Your Cheapest Evening Meal.

Boomdocker

FrenchMaid wrote: »

Our cheapest evening meal is Spaghetti alio e olio, this is about the method we use. It's delicious!

This is one of my favourites too and it also makes a great base to add to if you fancy it or have anything spare going. I like to add a few small prawns to the olive oil and garlic so they caramalise a little before adding the pasta. I use the JS basics ones and split the pack into about 4 portions and freeze until required meaning they go a long way. Dee-lish. :dance:

Lyger

By all means not as cheap as some of the suggestions posted here, but here's my cheapest recipe...

Tunafish Pie

Ingredients:

Potatoes (for mashing)
1 tin of tuna (I work on the rule that one tin of tuna will serve 2 people for this recipe)
Some tomato ketchup
Some cheese (for topping, optional)
Salt and pepper to season.

To make:

Mix a tin of tuna with as much/little tomato ketchup as you want, salt/pepper to taste. Spread over the base of a casserole dish.

Make some mashed potato (enough to serve however many you're feeding) and put on top of the tuna. Top the mash with some grated cheese, and stick under a grill until the cheese is golden.

Job done. Serve on its own if you made lots, or put some veg on the side. Simple, quite cheap, and very filling. My Dad used to make this a lot for me and my sister soon after he became a single parent and made redundant. It's still a favourite of mine (since it made a welcome change from living off one pot of lobby for a week at a time!).

Caterina

Pasta and peas soup: boil a handful of frozen value beans in plenty of water, add a stock cube or a pinch of stock powder, then break spaghetti into short segments and chuck in. Cook until done.

If you want to splash out you could add a chopped fried onion.

If you feel like Rockefeller, you can add a sprinking of grated cheese (remember to remove the mould first!).

Been there, done that, no more than a few pence and it tastes quite nice!

Still in the realm of pasta: Maccheroni cacio e pepe:

Cook some short pasta shapes, cover in grated cheese and sprinkle with pepper.

It is more nutritious if you add a nice handful of chopped parsley on top, just for a bit of vitamins and greenery!

stevenhp1987

Meat Casserole - serves 4 (so fridge it!)

Ok, I've used just about every type of meat in this casserole.

I buy whatever meat is gonna go off and therefore reduced, 300-500g packs are preferred.

Ingredients:

300-500g of reduced meat.
One third (approx 330g) of a 1kg farmfoods casserole veg pack (£1 a bag - so 33p per meal)
One Onion.
1tea spoon paprika
chicken stock cube
300ml water
Flour

Instructions:

preheat oven to 200C ish.
Lightly Cover the meat in flour.
Gently fry the onions (chopped) for a few minutes.
Add the meat and fry until ready to be casseroled (red meat browned... etc.)
meanwhile make the 300ml boiling water, add a stock cube and 1teaspoon paprika, stir.
Add the meat and onions into a casserole dish. Add the sauce, add the frozen veg (still frozen!), mix it all up...

Cover and cook for an hour in the oven, serve with whatever carbs you want to serve it with, mash, garlic bread, potatos etc.

Job done and lovely!

ItsRob

Don't be put off by liver, it's lovely if cooked slowly enough, the gravy turns lovely.

2 Packets of pigs liver - £1
Potatos - 80p
Large onion - 50p
tin of peas
the rest is in the cupboard (flour, salt & pepper, stock cube)

Slice the onion, fry in oil & a bit butter, add salt & pepper & sprinkling of sugar, cook gently until soft.
Dip the liver in seasoned flour and gently fry (in the same pan with the onion) until it starts to brown on both sides (don't move it about too much, don't have the heat too high), the onion should start to caramelise. At this point add a stock cube & a little water or mix up some gravy granules and add to the pan. Leave to simmer for 10 mins, serve with mash & whatever else takes your fancy.

Voila, my cheapest ever meal! gorgeous too

mrsgreentoad

wow what a great thread :j got some good ideas so thanks and some not so nice ones fish fingers and tom soup :eek: there are 7 of us in my house so a cheap meal once a week is always a good idea. we had beans baked potaoes, tuna, cheese what ever ive got in

SallyUK

For me to get the ingredients to make three evening meals for 4 people from £10?

If so, please can I have some suggestions please!!

Thanks,
Sal
x

rachbc

pasta and sauce - 1 onion (10p), 1 tin toms (33p), 1 bag pasta (60P) - £1.03

egg chips beans - half dox egg (£1.10), 1 tin beans (29p) , 1 kilo spuds (50p) - £1.89

fried rice - 500g rice (60p), 2 eggs from last nights box, 1 carrot (10p) , 1 onion (10p), 1 pepper (60p)- (£1.40)

Leaves you enough change for a bottle of wine!

Sure others can come up with more nutritionally balanced suggestions but thats off the top of my head in 5 mins

Allegra

It definitely is. Check out Weezl's website for ideas:

www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk

seraphina

rachbc wrote: »

pasta and sauce - 1 onion (10p), 1 tin toms (33p), 1 bag pasta (60P) - £1.03

egg chips beans - half dox egg (£1.10), 1 tin beans (29p) , 1 kilo spuds (50p) - £1.89

fried rice - 500g rice (60p), 2 eggs from last nights box, 1 carrot (10p) , 1 onion (10p), 1 pepper (60p)- (£1.40)

Leaves you enough change for a bottle of wine!

Sure others can come up with more nutritionally balanced suggestions but thats off the top of my head in 5 mins

I wouldn't think a single can of tomatoes (if you're talking abotu the 400g normal size) would feed 4 people in a pasta sauce, same for the can of beans, which works out at a spoonful of beans each. You could bulk out the pasta sauce cheaply and nutritionally using lentils though.

Definitely check out Weezl's website though.