So I want to be a bit more money savvy in 2014 and one of the areas I want to focus on it eating more variety of desi food but without blowing my food budget which is currently set to £200 for three adults and one 3 year old. Meat seems to be the biggest expense.
So what type of dishes prove economical?
My husband is a huge fan of bhoona howa gosht, kebabs, grills..in my opinion stuff that isn’t what I would class as frugal.
Although I’m looking at frugal stuff I would like it to be healthy too.
Chanay chawal
Khichri - you can have accompaniments to make it more interesting but I love khichri alone too
Grilled veggies with baked chicken
Aloo parathay
Besan ki roti with any kind of saag
Aloo anday
Aloo gobi
Bhindi
Daal (masoor, mong, maash)
Pasta (spaghett w/ marinarai or alfredo)
Baked chicken legs (quater)
khachri served it with plain yogurt
Instead of going meatless, add veggies to the meat. You will consume less meat and incorporate veggies/beans/lentils as well. When ever I am making kababs or koftay, I mash up bunch of veggies and mix it in the keema.
I have made palak, zucchini, turnips, potatoes, peas, carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, asparagus, okra, daal, beans with chicken/mutton/lamb.
Great idea Lusi . I also add veggies to shami kababs while cooking the meat and then grind it. You add mashed potatoes and carrots and stale bread to Chapli Kabab. Pasta and ramen noodles are inexpensive. However Ramen noodles are not healthy. I read on fb that they use strymoan in the noodles. Vegetables are not cheap in the USA these days. If you are sticking to a budget:
Buy only what you need - don’t buy extra veggie and have them go bad. Cook in large quantities and freeze. Buy things on sale- but only amts you will actually use. I used to buy large quantities and then things would expire before use. Most paki men love meat and don’t want to compromise on it. Try new recipes - ESP. Salads and cut down on meat consumption. It’s dont good ESP Bc meat these days is grain fed -not grass fedand given high fructose corn syrup to fatten. Animals are also given steroids to fatten them up. Also they are using alot of antibiotics on these animals. So while meat is halal it is not longer healthy. Try to stick to making home made foods with lots of daal, parathas, beans with meat sparingly. One important point is avoid junk food and eating out. So buy only what you will consume and stick to nutritious foods.
No, I don’t add mashed potatoes but carrots, broccoli, and peas..all steamed and mashed up. Oh I add onions and bell peppers as well but without steaming them. I buy whole wheat durum wheat noodles, they are healtheir and not all that expensive.
Honestly, I would try to find other ways to cut back and be frugal. Life’s too short to be cheap with food…I get not eating out much or having crazy davats but cmon for home cooking? If you can afford it, enjoy it
While I agree in theory with eating well at home, I disagree only because I feel our Pakistani food is too damn good for our own benefit!
I love Lusi’s idea about incorporating more veggies in your meat items. When we were kids, my mom was on a budget making lunches for six people every single day. Breakfast and dinner as well as snacks in the middle at times.
For lunches, she used to buy veggies in bulk, steam, mash, add some meat, make kebabs and freeze. We each had two kebabs with chapati rolled into a kebab roll. They were some of the most delicious and healthy kebabs ever…so good sometimes my lunch would get nabbed at the lunch table by other kids.
If your husband likes kabobs, try kachay qeemay kay kabab, a pound of beef (half kilo) yields about 10 -12 kabobs. And the ingredients are very simple. Opt for chicken more than beef more often. Roast chicken tastes good and I don’t know about the UK but in the US, chicken legs cost less than buying whole chicken, you can inquire about that. If your hsuabdn is a big meat person, make dal and alongside you can serve fried chicken legs or kachay qeemay ka kabab. Veggie kabobs also taste good and are similair to meat kabobs in taste.
You can add vegetables to chicken too, not just beef/ mutton salans. Decrease the quantity of mutton. Its very expensive. To make up make beef pilalf and beeff salan once in a while.
Even the most steadfast beef lover likes Chicken karhai, switch to that. And yes, I make most chicken desi salans with chicken legs (drumsticks and thigh).
Is your £200 a month budget exclusively for food, or does it include other groceries too? I spend on average £70-80 a week on groceries, including nappies etc. But that’s for all 3 meals, and snacks for 2 adults and a toddler. We take packed lunch every day. So I’m pretty impressed by your £200 a month budget.
We don’t eat meat everyday, nor do I have much wastage (as we take leftovers for lunch when available). Our more frugal meals include:
We eat rajmaah (red kidney beans curry)
Daal with rice with and a couple of kebabs if needed.
Pasta dishes
Gosht with veg.
I find things like gosht with palak, or beetroot, or peas and carrots go further and feel more substantial. We also tend to eat more chicken than red meat.
