How do I figure out how much to spend on groceries?

plaguedbyfoibles

BridgetTheCat said:

The nhs Eatwell Guide gives ratios of food groups for a healthy diet https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-guidelines-and-food-labels/the-eatwell-guide/

But other than that there are too many variables to say I’m afraid! Are you male or female? Active or sedentary? Are you trying to lose weight, or bulk up (or stay about the same)? Calorie requirements differ for each of these.

Then there’s the type of food. Can you cook from scratch, or do you need ready meals? Do you like the finer things or are you happy to stick with the basics? Do you eat meat, or are you vegetarian/ vegan? Any other dietary restrictions? 

And what about equipment - do you have access to a full kitchen? An oven and hob? A slow cooker? An air fryer?

Looking for ways to trim back existing spending is all very well unless you’re just starting out, in which case I’d buy a basic cookbook (mine is the Good Housekeeping one) select a few favourite meals and work out how much they cost to make.

Do you have a link for the cookbook, as there are multiple under the Good Housekeeping brand / umbrella?

plaguedbyfoibles

I've signed up for https://milk-street-cooking-school.teachable.com/p/knifeskills too

Emmia

plaguedbyfoibles said:

BridgetTheCat said:

The nhs Eatwell Guide gives ratios of food groups for a healthy diet https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-guidelines-and-food-labels/the-eatwell-guide/

But other than that there are too many variables to say I’m afraid! Are you male or female? Active or sedentary? Are you trying to lose weight, or bulk up (or stay about the same)? Calorie requirements differ for each of these.

Then there’s the type of food. Can you cook from scratch, or do you need ready meals? Do you like the finer things or are you happy to stick with the basics? Do you eat meat, or are you vegetarian/ vegan? Any other dietary restrictions? 

And what about equipment - do you have access to a full kitchen? An oven and hob? A slow cooker? An air fryer?

Looking for ways to trim back existing spending is all very well unless you’re just starting out, in which case I’d buy a basic cookbook (mine is the Good Housekeeping one) select a few favourite meals and work out how much they cost to make.

Do you have a link for the cookbook, as there are multiple under the Good Housekeeping brand / umbrella?

Not the Good Housekeeping book, but when I went to Uni, I was packed off with a copy of "The Dairy Book" - mine was the 90's edition, but if you search you'll find a more recent edition, as well as those going back to the 1970's

https://amzn.eu/d/8pV4CmT

The other book I've used extensively is "a celebration of soup" by Lindsay Bareham - there's a few editions, but this is the version I have.

A Celebration of Soup: With Classic Recipes from Around the World by Bareham, Lindsey: Used; Good Paperback (1994) | Reuseabook https://share.google/Cy6qh99VuOHZZq7XH

dreaming

One way to learn could be to look at a recipe for something similar to a ready meal you enjoy and try to cost and then cook that. My advice would be to start small - i.e. just perfect one or two meals at a time rather than try to cook every meal from sratch - or you might find it too overwhelming. Could one of your parents, or a friend teach you their favourite recipe if it's something you enoy? Some good basic knowledge can be gained from cookery books aimed at students (e.g. The Hungry Student Cookbook) as sometimes cookery books can assume you have some skills. As you enjoy research try costing out the foods you do eat over a week and see if one or other supermarket is cheaper, and look at going "down a brand" where it works for you. For example Weetabix is considerably dearer than supermarket's own brands. Try it to see - personally I don't notice the difference in many items but also won't compromise on certain things, but you won't know until you try. As the mother of 2 adult children on the spectrum I do appreciate that you may have a more rigid approach to what you will eat and when but I'm sure you can also put your love of research into finding a way forward that suits you - and if that includes the use of convenience foods (whether ready meals or frozen chopped veg etc.) then that's nobody's business but yours.

RAS

First thing is to work out what you actually like eating. Then learn one dish that you enjoy.  And remember that the reason people become world champions is because every time they fail, they get back up and try again. They've far more experience of failure than the mediocre folk.

One small suggest if you eat a lot of ready meals is to identify all the veggies you like eating. Many don't require knife skills, top and tail green beans, tip and remove the harder string from mangetout, cut a tomato in two if you need to, or cook whole, break up mushrooms or caulis.

If you've got a microwave, just put harder veggies in a little water and cook for two minutes, check, you want them undercooked initially. Drain, add anything like peppers, mushrooms and a little oil, ghee or butter, and cook for another minute. Aim for 3-4 different varieties. When you cook your ready meal, add the part-cooked veggies in the sauce, and cook the whole lot fully.

With a fryer, just have a heatproof bowl, cook the harder veggies in a little oil, in the shelf under your meal, toss in the ones needing less cooking in, stir through and give them 3 minutes. Then add to the meal or serve as a side. 

Most veggies can go in the microwave, although aubergine and courgette aren't great. Leafy greens just need 30secs to a minute.

Air fryers don't work with brassicas, hard veggies or leaf greens. You need to braise veggies, so some oil is needed. But courgette, squashes, potatoes, tray bakes and aubergine work fine.

That adds several portions of veggies and fibre along side your ready meal, makes you feel a lot fuller, reduces snacking and costs nothing or little more to your cooking costs. Most veggies keep 3-7 days as long as you remove the plastic wrapper of them.

kimwp

plaguedbyfoibles said:

I've signed up for https://milk-street-cooking-school.teachable.com/p/knifeskills too

Signing up for a course is a great idea. There's cut-resistant gloves that you can buy, they might be a good purchase while you practice.

JES_F1

Apologies if I'm repeating anything that's already been posted but just wanted to recommend a couple of good ranges of recipe books: BBC Good Food books and Hamlyn All Colour Cookbooks - both have a great range covering such things as 'really easy recipes', pasta, one-pot dishes, and slow-cooker recipes.

I'd also recommend the Pinch of Nom books.

kimwp

Regarding recipes, I'd echo what another poster said earlier - start with making meals that you already eat. If you like chicken curry, Google "easy chicken curry recipe"

Otherwise you'll likely end up with lots of books that you barely use. (Unless you find books easier to use than recipes on the internet)

What ready meals do you currently buy? What food do you pick when you go to a restaurant?

ZeroSum

Start a spreadsheet on how much you spend on each thing. Work out cost per gram etc then work out cost of meal.