cheap and basic dinners

System

Preferably something that can be put in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

[Deleted User]

1 decent sized chicken breast
5 ozs dried pasta
1 third of a sausage ( one of the Mattesons smoked sausages that cost about a quid)they are already cooked
a small tin of cambells condensed cream of chicken soup
a few sliced mushrooms, and some chopped red pepper
a sprinkle of strong hard cheese
Bung the pasta into a pan of boiling salted water and cook until soft
slice up chicken breast and cook in frying pan whilst pasta is cooking along with sliced mushrooms for about five minutes
Into a square lasagne dish spread cooked drained pasta ,mix in chicken breast mushrooms sliced sausage mix together and pour over tin of soup plus half a tin of water measured from the empty soup tin.Mix it all together with diced red pepper (About half a red pepper is usually enough)
put into the oven at about 180-90c for around 20 minutes, remove and grate some strong hard cheese over the top and return to the oven for another tem minutes.
result
One very tasty dish that feeds two easily with some garlic bread and a small salad with a bit left over for the next days lunch.I make this for my friend when she comes to lunch occassionally and its cheap quick and we can have a good natter while its cooking.I sometimes make it in advance up to the point of cooking in the oven and just put it in the fridge to chuck in the oven when she arrives.I think the total cost for the meal is around £2.50 and its a great way to streeetch a meal to three using very little in the first place.We both love it and any odd bits at different times we have thrown in the mix (a diced up celery stick is nice)
If your cooking for more then just increase the amount of pasta and maybe an extra chicken breast

plainchoc

tuna pasta salad
mix pasta, tuna, mayo, and veg. i use frozen peas and sweetcorn. Top with cheese and pop in oven til brown. Not sure of cost, but its a very cheap meal and kids love it.

zippychick

it's hard to know what to suggest as you've not given any idea of your tastes, ingredients, amount of prep time etc, but here's a thread on cheap basic dinners which may help

Quick healthy and cheap meals & super quick family meal ideas may also help

I'll merge this later

Zip