cheap meals

paintygirl

Has anyone here got some good ideas for budget meals? At the moment I am a whizz with mince...meatloaf, lasagne, meatballs, bolognaise, and a chicken does two and a half meals. But I was wondering if anyone has come across some recipes that spread stuff out ?

emylou

Have you looked at the Old Style money saving board- definitely worth a look!!

Pobby

Painty hi.My hobby is cooking and if you are prepared to put a little time and effort in there are loads of great tasting things you can make.

Some cheaper cuts of meat are fine.Try belly pork spread with crushed garlic and fresh rosemary{we nick ours off a bush up the road lol}.Roll it and roast---great!

Shank of pork,about £1.50 a little joint roasted slowly for a bit under three hours.

Do you like curry?Try to buy your spices from an Asian grocer.It`s far,far cheaper than the supermarket.Of course you can make loverly stuff like bombay aloo or mixed veg curry.Very cheap and so tasty.

Simple Chinese meals are a breeze and you will be amazed at how expensive take aways are for the little ingredients that go in to them.Like curries,there is a modest start up cost of buying soya sauce and,by no means a must,but a wok is very useful.

Hey,you like chicken.Well don`t throw away the bones ,use it as a base for a stew or at least a chicken stock.

Phew,I could go on but just a few ideas.

Lastly,check out recipes on the internet.Thereare a lot of sites.Enjoy experimenting

lynzpower

try here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=168963

themaccas

I am hopeless at making meals in advance in batches and then freezing them, I tend to make what we eat each night (OH and I cook together usually). One of my favourite cookbooks is Annabel Karmels 'Family Meal Planner'. It has really excellent recipies that are cheap and use a lot of store cupboard ingredients, I'm making one of my favourites tomorrow - Soupa Tuna Tagliatelle, the total cost of this for the 5 of us should be under £2, last night we had the fish pie and although I love to use really good quality fish (I spent a guilty £5 for the fish for this dish!!) the rest of the ingredients cost a few pence.
I got a great tip for preserving fresh herbs I buy in the packets from the supermarket I use for cooking, from this site. I wash them and chop them as soon as I get them home then put them in the freezer, That way they are always used up and saves time when i need them for cooking too.

System

There is a thread running in the Old Style board along the same lines. You can find it here.

Gentleman_of_leisure

There are food challenges as well. In this post - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=675236&postcount=5

Lots of good ideas there. It's helped me out a lot.

joolsteare

thanks everyone...I do not often look on other boards, just come straight here! Will have a browse for recipes. I find cooking a chore even though there is only myself and DD, it just isn't my thing, but as well as saving money I really want to show my 14 year old how to cook AND budget. Feel I have not been a good example so far!

joolsteare

Gentleman_of_leisure wrote:

There are food challenges as well. In this post - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=675236&postcount=5

Lots of good ideas there. It's helped me out a lot.

Wow, thanks Gentleman of Leisure. That is a good link! :T

amosworks

If you're looking for gooooood food, the OS board is slightly obsessed with Corned Beef Hash (Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm drools). There are about 50 variation recipes alone heh