cheap but versatile food shopping tips

But, what, you want recipes? For good food with cheap ingredients?

i have friends who've lived for long periods of their lives by skipping for food/going freegan, but something tells me you won't be inclined to do either of those. also you don't really need to, and probably other people do.

if you're worried about things going off before you use them (before or after cooking) do this - whatever you're cooking make a shitload of it, then put portions of it in freezer bags and freeze them (putting the baggie inside some tupperware or one of those little tubs pasta sauce/hummus/etc come in then removing the box/tub once it's frozen will stop your freezer becoming chaos). that way you don't have to eat the same thing all week if you don't want to, either. it's a biggish initial lot of work but once you've done it four or five times you won't have to do it very often.

also, what gooblar said wrt stocked pantry. buy enormous sacks of rice and pasta at your local asian/turkish/whatever's relevant in hitchin supermarket for like £2/3 and they will last you for aeons.

And what g00blar said: rice and so on are rather cheap but you can use it in so many dishes.

Also, if you're using olive oil, wine or whatever in a recipe do not get the most expensive one cause it won't matter THAT much.

Also, homemade mean beans - fry onions and garlic in the bottom of a pot, then dump in a can of economy baked beans, chop up an apple and tip that in, too, if you like. Add spices to taste - cumin is a good one, maybe sliced up fresh chilli peppers, paprika, etc.

The secret to good, tasty cheap cooking is all in learning how to use spices. Experiment to find what you like. Find an Indian superstore - you can get cooking spices, rice, etc. at a deep discount, buy in bulk.

Fresh veg are ALWAYS going to be cheaper and better than your frozen alternatives, it's worth finding a greengrocer and buying little and often.

Stuff that is curried keeps for some time, even when it's not frozen. I tend to make a giant curry every Sunday, and then eat that for work lunches the rest of the week.

oh, and a good way of saving money is to take sandwiches to work (which it sounds like you're already doing) - people here go out every lunchtime which just burns money (even if they are just going out to tescos). but this can also get dull (which i don't mind).

(am curious as to where all DL's money is going having read the other thread. my increased monthly expenses (living alone, in london, about £850 a month in rent & bills) pretty much cancel out the difference in our salaries and i have no trouble - could easily pay off his loans in less than a year without cutting down. stand absolutely no chance of being able to afford a house mind but hey... besides property is theft)

xposts

My prob is I don't have patience or sensibility to make a shopping list and so I just wing-it at Tesco and get whatever I feel like when it presents itself to me. This makes sense to a certain extent because some things are cheaper at different times and there are offers and things. But I have a whole shelf devoted to spices and herbs, most of which I barely use but like the idea of having. Similarly, a lot of stuff just goes off before I get the chance to eat it and is therefore inessential and just felt like a good idea at the time.

I'm talking about a cheap weekly shopping list that comes to around £15 or less and takes into account something for lunch, brekker and dinner, manages to be fairly versatile (i.e. beans-on-toast every day is boring, but say bruschetta one day, home-made pizza another, tomato sandwiches, tomato pasta etc is fine). If it's healthy too would be good. And then I figure if I stick to this I can use these herbs and crap in different and interesting ways and maybe shell out on a steak or something once in a while.

xpost emsk

yes, there is a good veg market in Hitchin that's open Saturdays. I keep meaning to go but 4.30pm is almost always when something's happening. Still, if I make it a date then I can clear my schedule for that time to go food shopping. Nettos is up the road from market too - double whammy!

I've been interested in the idea of Freeganism but I've never seen these skips fulla food - even the italian restaurant downstairs doesn't appear to have that much healthy waste.

Good point on going to ethnic stores for rice and spices and stuff - it's always a lot cheaper than the supermarket.

It's incredible how much making your own lunch is. Problem is it can be hard to get into the habit. I always make my sandwiches last thing before bed and it's always too tempting to have a little snack at that point. Which all too often turns into a cheese, bread and ham extravaganza.

Oh a list is ESSENTIAL. This way you can plan what to eat the next few days. If you buy bread, then the old bread can always be used for french toast the last day or something.

Eh, I never buy frozen veggies. Y.U.C.K. :-)

Eggs are such an essential ingredient. As well as onions. Always have onions! :-)

You can use the leftover salad for the sandwich the next day!

Soups are also cheap and easy and and and YUMMY.

