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How to have a dirt-cheap BBQ

Simon Ward
by Lovemoney Staff Simon Ward on 26 July 2012  |  Comments 23 comments

You don't need to spend a fortune to enjoy a barbie this summer.

How to have a dirt-cheap BBQ

A good old British BBQ is a great way to socialise with friends and family.

But the trouble is, unless you keep an eye on your budget the costs can easily spiral way out of control – especially if you have invited a small army of guests.

So, to keep your spending under control, take a look at our tops tips on how to have a frugal BBQ while the sun is still shining...

Something to cook on

Technically, you don't need a BBQ to have a BBQ party. But if you ask me, cooking everything in your kitchen is nothing short of cheating and not really a BBQ at all!

So let's say you need a BBQ. Of course, you could spend an absolute fortune buying a very fancy barbecue oven indeed, but it's by no means a necessity. If you don't already own one, it definitely won't cost you an arm and a leg if you shop smart.

For a budget option, get yourself down to B&Q where you can pick up a round charcoal barbecue for a fiver. Tesco has 4kg bags of charcoal on sale for £4.88.

If you're having a small BBQ for just you and your partner or a friend, you can pick up this disposable briquette barbecue for £1.75 from Tesco.

Food & drink

Now onto the good bit: the food and drink. You really need to avoid shelling out on expensive items for your BBQ. This is where the costs can really start to pile up. Don't forget, it's fine to ask your good friends and family to provide a little something on the day too.

I'm going to show you how to serve up a perfectly acceptable BBQ meal at a knock down price. On my typical shopping list for seven guests plus myself I have:

  • 8 beef burgers
  • 8 Lincolnshire sausages
  • 12 white burger buns (two x six-pack)
  • 12 hot dog rolls (two x six-pack)
  • Cheese slices (20-pack)
  • Tomato ketchup (560g)
  • Salad (250g)
  • Loose tomatoes (500g)
  • Coleslaw (600g)
  • 2 litres Coca-Cola
  • 2 litres R. Whites lemonade
  • 40 small bottles of lager (4 x 10-250ml bottles)
  • And ask your generous guests to kindly donate desserts and extra drinks as required!

By comparing prices online at five leading supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Watirose and Ocado – using mysupermarket.com, my shopping list is cheapest at Tesco where it comes in at a grand total of £28.84 or £3.61 per person.

However, apart from the tomato ketchup and beer I've not gone for the value range for most of the products. You can make even bigger savings by doing this. Swapping my Tesco quarter pound beef burgers for ordinary beef burgers would not only save me 98p, but give me two extra burgers, as this product comes in packs of 10.

Replacing my branded soft drinks with the Tesco versions would save me a further £1. And swapping my Tesco Lincolnshire sausages for Tesco pork sausages would save me an extra 10p. This leaves me with a total bill of £26.76 or £3.35 per head.

You could also save even more money by making the burgers from scratch.

And if I had vegetarian guests coming I'd go for a six-pack of Tesco's Lincolnshire-style veggie sausages for £1.75. Although it's worth pointing out that, at the moment, you can pick up Linda McCartney's version for £1 at Sainsbury's.

Of course, you may be able to find these items even cheaper at deep-discount supermarkets such as Lidl or Aldi. If you know of any good BBQ food deals at these supermarkets, please share them with other lovemoney.com readers using the comments box below.

Don't forget that we list the latest supermarket deals and discounts every week in our Frugal Food blog.

Utensils, plates & cutlery

That's the food and drink covered. But what about cooking your food and eating it? There are one or two indispensible items you should pick up first.

All BBQ cooks should have some good value for money equipment. For example, try this oven mitt from Poundland for...you guessed it...£1. You can also pick up a spatula, fork and tongs set from Argos for just £1.99. Now there's no excuse not to get flipping those burgers! And Poundland also has summer salad bowls with servers.

If you're having a fair few guests, you may want to save some time and effort on the washing up by using disposable plates and cutlery. Tesco and Asda both have 24-packs of plastic cutlery for 45p, 100 paper napkins for 48p, and 50 paper plates for £1. Tesco also sells 25 plastic cups for 59p.

So now you should be ready for your bargain BBQ. Let's just hope the rain holds off...

This is a classic lovemoney article that has been updated

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Comments (23)

  • MortgageMan
    Love rating 5
    MortgageMan said

    Thanks Jane, thats made me hungry now, going to get the BBQ out this weekend or may even stretch to a new one at £4.88!! Great article.

