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[JamesV6CDX]

I have read numerous articles recently where people on low budgets have commented online / in the media that because they don't have much money, they have to feed their kids things like frozen pizzas, cheap ready meals, etc etc, because they "can't afford" home cooked food.

I fail to see how it's the case, and have over the last week decided to look at the cost per portion of what I'm buying/making.

Last meal, serves 4 -

Whole chicken, medium £4
2 x leeks £80p
3 carrots £30p
10 potatoes (£1.20)

Total cost £6.30. Fed four, so just over £1.50 per portion for a healthy roast.

Tonight

1 x courgette (half used) so 40p worth
1 x can chopped tomato 30p
1 x can kidney beans 30p
1 x can butter beans 30p
1 x red pepper 33p
1 x onion 25p
Rice, and a few spices, say £1 worth used.

£2.88 in total for the most delicious home made, slow cooked chilli, serves 4 generously, nice wholesome meal for 72p per head, and took no more than 5 minutes to prepare and chuck in the slow cooker.

I can only conclude that it's either laziness, or lack of knowledge / don't want to know / "too hard"

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Buying real food that takes a little 'preparation' will always work out less expensive.

Sadly though, there is a small but persistent element of society who spend the time they could be preparing a cheap wholesome meal instead queuing outside the local chip shop/ kebab shop/ burger joint.

Once a week is fine but it easily becomes a lazy (and expensive) habit.

[BazaJT]

I think it must be laziness,as you say a couple of minutes of prep. work sling it in slow cooker and away you go.Can't be lack of know how,using a slow cooker ain't rocket science if I can use one[and I do]then anyone can!

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I can never understand why anyone would pay to have a pizza delivered.

Take one out of the freezer and put it in the oven. I mean, how hard can it be?

Instead they pay extra and wait for god knows how long for a spotty youth ( who has probably self-abused three times that day already )to deliver a cold floppy piece of dough covered in assorted crap.  

[plym ian]

Pizza from aldi 89p and les time to prepare than fresh

[JamesV6CDX]

Last pizza I ordered, I made it very clear I wanted it for 11pm, and NO Earlier because I wouldn't be home (wanted it when I got in from the pub).

When I got home in good time at 2245, there was a battered old Peugeot 206 on my drive, with an eastern European bloke sat in it. I thought "who the break is this". I looked into his car, he was smoking, with the windows closed, and there were cigarette butts EVERYWHERE, a sea of them, including underneath my pizza box on the passenger seat 

I told him he wasn't getting a penny and to take it away. Filthy animals.

[Rods2]

The cheapest, healthiest way to eat is by making freshly prepared food from basic ingredients, home cooked food. It tastes much better as well. Basic meals are easy to prepare and cook and for those that are short of time, bulk cook and then freeze what you don't use.

Generally, the frozen processed food Maccy D people are the sort that are on TB's cull list. I've also noticed that most people under 40 generally struggle with making basic things and use jars of cook-in sauces etc. and those 30 and below it is not real food unless it comes in a jar, tin or packet to be heated or delivered as a takeaway. This includes things like sunday roasts and Christmas dinner etc. Salads come in pre-prepared bags and fruit is bought as pealed, segmented pieces in bowls. This is because they haven't got time to prepare and cook where they are too busy watching x-factor, big-brother, celeb-whatever, knobenders while messaging on arsebook such insprationation must read stories to their friends, like I'm breathing-in, now I'm breathing out, here's a picture of cleaver me on Instragrot breathing-in and then breathing out again, with 'cool' cat features ears and nose overlay picture with my bbf.

The Smartphone generation will be remembered as when Essex-girl aspirations and lifestyle went nationwide!

[Doctor Gollum]

Not including treats/snacks/curry, I reckon I could comfortably, and healthily live off £90 a month.

Except for milk and cereal, the bulk is frozen ingredients which get lumped into a tub and nuked. This is primarily for time reasons and I only have access to a microwave at work.

