Value Range foods compared

[Frnc]

Had another go at microwaving Aldi reduced fat cheddar just now. 30 secs on full power. Was more melted than last time. Spread it on a slice of Sains rye bread, buttered (Utterly Butterly Lighter). Bit of pepper. To avoid all the cheese coming off in the first bite, I cut it up with a knife, into bite sized chunks.

Flipping heck that was tasty!

I should make the effort and use the grill though.

[jennyjj01]

I'm due for a serious replenishment of my tinned ready meals, so time to start sampling.

Today I found ASDA had a Tinned Tikka Masala on Rollback from £2.50 to £1.57, so I couldn't resist sampling it.

Final Verdict: I'll be immediately buying two trays of 20 cans at the rollback price of £1.57

Dang it. They only had 5 tins left, so I snapped them up.
Same shelf had Beef Stew in Gravy at £1.72, which I bought to try later. It boasts 30% Beef, so might be good value. Will review later.

Shout out for M&S own brand beans - half the price of Heinz but no degradation of quality.

Thanks. Will try some. M&S don't have common pricing across stores, but 45p from Ocado.

[jennyjj01]

I'm due for a serious replenishment of my tinned ready meals, so time to start sampling.

Today I found ASDA had a Tinned Tikka Masala on Rollback from £2.50 to £1.57, so I couldn't resist sampling it.

Final Verdict: I'll be immediately buying two trays of 20 cans at the rollback price of £1.57

Dang it. They only had 5 tins left, so I snapped them up.

Snapped up another half dozen today, again clearing the shelf.

To go with them, I noticed LIDL had pouches of Microwave Pilau rice with 15% off *, bringing them to a useful 42p for two modest servings.

I'm a bit torn on the relative costs/benefits of storing many kilos of inexpensive uncooked rice, compared to the relative luxury of microwave pouches. I've decided there's merit in having both sorts in my extended pantry: In a time of food crisis, or water crisis, having almost 'MRE' rice might be a bonus worth the extra cost.

* With LIDL Plus Card

[Frnc]

Cooking rice after SHTF is gonna need a lot of fuel, unless you just soak it for ages in boiled water and insulate the container.

[GillyBee]

I use the instant rice for everyday as it means that I also have it for a few days of very easy emergency cooking or camp cooking. But it is expensive compared to normal rice and I may stop if/when funds tighten.

[pseudonym]

I use the instant rice for everyday as it means that I also have it for a few days of very easy emergency cooking or camp cooking. But it is expensive compared to normal rice and I may stop if/when funds tighten.

Pre diabetes I did the same, especially when camping.

[pseudonym]

Snapped up another half dozen today, again clearing the shelf.

To go with them, I noticed LIDL had pouches of Microwave Pilau rice with 15% off *, bringing them to a useful 42p for two modest servings.

I'm a bit torn on the relative costs/benefits of storing many kilos of inexpensive uncooked rice, compared to the relative luxury of microwave pouches. I've decided there's merit in having both sorts in my extended pantry: In a time of food crisis, or water crisis, having almost 'MRE' rice might be a bonus worth the extra cost.

* With LIDL Plus Card

I looked on the kilos of rice as a barter item also, pre-portion out meals with a couple of tins of meat

[jennyjj01]

I'm a bit torn on the relative costs/benefits of storing many kilos of inexpensive uncooked rice, compared to the relative luxury of microwave pouches.

I use the instant rice for everyday as it means that I also have it for a few days of very easy emergency cooking or camp cooking. But it is expensive compared to normal rice and I may stop if/when funds tighten.

I figured I should decide, so here's my thought process. . .

The Extended Pantry is to facilitate a tolerable diet, and not absolute subsistence survival, though survival is a prerequisite.

Comparing the merits of cheapest dried Long Grain Rice at 52p/Kilo with Microwave Pilau Rice at 42p/250g Pouch

1kg Dried rice=3560kCal. Cost of 1000kCal=£0.15
250g Pouch =246kCal at 42p. Cost of 1000kCal=£1.70

So, on the face of it Microwave rice costs 11 times as much. The cost of cooking 1000kCal of dried rice, using electricity is about 2p, so the cost ratio approaches 10x

But lets take a reality check on the low cost either way.
£52 would buy me 100kg of dried rice which would give me 1000kCal per day for 356 days.
£52 would buy me 124 pouches of microwave rice giving me 1000kCal per day for 30 days.

The Microwave option offers me the chance of storing some variety of flavours and is a considerably better product. Shelf life is much less. I'm inclined to consider it a morale boosting treat, rather than a most basic survival ration staple. I would not spend 11x more than I needed to on survival staples, but I can live with the cost of treating myself once every 11 days, during TEOTWAWKI.

Decision / Conclusion: If I'm storing rations to live, rather than just survive, I'm inclined to spend equally, in £ terms, on storing the pouches and the dried rice.

I've gone through similar exercises deciding whether to buy very cheapest baked beans, pasta, tinned meat, compared with some reliable mainstream brands and my conclusion was similar: Start with a years worth of the cheapest acceptable brands, but augment with superior products up to similar total cost. E.g. for every 100 tins of 28p Tesco beans, treat myself to 50 tins of 60p Branston. Even the cheapest value foods must meet a certain standard of acceptability.

I continue to look for best VFM, within each product quality and snap up discounts.

I still draw the line at Heinz soups and ketchup after their long stint of price gouging.

[jennyjj01]

I looked on the kilos of rice as a barter item also, pre-portion out meals with a couple of tins of meat

Agreed. I think a kilo bag of dried rice is a much more valuable barter item than one or two microwave pouches, costing the same.

I now store my rice in 2L Milk bottles, but rice and pasta gets broadly paired up in quantity with sauces and meats. Actually, I'm disproportionately over stocked in rice and pasta. Must address that. My local foodbank has the same issue, MASSIVELY over stocked in pasta.

[jennyjj01]

I'm due for a serious replenishment of my tinned ready meals, so time to start sampling.
....

When I was clearing the shelf of the Chicken Masala product, I picked up a tin of ASDA beef stew at £1.80 on rollback.
Tonight we tried it and this is a micro review.

TLDR: Very Good and VFM

At £1.80, it was immediately appealing as it compares to other ready meals in the £2.00 region.
Slightly cheaper than Princes. It claimed 30% Beef.

The stew was very acceptable with lean and tender chunks of beef, a tasty gravy and a good proportion of veg.
Served with a sachet of mash (60p) and a tin of peas and baby carrots (£1.80), it fed two adults with about 400kCal each for a total cost of £4.20 . Heck, the peas and carrots were the expensive ingredient!

For a 'food cupboard' SHTF meal, this is about as good as it gets.

I'll be adding twenty or so tins to my extended pantry, without hesitation.