Any OS tips please for these circumstances?

GFN123

Hi All

I have been avidly reading the OS board & lots of old threads & have come in search of inspiration & advice. I have a vaguely complicated domestic set up & wondered if anyone could suggest recipies and/or ways to cut my food bill fairly dramatically. I spend a fortune on food & really need to cut back.

Apologies if this gets a bit long!!

So the situation is...

At home:

Me - I am an unfussy eater with a particular love of seafood (I'm half Japanese!). I am however not very keen on what I see as Western dishes such as roasts, pies, meat & 2 veg type stuff, lots of mince, casseroles. I eat them when I feel like it, but wouldn't base my normal diet around them.
I am a good, competent cook who has always cooked everything from scratch & love trying new things. I will confess I am a bit of food snob I have always eaten very well & this is probably half my problem with my food budget!

I work full time so don't have free time to hunt around for markets or cheap deals, but I do have a Tesco, an Asda & a Sainsburys available locally.

A (my lodger) - A lives with me & is a very good friend as well as lodger. A used to be a professional chef. The deal is we cook for each other on alternate nights. A is not only an ex-chef but has an extravagant budget with which to buy ingredients. As a result I get fabulous meals every other night. Lucky old me? Well, yes, but I feel the need to then cook him something equally spectacular when it's my turn.
We both love our food & I enjoy cooking for A as much as I enjoy eating his food, but I have no idea how to prepare lovely, inventive meals that don't cost the earth!
A does not like lamb or pork, or big chunks of meat (used to be veggie) so I'm constantly trying to be creative but this ends up costing a fortune! I often resort to doing various stir fries or risottos, but this is getting boring.

Other:

My OH - my OH doesn't live with me, but spends at least 2 nights a week at my place. In total contrast to me, he is not a foodie at all & quite a fussy eater. He won't eat seafood of any description, hates tomatoes (ruling out lots of useful tinned tom recipies), not keen on pulses or salady things :rolleyes:

So, if you are still awake after all that :rotfl: do you have any suggestions for meal plans, ingredients or recipies that can accomodate all these variations on a strict budget??

All advice greatly appreciated

Stephen_Leak

歓迎

Two things immediately spring to mind.

1. Shop at ASDA first, then Tesco or Sainsbury's.

2. Get "A" on board with the OS-ing.

GFN123

Thanks Stephen.

I do shop at Asda mostly, as it the most local store to me anyway, but I just buy & cook the same old stuff & my budget is still too high!

A will never in a million years be OS!! He has no need to budget & doesn't believe in it. Food is his passion & I seriously doubt he would cut back in that area. Going OS is my choice & although I'm sure he will understand if I need to make cheaper meals, I can't see him following suit.

I need to supermarket shop tonight for meals for the rest of this week & weekend when OH is coming to stay... any ideas out there pretty please?

champys

GFN 123 - I can see your dilemma! I would say that first of all careful meal planning will help a lot, i.e. buying exactly what you need and no extra or 'just-in-case'.
I have recently started cooking from a new book I bought here in France, and come up with some amazing, quite 'understated' and fairly light recipes - which have not been expensive at all because little meat is being used which would probably suit both A. and yourself. Examples from last week's meal plan: (will use the french titles)

- tarte aux carottes (sort of quiche-like, but with carrot/cumin filling)
- millefeuilles italiennes (little towers of 1 slice aubergine, 1 slice pork fillet, aubergine again, slice tomato, slice mozzarella)
- galettes champignons/jambon (folded buckwheat crepes with ham/mushroom filling)
- clafoutis chèvre-!pinards (a baked mix of spinach, tomatoes, goat's cheese, egg and flour)

That is the sort of thing. If this interests you, I will start posting my meal plans, and you could pm me for the recipes if anything appeals. I have not posted meal plans yet because I always do my weekly shop mid-week, whereas everybody else plans from the weekend onwards.

tightbarsteward

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

歓迎

Two things immediately spring to mind.

1. Shop at ASDA first, then Tesco or Sainsbury's.

Supermarkets are not always cheaper. Explain to me why I can buy 12 XL Eggs at my local fruit & veg shop for £1.44 but would be charged £1.86 FOR 6 in my local Tesco/Asda whatever.

Shop around. Don't put all your eggs in one basket (pardon the pun!). Also Lidl & Aldi are a good shout.

ravylesley

I think you need to look at this problem from a whole different angle.Whilst your lodger has the finances to have an unlimited budget you have not and therefore I would stop competing pricewise on ingredients and instead go the otherway with trying to cook the nicest meal possible for the lowest price possible.There are many threads on here that tackle the problem of cheap eating and a meal doesnt have to cost a fortune to taste delicious

Lesleyxx

destiny_star2006

why dont all us guys show mr a that being os doesnt mean that you will be eating less nicer sort of thing i do everything os where i can as im new and the family compliment me on the tasty meals they have compared to the horrid stuff there words what i used to make before xx

GFN123

Champys - Thank you. all those suggestions sounds delicious & exactly what I'm after! If I can make stuff to please myself, my OH & A for as little as possible I will be very happy Meal plans would be really useful! I also shop mid week so we would coincide. Will definitely pm for recipies as well, many thanks.

Tightbarsteward (great name!!) - good point about supermarkets but I am limited to shopping in them for the time being. The only Aldi currrently anywhere near would mean petrol costs outweigh the savings.

Ravylesley -

trying to cook the nicest meal possible for the lowest price possible

This is absolutely what I'm trying to do, just stuck for ideas and most of the recipies I have found so far involve stretching meat (ie. roasts) or utilising mince and pulses, or contain things either my OH or A aren't keen on.

Perhaps I should have titled the thread "Being a foodie & catering for fussy eaters the OS way" LOL!

Thanks everyone who has taken the time to reply so far, would be interested to see if there are any foodie and/or fussy OS'ers out there!

destiny_star2006

my family are the most fussyiest of eaters but i must admit we dont eat posh food so carnt be of help there weve never cooked salmon or ala carte menu lmao some ppls meal plans blow me away with the posh wording sounds like its out of a restaurant ...why dont you look on the meal plan thread and go through ppls list and then maybe pm them for the recipe etc i doubt ill be recieving a pm anytime soon tho lmfao x

FZwanab

Is there no chance A. could become your OH?, that would solve one problem!! Only kidding. What about Chicken dishes eg. Chasseur, curries, pastry less quiches using rice instead of pastry as the base. Even if people aren't too excited by tomatoes, they usually like pizzas, you could do half with seafood and the other half with whatever your OH will eat. Hope this helps.

GFN123

FZwanab wrote: »

Is there no chance A. could become your OH?, that would solve one problem!! Only kidding. What about Chicken dishes eg. Chasseur, curries, pastry less quiches using rice instead of pastry as the base. Even if people aren't too excited by tomatoes, they usually like pizzas, you could do half with seafood and the other half with whatever your OH will eat. Hope this helps.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Sorry, I just spat coffee on my laptop in hilarity! A is gay (and I'm a girl)

Thanks for the suggestions, I do make chicken curry (OH loves chicken above all else) and various other things, but whenever I go to OH's house he always make me a chicken dish so I try & vary things at home. OH won't touch pizza if it has tomato on the base :rolleyes:

I have come up with some ideas though and very kindly been given some recipes by champys as well, so I will be trying my new OS frugal-foodie cooking from now on