meal for friends budget 15 pounds max

saveabobortwo

our households had a redundancy our best friends household have had overtime they rely on squashed and take home pay frozen.so no lovely meals out now when they visit so we ve both decided they we re all going to cook each others family a meal each time we take it in turns to visit each other. i have to cook for 5 people 4 adults and one child dont / cant spend more than 15 pound max or cheaper any useful suggestions and bare in my im no Delia and dont want to show myself up so nothing to complex :rotfl:

BitterAndTwisted

Fifteen quid for one meal is a fortune, really. I expect you could serve three courses for that amount of money. I know I could do it standing on my head but I'm a veggie and I dunno what you and your friends like to eat or what skills you have.

Have you had a look at the the cheap-family-recipes site for some crafty ideas?

misskool

3 course meal? Does it include wine?

BitterAndTwisted

No, I hadn't factored in wine. But I reckon I could stretch to one cheap bottle if I put my mind to it.

saveabobortwo

but friends are meat eaters sausages ribs prk etc and they like their food and want large helpings not to worried about wine as they cant drink and prefer soft beverages did think about a large spaghetti bologneise with cheese easyto do dont want to spend hours in the kitchen or did think about chicken kebabs toms and peppers marinated on skewers or large shepherd pie and veg want something cheap tasty and easy to do i will make some fairy cakes sowe dont have to buy sweets etc for the evening.

jillymit

The most important thing is to relax and keep it simple. Try something you can shove in one pot and bung in the oven while enjoying the evening with your mates.
A curry / chilli / lasagne / pasta bake? lots of salad and garlic bread which normally go down well.
Have a look on here for a few ideas -
https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/articles/meals-for-under-5

If you are taking first turn your guests will be relieved if you do this as they're bound to be a bit nervous being in charge of the food when it's their go. Going for a more formal approach you can't go wrong with a roast chicken and chuck on a fancy sauce. :beer:

misskool

italian style meal?
starter, bruschetta- sliced roll toast, rub one garlic, chop up some tomatoes, bit of herbs (dried if fresh is too expensive).
main, carbonara, bacon bits, 2 eggs, some parmesan and pasta. serve with a salad
desert, a sorbet/ice cream
bottle of £4.99 special wine and that's probably under £15?

chinese style meal
starter, some chicken wings marinated and grilled or pork mince in a lettuce wrap
main, fried rice or fried noodles with sweet and sour chicken, some stir fry veg
desert, deep fried banana fritter
beers on special

indian
starter onion bhajis (or onion fritters)
main , rice and curry with some vegetable dhal
desert, ice cream with slices of mango

mrsJef

We had friends round last weekend for dinner and i did a morrocan lamb stew/tagine in the slow cooker & it went down a storm! It was lamb-cheap bits, chick peas, onions, passata/tinned toms, dried fruit, bit of a butternut squash, and a packet mix-schwartz i think for lamb casserole but on the back it gives ideas for morroccan. then i served with cous-cous mixed with sultanas, lemon juice, flaked almonds, dried apricots & red onion, made some bread & a small amount of green salad. I know this cost me less than £15 (Although i did have some of the ingrediants in already i.e. dried fruits & chick peas, lemon juice) and would easily have fed 6 people of good sizes-i've also fed it to my children before and because of the fruits in it, it is sweet enough to tempt them! Hope this helps!

mrsJef.x

saveabobortwo

pasta bake sounds good i know they like Italian food they have cooked for us before but thisis my first time at cooking them a meal and i dont want to mess it up their cooking is delicious so dont want to let them down i can cook ok but this is first time for these friends you worry as their tastes may not be the same as mine. but i know they like pasta so bobs your uncle.

BitterAndTwisted

What you could do is start a friendly competition and see who can serve the cheapest meal between the two of you. That way, there's no need to feel that you have to come up with gourmet options every time and just concentrate of having a nice time.

How much does a pound of mince cost? That would most certainly feed five if you serve something like a shepherds pie, chilli, lasagna or pastisio-type of dish. Perhaps a similar amount if you slow-cooked some beef-shin. Spare-ribs are cheap and a whole pile of them looks very generous even if there's not really much meat on them.

I could make some hummus for about 50 pence, so add in some shop-bought packs of pittas and that would be about a quid.

Ditto for a tasty bread-and-butter pudding or a fruit-crumble

saveabobortwo

we re both skint at the moment when times were good we would eat out but instead of having an afters get sweets from shop for the evening but thatwas then and we both have to now eat at home last time we went to see them we had burgers rolls and salad and think they bought a meringue from the supermarket i know im capable of whipping up a good dinner but dont want to be a show off either want to make them feel comfortable but that is a good idea try get best meal for cheapest price may even make a small gift as a bit of fun thankyou for your help.