If it's winter, I like soup for my suppers - easy to prepare with bread after a hard day at work when I don't feel like cooking.

There's a version of Thing which is more soupy, as well. Use noodles instead of rice. Fry your onions and garlic, then boil everything together - noodles, broccoli, carrots, beans, etc. - add pepper and soy sauce (sesame oil if you're feeling posh) then break your eggs into the boiling mixture and let them solidify. Lovely on a cold winter night, and so simple! Oh, and Chinese Five Spice. That's great in Thing Soup.

Make a shopping list, even if it's just mental notes of what you need. Saves time, money, and NOT having piles of things going off in your fridge. (MIght as well throw money down the drain.) You can still make impulse buys, but make a list of things you ALWAYS buy.

make sandwiches before work - any snackage then becomes breakfast. (mine always went hard if i left them in fridge overnight anyway). these days it tends to be a bag of bagels in my drawer at work and cream cheese etc in the fridge (the cheese, laughingly, says 'eat within 3 days of opening' which is a fuck of a lot cream cheese per day but it's ok using it from monday to friday i find). bagels and cream cheese are available in variety of, er, varieties if you're some kind of epicurian. wouldn't recommend pineapple cream cheese with onion bagels though...

beans/lentils and rice are always a good staple, but not the be all end all of cheap eating. spices advice, incl garlic and ginger, otm.

i've coached so many friends on how to "eat cheaply" but when it comes right down to it, the things they were buying in the grocery store had crappy nutritional value anyway! cup-a-noodles or ramen is not actually cheaper than rice noodles you buy in an asian grocery store + soy sauce/other sauce, garlic, ginger, spices, + veg = cheaper, better, esp if you buy in season. meat always goes on sale, so buy what's on sale and deal. chips and cookies are over-rated - better to make your own baked goods anyway or if you're dying for a treat, go to a bakery and buy a cookie or pastry or whatever. or eat fruit.

the other thing: beer is expensive. i know in england, it's an important part of social life, as it can be here too, of course, but i find that no one really cares if you're slowly drinking water or juice. damn, 4 beers at a bar costs what i'd spend on the week's groceries. (i have also recently quit drinking and require realities like this omg. though i am feeling so much better healthwise, it's great. but hey. (i am treating it like a drug now. not gone, but v rare exposure.))

Main problem: room in the fridge for the big pot.

BASIC PASTA WITH TOMATO SAUCE
Put a pan of water on to boil. Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan until it starts to smell olivey. Add a quarter of an onion (chopped) and turn the heat down low. Let the onion sweat until it has has started to turn golden. Add a clove of garlic (smashed with the back of the wooden spoon, then sliced finely) and stir for another minute. Add half a tin of tomatoes (for extra frugality use whole ones and chop them yourself - the tins are about 2p cheaper). If you're using dried herbs, add a teaspoon of basil or oregano or a mixture of both at this point. Turn the heat up high until it starts to bubble, then low again

By now your water should be boiling. Add pasta (40p from Lidl).

Let the sauce bubble gently and stir every now and then for about 10 minutes. You'll notice it changes texture - it starts out watery, but gradually comes together and goes glossy. When it's glossy, it's time to serve. The pasta should be al dente by now too. Grate parmesan over the top. Parmesan is also cheap in Lidl.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME
Add:
Tuna and chopped black olives - stir into sauce towards the end of cooking
Anchovies - the anchovies go in at the same time as the onions and will break down so you just get a hint of the flavour
Chilli sauce (Tabasco or similar)
Peppers - chop up and put in with the garlic
Anything else your imagination conjurs up

RISOTTO
Put the kettle on to boil. Put half a chicken stock cube in a mug. When the kettle boils, fill the mug and stir well.

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan until it starts to smell olivey. Add a quarter of an onion (chopped) and turn the heat down low. Let the onion sweat until it has has started to turn golden. Add a clove of garlic (smashed with the back of the wooden spoon, then sliced finely) and stir for another minute. Add a vegetable, chopped (see below). Add rice and stir around in the oil until it starts to go transparent. Pour on the mug of stock and stir it all around. Keep bubbling on a low heat, stirring more as it reduces. When a lot of stock has disappeared, taste the rice. If it's still crunchy, keep adding a little water until the rice tastes cooked. Grate some of your cheap parmesan and stir in. Serve with more parm on top if you like. Eccociqua.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME:
Mushrooms, sliced
Broccoli, chopped up
Fennel, chopped
Frozen peas
Celery (this on is extra good if you put some smoky streaky bacon in with the onions at the beginning and then stir in some chopped celery leaves at the end)
Anything else you fancy, but avoid anything that's going to disintegrate too much.

also, quick cheap lunches: peanut butter & jelly. unexciting, but very satisfying.

i am not the queen of cheap shopping, unfortunately. produce always seems to be the most expensive part of my shopping trips. i wonder if the vegetables and fruit i get from the supermarket are more or less expensive than from local farms (which are almost all organic and sell to rich hippie retirees).

