I see Jamie has gone and done it again, brought out another cookbook. It's called Save With Jamie, it's about making cheap quick healthy meals, which he says average £1.32 per person. I have to say Jamie, you are wide off the mark with cheapness, you would get a three course, gut busting, slap up meal for that amount if you parked your bum at my table.
How about a platefull of this Jamie. A three day stew, and not a dead animal in sight. Potatoes, runner beans, and courgettes from the garden. A handfull of frozen broad beans, half a tin of baked beans in tomato sauce, a handfull of frozen quorn pieces (special offer), and a packet of sauce mix thrown in. Any old sauce mix will do, one that you have had lying around for ages is fine. I have made enough for two more big meals, or could have it for lunch, or it freezes well for another time.
My meals are very cheap at the moment because I am using home grown veg, but come to my house in the winter and I will still be serving up dinners for a lot less than your £1.32. Lot's of love, Meanqueen. Your Superscrimper, tight as a ducks arse, pennypinching, cheap and cheerful pensioner.
Toodle pip.
I completely agree - rice and beans can be very good with the addition of a few herbs and spices!
ReplyDeleteHa - you tell 'im!!
ReplyDeleteAnn in Canada
he has done a lot for folk though making them realize that processed food is expensive. I like him and I love the look of your stew.
ReplyDeleteGill
A strange subject for a book written by somebody with £150 million.
ReplyDeleteI did smile, I live on 3 day stews, because my DH is set in his meat and veg ways. At least he eats 5 veg instead of just 2!
ReplyDeleteHi, I agree £1.32 (that would be a whopping £5.28 for us all) is very generous. I budget for about a £1 pp for everything but it often comes to less...and we eat well for that. Our cupboards are well stocked with pulses, beans and rice, they are our staple and very easy to make taste delicious as he well knows. I like him because he's done a lot to get people cooking again and thinking about the kind of things they put in their body, but his new book isn't going to appeal to people who do real frugal cooking. It's probably more for the middle squeezed I would say. But good luck to him. (Your dinner looks lovely btw)
ReplyDeleteI also eat three+ day stews, but at the moment mine cost almost £0.00 because all the ingedients are from the garden !
ReplyDeleteI added some gravey granules and a stock cube (already in the cupboard) and make some dumplings - just basically flour/oil/water -
so £0.00 divided by 3 = £0.00 !! don't come cheaper than that !
I love rice and beans! I have actually never figured out how much a meal cost me on a regular basis but I'm sure I can't beat your meals Ilona because we do eat meat and fish several times a week. I'm sure that Jamie Oliver's meals included meat or fish and maybe that's why they are more expensive than what you can do. It's hard to keep the prices down if you add those items to your meals.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to open my mouth here - okay, exercise my fingers - without checking any facts but I am sure we could all eat very well indeed for a long time just for the price of his book!
ReplyDeleteI am so in agreement with you!
ReplyDeleteHe has no idea really, although I think he's heart may be in the right place (or he's after a knighthood?).
Sft x
we are a family off 8 and eat for far less then that pp per meal
ReplyDeleteEating the garden is indeed cheap and delicious.
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum
xx
Sock it to him!! We're eating from the allotment at the moment, veg a plenty.
ReplyDeleteTwiggy
On average I spend around £1 pp a day on food, never mind a meal. Some weeks it takes some juggling and fancy footwork. I love a challenge. Right now I am in credit as I am picking more from the garden than we can eat and process and the surplus is being sold at work. Yes I could give it away but I really do not see why I should.
ReplyDeleteWith you on this Ilona. I can make dinners for 6 of us for a lot less than £1.31 a portion. Using reduced price items, supermarket's own savers brand and searching out when ingredients are on offer cuts right down on price. Yesterday's dinner was quorn chicken-stye pieces in a white wine and mushroom sauce with rice (worked out at 81p per portion) and today's was beef pasta bolognaise at 70p per portion with enough sauce left over to make a chilli later in the week.
ReplyDeleteThey should give Meanqueen a TV program on budget meal making!! I`m sure a lot more folk would watch that. Up yours Jamie Oliver! Meanqueen rules, ok!!
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with you, Ilona. My meals are nutrious, tasty and a lot less than that a portion. I also freeze any leftovers for future usage. I have looked at Mr Oliver's recipes and they use 'luxury' items and certainly not any general store cupboard items that a typical household would have. Mr Oliver seems out of touch with the normal working class person in our society and the financial restraints we are facing. We read constantly of households facing an 'heat or eat' challenge daily and mothers going without to ensure their children are fed. Having all the ingredients to make such meals he suggests are simply out of budget and a little patronising of him (out of touch) to suggest his meals are cheap. Being generous, I'm sure his hearts in the right place but I can't help feeling he's playing at a frugal approach when for many it's a daily battle. Your dins look fantastic, by the way, and I take inspiration from you, as do many, I am sure : )
ReplyDeleteLouise
Like a lot of these arty farty chefs, they really have no idea about thrifty shopping.
ReplyDelete£1.32 per meal is a big saving compared with £5 per ready meal. His book is out in time for christmas sales and should make him a few more £millions.
ReplyDeleteDave.
Hi ilona, its good that you are concentrating more on what the food costs than whether it tastes good...good on yer girl!
ReplyDeleteMinnie, Montréal.