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Best cheap meals
Ads
21-04-2009
Any tips on cheap to make, but tasty meals, which can last a couple of days? I make stuff like lentil or chickpea curries, sausage casseroles etc which all taste good, and are cheap to make - but other ideas are welcome. I prefer to try and save money on food, but also eat well - so I can blow the money I save on going out and holidays etc!
stud u like
21-04-2009
Sainsburys do cheap and tasty cooked chicken. I buy one of these a week and it lasts me 3 days.

I make an omelette with onions and sambal.

I make kitcheree one day.

One day I have fish or a prawn salad.

One day I make a stir fry with noodles.
Ads
21-04-2009
Originally Posted by stud u like:
“Sainsburys do cheap and tasty cooked chicken. I buy one of these a week and it lasts me 3 days.

I make an omelette with onions and sambal.

I make kitcheree one day.

One day I have fish or a prawn salad.

One day I make a stir fry with noodles.”

I only buy free range or Organic chickens for ethical reasons, although you can certainly get four meals for one of a £6 free range chicken.
Louismum
21-04-2009
Chicken is always a good choice. You can make a roast with it one day then the next use it up making a chicken stew (and dumplings yummy) or curry etc.
Sad_BB_Addict
21-04-2009
I think "sausages" when short of cash. Toad in the hole; sausages, egg & chips; sausage casserole.
LQS
21-04-2009
Home made pizza. The dough costs next to nothing to make, the sauce takes just one tin of chopped toms, and you can put any topping on you like.
Anything with mince is also cheap to make, so take your pic from shepherds pie, spag bol, etc.
Stews made with cheap cuts of meat in a slow cooker also go a long way.
RAINBOWGIRL22
21-04-2009
Jacket spuds, beans on toast, scrambled (or fried) egg on toast, omlettes.

Obviously you cook these individually each day but the ingredients last a good few days.

A box of eggs and a small loaf of bread would easily do me 3 dinners!!
ardwark
21-04-2009
Macaroni Cheese
Sausage and chorizo casserole
Any kind of stew
Minestrone soup or any soup
Chilli
Fritatta
indianwells
21-04-2009
Originally Posted by RAINBOWGIRL22:
“Jacket spuds, beans on toast a la indianwells, scrambled (or fried) egg on toast, omlettes.

Obviously you cook these individually each day but the ingredients last a good few days.

A box of eggs and a small loaf of bread would easily do me 3 dinners!!”

I've altered it to what you meant to say!
maimou
21-04-2009
Tuna pasta bake can go a long way very cheaply - as long as you don't mind using standard tinned tuna (and I don't!) you can make a base tomato sauce (onion, garlic, tomato, basil) pad it out with some fresh veg (mixed peppers, mushrooms) chuck in a tin or 2 of tuna then stir into a cooked pasta of your choice and finish off under the grill with some grated emmental on top - the overall dish costs about 5 quid but should make at least 4 hearty servings.
Rossall
21-04-2009
I usually do batches of chilli/spag bol/curry/pasta sauce with mackerel etc. and then freeze them in portions in individual freezer bags.

Then just bung them in the microwave when you need them and cook some rice/pasta with them.
littlefro
21-04-2009
Originally Posted by Rossall:
“I usually do batches of chilli/spag bol/curry/pasta sauce with mackerel etc. and then freeze them in portions in individual freezer bags.

Then just bung them in the microwave when you need them and cook some rice/pasta with them.”

Absolutely with Rossall. Home cooking is where it's at. Mother's should only go to Iceland for certain items. only if they must!
EdwardP
21-04-2009
Vegetable lasagne is very cheap to make and can last for at least 2/3 days.

You can also make a huge pot of Dublin Coddle that will last for around 4 days.
Nomore Baloney
22-04-2009
Hi LQS

How do I make the dough?
Originally Posted by LQS:
“Home made pizza. The dough costs next to nothing to make”

Hi Edward
Originally Posted by EdwardP:
“Vegetable lasagne is very cheap to make”

Can I ask for your receipe please?
EdwardP
22-04-2009
Originally Posted by Nomore Baloney:
“Hi LQS

How do I make the dough?


Hi Edward

Can I ask for your receipe please?”

