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Old 12-05-2011, 13:13   #11
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Jonny69 be careful having been ill and all

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Old 12-05-2011, 13:32   #12
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Good point - You need to bring your strength back up Jon


I agree entirely about the spending a few £s more on good quality meat. I believe you really can't afford NOT to, also from the ethical point of view - however, I'm a hyprocrite as I love things like Foie Gras and other such things.

I eat a lot of fish, fruit and veg and eggs. Then a lot of poultry too. I do love my red meat but only really have 2 portions a week (a portion for me is fairly sizeable I must admit). Unfortunately meat costs a lot, though fish and poultry is reasonably priced still - but in general less calorific.

Fortunately fruit and veg is still reasonably priced as are dairy products - which whilst I love, I tend to keep to a minimum (except for cheese ) - though I tend to only have full fat milk as it tastes so damned good.

Typically in a day I'll eat the following:

A couple of smoked mackerel fillets with a couple of poached/fried eggs
Small bowl of porridge or homemade muesli
A fruit of some kind
Then some home made sandwiches (containing, chicken, pork, turkey, salad, cheese etc... inside either homemade bread or multi seed "food doctor" pittas - amounting to about 300-400 calories each) or left overs from the day before (i.e. if I cook too much (on purpose) so that I can take some in to lunch.
About 100g of mixed unroasted unsalted nuts
Fruits
I always have things like fish fingers or frankfurters or small fillets of turkey (quick cook steaks) for a little snack in the evenings or after the gym
A small tub of cottage cheese
At least 500g of meat/fish/poultry
At least 200g of veg

Clearly some days I will have rice/pasta/more carby/starchy based meals too. In the winter I love making cottage/shepperds pies, and fish pies. I also make pancakes often (almost weekly).

I always cook with butter, and like my food rich and flavoursome. That's why I train so hard at the gym!


That's typical for me on a day to day basis. It amounts to around 2700-3000 calories sometimes more if I'm having a naughty day!

If I was willing to compromise on quality of meats then I probably could spend less - but I just enjoy my food too much.

The best way I found of saving is to see how much stuff I throw away - recently I have literally thrown no food away. So I think I've got the balance just right - I've just about got used to shopping for myself again especially now I'm back at the gym.
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Old 12-05-2011, 14:21   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitten View Post
We buy a lot of 'basic' range stuff but only if it's as good as the more expensive branded stuff
This is where Sainsburys is a real let down. A lot of their value brand food is just near inedible. Where they've driven the cost down the quality has gone with it, especially the meat. There are the odd exceptions though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BBx View Post
Jonny69 be careful having been ill and all

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Thanks for the thought. I'm making sure there are no compromises if I can

So far I'm putting a spreadsheet together to work out the costs of the cupboard regulars. Breakfast is what I'm including in this because it's going to be the same pretty much every week, made up of porridge, smoothies, toast and a fry up at the weekend. These items will need to sit in the cupboard or freezer, so for example a pack of oats is 1500g which is 50 of my servings, TTD sausages in packs of 6 can either go in the freezer or be used in meals along the week, cost of servings of 100ml of milk etc etc. I'm also weighing what I'm eating for the next few days to gauge the actual size of portions of fruit, yoghurt, oats etc.

Example: bowl of porridge, 200g:
Oats, 2 tablespoons, 30g - £0.03 (based on 1500g bag of porridge oats @ £1.41)
Milk 150ml - £0.08 (based on 4-pint bottle of whole milk @ £1.25)
Water 20ml - £0.00
Total: £0.11

That is an actual size bowl of porridge I'd eat and rounded up the milk a bit because I used slightly less.

What I need to do next is buy some fruit and veg to gauge the unit costs of things like bananas, apples, potatoes, carrots etc. Then I can work out costs of portion sizes in meals and smoothies and work out what costs what and where

Quote:
Originally Posted by Will View Post
If I was willing to compromise on quality of meats then I probably could spend less - but I just enjoy my food too much.
Lol, this won't be for everyone. I think you just eat too much to ever be able to spend as little as me
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Old 12-05-2011, 15:29   #14
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Old 12-05-2011, 16:02   #15
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Well it's not looking good for me so far

Working out breakfast options.

