Best way to buy food and cook it!

madonna1000000

Can someone find out whether it is better / cheaper to buy readymeals and microwave them or to cook from scratch and use a slow cooker or pressure cooker. With the energy crisis we need to know how to make good cheap and energy efficient meals! 

luvchocolate

Living alone I always cook from scratch and using slow cooker freeze separate portions. 
Aways on the lookout for reduced items and freezer always full. 

London_1

I'm a great avocate of cooking from scratch and potioning up and freezing ,so much cheaper, and you know what you are eating.
I've never been a fan of ready meals I just think they are overpriced. I can make twice as much for half the price and often do and have been doing for the past 60 odd years so I think I've got it down to a fine art now  
JackieO xx

YorksLass

I'm not a fan of ready meals either but I suppose it's horses for courses and time - or lack of it - and convenience can be a factor for some people.  I always think you're paying for the convenience rather than what's in a ready meal.  I'm afraid the portion sizes don't cut the mustard for me either.

Personally, I'd go for cooking from scratch any day - I think it tastes better, you know what's in it (no nasty additives) and, even allowing for the cost of energy, you would definitely get more for your money.  Batch cook then portion/freeze, use a SC/air fryer/pressure cooker/microwave rather than the oven.  If you do have to use the oven, fill the space and make that gas or electric work for its cost.

poppy811

London_1 said:

I'm a great avocate of cooking from scratch and potioning up and freezing ,so much cheaper, and you know what you are eating.
I've never been a fan of ready meals I just think they are overpriced. I can make twice as much for half the price and often do and have been doing for the past 60 odd years so I think I've got it down to a fine art now  
JackieO xx

Totally agree, just a couple of ready meals for,real emergencies but otherwise prefer to cook from scratch

LadOnTheHill

Cheapest in terms of the cost of food on your plate and cooking will, I would guess, be a value range ready meal or something from a tin, like beans. You're not paying to cook the food, just reheat it. However, unless you buy a new one every day, you'll need some way to store it, which means the cost of running a freezer or fridge. Also, you'd need to consider the nutritional value of the ready meal, as well as things like sugar, fat and salt intake. I think it'd be the cheapest option, but I doubt it would be the best one.

A tin of baked beans doesn't take but a few minutes in the microwave. Making those same baked beans at home will use a lot more energy.

Cooking from scratch means you know exactly what has gone into the food, and cooking in bulk means you can take advantage of bulk discounts and volume pricing (exactly what ready meal manufacturers do to keep costs down). You can also set things up so you can have them in the microwave right from the freezer and heated through quickly.

If you take a joint of beef and cook it whole, in the oven, it takes a long time to cook through, using a lot of energy. Take that same joint of beef and slice it up into thin strips and cook it in a wok, and it's done much more quickly using a lot less energy. The food value is the same, but the energy used is massively reduced.

Brie

This was a bit of an eye opener for me a few years back when I was fundraising for a local food bank.  I was taking the "cook from scratch" approach and buying all the basics that one could use to make pasta with tomato sauce.  So proper pasta and tins of tomatoes.  And I have no doubt that this is the healthiest option.  BUT someone reliant on the food bank may not have proper cooking facilities or the ££ to pay the energy to cook a tomato sauce properly or even boil the water long enough to do the pasta.  If someone only has a kettle then a pot noodle is a much better option as it only take a minute to boil enough water to make a meal.  Likewise while a jacket potato is a good food it will take an hour in the oven.  Again a packet of instant potatoes takes a fraction of the time.  Likewise there's a big difference between roasting a chicken and heating up a couple of hotdogs.

So anything instant or already cooked will be more cost effective for you energy use than cooking from scratch the majority of the time.  Unless you are happy to eat things straight out of the packet/tin and cold.  

Brambling

I'm also not a fan of ready meals as I don't like the taste however i know my elderly neighbour loved the Wiltshire Farm meals after he was widowed and if you can find a reasonable price brand you like and it works for you why not just be weary of salt, fat and hidden sugars and bear in mind you will probably need to cook veg as well 

I cook just for me from scratch and very rarely use the oven using either my slow cooker, air fryer, microwave or the hob.  When I use my oven like YorksLass I ensure to fill it up by menu planning and make up home made ready meals to freeze, I try to freezer with rice, potato etc and cooked veg so all I need to do for a quick meal is defrost and microwave and I have a complete meal 

When cooking veg I often cook two or three days worth at the same time (I don't mind repeating my veg over several days) and boil with the lid of the pan on to speed it up or you can make changes ie boiled cauliflower one day and cauliflower cheese the next.  Things like mash potato or a root veg mash (carrot, swede, parsnip etc) freeze well if you don't make them too wet, you can either freeze in small containers or I've used a ice cream scoop to open freeze on a baking sheet and then pop into a bag.  I also make 6 or 8 portions of braised red cabbage at a time which also freezes well 

-taff

Personally, I wouldn't buy a bog standard ready meal unless I was in dire straits. I've said this before mumerous times but the best of version all the SMs do is the very least I'd expect from a ready meal because I can make them better, cheaper and tastier.

Cheapness depends on your circumstances, your ability to prep food, your ability and capacity to cook food. People do things differently. If you want to mention your own particular circumstances, we'll all be willing to help.

JIL

If I go on a self catering holiday, sometimes I will buy a couple of ready meals and a bag of prepared salad for our dinner.  It always reminds me why I cook from scratch (although I do use certain curry sauces and sometimes jars of aldi pasta sauces).

pamsdish

I like to cook from scratch too, freeze leftovers and keep a spreadsheet of freezer contents, I mark my bags too i.e., beef stew, and score it, o.k. or delicious, the only readymade I consistently buy is lasagne.