[Sir Tigger KC]

My tea tonight. 

Large Costco chicken breast - £1.80ish (as I buy a large tray and freeze them)
Rocket Salad - about 30p
Cherry Tomatoes - about 20p
Jacket Potato - About 10p
Pile of Humous - About 25p 10p
Half a stick of Garlic Bread - 15p

£2.80!  £2.50! Bloody hell I'm extravagant!   

I'm having a late tea tonight and just realised that I've no garlic bread left in the freezer and not much humous left. 

[Bigron]

Bin-diving round the back of Tesco's - free, except for the petrol cost getting there!

Ron.

[Doctor Gollum]

My usual dinner is...

1 smoked mackerel, bought from fish counter and frozen at home/1 jumbo frankfurter.
1 bag of microwave rice, egg fried or Mexican.
4 cubes of frozen spinach.
3 stalks of frozen asparagus.
1 cup of frozen sweet corn.
1/2 a frozen avocado.

Gets nuked for 6-7 minutes. Very tasty

[STEMO]

My usual dinner is...

1 smoked mackerel, bought from fish counter and frozen at home/1 jumbo frankfurter.
1 bag of microwave rice, egg fried or Mexican.
4 cubes of frozen spinach.
3 stalks of frozen asparagus.
1 cup of frozen sweet corn.

Gets nuked for 6-7 minutes. Very tasty

Ermmmm....if you say so 😷

[Mister Rog]

Pasta !

All those Italians can't be wrong. It's incredible what you can do with it, very cheaply, and very tastilly, and very nutritionally. A 500 grm pack of spag or penne or similar in Lidl is .45p. Add a few bits and pieces and I'll feed 4 for around £3 or maybe £4. Yes I'm serious. And . . . it would be a credit to a half decent Italian restaurant that would charge £10 per person for it.

Meal for 4 Lidl

Pack of penne .45
Tin chopped tomatoes. 0.35p
An onion. maybe 0.20P or so ?
Pack of beef meatballs £1.60
Dash of oil, salt, black pepper fresh or dried garlic  . . . .I dunno, lets say 0.40p
Push the boat out . . . .  a glass of red wine   0.50
25 minutes of gas or electricity . . . I have no effin idea

Many variations on the above that are even cheaper, and sometimes better 












 

[Rods2]

Mediterranean diet is the healthiest you can eat and typically adds 2 years to a person's lifespan.

Making a basic bolognese sauce is quick and easy and can be used for a range of pasta dishes.

[Varche]

Mediterranean diet is the healthiest you can eat and typically adds 2 years to a person's lifespan.

Making a basic bolognese sauce is quick and easy and can be used for a range of pasta dishes.

Ha i am two years older than i thought. How come i havent got my pension then?

Another big problem is the waste. People buy stuff without a real meal plan and it goes off or the dreaded out of date. I have problems with onions out of a five kilo sack sprouting due to the ambient heat before they all get used.

I met a couple the other day who buy a chicken , roast it and eat the white breast meat and BIN the rest. Outrageous  on so many levels.

[ronnyd]

Pasta !

All those Italians can't be wrong. It's incredible what you can do with it, very cheaply, and very tastilly, and very nutritionally. A 500 grm pack of spag or penne or similar in Lidl is .45p. Add a few bits and pieces and I'll feed 4 for around £3 or maybe £4. Yes I'm serious. And . . . it would be a credit to a half decent Italian restaurant that would charge £10 per person for it.

Meal for 4 Lidl

Pack of penne .45
Tin chopped tomatoes. 0.35p
An onion. maybe 0.20P or so ?
Pack of beef meatballs £1.60
Dash of oil, salt, black pepper fresh or dried garlic  . . . .I dunno, lets say 0.40p
Push the boat out . . . .  a glass of red wine   0.50
25 minutes of gas or electricity . . . I have no effin idea

Many variations on the above that are even cheaper, and sometimes better 












 

Bl**dy hell, can you buy a bottle of wine for £1.50 in your neck of the woods? Rest looks good though.

