Some foods are still relatively cheap….

Cossy

I recently discovered chick peas. There’s some great recipes online for chickpea and sweet potato curry. I’ve made a good few variations of it and you can cook and freeze

I’ve been carrying a tin of chickpeas around with me for months* trying to work out what to do with it. I tend to write recipes down on scraps of paper, buy the ingredients and then, when I read them they make no sense to me. I realised the other day that my mum used to do the same thing…
*not literally every day but when I stay at my partners or dog sit for my daughter it comes with me…

I've been preparing for a picnic with DS, a vegan. I've made lots of hummus with half a tin of chickpeas. (The other half will be used to thicken soup.)
You do also need some tahini paste, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. But that's still not expensive compared with buying it in a plastic pot in the supermarket.
I've also made some olive bread, a tomato salsa and some guacamole. Oh, and some jam tarts too.

I must try sweet potatoes. they sound yummy. I like putting bell peppers and across and parsnips in the mall upper oven (its just me at home so cook accordingly
I have always a large bag of frozen spinach in the freezer. I love it and it's so good for me. I am on a low FODMAP diet so onions are out, but I put ginger in just about everything: most pluses dont agree with me except research and experience told me that green and brown lentils are OK.. Very cheap tinned 😊

I don't like meat much anymore. it just got that way, bit by bit over the years. So many lovely veggies.

I eat a lot of fish which is expensive but I class it as "treat" and "good protein" so it's OK in my book.

Small upper oven, not mall. I cant get used to the idea of new technology air fryer I should learn.
So much can be poached in the microwave too.

Romola

I've been preparing for a picnic with DS, a vegan. I've made lots of hummus with half a tin of chickpeas. (The other half will be used to thicken soup.)
You do also need some tahini paste, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. But that's still not expensive compared with buying it in a plastic pot in the supermarket.
I've also made some olive bread, a tomato salsa and some guacamole. Oh, and some jam tarts too.

So that’s why I bought the tahini! I bought some fresh coriander yesterday. Can anyone tell me what I bought that for?

Food is much cheaper in the UK than it is here in Australia. We probably have higher wages,mostly but not that much higher. We grow nearly all our own produce so it is not so much the cost of shipping, either.

Wyllow3

I must try sweet potatoes. they sound yummy. I like putting bell peppers and across and parsnips in the mall upper oven (its just me at home so cook accordingly
I have always a large bag of frozen spinach in the freezer. I love it and it's so good for me. I am on a low FODMAP diet so onions are out, but I put ginger in just about everything: most pluses dont agree with me except research and experience told me that green and brown lentils are OK.. Very cheap tinned 😊

I don't like meat much anymore. it just got that way, bit by bit over the years. So many lovely veggies.

I eat a lot of fish which is expensive but I class it as "treat" and "good protein" so it's OK in my book.

The purple variety are great halved, sprinkled with Jamaican Jerk seasoning then baked in tin foil. I serve with shredded pork & plum sauce, or any sweetish sauce.

Retread

I also miss a proper butcher.

Sweet potatoes are really tasty, I don't understand why people don't like them. Match made in heaven with spinach and in any curry. Fantastic thinly shaved in a stir-fry: they cook up really quickly. Excellent base for soup.

We all have flavours that for some reason, or none we do not like.

I do not like sweet potatoes, not fried, boiled, baked or incorporated into a dish with other ingredients. End of.

M0nica

Retread

I also miss a proper butcher.

Sweet potatoes are really tasty, I don't understand why people don't like them. Match made in heaven with spinach and in any curry. Fantastic thinly shaved in a stir-fry: they cook up really quickly. Excellent base for soup.

We all have flavours that for some reason, or none we do not like.

I do not like sweet potatoes, not fried, boiled, baked or incorporated into a dish with other ingredients. End of.

Me neither, MOnica, but I have never liked mixing sweet and savoury flavours.

Though perhaps if they had been called something different from ‘potatoes’ I might have become better accustomed to them. Calling them potatoes raises expectations of a potato taste which they just don’t have…

Wyllow3

Small upper oven, not mall. I cant get used to the idea of new technology air fryer I should learn.
So much can be poached in the microwave too.

Yes, I do fresh salmon in the microwave. Between two plates, add, pepper, fresh lemon and a smigeon of very nice Olive Oil or butter.

Cook on half microwave settings for 8 minutes. (Much less for small pieces) I tend to buy half salmon when on offer in Tescos, we eat half of it hot with tiny potatoes and stir fried baby spinach and/or green french beans.

The other half is refrigerated and used either between fresh crusty bread or in a salad.

Yom yom.

