Budget food/living

^+1

How indeed?!

Oh shit just remembered I didn't put a link up. ^^^^

I'm doing my shop now. Buying plenty of things to fit in soups!

Slow cookers are great for budget cooking/living:

• For carnivores, enable use of cheaper cuts which taste much better than the expensive ones when cooked for a long time.
  
• Make it easy to cook dried beans and pulses (cheaper than the tinned stuff), which are otherwise a bit tiresome (all that extra soaking and pre-cooking).
  
• Don't use much power, so save extra dosh.
  
• Save time. Being skint often means taking extra time to save money, so something that saves time and money is ace.
  
  

In point 4 I mean it saves your time. Yes, things take longer to cook, but you usually spend significantly less of your own time on the cooking than you would if you cooked it in a pan or in the oven. Prepare ingredients, chuck in slow cooker, turn on, walk away.

Oh and I'm not sure how long the tesco deal will be up so get in whilst you can!

+1 for the slow cookerf

Thought this might come in handy for all of us trying to save money at the moment.

At the moment you can get £50 worth of Tesco's groceries for £27 which even if you don't like Tesco it's hard to turn down.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/tesco-50-worth-groceries-for-27-28-1059289#post12774450

Login to one of the cashback websites - saves you £5

Then use the two codes in that link when you buy.

Just got £51 worth of shopping for £33 and with the £5 cashback on topcash back that takes it down to £28. Bargain!

Also if you want to do it again just sign up as another person!

Bought oxtail for tomorrow. Today's butter chicken curry is in the freezer.
As my kitchen is run like a restaurant (everybody want something different from the menu) from now on I will be defrosting whatever portions they want.

Thanks for the tips.

I think I will bring Nuno in as a head chef as well, so I can concentrate on chopping stuff which I really like #commis4lyfe.

I eat pierogi for lunch almost every day, so is the little one who likes them.
There's a shop in Leyton which sells fresh hand made ones which you can chuck into a pot with boiling water at home.

Just cut through SOAS and the Hare Krishnas are giving out free food which they do pretty regularly.

hopefully not to the students.
most at soas seem pretty well-off.

When I was a student my mother gave me this sage bit of advice. "Don't buy the 3p cans of beans. Buy the 4p ones. You get more beans."

Once Lidl opened eating cheap was easier. I survived for a couple of years on 15p instant noodles, and sausage pasta made from 15p cans of hot dogs, 9p cans of tomatoes, 15p spaghetti and 25p tomato purée.
Some really cheap things in Lidl are every bit as good as the expensive things from elsewhere. Olive oil is excellent, the cheap dry pasta is Identical to expensive dry pasta, the canned tomatoes and purée are the real deal, and the cream of tomato soup tastes the same as Heinz.

Their bike repair stands are ok too :-)

Some not so cheap stuff from Morrison's , Asda and Tesco is getting more and more revolving, so I guess you can as well buy from Aldi or Lidl and save money.

Make it easy to cook dried beans and pulses (cheaper than the tinned stuff), which are otherwise a bit tiresome (all that extra soaking and pre-cooking).

Are you suggesting just chucking dry beans into a slow cooker without soaking?

Soaking beans isn't just about re-hydrating them, it also starts the germination process which makes them sweeter and changes the texture (less floury)...also some beans are poisonous (kidney beans) if you do not boil them rigorously for 10 minutes.

Are you suggesting just chucking dry beans into a slow cooker without soaking?

Isn't that what's popcorn is? :-)

Popcorn soup. Lish.

I found out about the negative effects of unsoaked kidney beans a few years ago.. reckon I lost half a stone though. Might try it again.

When I was a student my mother gave me this sage bit of advice. "Don't buy the 3p cans of beans. Buy the 4p ones. You get more beans."

Once Lidl opened eating cheap was easier. I survived for a couple of years on 15p instant noodles, and sausage pasta made from 15p cans of hot dogs, 9p cans of tomatoes, 15p spaghetti and 25p tomato purée.
Some really cheap things in Lidl are every bit as good as the expensive things from elsewhere. Olive oil is excellent, the cheap dry pasta is Identical to expensive dry pasta, the canned tomatoes and purée are the real deal, and the cream of tomato soup tastes the same as Heinz.

Their bike repair stands are ok too :-)

I don't think there's a lidl near me. But it might well be worth my while to ride out to one to stock up on a few bits.

Also when soaking lentils and pulses, without sounding like an idiot (as I've never done this before, I usually just have the tinned stuff) how long do you soak them for?

generally the packet will have instructions as to soaking time, some also need to be boiled after soaking before they are added to other ingredients

Brilliant thanks. I think my Saturday afternoon this week will be spent making soups. At least then I can ride on Sunday and not feel guilty about not doing anything.

so you may wish to soak some dried beans from friday night

where as a split lentil does not need any pre soaking, and can actually just be thrown into a dish

a lot of pulses do need to be washed and i have found the odd pebble/stone in bags so its worth doing this

Popcorn soup. Lish.

Sounds like a students' grub to me.

Are you suggesting just chucking dry beans into a slow cooker without soaking?

Blanket advice,no. It depends on the bean/pulse in question, but the general amount of faff is usually reduced. I always at least wash the pulses, some get a short soak, others more work.

Soaking beans isn't just about re-hydrating them, it also starts the germination process which makes them sweeter and changes the texture (less floury)

And slow cooking changes the equation again. Any recipe not expressly designed for a slow cooker needs some adaptation and experimentation.

bbc have found a very cheap snack

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15752918

bbc have found a very cheap snack

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15752918

Rondiculous.