit the carrots and onions and add in two packs of sausages, cut into quarters. When the filling is cooked, cover with a sheet of puff pastry, brush with an egg wash and bake at 180 until golden and bubbly.

I'm sure you could make it easily in a slow cooker, just putting a little less water in.

Neither are bargain basement dinners, but they are cheaper and healthier than perhaps buying processed and preservative laden foods.

We also made pulled pork recently. OP, I can barely think of a cheaper meat. This was pork shoulder, trimmed of all fat. I added a BBQ sauce (slimming work recipe, actually) but it would be perfectly happy without it (just season and sear the meat beforehand). Slow cooked it for about 11 hours. Obviously you'd do less if you weren't pulling it. The pork was £2.45 a kilo in Aldi. Serve with baked potatoes and colealaw, on a bun with HM chips and salad, boiled baby potatoes (which are on super six until Thursday).

cbrown372

^^^^ drooling now, need to shop today for the week

Butterfly_Brain

We had soup and pudding night on Saturday, we tend to do that once a week when the weather is cold. Last week it was home made mushroom soup with a sliced baguette followed by a treacle sponge pudding with custard ( Ihad strawberries and cream because I am diabetic which I got on the market 2 punnets for £1
This week will be a butternut squash soup, mainly because I have loads in the garden :eek: followed by a good old fashioned rice pudding with lots of nutmeg drool

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[Deleted User]

Mmmm B/B sounds delicious I made a ground rice pud last week overnight in the slow cooker and chucked lots of cinnamon in, as I adore cinnamon I too enjoy simple meals and a pud of banana custard with bananas that are starting to get brown/soft is very yummy comfort food with gloopy thick custard on top.

I made a big pot of leek and potato soup on Saturday and its doing me for lunches this week with a few crackers and some y/s cheese from the freezer I bought ages ago. Its Wenslydale with apricots, and I was so chuffed to get it, as a good half a lb was reduced down to 45p My kind of bargain the tangyness of the soup and the sweetness of the cheese was a perfect match. You really don't have to spend a fortune to eat well as long as the balance of flavours are there.

My late OH's favourite meal for was cheese on toast (made in a saucepan as my late welsh pa-in-law liked it made) with baked beans and worcestershire sauce dolloped on top that was his go-to comfort food

Butterfly_Brain

JackieO
I am not keen on cinnamon, it tastes like soap to me, but the family likes it, I prefer nutmeg,
The simple meals are the ones that go down well here, anything with 10 ingredients or more does not get made:rotfl::rotfl:
Egg and chips anyone? If you have a sack of spuds and lots of eggs you will always have a meal, bit boring everyday though

[Deleted User]

Corned beef, egg, chips, and a sliced tomato food for the gods or corned beef fritters and saute spuds with a large dollop of tomato ketchup, basic food that will fill you tummy up ,my four DGS love a home cooked comfort meal