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • JingleBell
    Love rating 4
    JingleBell said

    If half of your BBQ guests are male... you could save more money by only buying half the quantity of salad !! 

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Chris2685
    Love rating 2
    Chris2685 said

    £35 and all you're getting is 8 sausages and 16 burgers? (all the rest of it is stuff you don't need - apart from the BBQ & coal of course!

    wow, what a bargain (!!)

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • chubby chops
    Love rating 13
    chubby chops said

    40 bottles of lager? Are the people not driving? When we have a BBQ we usually only supply soft drink and those who may want to drink bring their own ... that way they get what they like and we are not encouraging drink driving (well ... I do usually have a bottle of wine but again because of driving most of our friends have no more than a glass).

    Also, although the preparation takes longer, we usually take time to make kebabs which means people are eating more vegetables and less meat than if you simply do burgers and salads (as Jinglebell commented about men and salads).

    Also, Homebase and other stores are marking down their BBQ's & related stuff as much as 1/2 price as it is end of season for the retailers. Many bargains to be had there.

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • LAWR3NC3
    Love rating 9
    LAWR3NC3 said

    We are all different & I am NOT being either judgemental or scornful .... but I always feel that, in return for the effort of traveling to your house, a host(ess) is obligated to provide his/her guests with at least as good, & ideally quite a bit better, than they would normally give themselves at home. I am not sure I would accept a second invitation to a house where I had been offered a bottom of the price range sausage & 2 burgers for the princely cost of £2 (- worse still if I had brought along my own home made ice cream or summer pudding for desert).

    As a thought you should consider what the uncooked ingredients would look like - I would be surprised if any of us could stomach eating even 10% of the contents of the average budget sausage (typically 65% pork fat).

    As a positive suggestion to those who feel this is OK may I suggest they go the extra 'aisle' & get in some oven ready chips - probably at no more than £6 extra - ie about 75p more per head!

    HstG.

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • suzylew
    Love rating 3
    suzylew said

    Good ideas, but what about making your own burgers? A large pack of steak mince,£4; makes approx 6-10 (depending on size) just mix with breadcrumbs from 1 slice of bread, a squirt of tomato puree or ketchup, 1 oxo, 1 onion, finely chopped, a dash of olive oil, 1 egg and add seasoning (anything you like, salt, pepper, herbs, worcestershire sauce, garlic, chilli). Mix together, form into patties and chill for a couple of hours before the party kicks off....enjoy!!!

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  3 loves
  • kybosh909
    Love rating 6
    kybosh909 said

    If, like me, you cant stand the supermarket "vannishing burgers" - you know the ones, they start off big enough to fit in a nice size bun, then after 10mins of cooking the turn out to be the size of a two pence piece since they are mostly made of fat and reconstituted animal tendons - then make your own.

    So easy and cheap to do, plus you can season them with any range of herbs and seasonings. Maybe not as cheap as the supermarkets own but you dont need to eat as many since they dont "disappear"!!

    Heres a basic recipe i use, which can be added to or have seasonings taken out or reduced/increased to taste - i must admit i probably go a bit over the top here but they taste devine! Beef can be substituted for lamb, chicken or pork and the herbs/seasinings be substututed to match the meat (eg. mint instead of parsley for lamb). I guess you could even use Quorn but i have never tried.

    This will make around 8 - 10 good size burgers.

    $Minced Beef - around 250 grams(lean is good but it does need a bit of fat) $2 large onions (white or red) - fineley grated, $large bunch or fresh parsely - fineley chopped, $3 cloves of garlic (smoked is even better!) - crushed, $2-3 birdseye chillies - fineley chopped (or use dried chilli flakes), $tablespoon of worcester sauce, $dessert spoon of english mustard, $Lots of freshly ground black pepper, this is very important!! No salt though as this will draw water out of the meat.

    Combine all the ingredients well with your hands and shape into patties. Make sure there are no cracks in the shape and they have a smooth surface so they will hold well when cooking.Put in the freezer for 20-30mins, this will stiffen them up a bit so they hold their shape and allow the flavours to infuse.

    Just before you put them on the BBQ, brush each side with a little olive oil and put on the hottest part for a 30/30 sizzle (30secs then flip them for another 30 secs) this will stop them breaking up since you are not using any bonding agents (another additive in supermarket burgers) - some poeple put an egg in the mixture for this but you dont really need to if you do the 30/30 sizzle. You can then lower the heat and cook them how you like - 8-10 mins for medium/well done.