Crikey Monica that's a bit strong. All I said was I don't understand why people don't like sweet potatoes - in a light-hearted manner. End.of.

Have been eating and enjoying sweet potatoes for many years. I make sweet potato and red pepper soup and it is delicious and very warming. I make sweet potato chips in the oven and I often top a cottage pie with mashed sweet potato.

I always try a new veg I come across and years ago I came across graffiti aubergines which look so beautiful and taste lovely. Likewise romanesque which are a cross between cauliflower and broccoli and are so beautiful and make cauliflower cheese just a bit different.

It’s good to try new things!

I make mash with approx 60% normal potatoes and 40% sweet potatoes. Mashed down with butter - tastes delicious.

Like many on here, I mainly eat fish, but for those who like meat and are worried about cost, then they should look at things like Liver - and other offal. Not in fashion at present and therefore very cheap.

I love chicken liver, gently fried in a little butter and then chopped up with some onion and the whites of a hard boiled egg. Served with the hard boiled yoke sprinkled on top. Marvellous served with tea matzot or even on a bagel. Cheap and Healthy.

For fish such as a piece of salmon, I have a microwave fish cooker, and one or two pieces of fish in this, with some onion and a little water - will cook in my microwave (900w), in just two minutes (for one) or three minutes (two). Can be served either with a good salad or with some mash (as above).

MaizieD

M0nica

Retread

I also miss a proper butcher.

Sweet potatoes are really tasty, I don't understand why people don't like them. Match made in heaven with spinach and in any curry. Fantastic thinly shaved in a stir-fry: they cook up really quickly. Excellent base for soup.

We all have flavours that for some reason, or none we do not like.

I do not like sweet potatoes, not fried, boiled, baked or incorporated into a dish with other ingredients. End of.

Me neither, MOnica, but I have never liked mixing sweet and savoury flavours.

Though perhaps if they had been called something different from ‘potatoes’ I might have become better accustomed to them. Calling them potatoes raises expectations of a potato taste which they just don’t have…

There are a lot of root vegetables which are sweet though, carrots, parsnips, swede, beetroot for example. It must be quite restrictive to dismiss sweet tasting vegetables from your diet?

I like sweet potatoes, but I can never get them right as chips, however I cook them they seem to go mushy rather than crispy, and stick to the oven tray. I’d be grateful if anybody has any tips.

Buy frozen ones, Casdon - that's the best way.

There are a lot of root vegetables which are sweet though, carrots, parsnips, swede, beetroot for example. It must be quite restrictive to dismiss sweet tasting vegetables from your diet?

I know, Casdon, I thought about them when I was writing my post, But I don't like parsnips and swede, either and I'm not crazy about cooked carrot (love them raw). But I can eat a perfectly reasonable diet without having to eat things I don't like...😊

Sweet potatoes baked (microwaved is fine) and mashed with Boursin cheese is delicious as a side dish.

That sounds really yummy, will try it.

Maybee the coriander could be for guacamole. Or carrot and coriander soup, that is cheap!

Sweet potatoes aren’t a favourite of mine either. I don’t care for the mixing of sweet and savoury, as a previous poster said. But I choose sweet potato chips over the traditional ones when offered them, because they’re better for me (and tbh because I’m not bothered about proper chips either, so I won’t pop my halo on ).

Retread

That sounds really yummy, will try it.

It really is. I hope you enjoy it😀

Be careful with sweet potatoes if you are following FODMAP as they contain a lot of the sugar alcohol mannitol which can irritate the GI tract and caught a lot of pain.

Graphite

Be careful with sweet potatoes if you are following FODMAP as they contain a lot of the sugar alcohol mannitol which can irritate the GI tract and caught a lot of pain.

My sister is on FODMAP - she’s been gluten and dairy free for ages, but this is a whole new territory - SO many things she can’t eat. Before she came to stay (from the US) recently, I asked what I could go and buy that she would actually eat!

The reply came back, ‘Sausages! Proper British sausages (gluten free).
So that was easy, plus she’s always loved new potatoes, which she douses in salad cream! She took 3 bottles of salad cream back with her!!
Most fish is also OK, so I bought some Scottish loch trout from
Waitrose, which also went down well.

Since she can hardly ever eat airline food, she took a substantial picnic with her (a 23 hour, 2 flight journey door to door) which consisted largely of sausage sandwiches on GF bread!

Bananas are actually quite cheap. A good snack.

I buy all my fruit and veg from our market but heard that their prices vary from town to town. We have a Waitrose so our market prices are higher than if it were Asda.
There is now little difference in prices between the market and Waitrose, in fact soft fruits and salad items are cheaper in the supermarket.
I wish we had an Aldi!