Good Cheap Grub ! Eating well on a low budget
Why I made this site :
The idea of this site is not so much to suggest that people entirely change their eating habits , but to give a few examples of how using less expensive forms of food can help a person or family economise and reduce their spending on both food and 'energy' .
Why so much about 'Slow Cooking' ?
Some might wonder why there's an emphasis on using 'Slow Cookers' on this site ; they might not realise the benfits of this technique . 'Slow Cookers' are a form of technology that have been designed to allow long periods of cooking while using comparatively little fuel . The most basic 'Slow Cooker' on an ordinary 'Warm' setting , for example, is sometimes said to use as little electricity per hour as a lightbulb does.
Most forms of conventional cooking use a comparatively wasteful means of heating food ; using the hob on either a Gas or Electric cooker results in much of the heat ( energy ) flowing sideways and out into the atmosphere , with only a small percentage of it actually 'usefully' heating the food in a pan . Ovens also require a large area to be heated in order to cook a relatively small aspect of that area ( the food in the pot ). Slow Cookers have been designed to minimise the loss of energy , enabling them to be used for long periods of time at a more economical rate . The outside of the removable pot is made of a conductive metallic material and acts as an 'element' which surrounds the ceramic bowl which then gradually absorbs and retains heat , becoming gradually hotter . The 'Slow Cooker' also has a close fitting lid which keeps most of the heat inside the pot ; these design aspects work together to make a piece of technology that retains more heat and can consequently run on significantly less energy than other conventional cooking methods .
Other advantages of 'Slow Cooking' include the fact that it enables cheaper cuts of meat to gradually tenderise , it is an ideal means of making soups or stews from inexpensive ingredients , and that the flavours of such dishes often improve when cooked for a longer period of time .
More About 'Cheap Food' :
One of the chief myths about food is that expensive food is likely to be 'good food' and that 'cheap food' is likely to be 'bad food' . In fact the price of food depends upon a number of logistical factors that determine the price and have nothing to do with nutritional content whatsoever .
Loosely speaking these 'logistical factors' are :
1: The cost of aqcuisition of the foodstuff or the growth / cultivation of the foodstuff .
Any crop or 'animal product' that is expensive to acquire or cultivate becomes more expensive in the shops ( eg : Wagyu Beef )
2: The cost or 'convenience' of storage of the foodstuff .
Fresh food is generally more expensive when compare to its 'preserved' equivalent ; frozen or tinned are generally less expensive than fresh , and 'dried' is generally the cheapest form of 'preserved' food .
3: Preparation .
Ready meals and similarly 'prepared' products are comparatively expensive because you are paying for the preparation as well as the ingredients . There is also no guarantee that the ingredients of these products will be high quality .
4 : Rarity / Availiability :
'Protected' species of fish are more expensive than those that are not protected ( this is due to 'ecological politics) and things that are hard to find , such as 'gourmet Truffles' that have to be sought out by a trained Dog or Pig , are consequently very expensive .
5; Transport :
The costs involved in transporting the foodstuffs from 'place of origin' to retail .
There are probably some other factors that I haven't mentioned here .
For 'economical cooking' dried food is virtually the 'Holy Grail' . Because it is easy for companies to prepare , store and transport , and takes up less room than its 'hydrated' counterpart it is often the cheapest nutrition available . Generally speaking ,when you look at a bag of dried food , if you imagine it 3 times bigger you'll be seeing it as it will be after it has been re-hydrated .
When it comes to 'economical eating' then , if you combine low energy methods of cooking , less expensive forms of ingredients with a bit of personal effort ( and planning ) you can eat 'nutritionally' and save money every week .
However you decide to eat , please remember that a varied diet which includes protein , vegetables , fruit , carbohydrates and calcium encourages good physical health . Personally I don't recommend 'Veganism' .