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actually, to go one step further you shove all the cut ends of your veg and old veg from the bottom of the fridge into a freezer bag and then make veg stock once you have enoughFreeze stock in sandwich bags
Stock rocks
leaving a carcass for scraps and stock
scraps and stuff go great in stir fry. And the carcass for stock. No wastage here.
I have three tips to save a ton of cash and make better food.
Make all food from scratch where you can don't by anything pre-made if you can avoid it.
Find your local massive Indian/Turkish/middle eastern/whatever supermarket and shop for veggies, herbs, spices, olives, canned goods etc there. Usually enormously cheaper and better quality as well as available in bulk. I use Korea foods near me and its way, way better for almost everything.
Check out the proper markets (not those poncy farmer's markets). I go to Kempton Park twice a month to the travelling butchers, excellent meat about 1/2 what the supermarket charges + you can buy all manner of other crap while you're there.
Make all food from scratch where you can don't by anything pre-made if you can avoid it.
I do make most of my stuff from scratch to be fair. We do have occasional easy meals but I would say 80% is from scratch (not for cost-saving - I just like to faff).
I haven't had a whole roast chicken in a couple of months now. I usually butterfly them, cooks quicker
I prefer to cook them more slowly. Gives me more wine time.
Even if your butcher is 20% more expensive like for like:
You can buy exactly as much as you need (most supermarkets being 90% pre-packaged meat and a never present meat counter)
You can buy cheaper cuts. Stuff like cheek, shin, etc is super delish in a casserole, costs nothing. Non existant at most supermarkets.
You get more variety. Try getting hold of game/veal/offal at your average sainsbury's.
There is less packaging and a good chance that a lot of it is probably local or at least alot more local than the supermarket.
Cheap meat is cheap for a reason, I'd rather go without than eat questionable quality meat.
It depends heavily on the butcher.
There are plenty of places that sell stuff the same or worse than supermarkets. What you are arguing for is good butchers, which are by definition good of course.
Replant "living herb" pots into large pots with good compost and you can keep them going much longer and harvest herbs as and when you need from the kitchen window-ledge.
Better yet, buy your herbs from a garden centre/nursery and plant them up. A little bit more money but much better quality plant that can last for years with relatively little care and attention.
I cooked up a whole chicken yesterday, meat off, then boiled up the carcas for stock. Just rehated some meaf and made gravy with said stock...really is v nice.
Jools - my friends go to kempton, they buy plants there. I bought a jack wills blanket there last year, it was only a tenner.
tomhoward - Member
That's a very wasteful way
Eh?He is using, litterally, the whole bird. How is that wasteful?
Apart from the fact that he didn't seem very competent with the knife that didn't seem very sharp . He didn't get the oysters when he took the legs off and he would have got more meat from the breast if he had taken the wishbone out first .He also didn't keep the knife close to the carcass when taking off the breasts . I could do that and leave virtually no meat on the carcass at all .
Not his greatest fan but you can tell that he knows what he's doing and that he has a sharp knife . I would take the wishbone out but he cut through it which has the same result . And no flesh left on the carcass .
Better yet, buy your herbs from a garden centre/nursery and plant them up. A little bit more money but much better quality plant that can last for years with relatively little care and attention.
Unless it's basil, in which case the slugs will make it disappear in a day or two.
My butcher does fillet tail for about 15 quid a kilo. Which is nice 🙂