TV chefs and ridiculous demands for ingredients

So you will need blah blah.. these ingredients.. plus a teaspoon of this (packet costs a few pounds) plus a sprinkling of that (another few quid) . To finish, dust with ( insert cash here).

So it costs me 25 quid to buy the stuff for one meal and then im left with a fridge full of open jars and packets . We are not all on your wages Gordon/ Jamie? etc!

Why dont they organise the recipes so you can use what left that you bought last week to make something new.

Why do I eat ready cooked meals sometimes? because I dont want to eat the same thing every day for a fortnight and I'm not feeding the 5000.

I mean.. COME ON!

Its no wonder people dont embrace the idea of cooking at home when its like that.

Plus.. whats all this dinner party stuff about? Do people still have dinner parties? I might fix my friends some food when they visit but who invites people around to a meal of spag bol or whatever, I would just rustle up that (a veggie version) for my tea. I cant imagine inviting people around for a "proper" meal, its just dinner isnt it!

Why not try going online for recipes?  I just type into google "chana dal recipes" or whatever and see what comes up.  I look at several and then go with the least complicated one (most times).  Usually these are recipes from "normal" people and the ingredients listed aren't anything too odd.  Most times I may have to pick up some more of a dried spice I've run out of or a lime or some coriander or something like that, but that's not too out of the way.

Also, I usually make a big amount--enough for hubby to take to lunch the next day and some to freeze for dinner on a night when we don't have time to cook.

I think tv chefs generally aim their recipes towards people who are really, really into food and don't mind paying over the odds for ingredients.  I enjoy hunting down and using unusual ingredients but it's certainly not an every day thing, more of a special occasion event.

Thank you for yr replies.

Jamie does his cook at home challenge things but he doesnt seem to understand the cost of getting all the stuff together. Its true it doesnt work out that expensive but only if you are making a lot of it. For me and a lot of other people I'm sure, its not feasable because I dont wanna be stuck with a ton of half used ingredients. With a little planning, it could work out much better. If you got a budget for the weeks food, you cant use up half of it on one meal then have a ton of stuff going off in the fridge while everyone starves, even if you do add a spig of thyme or something to yr beans on toast. 

Do people still have dinner parties? I might fix my friends some food when they visit but who invites people around to a meal of spag bol or whatever... I cant imagine inviting people around for a "proper" meal, its just dinner isnt it!

Yes, we do!

For people who enjoy cooking (for themselves & others), it's not that big of a deal to keep a cupboard stocked with spices, dry ingredients, etc (which you buy once to initially set yourself up, and then irregularly after) from which you can make a lot of stuff.  Plus we have a small space in our back garden that's our kitchen herb garden - we pick that FOR FREE.  And we certainly don't have 'a ton of stuff going off in the fridge' - in fact, we use up pretty much everything we buy each week (usually lots of fresh fruit, veg & some meat from our local butcher).

But after you do 1 or 2 meals you start to build up a store cupboard of ingredients you need - for example, making a curry from scratch can be expensive at first when you have to buy all the individual spices, but they last a while and you'll probably then find you only have to buy 1 or 2 jars at any one time.

Plus.. whats all this dinner party stuff about? Do people still have dinner parties?

ABSOLUTELY!!!

But after you do 1 or 2 meals you start to build up a store cupboard of ingredients you need - for example, making a curry from scratch can be expensive at first when you have to buy all the individual spices, but they last a while and you'll probably then find you only have to buy 1 or 2 jars at any one time.

That's true.

Also, you don't need to follow TV chefs' recipes to make a good meal. Get yourself some good cookbooks, or buy some of the great food magazines out there. Lots of them have inexpensive ways to make delicious meals. Yes, even dinner party meals. 

You can also make huge batches and freeze them in individual containers.  Homemade ready meals.  It only works if you have the freezer space, of course.

Speaking of, I really should be doing this now since we now have use of an entire (small) freezer. 

2 words: Nigella Express! Most of the recipes in there are for reasonable amounts and normal ingredients. And made of yum!

Nigel Slater's recipes are also fairly simple. And delicious!

I recommend Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food cookbook, very easy recipes, most of which take 20 min or less, he gives shortcuts and long versions (you can use Patak's curry pastes or mix your own using his recipes), the recipes make a small amount, just enough for 2 people and 1 person could just keep the leftovers), he even gives recipes for leftovers (leftover curry biryani, for example, using any type of leftover curry), and many of the recipes use similar ingredients. He gives a list of store cupboard ingredients at the beginning of the book, so I just picked a few up that I didn't already have (couldn't afford to buy everything on the list) and was able to make about 3 recipes that week with just those ingredients. It's a great cookbook, and gives lots of basics (like his method for cooking rice - sounds silly, but I tried it and the rice came out so perfectly that I completely swear by it now!) and just ideas for how to jazz up things you might already have, like porridge. I agree when watching his show sometimes that there are many ingredients that might be hard to come by or cost quite a bit of money, but this book is pretty scaled down.

2 words: Nigella Express! Most of the recipes in there are for reasonable amounts and normal ingredients. And made of yum!

I also really like this book. Just made the mustard pork chops with gnocchi the other day. The only extra ingredient I needed to buy was a bottle of cider, and I was happy to drink what didn't get used in the recipe 

To the OP--you can always freeze any fresh herbs that don't get used. I don't have a garden (or a viable window ledge) for an herb garden, so I do this a lot.

I recommend Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food cookbook

Yes! My BF is trying to expand his cooking beyond 3 dishes and he picked this book up and is finding it incredibly easy to make food out of there.  Easy ingredients, cheap, quick and tasty. 

Another really good book, even if you know how to cook is "The First Time Cook" by Sohpie Grigson. So easy to follow along and there are tasty recipes in there too, without any exotic ingredients

Another really good book, even if you know how to cook is "The First Time Cook" by Sohpie Grigson. So easy to follow along and there are tasty recipes in there too, without any exotic ingredients

Also the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book, which has been on the go since 1948 (last updated in 2004). It has lots of tested recipes and a useful reference section on food storage, kitchen equipment, herbs and spices etc).

Experiment  with ingredients that normally you wouldn't think of putting together. you never know You might come up with something.