Shopping Help needed

syrup15

Hi all,

I'm just looking for some advice from everyone regarding reducing what I spend on shopping every month.

Currently I spend over £150 a month on food between 2 adults and a cat. However 90% of this shop is either junk food or micro meals/frozen meals.

I'm looking to start cooking my own meals but don't really know where to start. Where is the best place to shop if I want to cook my meals from scratch? I want to make curries/pies/soups etc

Any help would be appreciated!

Money_maker

I would really recommend re-posting this in the Old Style board where they have much expertise in shopping on a budget and loads of ideas for low cost meals.

redfox

we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

GreyQueen

You don't need to change where you shop because you want to eat differently. Even 'freezer shops' like Icel@and and F@rmFoods have small sections of fruit and veg and frozen veggies are usually found to have higher levels of vitamin C than fresh. Some fresh veggies have been harvested weeks ago and kept in cold storage.

If you're a complete novice at cooking from scratch, perhaps check out a basic cookery book from the library or even ask pals if they can teach you how to cook one or two things which they do really well.

Most recipes start off with a chopped onion, anyway, I find. Pick a recipe or two and get comfortable with it, then slowly add to your repetoire. HTH.

phizzimum

What sort of meals do you like syrup?

You can easily learn to make home made versions of the things you're buying ready made. Give us an idea of what you like and I'm sure you'll be inundated with recipes! You'll just have to gradually adjust your tastebuds to there being much less salt and sugar.

jackyann

I agree with starting small, don't be afraid to use 'cheats' like Pataks or Dolmio, and bought pastry whilst you are finding your way.
Look on line: Delia, Jamie's Home Cooking and BBC Food are good places to start. I also agree with looking in the library - photocopy interesting recipes so you don't spatter the book!
Think about student cook books which cover tasty basics on a budget.

Make notes as you go so you can build up your expertise.

And don't get disheartened. A lot of us who are now considered 'good cooks' learned our skills when the only take-away was fish & chips and 'convenience' food was a tin of beans!
So we didn't throw in the towel because we couldn't, and we slowly learned, especially from others.

My own tip is to always use good stock (look up homemade, bearing in mind you can use slightly manky / left over veg) which I think adds a great deal to taste.

Meekie

Hi syrup,

You might also find the grocery challenge thread quite useful. There are also a lot of recipes listed at the beginning.

Good luck.

viv0147

Hi I recommend you do a weekly menu for 3 meals a day then you shop accordingly print out the menu and put it on the side of your fridge using a fridge magnet once you get into it your food bill will be drastically reduced and waste will be almost eliminated.

suki1964

Curries, soup and pies

Buy a chicken, a decent size one

Do a Sunday roast. Cook a bit of extra veg such as carrots peas so you have left overs.

After Sunday roast, strip as much meat as you can and stick in the fridge with your left overs

Break up the carcass put in a large pan of water, add an onion, carrot, celery stick ( if you have ) bay leaf, peppercorns and bring to the boil and just let simmer away until reduced somewhat. Strain the stock. Pick off all the little bits of chicken left on the bones as that goes into the soup. Now I cheat and buy a bag of ready chopped soup veg Just chuck it in the stock and boil till tender. Adjust flavouring and add the chicken bits, that's soup. If you have a blender, you just just blend it slightly or make it totally smooth. You choose how you like it

Pie- cheats method is ready made pastry and a tin of condensed chicken soup. Cut chicken into chunks, stir that and left over veg into the soup, pour into a pie dish and cover with pastry. Then bake as to the pastry instructions

Curry, same thing, get a jar of curry sauce, stir in some chopped cooked chicken and veg and heat till bubbling, serve with boiled rice


Now they are the cheats, easy recipes, for starting off cooking when you don't yet have a store of various herb and spices and flours. It's how a lot of us start to cook and there's no harm in a jar. I used curry jars for years until I found the easyiest ever curry cookbook and now I can knock up a whole variety of curries at the drop of a hat because I have the spices at hand at all times

Those four meals from the one chicken will cost around £10 and will be scrummy and filling and just a few ideas to get you started

Hope they help xx

rockm87

I love looking online for recipes, dont forget pinterest!

There is a very cheap e-book with freezer recipes here if it helps!
http://funcheaporfree.com/2014/12/31-freezer-meals-freezer-meal-e-book/