Ozbargin'ing Everyday Cooking: Share Your Tips!

In 2014, I was 23 and living in the U.K., on a working 'gap-year' as a high school teacher.

I grew up a lot that year - most notably, I had to start cooking for myself (no more meals paid for and cooked by Mum!)

When it came to (everyday) home cooking I had four goals:

1: I wanted to eat as cheaply as possible (how else would I save for my extensive travel? I went to 24 countries in one year!)

2: I didn't want to skimp on taste (I love food)

3: I wanted to be healthy (I was running every second day and going to the gym three times a week; high protein was a must)

4: I also wanted to save time (I've had more important things to do than cook!)

I developed a few habits which worked well. When I cooked, I usually made enough for 3 family meals and stored the rest in the freezer. I'd also buy greens groceries from the store run by Muslims (a lot were in my area) they were much cheaper than the mainstream grocers! It'd also leave work at just the right time to be walking past the local Tesco (chain) when the 'mark-downs' stickers were being put on the produce (usually around 5:30 P.M.)

But my biggest win was chicken breast.

I love chicken breast. It's tasty, you can season it easily or marinate it for awesome flavour. It's high in protein and if you add some frozen veggies, you have a meal fit for a King!

Problem was, chicken is expensive. Until, I found that Iceland (the budget grocery chain in the U.K.) sold imported, frozen chicken breast for around £5 for 2kg! That's about a quarter of what you'd be able to find (fresh) elsewhere. No other supermarket came close to that value. They also had frozen salmon pieces which I did the same with.

Now, back in AUS, I am lamenting having such cheap chicken breast. So I got thinking, maybe OzBargin can help! Plz share your everyday cooking tips and help a brother out. All ideas are welcome, but if you know about cheap chicken breasts in AUS, I will be forever in your debt!

Comments

  • +1

    We usually buy our chicken breasts from South Melbourne market; they aren't cheap but they are free range and great quality. I understand Footscray market is considered good value - someone might be able to give you the skinny on that.

    Some of my tips:
    a) Get some fresh ground peanuts and make yourself a good lot of satay sauce. We freeze it into a tupperware container and dig out a chunk to be heated up, with some water to thin, when we need it. Goes really well with chopped chicken done on a griddle with steamed peas, carrots and rice. Quick and tasty meal.
    b) A good quick desert we have found is getting some stone fruit, peaches, nectarines, plums, etc and then wizzing them in our baby magimix. Then just pour the puree over some greek yoghurt. Very quick and tasty with no added sugar. You only need, e.g. one peach, per person.
    c) Herbies cajun spice makes a really good marinade for chicken, one tsp with a dash of rum and sit in the fridge for a while. We make a fettucine version with onions (with additional tsp of spice), garlic, mushrooms, white wine and a dash of cream. One good sized chicken breast does enough for 4 people.

    • Would you be willing to share your satay sauce recipe please? =)

      • +2

        No probs. It isn't very traditional and the quantities are very rough. So you might want to play around with a smaller amount to start with

        • about 1 heaped teaspoon of raw sugar
        • enough lemon, from a squirt bottle, to saturate the sugar
        • about 1/4 of an onion, finally chopped
        • about 500g of peanutbutter - we use freshly ground from a place in South Melbourne market
        • Couple of heaped teaspoons of Sambal Olek
        • Couple of tablespoons, probably more, of Ketjap Manis.

        Method
        - Put sugar in tupperware container
        - Cover with lemon
        - Put in onion
        - Put some of the sambal Olek and Ketjap Manis in the mixture
        - Put in a bit of the peanut butter and mix through.
        - Keep doing this until you get the right level of taste and heat for you. This is a bit laborious as the mixture is quite thick. Keep tasting as you go before you add more Ketjap Manis or Sambel Olek.
        - Once it is all mixed through then put it in the freezer. We currently hack these off with a knife when we need a chunk, but you could get inventive with using small freezer containers.

