Food That You Make at Home (or Buy from Supermarket), Cheaper Better Quicker Same than Buying out

activ8newbs on 29/10/2019 - 13:16

Hi all

Sometimes you just have that craving to buy something out…but you know you should eat in because it's never worth the $$$, just to satisfy the craving.

I have some food items which are just to Good to resist e.g mas Brenner waffles with strawberry Nutella and banana
Macca's $4.30 warm choc cake or boost ~$6 smoothie

Do you have a method to getting it cheaper?

I'll share my examples:
- if craving waffles I just buy the waffles from Woolies (there's only one kind), and serve with the condiments of choice for WAY cheaper
- I make boost smoothies at home - cheaper and very doable as long as you have a Nutribullet or equivalent
- expensive subway cookies are now replaced with cheap(er) dreamy choc chip cookies from woolies

Btw anyone else share the craving for the Warm double choc cake from Macca's cafe? Any solution to get it cheaper?

Please share your examples!

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • dcep on 29/10/2019 - 13:34

    you mean junk food

    • HardlyCharly on 29/10/2019 - 14:41

      Lol no. If you've ever seen any of those TV shows about obese people you would know that restaurants and fast food can't come close to what people whip up at home.

  • Fergy1987 on 29/10/2019 - 14:30
    -2

    Buy at woolworths self checkout - Put it through as Carrots

    • orangetrain on 29/10/2019 - 18:09

      That explains why carrots are rising in prices here. The five finger tax being applied.

    • mickeyjuiceman on 30/10/2019 - 07:16

      Theft is upvoted. OzBargain at its very best.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 14:38
    +2

    Making Pizza at home from home made dough using a frypan and your oven's grill and stovetop.

    Not very difficult or all that time consuming once you have a bit of practice.

    Kneading time for dough - 10 minutes, resting 4 hours and can be stored in the fridge for around a week.

    Cooking time. Maybe 15 minutes, which is quicker than calling someone to deliver it and waiting for them.

    Dough Recipe
    https://archive.is/O9FsN

    Cooking method
    https://slice.seriouseats.com/2010/09/how-to-make-great-neap…

    I doubt anyone will give this a try but would be super interested if anyone does!

    • Archi on 29/10/2019 - 14:42
      +2

      we just make pizzas out of Lebanese bread. pizza is usually a last minute thing … if I had to wait 4 hours, I would have probably cooked something else. having said that I'll keep that recipe and maybe give it a try with the kids on a Sunday

      • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 15:44

        I used to do the lebanese bread thing too. Very handy and easy.

        The 4 hours things means you do have to plan ahead a bit. But I've found that when I make the dough, it's just the same amount of work to make dough for 2 pizzas as it is to make dough for 8. So whenever I make the dough I make extra and store them in the fridge. Make the dough on a Sunday, store up dough for during the week.

      • try2bhelpful on 29/10/2019 - 18:03
        +1

        I usually tart up some Dr Oetkers Pizzas. Use their spinach or mushroom as a base and add in extra mushrooms, peppers, blanched asparagus and broccolini and a chopped ham topping. Then just cook as normal. Gives a much better taste and lots of veggies as a topping.

      • crentist on 29/10/2019 - 18:29

        Tortillas/wraps also work well for this. One tip: after the oven/grill, lightly oil a pan and cook the bottom for a few mins so it crisps up nicely. Turns a crappy soggy lazy base into a good thin&crispy.
        Or just make it in a cast iron pan in the first place and move it over to the stove after

      • fantombloo on 29/10/2019 - 22:16
        +1

        Pizza dough is the only reason I keep a bread maker.

    • HardlyCharly on 29/10/2019 - 14:43
      -1

      My housemates already do that, smells amazing when it's cooking. Definitely more expensive than buying though given the cost of cheese and other ingredients. I'd do it if we could afford it, I bet it definitely tastes better.

      • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 15:42

        My favourite topping and the one that friends always demand I make is Potato and Rosemary. Ingredients are sliced potato, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Cost per pizza probably comes down to about $2 each, for a pizza that would cost about $21 at a restaurant.

      • miicah on 30/10/2019 - 12:30

        The homemade dough is probably a few cents and you don't need to use a whole packet of cheese. ALDI has mozzarella for $5/bag

    • dogboy on 29/10/2019 - 14:57

      Better off just buying the pizza bases and making the rest of the pizza. I find that is the tipping point for home made versus store bought pizzas.

      • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 15:46

        I've used the store bought pizza bases but they lack texture and flavour. And are relatively expensive for what they are Definitely convenient, but once you make doughs a few times it's really not very hard. Pizza is traditionally convenient povo food after all!

  • Archi on 29/10/2019 - 14:57

    does this count…

    I can buy mud crab at the markets for about $40/ kg

    prep time to clean and cut the crab up in many pieces about 10 minutes

    3 litres of oil, spices, flour and some Chinese cooking wine.

    cooking time 7 minutes

    voila salt and peeper crab you would pay close to 3x that at golden century

    • SnoozeAndLose on 29/10/2019 - 16:06

      Can't use Golden century at price guide as they charge 2 time more than normal seafood Chinese restaurant s

      • Archi on 29/10/2019 - 16:16

        I think cooking at home will be generally cheaper than eating out. The specific price difference isn't the main point. But your right maybe cooking the crab at home is half what you would pay outside.

