Cheapest white sauce for lasagne?

maman

I never buy the jars of tomato sauce. I make up my own ragu. I prefer chopped tomatoes to passata as I like it chunky.

 As well as the usual meat, onions and garlic I add loads of veg like mushrooms, courgette, celery, peppers and diced carrots as well as some herbs and seasoning.

I batch cook it in the SC and freeze in portions ready to make up lasagne or have with spaghetti or other pasta. 

Rosa_Damascena

Thanks @PipneyJane, I shall investigate. I looked carefully at Lidl's long life milk yesterday and although homogenised (as one might expect) it is not UHT, and that is the taste I have been craving.

beckstar1975

We bought some Vivia long life milk in Lidl on Friday and that is UHT @Rosa_Damascena

Glad

I make my white and cheese sauces in the microwave, same process, melt butter, quickly stir in flour and then milk, heat and stir after 30 secs and then every minute, add cheese if using for last minute, stir well.
I find a touch of mustard is good too 

elsien

And if we're even more on a budget I will use less mince in the meat sauce and put some lentils in to bulk it out. 

PipneyJane

Rosa_Damascena said:

Thanks @PipneyJane, I shall investigate. I looked carefully at Lidl's long life milk yesterday and although homogenised (as one might expect) it is not UHT, and that is the taste I have been craving.

Sorry to contradict you @Rosa_Damascena but it is UHT.  Here’s a photo of their long-life skimmed milk that I took yesterday:



The thought occurs to me that the taste you’re craving is the cooked cream taste from UHT full cream milk.  Personally, I can’t stand it, which is why I only buy UHT Skimmed Milk (tastes much more like fresh to me).

- Pip

Matty246

When did shopping get so complicated? The reading of the labels to check ingredients and the maths to compare items when the price per kilo label is missing.

gt568

Rosa_Damascena said:

Thanks @PipneyJane, I shall investigate. I looked carefully at Lidl's long life milk yesterday and although homogenised (as one might expect) it is not UHT, and that is the taste I have been craving.

What is the difference here between long lif and UHT?  I'd assumed previously they were the same?

beckstar1975

I finally made the lasagne last night - 8 portions worth for our tea so we've got leftovers for lunch, and then 4 double portions for DS. Ended up using 2 jars of L1dl white sauce for speed and it was £1.38 for the two of them which worked out at 8.6p per portion. £1.10 for the pasta, £8.98 for meat (beef plus pork mince) £1.41 for the tomatoes, 10p for oil, £1 for other random veg I whizzed up in food processor to bulk it out and hide plus 10p worth of lentils and £1 worth of cheese. All in that's 94p per portion - that's not bad and will keep DS going a while.

Next time I would use half the meat and bulk out with either soy mince or more lentils and make the sauce as I like it with more creamy sauce - though some of the kids said they preferred it like last night with less. I hope to get it down to 60p a portion as I've seen it for sale at 75p a portion and am sure I could beat it

analogueauntie

I've had success with a Chicken & Spinach lasagne that used blended cottage cheese in lieu of white sauce.