Thermomix - saving money by cooking from scratch?

[Astrid]

Just to throw a curve ball. Do you have a pressure cooker?

[The[cookie]Doctor]

I'm a person who can say I don't believe I've saved. Time nor money. Because like N2L said I just didn't have the motivation to do enough: as in I thought I would but I didn't. But I still love my thermomix. Even if I do use it as a glorified steamer and food processor more than anything else, I love it. Because when i do get into the swing with it I feel like it was worth every cent.

[Olive]

PN how much is your weekly shopping bill?

[OceanPrincess]

I made peanut butter the other day in about twenty seconds

[Livinthedream]

I made peanut butter the other day in about twenty seconds

But how much did the peanuts cost?
Last I checked they were on a par with a jar of shop bought PB. (Pound for pound)

Black Rosé, I am curious, are you able to make porridge in the TMX from whole oats, or are you talking about buying rolled oats and making it with them ?(I am talking plain rolled oats, not flavoured satchets)

Do those that have a TMX make thier own tomato paste/purée/concentrate? How do you find that works cost wise?

As for curries, unless you are going to grow the plant and use the TMX to process it, how do you save on spices?

I think that you will likely save time with a TMX, but not so much $.

Cause you can make all those things with out one.


(Cept for the tomato paste, I don't know how to make that lol)

[wysiwyg]

But how much did the peanuts cost?
Last I checked they were on a par with a jar of shop bought PB. (Pound for pound)

Depends on the peanut butter you buy, I always bought the ones that are peanuts and peanut oil nothing else (often bought from market as supermarket doesn't always have) and using the TMX is certainly cheaper than that). Can make for a quarter of price of market bought. You can also do other nut butters or combinations which are very expensive to buy and get the consistency you want (we like quite chunky).

For me a big part of making my own is I am now not contributing to making of more plastic containers (glass isn't so bad but only pricy stuff comes in glass) I have one tub and I just refill it. (This is also true for other spreads, pasta sauce, curry pastes etc)

[briggsy's girl]

(Cept for the tomato paste, I don't know how to make that lol)

We make our own. Not difficult but very time consuming (you basically have to cook down the tomatoes in a lot to get rid of as much moisture as you can, then dehydrate in a low oven for ages). Might be easier for the first part n tax but I suspect the oven aspect would still take just as long. Not sure how much you would save dollars or time wise. But flavour is awesome


Sorry. I read the tmx threads with interest as we contemplate one. Couldn't help but answer that

[OceanPrincess]

I bought a kilo of grape tomatoes (little guys) from Costco as DD was going through a tomato phase... Guess what... Phase ended! So I had a kilo of tomatoes. Prior to tmx they would have sat there going slimy and skanky, until I guiltily threw them out... But no, I did some googling and made us a yummy tomato sauce that we then proceeded to use as a baste for some slow cooked ribs, pasta, chicken parmas, nachos!

So like lulu I'm saving money by not wasting things. Reverse saving? Lol.

[peanutter]

Read away, BG! I have looked at them from time to time too, but only got around to seeing one in action last Friday.

Should probably go to another demo or two, to get a better idea of how they work, and some other things they do to figure out whether we'd use it enough for it to be worthwhile.

Living: my answer for most of those things are in the same vein:-

- peanuts are more expensive but I don't live the amount of sodium, preservatives, etc in commercial peanut butter
- tomato pasatas and pastes and sauces etc are pretty cheap too - but if we were doing at home with TMX I could be getting much fresher ingredients, and again reducing preservatives and salt content - and being fresher, it would taste much better and be better for us
- with curries, we're slack as all get out - we use jars of Pataks these days
- ditto for yoghurts, dips, white sauce, steak sauce, etc - much less crap in them, much less preservatives, fresher food, more robust flavours.


Porridge is different - I keep a kilo of cheapie rolled oats and a tub of cheapie sultanas and jar of manuka honey at my office, and I nuke 1/3 cup oats with 2/3 cup water and 10 sultanas for 90 seconds in the microwave and then put a teaspoon of honey on it. Couldn't get easier or cheaper (other than going with cheaper honey or brown sugar I guess) if I tried. I can't imagine using a TMX to make porridge, unless I was doing it stovetop with milk or something!


And yes, OP - I like the idea of reducing wastage ... we could do with a little reverse-saving here, too ...


Maybe step 1 is for DH and me to learn our slow cooker. I should get a book and just use it ... and if we do that well, then look at the TMX.

[nothing2lose]

Just as an aside, both Woolworths Macro and Sanitarium have peanut butter that has nothing added (salt, sugar, preservatives). I make my own almond and coconut butter but it's not worth making peanut butter IMO.

[peanutter]

No pressure cooker (I have a slow cooker - is that the same?) and shopping bill is anywhere from $150 to $400.

Ah, n2l there's the rub. I used to cook on Saturdays. I'd do the shop in the morning, unpack and clean the fridge when I got back, cook until I dropped then I'd clean it all down, then fold all the washing in front of P+P. Pre DS2. A non-sleeping baby kind of throws everything out the window, and I never got back into it.

And realistically, I don't want to spend any where near that much time cooking, instead of being with the boys now - but if it could be achieved without the hands on time, that would be good.

And if we cut out the crap and save some money, tops.

[Astrid]

Pressure cooker cooks in a lot less time than standard stove top, oven cooking. You can cook a 2 hr casserole for example in 20-30 minutes. Just one of those things that can save you time.

[LuluHB]

I definitely save money - I'd say around $50 per week. That is partly because I'm cooking from scratch so saving on so much packaged crap (and with three kids and a husband who thinks 8 scotch finger biscuits with his morning cup of tea is normal, biscuits seriously add up!), but also because I'm (A) not buying takeaway ever - those nights when I'm too tired/too late from work/too whatever I now will throw something in thermie to cook, and (B) I tend to do more stuff with the TMX than I would have previously so I'm less likely to throw out any vegies.

For me though, while the money is nice, I'm loving the time and health factor. For instance today I made a cake, biscuits, slice, scones, sweet and savoury scrolls that are now all in the freezer. They will do the kids for school lunches and snacks for a good couple of weeks. They're preservative free, using more whole foods than over refined, over processed stuff etc. I also use it to make up heaps of fruit puree things for DD3, who for whatever reason flat out refuses to eat an actual piece of fruit, but sucks down those fruit pouches in 0.3 seconds. Now I make my own, put them in re-usable pouches, and save a fortune.

I got my TMX just before Christmas on the 12 month interest free plan they have from time to time, and while I'm nowhere near as good as Rouge is with what she does, I more than cover the monthly payment in the savings I make.