        When we want to serve we defrost it in a bowl in the microwave, put a bit of water with it to think it down and then serve it hot. People can spoon over as much as they want.

  • +4

    lentils - great to make a stew with (add potatoes, onion, carrot, some veg stock powder) serve with crusty bread. - extremely hearty, healthy, inexpensive and perfect for a cold day - and super easy to cook.

    • This is what I've just started doing :)

      • +1

        Lentil soup, with Indian spices, also makes a good easy meal. You can cook up a batch of it and then defrost when you want to eat - pair it with crusty bread.

  • +1

    My soylent stash. For when you're too tired to buy groceries and you can't be bothered to fire up the stove:
    http://imgur.com/DNV7NFw

    each bag costs $7.70, and each bag provides 3 meals so that's roughly $2.56 per meal. However, shipping costs $41.60 flat rate. Still cheaper than most meals I have though.

    I still cook though only occasionally. If you want a cheap source of protein, eggs are an affordable way add protein to any dish, and it goes with almost anything, from casseroles to curries to chow mein.

    • +1

      What does soylent taste like?

      • +1

        soylent green is my favourite. has a "meaty" taste that I just can't identify

        • If the situation came to it I still don't think I could eat soylent green

          But I could totally rock a pet owl

      • Speculaas tastes like… oatmeal shake and cookie dough
        Vanilla tastes like oatmeal and vanilla shake

        I have yet to taste the other flavours, but I suspect they all taste like ground up oatmeal, so they are not unpleasant. I don't mind the slightly bland flavour.

        That said I will experiment with adding some matcha powder to the vanilla one to give it green tea flavour, maybe add some cocoa powder to the cookie one to give it choc chip taste.

        • Oatmeal is porridge right? Like uncle tobys oat meal right?

    • Have you tried any of the Australian based ones like http://aussielent.com.au/ ?

      That shipping charge on the Joylent is a bit much for a test run!

      • Aussielent was recommended somewhere but I read that Joylent is cheaper per unit (meal). As you can see I bought roughly 16 packs.

        • I've tried making my own before but it's just too much arseing around. Wow, Joylent definitely looks a lot cheaper if buying in bulk, even with the shipping.

          For a 30 pack / 90 meal order I get $2.77 per meal on the Joylent ($208 + $41.60)

          For a 28 pack / 84 meal order I get $3.80 per meal on the Aussielent ($319.90)

          It would just be a bit of a bugger if you ordered a months worth without testing first and found due to the way your body reacted it cost you an extra $400 in toilet paper.

        • @BaryGusey:

          I ate two meals yesterday and I didn't get explosive diarrhea. I also did not notice any bloating or abnormal gut activity.
          Normally when I eat other meal replacement stuff, like Sanitarium's Up 'n Go drinks (even just 1 pack of it) I will be spending my lunch break in the toilet or just fart all day.

          So this specific Joylent formula gets two thumbs up from me.

          Then again, everybody has different gut biomes and you will need some experimentation first, so it's a good idea not to buy too much for your first order.

      • I recommend Aussielent over joylent. Joylent doesn't mix as nicely or taste as good, i've tried all flavours of both brands and the Aussielent two come up on top. Also their pre-mixed is very expensive ($5/bottle) but by far and away the tastiest soylent i've had.

        • Thanks - I just realised my calculations were slightly wrong as the packs from Aussielent have 4 meals each, not three but still same day cost. I'll probably try and sample some Aussielent packs first anyway, $10 postage is a bit cheaper than $40 for a sampler.

          Do you (personally) just use a shaker or have you found a blender or smoothie maker necessary?

        • @BaryGusey:

          The blender is marginally better, but shakers work fine. The joylent doesn't mix as well as Aussielent either.

          Also, if you want to mix it the night before with hot water, then throw it in the fridge, that's given me the best consistency so far. That said, out of laziness i'm just using a shaker in the morning with tap water at the moment.

  • My go to diy meal is bare bones nachos (corn chips baked beans cheese sour cream).. about the same price as a dominos pizza though so not sure if that is cheap.