Sure. I just use prepacked lasagne sheets, a jar of pasta sauce and the following vegetables:

Peppers
Celery
Onion
Garlic
Mushrooms
Leeks

Just start off by frying the onion and garlic for two minutes and then add in the peppers, celery, mushrooms and leeks. When they are cooked add in the jar of sauce and bring to the boil.

Make up the lasagne by lairing like you would do with a normal lasagne and then added grated cheddar cheese to cover the complete top part of the dish.

Bake in the oven for 25mins at gas mark 8 or until cheese has melted and crisped slightly

Seve with garlic bread for a cheap meal!
Maelbrigda
22-04-2009
Pasta and cheese - simple to make, cheap and filling. Add peppers onions and mushrooms for your 5 a day contribution
grassmarket
22-04-2009
Anything based around dried beans, peas, lentils etc. A 500 gram bag of any kind will usually be less than a quid - far less than the tinned equivalent - and will easily be good enough for 4-6 meals once soaked. Every culture in the world has recipes for beans - Italian, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, French etc etc etc.
ardwark
22-04-2009
Corned beef hash. Not sure how I forgot about that

Potato gratin
LQS
22-04-2009
Just google pizza dough and the recipe will come up - I would have to go and look it up myself as it has been a while. Mainly just involves, flour, water, olive oil, a bit of salt, some yeast, and some elbow grease.
Nomore Baloney
23-04-2009
Hi Edward / LQS, thanks for replying
diva_moon
23-04-2009
I often make soups that last a few days:

Fish and leek soup

Cup red lentils, soaked overnight
cup pearl barley
one or two pieces of white fish (frozen cheap stuff)
one medium leek, chopped
couple of veggie stock cubes
Salt, pepper, some curry powder if you're feeling adventurous

Boil. it all up for an hour or so and then add some cheap veg gravy powder if it needs a better texture.

Delicious!

Tomorrow I'm going to try my own recipe butternut squash and blackeye bean soup with mushrooms (recipe undecided, but I may add some potatoes to the mix and of cousre whatever seasoning takes my fancy as I've never made it before)

For lunch I often like to have cold home-made peas pudding (dried yellow split peas are quite cheap) on 4-grain ryvita (which isn't so cheap) with some tomato ketchup on top of each slice. It's flpping yummy and the cheapness of the peas pudding and ketchup makes up for the fact that 4-grain ryvita has gone up in price quite a lot. You can put it on what you like though, I suppose, I just find it very scrummy like that.


Roasted veg and economy brand frozen fish portion in batter is one I did this week a couple of times. If you have a big saucepan, prepare a big batch of veg (whatever you like/can afford) like this:

Parsnips
Potatoes
Carrots
Celery
Onions
One large mild pepper

Peel and cut all veg into chunks, parboil, drain and toss in oil (I've used mustard oil from my local Sri Lankan-run convenience store, although it says on the bottle "for external use only" but that's just EU regs, it's edible).

Lay out what you want on a small roasting tray and pop a cheap piece of frozen "what fish" (goodness knows what's in it, but it contains protein and tastes ok) and roast in the oven together mark 7 or 8 (~220 C I think) for 20-30 minutes.

I guess it might have been the extra zing from the mustard oil (labelled "for external use only" may be why it wasn't very expensive - 89p for a smallish bottle), but it was totally delicious. I'm afraid I did put some kethup on it as well. I've loved ketchup since a child and although I don't put it on everything, it brightens up most of the meals that the veg gravy granules don't!
bluebottle
23-04-2009
We usually cook enough stew/ mince and tatties / curry etc to last 2 days. It always tastes better the next day and saves time and gas. Just be sure to reheat thoroughly and [boil for at least 2 minutes]
Sad_BB_Addict
23-04-2009
Big batch of savoury mince.
fry chopped carrot, onion, celery, garlic
Brown mince
Add together with can of chopped tomatoes and simmer for 30mins.

Use to make lasagne, cottage pie, mince & tatties, poured over a baked potato etc.
If you make too much, it freezes fine.
stud u like
23-04-2009
Originally Posted by Ads:
“I only buy free range or Organic chickens for ethical reasons, although you can certainly get four meals for one of a £6 free range chicken.”

Chicken is chicken. Saisnburys only sells chicken reared to strict standards.

Organic is a con. How do you know it is organic? For all we know they might just stick a label on it!
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