[Mister Rog]

Pasta !

All those Italians can't be wrong. It's incredible what you can do with it, very cheaply, and very tastilly, and very nutritionally. A 500 grm pack of spag or penne or similar in Lidl is .45p. Add a few bits and pieces and I'll feed 4 for around £3 or maybe £4. Yes I'm serious. And . . . it would be a credit to a half decent Italian restaurant that would charge £10 per person for it.

Meal for 4 Lidl

Pack of penne .45
Tin chopped tomatoes. 0.35p
An onion. maybe 0.20P or so ?
Pack of beef meatballs £1.60
Dash of oil, salt, black pepper fresh or dried garlic  . . . .I dunno, lets say 0.40p
Push the boat out . . . .  a glass of red wine   0.50
25 minutes of gas or electricity . . . I have no effin idea

Many variations on the above that are even cheaper, and sometimes better 

 

Bl**dy hell, can you buy a bottle of wine for £1.50 in your neck of the woods? Rest looks good though.

Ah . . . . . well no. Caught out      I buy my wine abroad 

[Rods2]

Pasta !

All those Italians can't be wrong. It's incredible what you can do with it, very cheaply, and very tastilly, and very nutritionally. A 500 grm pack of spag or penne or similar in Lidl is .45p. Add a few bits and pieces and I'll feed 4 for around £3 or maybe £4. Yes I'm serious. And . . . it would be a credit to a half decent Italian restaurant that would charge £10 per person for it.

Meal for 4 Lidl

Pack of penne .45
Tin chopped tomatoes. 0.35p
An onion. maybe 0.20P or so ?
Pack of beef meatballs £1.60
Dash of oil, salt, black pepper fresh or dried garlic  . . . .I dunno, lets say 0.40p
Push the boat out . . . .  a glass of red wine   0.50
25 minutes of gas or electricity . . . I have no effin idea

Many variations on the above that are even cheaper, and sometimes better 

 

Bl**dy hell, can you buy a bottle of wine for £1.50 in your neck of the woods? Rest looks good though.

Ah . . . . . well no. Caught out      I buy my wine abroad 

With a reasonably filled standard wine glass I get 5 glasses out of a bottle. At 67p per glass that is £3.35 or 3 bottles for £10 of their finest Nitromors red from my local off licence. Not very drinkable but fine for cooking and a glass of cheap red wine really does enhance the flavour of a bolognese sauce.

[Varche]

70 cents a litre in our local supermarket. I use it in everything from gravy, stew, paella,soup. One of the joys of living abroad.

Anyone remember the wine concentrate you used to be able tobuy in the 80,s. .?Great for that dish of the time chicken in wineandherbs!

[tunnie]

We have a Waitrose on site at Sky for us, only for use by Sky people. I often pop along at 4pm and get some reduced things. Pot of double cream for £0.10, normally £1. Fresh mackerel £0.90 for big pack. Pack for 4 fresh burgers £1.10.

Popped burgers in freezer for another day and did a potatoes fish bake thing with the cream.

[Marks DTM Calib]

I suspect the food never gets as far as the table.....

[Lizzie Zoom]

So many men talking in detail on dish recipes!!!

Just PLEASE, PLEASE, do not all go into supermarkets together and too often!  Why?  Because on my cull list is men, along with very OAP's,  in supermarkets not knowing the rules of being there; where to place your trolley when browsing; taking so much time stuck in the way across where my desired product is; walking down the isle very slowly and somehow blocking everyone else's path of progress, and then at the checkout taking soooo looooong to unpack the trolley.............. so long to pack the bags as the product comes out the other side..............taking 5 minutes to dig out any coupons they have...........then finding their cards to pay, but taking 3 attempts to enter their PIN's.

Where is TB's cull list!