    Otherwise easy mac and two minute noodles or mi goreng is always a winner.

    Wish they had take home Chinese recipes at the super markets. Mapo tofu/chow mein/etc..so hard to cook at home I have tried with limited shitty success..

    I see butter chicken on special sometimes for $3.50 which is good enough for me.. buy two and that is dinner sorted.

  • +3

    look up dhal! my mum does a really simple one with lentils, chick peas, diced carrot and cauliflower. add in some curry powder (and some spices i forgot but easily available to find). buy some roti's from the oriental store, can get a 25 pack for $12? and you have yourself some cheap, tasty roti canai!

    • +1

      this. dhal is great. fry a chopped onion with some herbs/light curry, then add sliced mushrooms, add dhal - stir all this for a few minutes until the mushrooms start reducing. add some half strength vege stock mixed with water. simmer till dhal is soft. eat. yum

    • Yeah dhal is easy to make, and cheap!
      Can also add spinach.

      Soaking the lentils overnight helps them to cook faster.

  • Now that I finally got my food vac, I'm off and running with all sorts of healthy things.
    Cauliflower rice - got 10 huge serves out of one head.
    Pearl barley, very high in protein
    Quinoa
    Healthy Grain (pearl barkey and quinoa) and bean mixes cooked, mixed, bagged with some roast veg and frozen in two serve bags. Defrosted. Mixed with a little spinach, coriander and mint leaves, feta, baby tomatoes, a tiny bit of grilled halumi. Great salad for my teen to take to school. Loaded with nutrition and only healthy fats. So much flavour no dressing needed.

    I've started using up fruit but cooking them, then making them into individual serve "cobblers" where they are baked with some white cake mix and butter sprinkled on.

    If you have excess milk, make ricotta, then ricotta gnocchi, so easy.

    Use up old bananas buy googling healthy banana cookies. Mostly just oats and bananas. Can be very yummy with no bad stuff.

    Old bananas can be made into a banana cake with just a tin of condensed milk and SR flour in the slow cooker. Freezes well in individual serves.

    Have started to make small half sandwiches from the bread I know I won't go through. Just cheese or ham and cheese. Zip bag with air pushed out. Freeze. Slip into lunch box if it looks a bit light.

    I now buy chicken when it's marked down, bag it in about 250g lots.

    Your pressure cooker can cook a whole chicken in less than 30 minutes. Very tender and moist meat. You can also dump 500 g of solid frozen chicken breasts into your pressure cooker with a little bit of liquid, think green salsa or other tasty things and it'll be cooked from frozen in about 12 minutes.

    If you know you won't use a whole loaf of bread, freeze half straight away or make croutons or bread crumbs straight away. You can toast bread crumbs with garlic and your brain will make you think it's Parmesan cheese.

    If you have the oven on anyway, think about what veg you can throw in to roast and then purée for later.

    I'm going to start experimenting with normal boil in bag prep as well as sous vide.

    Use your slow cooker for everything. You can dump things into it or your pressure cooker and magic happens.

    I'm going to stop buying rice. It's much healthier to eat quinoa, pearl barley or cauliflower rice. In the long run, your health is probably a priority even if you think you are immortal, and rice, in particular white rice just adds more useless carbs with little nutritional value.

  • All are nice tips guys. Thanks so much.
    My favorite is potato so here somes that I want to share
    - Not salting the water
    When potatoes cook, the starch granules swell and absorb water and — if you've added it — salt. Top tip: If you add salt early on, you won't need to as much at the end.
    - Starting them in hot water
    Cover them with cold water, add salt, then boil and reduce to a simmer. If you start in hot water, they'll cook unevenly, with the outside falling apart before the inside is cooked.
    - Under-draining the potatoes
    Make sure to drain well after cooking to avoid a mushy, watery mess. If you'd like, gently reheat the drained potatoes on the stovetop to dry them out slightly before mashing.

    They work well with me and help me lots with Potato Paella and Potato Kebabs from apknite Potato recipes

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