Hello Dear Reader,
Our weekend guests have now been and gone. I wanted to give them something really special for Sunday lunch and decided on Turkey and trimmings and tried some bargain basement products and was happily surprised by the outcomes. The local Co-op leaflets our house and I saw that roast potatoes were £1 a bag. Everyday and ordinary potatoes are really expensive, of course unless you grow your own, and sometimes it's just as cheap to buy instant potato products. They are a good product and if you see them at this price then try them for yourself. We can make our lives easier!
I also tried Lidl's turkey breast joint. Ignore the cooking instructions and please do the following or it will be a dried up shrivel of turkey leather.
- Add some water to the dish.
- Add some more bacon as it wasn't enough.
- Rub some butter or margarine into the meat.
- Seal the dish tightly with foil to keep the moisture in.
- Reduce the heat and time suggested.
A 'catering' tip of how to make a joint of meat go further. Cool and chill, then slice with an electric slicer. Reheat when needed and keep in gravy until served to keep moist. I promise you, it will make a joint of meat feed twice as many people.
It is plenty enough for six people. I would suggest padding the meal out further with a sausage or two wrapped in bacon for each person, a Yorkshire pudding for each person, some plain sage and onion stuffing for each person. That, along with plenty of steamed veggies will provide a more than ample lunch for six hungry adults.
One of the bags of roast potatoes was really more than six people needed. They certainly worked out cheaper than buying a bag of potatoes and losing a lot through peeling them. I had to cook the potatoes for longer than the pack suggested and at a higher temperature, however my cooker is terminal and hasn't got much longer. The turkey needed less time and adapting otherwise it could have been dry. You might just want to try the cheaper turkey breast without stuffing and just use two packs of Supermarket value stuffing. To jazz up the stuffing , add some finely diced fried onion and garlic.
I used
Tesco Everyday Value stuffing - 20p
Tesco Everyday Value Batter mix, for the Yorkshire puddings - 20p
Tesco Everyday Value Gravy granules - 1/4 of a tub - 5p
Ready to Roast Potatoes - 1.00
Turkey breast joint - 5.99
Half a bag of mixed frozen veg - Lidl - 50p
Half a cauliflower - 35p - Aldi
4 carrots - 14p - Aldi
3 slices of bacon - 51p Aldi
Total Cost - £8.94 - served 6 - £1.49 per person.
Prices are rising fast and will go up before Christmas. Fill your freezer now if you see offers and if you know you will eat them. Will anyone else be taking the bargain basement route for their Christmas lunch? To me, food is just fuel and nutrition and I like it simple and not wrapped in food or brand snobbery.
I'm a great fan of Sunday lunch and it's always better when shared.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx
Now that looks delicious, what are the frozen veg like? I only ever but fresh veg (except for peas) an always steam them, I'd like to give them a go :) x
ReplyDeleteWow that looks good! I marvel at your confidence when you cook. I would never cook anything differently than what they say on the pkg. So I get dried meat. From now on I am going to take a page out of your book and cook it just like you did. Moist and delicious meat, here I come!
ReplyDeleteI always have some frozen veg to hand and tinned. I find it acceptable, don't over cook and don't forget to season
ReplyDeleteThank you, I will get a bag and try some! :) x
DeleteI always find they are better if they are steamed rather than boiled
DeleteFrozen vegetables also microwave quickly and it keeps in the flavour.
DeleteThat looks scrummy! A fab meal....
ReplyDeletewe always let meat cool first before slicing it with an electric knife , i have used packet roast potatoes before and most of them are quite good , i think nothings cheaper than home made yorkshire pudding though as its always ingredients we have at hand, , we had a huge shoulder of pork today, slow roasted for hours, its on offer at morrisons at the moment it was £4.50 and there is lots left for future meals , roast dinners don't have to cost a lot if you look around and like you say pad it out with veg, stuffing , yorkshires etc more variety makes it more interesting
ReplyDeleteyum I love a good roast
ReplyDeleteMy family always want Yorkshire pudding with any roast. I am surprised at the low cost of some of those ingredients. I do agree that now is the time to start looking for the bits and bobs that make your Christmas meal. There is always some sale before the silly season begins. Last year I saved a few dollars buying my turkey breast early. We don't do a whole bird as it is too big for our needs. For fellow Aussies there is comfort in knowing that there is no need for a last minute shop in the scorching weather.