    I have them slightly pink in the middle - around 5-6 mins, (my mrs likes them rare!! - 1min each side) BUT i only do this if i use very good mince, eg. from beef/lamb that has been hung properly (28 days min!) and that has good provenance. Obviously its your own choice so please dont undercook them on my say so!!!! And most certainly DO NOT do this with chicken or pork - Better put that disclaimer in there!!!

    Enjoy!!

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • kybosh909
    Love rating 6
    kybosh909 said

    doh!! sorry suzylew, you must have posted yours while i was still writing mine. :-)

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • SiGl26
    Love rating 26
    SiGl26 said

    My drink suggestion would be punch not beer; can make it as alcoholic/otherwise as you can afford... And the fruit doubles as dessert :)

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Honky81
    Love rating 4
    Honky81 said

    Hey,

    The tip with men and Salad is not working because we eat more meat instead (and usually eat more overall anyway).

    But why not ask everybody to bring a couple of meats and alcohol? Obviously depends how much "class" your friends have but with my friends (we all earn below UK average wage living in the South of France) the host provides BBQ, Salads and some rolls and the guest bring meat and alcohol.

    Costs me as a guest only about £5 (which is a cheap fun night, compared to a night out clubbing) and the host has enough leftover meats for 3 weeks usually, "paying" them for their efforts.

    Cheers

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • browncoatemsy
    Love rating 5
    browncoatemsy said

    chicken thighs & drumsticks and pork belly are usually pretty cheap & you can marinade them in just about anything to spice them up. Just make sure to cook the chicken at a low/moderate heat for long enough to make sure they are cooked through to the bone. Its also pretty cheap to make a big vat of home-made potato salad & much tastier than shop=bought stuff.

    I agree with comments above - I wouldn't eat the cheap, highly processed sausages & burgers myself so I would never serve them to guests. burgers are dead easy to make as described above and at least you know what is in them.

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • NZJenn
    Love rating 5
    NZJenn said

    "We are all different & I am NOT being either judgemental or scornful .... but I always feel that, in return for the effort of traveling to your house, a host(ess) is obligated to provide his/her guests with at least as good, & ideally quite a bit better, than they would normally give themselves at home. I am not sure I would accept a second invitation to a house where I had been offered a bottom of the price range sausage & 2 burgers for the princely cost of £2"

    LAWR3NC3 - I'm no fan of 2 quid burgers myself but the above made me laugh, in all my years I've never found it to be more of an effort to travel to someone's house than it is to cook the meal! It sounds like you're doing them a favour by going over there to eat! Haha!!!

    Report on 19 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • LAWR3NC3
    Love rating 9
    LAWR3NC3 said

    It sounds like you're doing them a favour by going over there to eat! Haha!!!

    Well its not that funny NZJenn. I think you may have forgotten the scenario here. Remember we are considering a Bar BQ (where the 'Bar B' would appear to stand for:'bargain basement').

    Lets put forward a 'for instance': I drive to & from this Bar BQ with half the grub (ie the pudding) & get to eat a pile of ground down offal - distributed between one sausage & 2 burgers. Cooking time 10 minutes. Lets assume the hostess is using disposable plates/cutlery, or maybe just paper napkins, which would not seem out of context with the labour being lavished upon this feast (so not even any washing up afterwards) .... then the balance of effort in terms of time is surely going to be on the side of any guest who lives more than 5 minutes away? 

    So, irrespective of whether the host thought I was doing him/her a favour by turning up, I somewhat doubt that I would ever repeat the visit.    

    Report on 20 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Max878
    Love rating 37
    Max878 said

    When a restaurant advertises how cheap the food is as opposed to how good the food is, it's invariably rubbish. I'm sorry to say that's how your barbeque will be (apart from the enjoyable company).

    Report on 21 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • kybosh909
    Love rating 6
    kybosh909 said

    i must say my guests usually bring desert and or drink, but thats not because i ask them to, its just a polite thing to do when you go to someone elses house to eat to bring a bottle of wine and/or a six pack

    i always take the same when i visit someone elses, its the least you can do to thank the host(ess) for inviting you round in the first place!

    Report on 21 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • NZJenn
    Love rating 5
    NZJenn said

    Lighten up LAWR3NC3 Do you do all the cooking at home? I was referring more to the "idea" that travelling to someone else's house for dinner is more of a hassle than the hosting of said meal, not the cheap food that is offered.

    If your reason for eating out is wanting food of better quality than you get at home then I would suggest a restaurant. The general point to having dinner at friends houses is 2 fold, to eat, but mostly to socialise!

    We have friends over for a BBQ at our house almost every weekend and although we supply some meat (homemade burgers, sausages), beer and wine, all the salads, and accompainements our friends always bring their own drinks and some meat for the BBQ.

