Cheap Meal Ideas

tinkerbell81

Has any one got any recipe ideas (nothing too hard to make though!!:o) for daily meals that don't cost the earth?

benfilan

cook pasta, drain water out, mix in creme fraiche and cheese until the cheese has melted and maybe throw in a few leaves of rocket if you have it.

Also good with Gnocchi instead of pasta, but pasta is cheaper.

A good twist with this is get some bacon (the cheap value cuts work well) and come courgette, fry it up and top the pasta with that.

agiaga

noodle salad - ideal for lunch and easy to make

crush noodles from noodle soups (I'm using Tesco Value as flavourings are not needed), add some natural yoghurt and/or mayo and/or salad cream plus veges (e.g. tomatoe, pepper, sweetcorn, peas) plus (optionally) cooked chicken/ham/tuna and mixed everything
add salt and pepper and leave in fridge for few hours

in my case ingrediens always depens on what I have in fridge

iQueen

Savoury pastry case (bought or home-made) filled with mashed potato and grated cheese (chopped chives, spring onions or fried onions, or snipped and fried streaky bacon can be added), grated cheese on top. Heat in oven till hot and cheese is melted. (Hint: very strong cheddar is best for cooking - a little goes a long way and holds its flavour).

Spagetti boiled and served with red lentils cooked with tinned tomatoes, dried oregano, or mixed herbs, garlic granules, and enough water to be absorbed leaving a thick sauce. Serve with sprinkled parmesan. VERY cheap, healthy and easy!

Finely chopped onion fried until browning, add 500g of minced beef, brown, add water and boil for 20 mins. Thicken with gravy granules. Serve with boiled potatoes and carrots.

Half a shoulder of lamb (blade end, about £4.50). Roast, serves 4-6 with Yorkshire pudding, potatoes and veg. Or 1 or 2, and 2 days as stew, with remaining meat removed from bone and boiled up with onion, potatoes, carrots etc and thickened. Add some dumplings: (50g flour, 25g beef or veg suet, tsp of chopped fresh/dried rosemary. Mix to stiff dough with a little water. Drop gobbstopper-size balls into the stew, replace lid and simmer for 15 mins). Remove dumplings to plates, and thicken stew before serving.

Also:

Toad in the Hole
Shepherd's Pie
Home-made vegetable soup and crusty bread/rolls
Cheese/mushroom/ham omelette and salad
Pork chop/steak, jacket potato and veg
Lazy steak pie (tinned steak, served with home-made pastry pressed into a shallow tin or dish and cut into portions before quickly baking.
Boil a bargain bacon joint with bouquet garni sachet. Serve hot or cold.
Fish pie
Russian fish pie
Moussaka
Chicken cobbler - leftover roast chicken meat or from a 2kg bag of diced chicken breast (£4 from our favourite frozen food shop) cooked in sauce/gravy, topped with unsweetened scone mix, either in one piece or cut into scones, and baked.
Corned beef hash - fried onion, tinned new potatoes sliced and fried, add chopped tinned corned beef. Great as it is, or serve with baked beans, or add beans to the pan, or add tinned tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms... anything you fancy or have left over!

Hunt out a couple of cook books from 1950s and earlier on Ebay! (Some Eastern cookbooks have excellent, cheap recipes, or get them off the Internet - very exotic!)

Enjoy!