[Bigron]

They were not men's traits you were describing, Lizzie. How often have I been trying to get through the aisles only to find 2 or 3 women b locking it and chatting trivia, and holding up the till queue until they get their purses out at the last minute, when presented with the amount to pay?
We know what we want before entering, TRY to go straigh to it and have our money/cards ready before joining the till queue!
Grrrr...

Ron.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Yes Ron is right Lizzie, the traits you describe are not something most men do. 

We don't browse for example as we know what we want, go in and get it, pay for it and get out ASAP! 

Women on the other hand......     The thing that women do that pisses me off is when they are at the checkout, and they're bagging everything up as the checkout person is scanning it and then when they've finished, they have to spend 5 minutes searching through a huge handbag for the purse...  Why can't they have the purse, cash and/or cards ready before they go to the checkout!  Aaaah!     

[Varche]

  especially the Sharon thing. I bet she has a 68 inch 4D curved smart TV with full Sky package and a car outside that doesn't work through lack of any maintenance 

[Nick W]

As above.


Another thing is repacking 4 bags when it's obvious that they've got 5 bags worth of stuff.


Shopping is a chore, not a social occasion.


Remember when you were taught to drive, and had to reverse around the corner? That's how you use rows of parking spaces.

[Andy B]

Another thing that women do is, when they spot something they might want to choose, they leave their trolley at 90 degs to the aisle while they ponder ...... then give you a hard stare when you push their trolley out of the way with yours 

[Varche]

Another thing that women do is, when they spot something they might want to choose, they leave their trolley at 90 degs to the aisle while they ponder ...... then give you a hard stare when you push their trolley out of the way with yours 

push? Andy- you obviously aren't moving at bloke shopping pace. Ram was the word you were looking for.

[LC0112G]

And never, repeat NEVER, join a checkout queue where there is a female member of staff (identifiable by wearing her uniform) in the queue in-front of you. Once the till operator starts scanning their stuff they'll start nattering about all the in-shop gossip and it'll be next Christmas before you get served.

Occasionally it's unavoidable if the staff member is undercover in plain clothes though.

[Bigron]

James, what have you started?!!! 

Ron.

[aaronjb]

Remember when you were taught to drive, and had to reverse around the corner? That's how you use rows of parking spaces.

Removed from the driving test, I believe.

[JamesV6CDX]

And never, repeat NEVER, join a checkout queue where there is a female member of staff 

Number 1 factor in my decision making around which checkout to use, is how attractive the lady on the till is 

[Bigron]

Yes James, that's a given - obviously your recovery is progressing well! ROFL!

Ron.

[Nick W]

Remember when you were taught to drive, and had to reverse around the corner? That's how you use rows of parking spaces.

Removed from the driving test, I believe.

Yes, because being able to program the satnav is obviously far more important than proving you can drive the oppsing car! The test should have included ALL of the manouvers.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

And never, repeat NEVER, join a checkout queue where there is a female member of staff 

Number 1 factor in my decision making around which checkout to use, is how attractive the lady on the till is 

Yep.....always choose an attractive young woman rather than a toothless old crone.

Some of the 'girls on the till' are older than time itself. Way past 65.

They are so slow I can hear myself whispering  under my breath " OFFS hurry up gormless old hag"

Why are they there?

[Kevin Wood]

And never, repeat NEVER, join a checkout queue where there is a female member of staff 

Number 1 factor in my decision making around which checkout to use, is how attractive the lady on the till is 

Yep.....always choose an attractive young woman rather than a toothless old crone.

Some of the 'girls on the till' are older than time itself. Way past 65.

They are so slow I can hear myself whispering  under my breath " OFFS hurry up gormless old hag"

Why are they there?

The chiller aisles are where the real action is.