    Personally I'd be happy to travel to someone else's for spaghetti on toast for dinner, but then I cook dinner every night and just having a break from cooking every day is less of a hassle than driving to someone else's house. And, I'd take a couple of bottles of wine with me (one for the evening and one for the host) and yes, I would happily go back over for dinner again, regardless of whether my hosts cooking skills or budget are less than my own.

    Report on 22 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • NZJenn
    Love rating 5
    NZJenn said

    kybosh909 - I totally agree!

    Report on 22 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • LAWR3NC3
    Love rating 9
    LAWR3NC3 said

    We seem to be getting slightly into a rut with this one.

    My last comment on the subject is from the point of view of the host/ess. I cannot believe I am alone in believing that one has a duty to do one's best when inviting people round for a meal & the fact that it is in the garden is simply not an excuse for dishing out rubbish to your hapless guests.

    For the record we had a Bar-B-Q yesterday for 7 (6 adults) & we produced a fairly average main course from the grill - as is often the case quite a lot of the meat was slightly overcooked. It involved: premium pork sausages, Kofte Kebabs, home made burgers (using Kybosh's recipe, as it happens - so thanks for that) & marianated chicken followed, fortunately, by a truly excellent summer pudding, using home picked blackberries. I didn't feel we had pushed the boat out by any means.

    To get back to the original article - which is what I have been commenting on - spending £2-£3 per head is unacceptably lazy & mean! End of story

    Report on 24 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • vinegar
    Love rating 0
    vinegar said

    I can't seem to put the cheap burgers on my gas bbq without the fat in them causing the flames to soar out of control! Also check out what is caught in the grease catcher afterwards...quite gross!!

    Report on 28 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • daytrader33
    Love rating 1
    daytrader33 said

    Jane, I hope I am never unfortunate enough to attend one of these hilairious events!

    These cost savings are all well and good but they miss the point on the whole essence of having a bbq...ie an informal event for friends to socialise with nice food and drinks.

    How anyone can enjoy an evening of gristle-filled burgers (yes, try tasting one of these value/basic/pikey brands) in starched white bland buns along with cheapo plonk or asda own brand lager needs their tastebuds examing! Would you serve up potnoodle or beans on toast at a dinner party? well, this is the equivalent i'm afraid!

    you might save a tenner on raw food but what's the point if everyone is running to the loo after tasting your fare :-) there's a reason the supermarket burgers and kebabs are cheaper than even making your own with decent ingredients...i guess you haven't worked it out yet!

    Report on 30 August 2009  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Ben Hall
    Love rating 51
    Ben Hall said

    Back in the 70's during the last big recession we used to run cheap BBQ's for our seven kids....Take any metal bucket, and fill it with scrunched up newspaper. Set light to the newspaper. Put a grille over the bucket....we used to use old chicken wire. Then put the beefburgers on the grille. The flames melt the grease...the grease falls on the paper, and it burns beautifully....Some of our best barbies were done this way. Try it. It never gets out of control. Nice article. Thanks

    Report on 26 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • electricblue
    Love rating 653
    electricblue said

    Wow, seven kids in the seventies. Proves that TV was pretty useless then eh? I do remember those endless boring Sundays as a teen!

    Barbeques of all kinds are dirt cheap right now. Even the multi-burner ones are far cheaper than they are even in the USA. Get your reduced items from the freezer and eat like a king. Just make sure everything is properly cooked and keep the drunks away from hot surfaces.

    Report on 26 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • oldhenry
    Love rating 274
    oldhenry said

    Good article but DON'T buy the cheapo meat! Go to Coop and get Aberdeen Angus beefburgers, theyare tasty and healthy. If you do not like you friends well, stick to cheapo. Also do not , ever buy cheapo sausage, again full of rubbish. Buy Black Farmer's daughter sausage that are full of real meat. You need some nice chilli sauces too, get from TK Max at reduced price.

    I used home-made BBQs for years but when i retired I splashed out on a gas fired one from Argos in their inevitable sales. Only £32 and I already had a Propane cylinder for my gas torch. It is good as it starts up and goes from scrath, no hanging about blowing the charcoal.

    Cooking and eating outside is a primeval feeling and I enjoy it.

    As for wollop, well my wife would drink you lagerin ten minutes! You need some serious quantities of cool white wine, nice Pint Grigio , allow half a bottle each, or a whole one for me and a whole one for the wife.

    Back to Calais soon to fill up again.

    Report on 26 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love

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