  • yoonibear on 29/10/2019 - 17:24
    +1

    Fried rice - usually just with left over rice from the night before and whatever that's left over (usually it's shredded left over KFC chicken, some frozen peas/corn, bean shoots, shreddd lettuce) and if I'm craving that takeaway quality I'll add a few tablespoons of MSG.

    • scatman00 on 29/10/2019 - 19:20
      +1

      Hold up, shredded lettuce..?
      I bet you put pineapple on pizza.

      • Archi on 30/10/2019 - 08:52
        +1

        hows this for your worst nightmare… Hong kong staple is chicken, pineapple and shredded lettuce fried rice,

        and whats wrong with pineapple on pizza.

  • try2bhelpful on 29/10/2019 - 18:09

    I've recently started making a Mexican meal I find very tasty.

    I chop one onion and sweat it in oil for a few minutes.
    Add one packet of El Paso taco spice mix and stir for a couple of minutes
    500 grams of diet mince meat stir until broken up and browned.
    1 tin of lentils
    1 tin of kidney beans
    1 tin of refried beans
    1 tin of tomatoes.
    1 packet of One Night out chile con carne sauce.

    Let this simmer for about 1/2 an hour.

    Works really well with some flat noodle and fairly thick so, I think, it would work with tacos.

    • crentist on 29/10/2019 - 18:40

      This is good, but if you are making this regularly you really don't need the spice mix and sauce.

      For one, they'd kinda be the same thing anyway, and it sounds like you probably only need both of them because you are making a large quantity in one go.
      But they are basically just an easy but expensive way to add garlic + chilli powder + cumin. Get those things and add them yourself, since you are basically already doing all the work of cooking an entire meal from scratch already.

      Easy way to work out what you need is just bring the flavour packets over to the spice aisle as a shopping list, and buy the first few ingredients that don't sound like chemicals and figure out ratios from a recipe online somewhere. Or just throw in a spoon of each and go from there.

  • orangetrain on 29/10/2019 - 18:16

    Pan fried pre-sliced meat and pre-chopped microwaved frozen veggies that cafes serve (usually with cheap meat/schnitzel). Cheap and nutritious for those lazy nights. No oil needed if you got meat with fat already (Avoid mice). Also a good meal to avoid heavily processed foods.

    Still can't beat fresh food though.

    • try2bhelpful on 29/10/2019 - 18:17
      +4

      I, certainly, would be avoiding mice.

      Frozen veggies are a good addition to slow cooked stews.

  • Diji1 on 29/10/2019 - 18:23

    very doable as long as you have a Nutribullet or equivalent

    You mean any blender?

    • try2bhelpful on 29/10/2019 - 18:25

      Yeah, nah - you need something with a bit of power so you get properly blended drinks. Some of the low end motor blenders don't blitz the fruit/veggies so you get chunks.

  • crentist on 29/10/2019 - 19:10

    Wow you're in for an absolute treat when you actually learn how to cook.
    Those Woolies waffles and biscuits will seem some expensive garbage when you realise there's about 12c worth of ingredients and you can do it yourself pretty easy and wayyy tastier.

  • kmwa on 30/10/2019 - 13:25

    I love the $14 pasta night at our local Italian and usually have chicken carbonara.
    But I can make it at home in about 10 minutes using packet pasta (Bacon Carbonara) and some chopped up chicken from a cooked chook. Just as good. $4?
    And with garlic bread (or white toast spread with garlic butter), it will do two as a snack.

  • GregMonarch on 31/10/2019 - 01:45
    +1

    Btw anyone else share the craving for the Warm double choc cake from Macca's cafe? Any solution to get it cheaper?

    I don't know what that is because I refuse to pay the price McDonalds wants for its desserts, but this is BRILLIANT…

    Just mix all dry ingredients, add liquids, mix, microwave about 40-50 seconds, THEN drop the nutella on and microwave another 30-40 seconds. And sometimes I drop half the nutella on each 'side' of the mix. (If you follow the directions as she says, the nutella usually just sinks straight to the bottom in one blob. The cake is so much better if you solidify the cake a bit to slow down the nutella, so it sort of 'drips through' the cake when you time it right.)

    I don't bother making it in a bowl and then scraping it into a mug, and I don't make it in a mug either. It won't spill over 10 times, so you forget about the paper towel. Then on #11 it spills over. I just mix and eat it from a 500ml Pyrex glass measuring jug, using the same spoon I mixed with. Because it's larger than a mug the cake never spills over, never needs paper towel, it's easier to get out using a spoon, and halves the washing up.

    Don't over-microwave it, so it stays moist - dry chocolate cake is YUCK.

    Put vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top after microwaving. Sometimes I add rum essence in the mix. Other times I put a few frozen blueberries into the mix, then a few more on top after adding the nutella. (Wish I wasn't on keto - sigh!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeH6EP-u3Zs
    https://www.tablefortwoblog.com/the-moistest-chocolate-mug-c…

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