The absolute bare essentials for my storecupboard are:
Salt
Black pepper in a grinder
Vegetable stock
Soy sauce
Olive oil
Wine vinegar (if you're going to eat a lot of salads)
Groundnut oil (has a higher burning point than veg oil, so better for stir fries)
Herbs and spices - initially just buy what you need for your recipes and build up a stock. Even if you don't have a local Asian shop to buy spices from, check the foreign foods section of the supermarket. My local Tesco has huge pots of spices at in the Hello Asylum Seekers! aisle at half the price of the teeny Schwartz jars round the corner.
Basmati rice
Risotto rice
Pasta
Tinned tomatoes
Frozen peas
Tins of tuna
Tins of sweetcorn
Tins of baked beans
Noodles
Mayonnaise
Long life milk, but only because I'm always fecking running out of fresh. I'm so bad at estimating how much I'll need.
HP Sauce

I think that's more or less it, but the storecupboard really grows as you go through phases. You end up with stuff like vanilla pods that get used twice a year, if that. You'll see ;)

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, then add anchovies and stir until they disintegrate. Add 1 pinch of dried chilli flakes, then 1 clove smashed garlic, then 1 courgette, grated. Cook on a low heat until the courgette relaxes and melts down a bit. Best served with orecchiette (but any pasta will do) and tons of parmesan.

marvellous, there :)

definitely get some smokey bacon in yr rissotto.

actually, buying bacon bits (sometimes "cooking bacon"), is another good tip, as it tends to be hella cheap and if yr going to chop it up to add to something else it don't really matter what it looks like innit.

1. chop aub into c. 2cm cubes
2. glug olive oil over aub
3. glug more olive oil on baking tray
4. put aub on baking tray
5. sprinkle with a little salt, maybe some cumin
6. bake for 15/20 minutes 'til the edges start going black
7. SCOFF!!
8. alternatively mix into tom sauce etc

Hollow out. Fill with cous cous. Grate some cheese on top. Stick in oven for a bit. Eat.

(couscous is also marvy and cheap and can have stuff mixed in it, or served with it, or have it stuffed into whatever veg you have.)

Just now I swung by my new mainstay, a small but well-stocked Iranian market, and loaded up on various grains and beans for soups. Plus some lime juice.

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Sunday lunch -- leftover Swiss chard rice with baby carrots:

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And sunday dinner -- ash-e kashkak, an Iranian vegetarian pottage. Thick, hearty and really tasty:

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The recipe's a good basic one:

1/2 cup chickpeas
1/2 cup kidney beans
1/2 cup lentils
1 cup bulgur
Salt and pepper to taste

You put it all in to simmer for an hour in 5 cups of water -- just the chickpeas and kidney beans first, then the rest after about 40 minutes. (Ultimately, get everything as tender as you can.) The final touch is sauteed onions, prepped up and mixed in just before you serve it (recipe recommends a large onion and 3 tbsp. butter/oil). Great big batch; I only ate half tonight and stored the rest for tomorrow or later in the week. My guess is that the basic recipe is easily varied up with any number of different spice/herb/meat/veg additions one could ask for; I added some shredded, herbed mozzarella on the top for a bit of flavor and bite, and it worked v. well.

incidentally, this is my favourite thread at the moment.

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Very indulgent, very delicious.

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Then I can continue to eat vicariously through this tasty thread.

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And meal from tonight:

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The core here was chard, since I like it but it tends to go quickly on me, so I used pretty much everything I had (some leaves I cooked up briefly and noshed on as a snack while the meal was coming together). The main dish are baked chard stalks in parmesan, the stalks themselves having been previously simmered in boiling water for a few minutes before cooking with a portion of the cheese at 450 degrees. The salad consists of the leaves plus tomato and dressing, and then the valencia orange and a glass of zinfandel wrapped it up.

