Dieting

[Wispa1tash2]

Can anyone recommend dieting food that is really cheap

[Keep_on_going]

What do you usually eat?

[Hidden]

The following link is a good guide to cheap cuts of meat. They often require slow cooking and are ideal for either a slow cooker or pressure cooker. bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide...

To make the meat healthier and go further, add pulses as a thickener such as lentils or beans. These are a lot cheaper if bought dry and prepared at home. To prepare dried beans such as kidney. Place in pressure cooker and cover with boiling water. Place the lid on and ensure the heat is turned off. Leave for an hour and then cook for 15 minutes.

Never buy pre prepared veg if on a budget and ensure you have the equipment to prepare your own veg for things like stir fry.

Whenever possible, try to bulk cook, as this will enable you to make use of bulk purchase offers such as a pack of three peppers rather than buying them loose.

It's worth looking on market stalls for veg. It's often got a short life or blemished, but this makes no difference if you're taking it home to cook that day.

Think of using small amounts of leftovers to use in soups, again freeze if you don't want soup that day.

There's loads more ways of dieting cheaply but those are just some of the things I used to do when I was financially stretched.

I hope this is of use

[Cooper27 in reply to Hidden]

Good advice! I am a big fan of beans and lentils to bulk out. I was given a slow cooker last year, and found it's also a great way to cook beans and cheap cuts of meat.

[Cooper27]

I think Aldi has a great selection of cheap fruit and veg, do you have one near you? Lidl are also cheap, but the selection isn't as good.

I get meat from the butchers, and everything else from Aldi, and can feed two of us quite cheaply. They have some good low calorie chocolate fingers and cereal bars, if you are looking for any treats.

[Hidden]

Aldi sells salmon portions 4 for under 3 quid. With a bit of veg perfect weekday meal.

[Brightsky]

I always look in the reduced section, in particular for the veg and buy whats there if I know I will use it. If its not going to be eaten within a few days I chop it up and freeze.

I have carrots, leek and turnip in the freezer just now, later today I will add it to a pot with stock, barley and lentils and thats my lunch sort for the week.

Porridge is also very cheap and what I will be having for breakfast. I will be trying this out in bulk as well and portioning for the week anyone else done this? Wondering what it is like on day 5.

[Hidden]

A few years ago, my youngest daughter showed up at my house bedraggled and down on her luck. She was crying because she could not feed her partner and herself and only had £2. I took her to the Co op and Icelands, I bought a small packet of risotto rice, one loose leek and some parmesan cheese. All the items were value, budget items and the total cost was £1.98. I paid of course.

I then used the pressure cooker to cook a cheese and leek risotto and within 30 mins the pair of us were well satisfied and she had the kind of glow one gets when one is truly relaxed and fully sated after a blow out meal in a warm and welcoming place.

Lesson learnt and never forgot

PS Similar from Delia Smith. No need for the wine and no need to buy baby leeks 'cos they look and taste the same when chopped up I think I added a little garlic paste also, to give it depth of flavour.

ngredients

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 finely sliced baby leeks (or fat spring onions)

300 grams risotto rice

125 ml white wine

½ teaspoon dijon mustard

1 litre hot vegetable stock

125 grams chopped cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

[WeightWarrior in reply to Hidden]

Great stuff! Even if you can't afford the extra bits right away...if you have a week where you have a bit of extra cash, you can get store's own value dried garlic granules and herbs, stock cubes etc, and store them in the cupboard as they last for ages and it avoids the need to buy herbs and garlic fresh. I've had a pot of mixed herbs and garlic granules in my cupboard for a little while now, I use tiny amounts as and when needed and they really last, and give a little extra flavour. If you have a recipe and can't afford all the ingredients it's not set in stone, exactly like you say Tewson. Just get the bits you can afford and improvise a bit. Plain old salt and pepper can make the world of difference to flavour, and a stock cube added here and there. If you can afford to buy a chicken, or even some chicken legs on the bone one week, take off the majority of the meat for the meal and put it on the plates, but then put the remnants into a pan with some water and just boil them for a while, you can get a nice chicken stock which you can freeze and use later in a veggie soup. Just pour it into a container through a sieve (obviously leaving it to cool before freezing!). You will probably find, if you have the patience, that there is some extra chicken meat in there that you can pick out of the sieve and add it to the stock if you want, or use it for something else. Just take care to remove all the bones. One time I did that with the chicken, then I added a chicken oxo cube, mixed up a bit of flour and water, added it to thicken it and it made a kind of chicken filled gravy to pour over some veggies for tea. It beats eating just veggies on their own eh! There aren't really any rules with food, you can make your own rules as you go along. In the past when we've been quite tight on money, we've had some interesting concoctions but through improvising, who knows, you may find your very own family recipe which ends up becoming a regular meal handed down through generations!

[Hidden in reply to WeightWarrior]

Another really tasty budget meal is liver with tomato paste and onion served up on tagliatelle. The liver is strong as is the sauce and goes very well with pasta. Some don't like liver, but it's so nice when served with pasta rather than the traditional mash. The pasta can take a very robust flavoured source. I've got the recipe tucked away somewhere, but there's plenty on Google

Living well on a budget is very challenging, the secret is to enjoy the challenge.

If the meal is served up at the table, with a couple of wine glasses of water, rather than eaten in front of the tv, one really does get the sense of living well

Sometimes I would also put two triangles (two quarters of a slice) of fried bread on the plate, to give it texture also

[WeightWarrior in reply to Hidden]

You sound very posh Tewson...or rather, it sounds like you have some brilliant ideas of how to make less expensive foods into very posh, tasty meals! I'm coming to your house for dinner please...can I bring the family?

[Hidden in reply to WeightWarrior]

Far from posh and have seen some hard times myself in the past.

I've got a link to a similar recipe greatfoodclub.co.uk/recipe-...

One only has to look at the meal and wonder what they would charge in a restaurant . Home cooking every time for me

PS I just done a quick price check and reckon I could do that for less than £1 per head. That's less than the cheapest sandwich would cost in Tesco

[WeightWarrior]

It depends on where you live too...so some of the following might be useless info: If you are near the countryside you might be able to take advantage of local farm shops. Or maybe, if you have allotments near you, take a visit there and talk to some folk...who knows they may be growing veg and have more than they can eat...they might sell or even give you some produce if you're lucky!