Challenge-£1.99 ready meal or what else.

studentphil

I have just costed it out and I think I can do something like spag bol for about £4 and that might make 3 or 4 servings.
Nice big box of mince
2 tins of toms
2 onions
3 peppers
1 courgette
mushrooms
pasta

studentphil

Sarahsaver wrote:

My student faves were pasta with 'student sauce' (basically onion garlic and tinned tomatoes!) The same sauce is good ona baked potato.
Vegetable stew with rice or pasta
Lentils with rice or pasta
Mushy peas
Baked bean curry (improves with being frozen if you have garlic in it)
Lasagne - leek and walnut (I was a vegan when I was a student)
Creamed mushrooms on toast (mushrooms garlic and white sauce)
Recurring theme of garlic here...;)
Peanut butter and marmite toastie with soup and added chilli in the soup. Flavour, spice, herbs and garlic, makes up for the fact that the food costs pennies sometimes and helps prevent you feeling totally impoverished.

Also eating things your housemates would never steal is a good idea, unless you get on and could club together and cook for each other.

Made a stew once that 'evolved' on the (very cold) windowsill over 3 days. Beware the cleaner who turns off your dry pulses when they need about 2hours simmering!

Cheers, baked bean curry is in one of my cook books, never tried it though.

Penelope_Penguin

studentphil wrote:

I know ready meals taste like rubbish, a bit of humour to say "nice" and they do always look very nice on the picture.

If you say so I take one look and feel I can taste the MSG :eek:

Penny. x

tawnyowls

Make loads of 'tray bakes' and one-pot dishes like lasagne, shepherd's pie, chilli, all of which use similar basic ingredients, bulk them out with beans, and invest in a pounds-worth of takeaway containers (10 for a quid in Poundland), then freeze portions in the containers. Vary this with things like corned beef hash, veg lasagne, beef stew, lamb casserole - the list is endless. Good old-fashioned 'peasant' food is what you need - filling, nutritious, and cheap. If you can use the left-overs of something else (eg chicken carcass, gammon bone), so much the better!

1 or 2 days' bulk cooking a week should sort you for the rest of the week for far less than the same number of ready meals would cost.

studentphil

I have costed my Spag Bol and it comes in at £7!

Which is very very costly, but I suppose divided between 4 meals is not too much!

squeaky

studentphil wrote:

Ah, but can you do Spag bol for £1- £2?

I don't think so no.




My last one cost 97p and I'm not sure what to add to get the cost up.

ManAtHome

studentphil wrote:

I have costed my Spag Bol and it comes in at £7!

Think you'd best publish your shopping list Phil...

Trow

He already did post his shopping list....

studentphil wrote:

I have just costed it out and I think I can do something like spag bol for about £4 and that might make 3 or 4 servings.
Nice big box of mince
2 tins of toms
2 onions
3 peppers
1 courgette
mushrooms
pasta

Although why anyone would oput 3 peppers in a spag bol for 4 ppl, I have no idea - maybe because they are relatively expensive?

My spag bol:

Smart price toms - 26p
Smart price spaghetti - 1/2 pack - 13p
Soya mince from wholesale pack - no more than 35p
Onion say 15p
Carrot say 15p
Stock say 10p
Garlic say 16p
Oil say 5p
Seasoning - oragano, basil, say 10p (although is probably less)

Total £1.46 - to serve a family of two adults and two children.

Although because I use soya mince it is cheaper than making a meaty one.

And studentphil - some of the smart price is just as good as the brand names.

culpepper

Depends how meaty you have your meals though.
We are used to 8oz of mince between 4 and bulk out with other ingredients.
I have seen some bolognaise recipes with 2lbs of mince for 4 people!!!

jessicamb

I prefer cannelloni than lasagne but its the same principle with cheese sauce. I have done as others have suggested and bulk cooked then froze the excess. This would have cost £2.50 max for 6/7 portions using non value minced steak and about £1 of that would be on cheese. I dont know how much the mince weighs but its one of the cost £1 boxes from the supermarket. I dont put aubergines or peppers in though so I dont know how expensive they are.