Smoothie, soft fruit eg strawberries, blueberries, 300ml
Soft fruit 100g: £1.00
Yoghurt 100g: £0.06
Oats 10g: £0.01
Milk 100ml: £0.06
Total = £1.12

I usually have 5 of those a week so that's half my budget gone

Alternatives:

Smoothie, Nesquik, 300ml
Milk powder 60g: £0.24
Nesquik 20g : £0.11
Milk 250ml: £0.14
Total = £0.49

Smoothie, banana, 300ml
Banana: (estimate) £0.30
Yoghurt 100g: £0.06
Oats 10g: £0.01
Milk 100ml: £0.06
Total = £0.42

Better, but still not looking great...
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Old 12-05-2011, 17:09   #16
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Wow this will be interesting! I budget myself to £100 a month on food and drinks although haven't been strictly sticking to this! Need to get out £100 again each month and put it in my kitty... only way I can do it
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Old 12-05-2011, 21:52   #17
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I've done a test recipe tonight to check the costs and quantities.

Bean casserole with sausages.

Ingredients (serves 2):
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 courgette 150g
1 carton of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 tin of cannellini or borlotti beans
4 sausages
salt/pepper/chilli to season

Chop all the veg roughly. Lightly fry the garlic in a little olive oil and add the rest of the vegetables. Add the tomatoes, drain the beans and add them too. Season with salt, pepper and a small pinch of chilli. Simmer for 20-30 minutes depending how soft you like the veg. Grill the sausages. Spoon out into a bowl and get stuck in with a nice thick slice of buttered bread

The important bit - the costs.

Ok, so going on Sainsburys prices the total is as follows:

1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 yellow pepper = 3/5 Basics pepper pack at £1.35 = 81p
1 courgette 150g = 27p
1 carton of chopped tomatoes = 33p
2 cloves garlic = 1/4 of bulb of Organic 3 pack = 1/12*90p = 7.5p
1 tin of cannellini or borlotti beans = 44p
4 TTD sausages = £1.72

Total: £3.64

My veg came from the market and was substantially cheaper as so:
Red peppers: 4/£1
Orange peppers: 8/£1
Yellow peppers: 9/£1
Courgettes: 5/£1

So my veg costs came to 70p compared to Sainsburys £1.10, not as big difference as I was expecting if I'm honest. My total for tonight was £3.24 and we're both stuffed.

Note that I used Taste The Difference sausages and tinned beans. I could have shaved a bit off that by using cheaper sausages and by cooking the beans myself. This would have needed me to soak them overnight but would have literally come to pennies instead of 44p, because even the fancy dried pulses are dead cheap.
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Old 13-05-2011, 16:59   #18
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Another test recipe.

Chunky chicken and vegetable soup (2 portions)



Stock, 500ml (or one Oxo cube @ £0.08)
Carrot, 100g: £0.07
Potato 100g: £0.14
Pearl barley 25g: £0.02
Chicken 125g: £0.54
Total: £0.84

Roughly chop the chicken and vegetables, put everything into a pan and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the pearl barley is soft. Partially blitz it to thicken it up and season with salt and pepper. Dosh it into a bowl and serve with a hunk of buttered bread as per above.

I've been working out the calories as I go as well. There are about 250 calories per serving
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Old 13-05-2011, 17:23   #19
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How much was that slice of bread and butter?

Looks scrummy - soup is underrated: Butternut Squash & Chorizo soup is delicious and usually made from leftovers in this household
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Old 14-05-2011, 17:14   #20
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Using pulses certainly seems to be the way to go for cheapness as well as tastiness.

We spent a little while earlier figuring out what we were going to eat for the coming week. Came up with some recipes and reached the grand total of £5.50 for 5 days worth of evening meals Although granted one meal is something I made last week and put in the freezer (Quorn Lentil Ragu type thing which worked out as about 50p a meal when I priced it up last) but pretty good going for the rest.
Wouldn't be ideal for some though as there's only one day that involves any meat but that'll be fine for us

Love coming up with good ideas for meals, even more so when cheap
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