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious. Yorkshire pudding is one of my favourite foods. YUMMY!
ReplyDeleteNo need for the veggie roast. Yorkshire Puddings with gravy are indeed amazing.
DeleteMy sister's husband though who comes from Lancashire used to eat Yorkshire Puddings sweet with ice cream. Needless to say, we are no longer speaking.
Looks delicious. Yorkshire pudding with a veggie roast is one of my favourite meals. YUMMY!
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious!
ReplyDeleteMy dad used to cook a roast dinner 2 or 3 times a week when I was a child and it's still my favourite meal (without the meat though). Our whole family not personally keen on the frozen roast potatoes, they just don't taste the same but ok if I don't have the time to cook from scratch.
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious and your portions are huge! I could easily be full with half of what was on your plates, so it would go even farther for us.
ReplyDeleteWe will be over for Christmas, so will pass this on to son in the UK!
I'm in the States (Midwest) - I find that frozen green peas always taste (and look better) than the tinned ones. If you would like mashed potatoes, you might look to see if something is available to you that is here in the States. Frozen mashed potatoes that you just nuke in the microwave. Mash a bit, and milk and butter/margarine (makes them taste better).
ReplyDeleteFor the last couple of years i've been usually buying frozen potato products with the crop so poor and expensive. this year have moved back to bagged spuds after a good season this year, as a rule i cook for 5 most nights 25kg is costing me £6/£6.50 locally In Cornwall. Ideal for larger family's
ReplyDeleteThat looks like any ordinary roast, I cant believe it works out at £1.49/head. It just goes to show with a bit of effort, you can produce a yummy roast meal for not much. Good one, Froogs!
ReplyDeletewell done jane,,as they say "every little helps"!
ReplyDeleteJust whizzed to our local coop and stocked up on the frozen spuds - cycled back with my panniers and basket stuffed to the brim with them (7 bags in total!) I must have looked a bizarre sight! Thanks for the tip FQ. With 2 hungry men in the house my food bill is the one item I struggle with. x
ReplyDeleteMy cheap roast potato option is to take a bag of new potatoes (about 80-90p UK sterling) and roast them in olive oil and seasalt. Much cheaper, tasty and saves the palaver of peeling potatoes.
DeleteThanks for the tip - shall try it. x
DeleteI've already made my Christmas cake as cheaply as possible and we're starting to get a few bits and pieces into the freezer. Allergies mean pre prepared products are mostly no use to me, but the tesco value range is good because it's mostly dairy and nut free.
ReplyDeleteYour meal looks really nice and I'd definitely try the roast, but I'm not keen on frozen roast tatties. We get our potatos from a local farm shop here in Dover at £7.80 for a 25kg (55 lb) sack or just over 33p per kilo. They're lovely potatos, hardly any dirt on them and they keep for ages. If you're a smaller family they do a 12.5kg sack for £4.20. Its worth looking around for deals like this if you eat a lot od potatos but have started to consider them a luxury food at over £2 for 2.5kg in most supermarkets.
ReplyDeleteDelish, Froogs!
ReplyDeleteI live on the edge of potato country here in Oz and it is quite cheap to buy bulk spuds from the side of the road. I don't do it because there is only two of us and we don't eat potato every day, so I find that I can lose a bit to going a bit off. However, around Christmas, I can easily go through 5kg in no time with potato salads being very popular around that time! My hubby won't eat much in the way of raw food, so he's big on potato and pasta salads - which are pretty darn cheap to produce and very filling.
I have to admit I was a bit snooty about frozen roast potatoes until my widowed Dad made them for me. He found them very convenient, always bought them on offer at Lidls, and was very proud that he could make a roast dinner for himself.
ReplyDeleteReally loved this post. I think you're right about the cost of potatoes, they keep going up! Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteThat meal looks delicious and very filling for the money spent. I think a lot of folk are really snooty about frozen foods, but if they compared the cost of the foods in the freezer section of the supermarket to the cost of the food in the chiller cabinets they would be amazed.
ReplyDelete