 

[Bigron]

As I am to be the Minister of Transport in TB's administration, one of the changes I would make is to implement compulsory re-testing every 5 years, with at least an hour long test so that faults will show up in driving habits.
Expensive? Yes, but gobvernments of all flavours have consistently short-changed the motorist, and that will change.
I plan to use far more of the £55,000,000,000 collected from motoring taxes on motoring services, presently set at a tenth of that figure.
Let the Home Secretary make up the shortfall in general taxation that such a policy would create! 

Ron.

[JamesV6CDX]

Yes James, that's a given - obviously your recovery is progressing well! ROFL!

Ron.

Recovery is neither here nor there, one thing that helped me get through my hospital stay was the NURSES! 
Oh and the physiotherapist there. Why don’t we have a dribbling smiley

[Bigron]

I bet they made it hard for you, James! Did you think of Joanne Whalley (Singing Detective series)?

Ron.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I bet they made it hard for you, James! Did you think of Joanne Whalley (Singing Detective series)?

Ron.

Messy.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I bet they made it hard for you, James! Did you think of Joanne Whalley (Singing Detective series)?

Ron.

I though it went hard all on it's own in the SD.

.......or did nurse Whalley lend a helping hand?

[TheBoy]

Doesn't food grow in that thing in the kitchen. I think she calls it a cooker? And I've seen her harvest it and put on a plate for me.

As for supermarkets, WTF are they?

[BazaJT]

When at the checkout I always chuck the shopping back into the trolley and then push it outside and bag it up there.Some years ago out of interest I timed myself from walking through the doors to walking out again[this was on a Friday evening and I did nothing different to usual]and a full weeks shopping took me 11mins. I think if I'd got myself a wriggle on I could've done it quicker.

[BazaJT]

Apparently Morrisons were recently selling Tesco tea bags and to make matters worse[better?]they were selling them cheaper than Tesco were

[Lizzie Zoom]

Doesn't food grow in that thing in the kitchen. I think she calls it a cooker? And I've seen her harvest it and put on a plate for me.

As for supermarkets, WTF are they?

Now that is what I want from men. Leave us woman to the shopping, to get some peace and quiet and not get in our way or continually ask "How much?!"

 

[Lizzie Zoom]

When at the checkout I always chuck the shopping back into the trolley and then push it outside and bag it up there.Some years ago out of interest I timed myself from walking through the doors to walking out again[this was on a Friday evening and I did nothing different to usual]and a full weeks shopping took me 11mins. I think if I'd got myself a wriggle on I could've done it quicker.

Ah, you see it is not only the very slow ones that I mentioned before who do not know the rules of supermarket / any retail shopping, it is also those men (always men) who race round, diving in and out at great speed, knocking us all over and spoiling our female enjoyment time, disrupting the soothing ambience.

   

[Bigron]

Soothing ambience, Lizzie? You must be joking! The women are usually dragging around one or several unruly, disruptive feral kids who scream the place down if they don't get all the sweets that thay want. That usually means that the mothers are pram-faces, with no bloke to be an authority figure, so they rule tha mother....

Ron.

[ronnyd]

Was in Aldi today, young girl next in line at checkout with one, yes one, item on the conveyor. Head buried in mobile phone screen, lady in front of her finished at checkout so her item was checked through. She only then decided to actually get her purse from her handbag. All her change must have fallen into the bottomless depths of her bag as it took her ages to find the princely sum of 79p. The cashier had to ask her three times for the money. Dizzy bint.

[BazaJT]

Ah,Lizzie men "race" round because they know what they want,get it,buy it and gone because they've got better things to do with their time than "enjoy?"the ambience-do supermarkets have such a thing?

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

I wish some of you people would come and do our shopping.
Friday routine is as follows. Swmbo goes in Sainsburys. I wait in the car for an hour. Then I go in to hurry things up a bit and find she is no more than a quarter of the way round the food section, having spent at least half an hour upstairs looking at, and often buying, the clothes. It then takes almost another hour to get to the till, where the cashier relieves us of, on average, £115.
To me, this seems rather on the high side for two people, but what do I know about shopping ? 