While I'm at it, breakfast:

http://static.flickr.com/87/263387518_77482ebda8.jpg

...and lunch:

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Dinner tonight is with friends at a Malaysian restaurant, Tropika, which has rapidly won some attention.

but no, really, they look like quality baked goods. mmm, marmalade.

i ate at a place today called sandwichmania! they also had good buns. and avocado, tomato and warm roasted chicken. plus tortilla chips and salsa. and cheap! no photo evidence tho.

Ah no! Peach chipotle jam! :-)

More details about that specific jam in question:

Courtesy of Earth and Vine

Good stuff, folks!

Seriously Ned, I'm at Bake and Irvine and DON'T HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW!!!!!!

(I may just sleep the entire day, but let me know if an afternoon-ish pint might be possible with any of you LA area ilxors.)

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Okay, so tonight I was inspired by Haikunym's brilliant basil risotto with olives, celery, and edamame recipe elsewhere. Therefore, I now give to you, the thread reader, the step-by-step photo guide to cooking it, using his words. Because it IS that good, and it IS that simple, a mix of things I had around and a couple of things I had to pick up. Behold:

"0. pour self glass of red wine"

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"1. sauté 1/4 red onion with as many garlic cloves as you can handle in olive oil (also maybe a few slices from a red cabbage)"

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"2. add some red wine, let it sizzle in pan for a bit. also, drink wine."

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"3. slice and add two stalks celery, a couple sliced mushrooms if you have them, other leftover veggies that are about to go bad etc."

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"4. salt, pepper, lemon pepper, lemon juice, soy sauce"

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"5. add 1.5 cups risotto (short grain brown rice will also work), 2 cups water, four or five pinches of dried basil or three fresh leaves if you have them; stir, turn down heat to medium or low, cover pan"

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"6. after five or so minutes, add 3/4 cup red or green lentils (dry; also you can use a can of precooked but yuck)"

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"7. stir, re-cover, drink more wine, listen to Cheap Trick Dream Police"

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"8. check every so often, stir if it's getting too sticky"

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"9. when it's getting al dente-ish, add edamame (Whole Foods sells them shelled and frozen) and sliced up black or green olives (from a can okay), re-cover and cook for 3 more minutes"

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"10. remove from heat, pour in massive bowl, eat with huge wooden spoon"

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...and indeed, it was ridiculously good. :-)

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* don't throw away left over veggie bits, chicken bones, etc - these turn into soup
* when you make the soup, make a LOT of it, stick excess in freezer

ps how has Tep not contributed to this thread?!

I'll keep that in mind. Recent culinary adventures included going to the brilliant Shik Do Rak in LA on Saturday, thus:

http://static.flickr.com/101/276539542_85900cd6d0.jpg

As for home, though, this was Monday night -- sauteed chard:

http://static.flickr.com/110/277851229_602b4dc23b.jpg

And last night, broccoli, slightly stir-fried, with pine nuts and garlic:

http://static.flickr.com/106/278767291_b9f8792560.jpg

The stock lasts frozen for yonks, and it makes *such* a difference to things like risotto, way less salt and way more creamy texture.

(Also, your flickr pages full of daily meals have inspired the GF and I to get out of a food rut!)

Duk bo sam -- Korean BBQ.

Also, your flickr pages full of daily meals have inspired the GF and I to get out of a food rut!

:-D

http://static.flickr.com/99/281867600_2707f96c3a.jpg

Now that's comfort food. (Greens included kale, komatsuma, tat-soi-is and arugula; the cheese should have been all mozzarella but I had to make do with a cheddar/mozzarella mix, plus parmesan; that's bread crumbs on the top.)

Amazing thread. Since returning to the UK I've fallen back into bad old ways (fear-inspired BOGOFs etc) despite my advice above. More tasty culinary adventures, please, especially more Neddish pictures.

I'm definitely going to have to come back to this thread, as my food budget has taken a big hit lately (hasn't everybodies?). I've lately been keeping the health/expense ratio skewed a bit more in the right direction by purchasing "cut off" vegetables from my local produce market. Some things may be a bit brown around the edges but, If prepared within a day or two, are usually just fine (especially when the veggies were going to be sauteed anyway). At a flat rate of $1 a bag, this has been allowing me to experiment a lot pan-asian vegetarian style with very little overhead. Perhaps you might check you local produce market for similar closeout prices.