Wednesday 4 November 2015

Are sausages really a cheap and easy meal?

Cooking from scratch all the time can be wearing, especially if you have a bad back (again) so when my husband said do something quick and easy tonight dear I thought Ah Ah time for sausage and mash.

I hate cheap sausages so I had 6 lovely Norfolk Sizzlers from the butchers and thought 5 would be enough for dinner, (2 for me and 3 for hubby) as they are very meaty (no fat or gristle in these).  It was lovely but the butchers bill was on the table as I ate and realised each sausage had cost 41p. Total over £2 and was not really a big  meal.  Everything else on the plate was home grown - potatoes, red onions, runner beans, carrots. Omelettes would have been much cheaper!

I was looking in my notebook and really it is not a cheap meal! At £2.05 for the meat and I am not sure it was that cheap either.

In comparison my notebook shows two more economic meal plans.

Shin of  Beef at £7.95 per kilogram, purchased 908kg for £7.22
Day 1 - slow cooker. a stew where I added a large onion and 6 garlic, 500gms of tomatoes (chopped fresh ones) some home-made passata, bits of celery, carrots, and spices like paprika, bay lead, rosemary, cinnamon stick. later a few dried lentils and peas added.
Day 2 - 4 ladles of left over stew reheated with dumplings.
Day 3 - 4 ladles of stew reheated with some green peppers and leftover from lunch bits of tomatoes and eaten with steamed cabbage and leeks.
Day 4 - bottom of stew scrapped into pie dish, mushrooms added and a suet crust.

Everything added to the meat was fromt he garden or store cupboard and we had BIG meals.
The meat element was £1.80 per day.

I see  in my note book some months ago I purchased a shoulder of lamb should at £7.32 (£7 per kg).
Roast
Lamb in tomato sauce
Lamb rissoles
Stew.

Not long ago Jamie Oliver was preaching having a big lump of meat and making it go far - I think that is why I was recording in the first place to make sure it really was a good strategy.

Think sausages may have to go on the luxury list!

7 comments:

  1. It is hard to ensure your meal costs stay low, I too only like nice sausages, and these days they are a treat, as a child they were always the cheap meal. How times have changed.

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    1. So true, time was sausages were the go-to standby! When I brought them I thought £6.45 a kilogram was a good price for "meat" but they were so little on the plate.

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  2. Its one of the things that I buy on offer because good sausages are dear. I buy cheaper ones to have in a mixed grill, breakfast ot toad in the hole. But a meal has to have the better quality ones fried in very little oil with a thick onion gravy and tons of veg.

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    1. I must join the local butchers facebook page so I don't miss any offers. I only buy meat once a fortnight so generally have to make on the spot decisions on what is on the counter. As husband is on a diet the big breakfasts will not be a problem for a while!

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  3. I buy chipolatas somehow they seem to go further as 3 is enough which is about one and a half sausages

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  4. You could make your own? I don't bother with all the faff of stuffing it into skins but I make sausage meat and make it into meatballs and 'patties'. I don't even have a mincer, I put pork shoulder in my food processor. Or sometimes I buy pork mince. The 'sausage-ness' comes from the seasoning.

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    1. I do that sometimes with lamb mince - I must look at the sausage meat when next in the butchers. Good suggestion.

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