Food for thought

[lexiholmes]

Need a low cost effective buget on shopping eat as health as I can but do tend to fail when it comes to chocolate, if anyone has son recipes tht would be great which are health but low in calories fat saturates and salt etc but delicious 😋 thnku

[Penel]

Perhaps have a look for recipes from "A girl called Jack". She has cooked on a tight budget, although they are not designed for weight loss.

This time of year you can base your meals on lots of seasonal vegetables, with the best quality protein you can afford. I often use a slow cooker because you can cook cheap cuts of meat until they are soft. Try to avoid packaged foods and check labels on any foods you do buy, to make sure that are not full of sugar.

[shogg]

i make my home made soups in bulk and freeze them cheap and filling

[Hidden]

lexiholmes, I like your post because it sets a challenge and gets the mind working

I usually cook for just two and found that when doing a simple dish such as spag bol' or chicken curry, the amount of meat in supermarket packets is simply too much. So, with a spag bol' I would buy two packs of minced beef (making use of any multi purchase offers) and bulk cook. I add plenty of other things such as carrots finely diced and celery or anything I have in the fridge. I sometimes use red lentils as a thickener and I generally cook it for a minimum of two hours. The result is, from two packets of minced beef I will get at least six and often eight healthy portions, depending on how much veg I've added. I serve up two portions and freeze the rest in one or two portion sizes.

A packet of minced beef usually weighs 500g and the recommended intake of red meat for an adult is around 70g cooked. It's easy to see that the 500g is going to be too much for two people or even three. Bulking the cooking with increased use of vegetables and lentils or beans is a lot more healthy and makes the meat go further. Cooking twice the amount makes it less expensive because it normally cost less to buy the ingredients such as peppers which are less expensive in supermarket when bought in packs of three or more. It also means it's worth buying things such as celery, because it's all going to get used before it goes past it's best.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is don't let the supermarkets dictate your meal sizes with their packaging.

A definite plus is that the portions I freeze are already calorie counted and therefore I have no need to keep looking up calorie values and weighing ingredients It also means I have a healthy supply of ready cooked meals for almost any day of the week

Generally, any processed meat is poor value for money and nutrition and I usually, but not always avoid it.

Odd bits of unused veg and any partial portions which have not been frozen, go to help make soups.

Happy cooking