[TheBoy]

When at the checkout I always chuck the shopping back into the trolley and then push it outside and bag it up there.Some years ago out of interest I timed myself from walking through the doors to walking out again[this was on a Friday evening and I did nothing different to usual]and a full weeks shopping took me 11mins. I think if I'd got myself a wriggle on I could've done it quicker.

Ah, you see it is not only the very slow ones that I mentioned before who do not know the rules of supermarket / any retail shopping, it is also those men (always men) who race round, diving in and out at great speed, knocking us all over and spoiling our female enjoyment time, disrupting the soothing ambience.

   

Ms Zoom, are you being sexist

If this place was politically correct, you'd be hung out to dry


Of course men are allowed in supermarkets.  The politically incorrect term for them are ladyboys.

[Bigron]

The solution, Albs, would be to leave SWMBO at home, go to Sainsbury's alone, whiz around getting what you need (NOT going upstairs to buy ladies' clothes - unless.....), have your money ready before you join the till queue, pay and bugger off back home - job done! 

Ron.

[TheBoy]

The solution, Albs, would be to stay at home, give Mrs Albs £20 to get the weekly groceries

FTFY

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

The solution, Albs, would be to leave SWMBO at home, go to Sainsbury's alone, whiz around getting what you need (NOT going upstairs to buy ladies' clothes - unless.....), have your money ready before you join the till queue, pay and bugger off back home - job done! 

Ron.

Tried that Ron. The shopping is subjected to close inspection upon my return, and is deemed to be missing very many vital items, without which, we wont survive to go to Sainsburys next Friday.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

The solution, Albs, would be to stay at home, give Mrs Albs £20 to get the weekly groceries

FTFY

This plan would save me a fortune, but I would need to learn to cook, so its a non starter. 

[Bigron]

The solution, Albs, would be to leave SWMBO at home, go to Sainsbury's alone, whiz around getting what you need (NOT going upstairs to buy ladies' clothes - unless.....), have your money ready before you join the till queue, pay and bugger off back home - job done! 

Ron.

Tried that Ron. The shopping is subjected to close inspection upon my return, and is deemed to be missing very many vital items, without which, we wont survive to go to Sainsburys next Friday.

Ok, Plan B - get her to compile a list of what she deems necessary for survival.....

Ron.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Clothes - lots of them, regularly, especially if they are reduced bargains as this saves a lot of money.
Heat lots of it, all the time.
Food. Lots of variations, readily available all the time.
Shoes. No less than 20 pairs.
TV - especailly soap operas.
Husband / partner who knows where a money tree grows.

Same list as most other women in the world. 

[Lizzie Zoom]

Ah,Lizzie men "race" round because they know what they want,get it,buy it and gone because they've got better things to do with their time than "enjoy?"the ambience-do supermarkets have such a thing?

Ah Baza, you obviously don't feel the vibes that women like me feel when shopping and all the lovely articles on sale and the possibilities they conjure up in our minds.  With people like me it is ingrained from an early age and I haven't lost that wonderful feeling when working or shopping in retail places. 

[Lizzie Zoom]

When at the checkout I always chuck the shopping back into the trolley and then push it outside and bag it up there.Some years ago out of interest I timed myself from walking through the doors to walking out again[this was on a Friday evening and I did nothing different to usual]and a full weeks shopping took me 11mins. I think if I'd got myself a wriggle on I could've done it quicker.

Ah, you see it is not only the very slow ones that I mentioned before who do not know the rules of supermarket / any retail shopping, it is also those men (always men) who race round, diving in and out at great speed, knocking us all over and spoiling our female enjoyment time, disrupting the soothing ambience.

   

Ms Zoom, are you being sexist

If this place was politically correct, you'd be hung out to dry


Of course men are allowed in supermarkets.  The politically incorrect term for them are ladyboys.

Yep TB I am and feeling proud to do so!!

It is not only the men on here who can be sexist and non-PC!