low cost meals

My friend's mum used to run a Weight Watchers group in the late 70s/early 80s. I know much has changed since then, but this was one of their recipes - cheap and low calorie:

1 onion
Half a marrow (at this time of year substitute a couple of courgettes)
Few tomatoes
Oxo cube
Some grated cheese

Chop onion. Peel and core marrow and cut into chunks (or top and tail courgettes and slice). Slice tomatoes. In a small casserole dish put a layer of chopped onion, a layer of tomatoes, a layer of courgettes. Sprinkle oxo cube over the courgettes (not necessarily all of it in one go!). Repeat layers. Pour some water over (if you're just making it for you, you won't need half a pint - just put in enough water so there's about an inch or so in the dish - it doesn't need to cover or anything like). Top with grated cheese. Bung in oven gas mark 5 until the veg are tender and the cheese browned. Very tasty.

If you haven't got an oven, or that all sounds a bit complicated, you could make a ratatouille:

Half an onion and a clove of garlic, crushed.
2 courgettes
Tin chopped value tomatoes (are you noticing a theme here?)
(Ratatouille is supposed to have aubergine in it but it tastes disgusting unless you fry it so don't bother)
Sprinkle of herbes de provence or mixed herbs or oregano or basil

Put a little oil in a heavy saucepan. Soften the onions over a low heat. Add the garlic and courgettes and turn up the heat a little. Fry for a few mins, then add the tomatoes and the herbs. Taste to see if it needs salt or pepper. Tinned tomatoes can be a little bitter, so half a teaspoon of sugar makes a surprisingly good difference. Bring to the boil, then turn right down and allow to simmer. When it's all a bit mushy, it's time to eat. You can grate cheese over the top of this as well, or eat it by itself or with some crusty french bread or as a vegetable with a plain chicken breast. You can also use this mixture to top a chicken breast and cook it in the oven for half an hour on gas 5 (stick a knife in the middle of the chicken to make sure it's cooked through - if the juices are pink, it needs a bit longer, if they're clear, it's cooked).
Hope these are cheap enough, simple enough and low calorie enough - good luck!

If you like pasta, and you can fit 3 meals in your freezer (and I'm thinking 3 x 1 litre boxes, available for around 50p each in most supermarkets' value ranges) then why not do what I do. Buy dried pasta by the 500g pack (around 35p) and make up a batch. Add your healthy topping - pesto with 2 tins of butterbeans and a big glob of tomato puree is one of my favourites; another good one is a tin of tuna, a tin of value sweetcorn, a tablespoonful of low-fat mayo (any more and it goes gloopy in the freezer) and black pepper. Works out very cheap and, based on the storage boxes, makes exactly 4 portions. Eat one, freeze the rest. Pasta is full of complex carbohydrates so will make you feel full and will prevent you snacking between meals.

(I too am trying to shift a few pounds...)

crana999 wrote:

If you don't mind it, wholemeal pasta is a bit better for you (more fibre) and isn't much more expensive than normal pasta. Wholemeal spaghetti is usually cheapest.

On the pesto front: anyone know where I can get veggie pesto for a reasonable price? I've only found it in the health food shop and IIRC it was almost £4. Most of the shops' own brands I've looked at aren't veggie and the other brands either explicitely aren't or I can't be entirely sure if they are or not.

Any chance you could make up your own and freeze? I do this in ice cube trays, as usually find just need a little and an ice cube or two is enough for most recipes.
Off the top of my head, bunch of basil, some pine nuts, grated parmesan and some olive oil all done in processor. Will look for recipe for you if you like.

Basil takes ages to germinate. Planted some a month ago and just appearing now. Lucky I planted loads month before!
Will try and see if I can source some cheap veggie pesto for you Crana999.
Agree that veggie parmesan is expensive, but you can use other grated veggie cheese instead. If I don't have parmesan, I tend to use whatever I have - edam, cheddar, gouda - they are all available in vegetarian versions - I only buy veggie cheese - just don't let my torags know!

I make the following as it is cheap, low fat and tasty

Put pasta on to cook (this is lovely using tagliatelle, but have used the good old 19p per bag Netto pasta).

In another sauce pan add the following - a few finely sliced mushrooms, one finely sliced leek, a sprinking of mixed herbs (dried are fine) and just enough stock stock to cover bottom of pan (cubes are fine - usually vegatable or chicken) - simmer until soft (just a few minutes). You don't need too much stock as you are going to add half to one tub of cheap low fat spreading cheese (supermarket's own version of phillidelphia) - melt and stir to mix. Take of heat.

Drain pasta and put back into pan. Add your cheesy leek and mushroom mix and stir through. Transfer to a plate. Eat. This is delicious. If you have any left over cooked ham, this can also be added to the mix.

I use enough veg for four and one tub of 49p supermarket own brand cheese for the whole family. My daughter scales it down when she is cooking her own and uses a quarter of a tub.