Meal for two for 50p. Suggestions?

LizEstelle

Just came back to thank everyone who supplied recipes... and dozens of them.

I just hope it shows that if you're prepared to do a bit of cooking you can eat decently and REALLY cheaply. Feed a family of four their dinners for a week for less than a tenner, eh..? That news might make a few people I know look a bit sheepish...

I think the thread wandered off topic once or twice but I'm very grateful for all the contributions... it's all been a bit of a surprise!

Somerled

Pilchard curry

small tin pilchards
onion
curry powder
oil
tin of tomato
rice

bobs your uncle

Somerled

Pilchard curry

small tin pilchards
onion
curry powder
oil
tin of tomato
rice

bobs your uncle

Boatie_Bird

goonlord wrote:

For example, I wouldn't touch value meat with a bargepole (this is just my opinion so please don't berate me - I know a lot of you are happy to buy it and that's great!) because it is full of antibiotics and hormones that I don't want in my body unless medically necessary so I pay more for organic or additive free meat but eat it very infrequently. The rest of the time I supplement my diet with organic pulses etc.

We all have choice and assumptions shouldn't be made about anybody.

Some of these recipes look great though so thanks for the inspiration!

I was wondering when someone was going to make this point. I wanted to make it but didn't want to get shot down in flames!

I never buy value meat, always organic (but often reduced!). And I really don't think I bring myself to buy a cheap chicken. It's not just the amount of antibiotics and growth promoters that it will have been pumped full of, but the way it's been intensively produced and the standards of animal welfare it's been subjected to. We rarely have chicken these days as the organic free-range variety are so expensive. But when we do have one we really enjoy it and always get several meals from it.

mip

MushyPeas wrote:

OP: courgettes are v. expensive where I live, they'd push the meal over 50p

They will be in December. They'll be cheaper in the summer when they are abundant and not being imported.

Uniscots97

This will feed 6-8 people depending on portion size. I make this and portion it up and freeze the rest.

Vegetable lasagne


Tesco Value lasagne sheets 27p
Butter beans 27p
Tesco value pasta sauce 27p
various veg (I always go for seasonal and look for cheapest, i.e. carrot, potato, leek, etc. A little veg will go a very long way!) I allow 60p
A little grated cheese 10p?

Cook the veg in the microwave for about ten minutes to soften it. You want the veg cut small but leave butter beans intact. Then in oven proof dish layer pasta sheets and veg and a little of the sauce (leave about a third in the jar) and put dish in oven on about 200C for about 20mins, then take out and get pasta sauce jar and fill to shoulders of jar with water and give it a good stir and pour on the lasagne, add the cheese and put back in oven for about ten minutes until cheese bubbles.


This works out at 19p per portion.

cheekymoney

You can make many, many meals for 50p if you use your head. I very rarely buy prepped food anymore, which cuts the cost. I also eat light for dinner often making soups out of, for example, 2 medium sized potatoes, 5 spouts, stock, onion, and whatever herbs or spices you may need, a little grated cheese on top is fab!. The cost of these meals is minimal and they feed two. A couple of slices of bread should fill you up if you still feel hungry. The essential piece of kit is a food processor, it makes soups much better. The beauty of soups is that you can use up leftovers, usually anything goes in a blended soup. You can add a handful of rice or pasta to thicken it up too.

You can make also make very cheap meals by buying dried pulses and making stews and casseroles from them. For example chickpea dhal which is essentially chick peas, curry spices, onion, garlic, tomatoes, and potato (if you want). You can mix and match the flavours to make it milder or stronger depending on how you like it. Have this with rice, it’s a winner.

One of the keys to eating cheaply, I find, is to minimise the amount of meat or fish I eat, in fact I have become vegetarian, and to always have a good stock of herbs, spices and basic's like good quality stock available to add flavour and interest to cheap plain ingredients. This may cost you a little in the first place but can liven up even the blandest meal. Sainsbury's do a pack of soya for about 50p, which usually lasts us about 4 meals. I make Shepherd Pie, Moussaka, chilli etc with it. It is very good and very cheap.

I think that you should try to cook yourself from scratch, buying good quality products which will be more satisfying to your palate, rather than resorting to value products, which are not always such good quality and can be unsatisfying. This will make you feel like you have had a good wholesome meal, which will in turn means you eat a little less, so reducing the costs, well this is what I have found anyway!

I hope this helps and Merry Christmas to all!

thriftlady_2

Boatie_Bird wrote:

I was wondering when someone was going to make this point. I wanted to make it but didn't want to get shot down in flames!

I never buy value meat, always organic (but often reduced!). And I really don't think I bring myself to buy a cheap chicken. It's not just the amount of antibiotics and growth promoters that it will have been pumped full of, but the way it's been intensively produced and the standards of animal welfare it's been subjected to. We rarely have chicken these days as the organic free-range variety are so expensive. But when we do have one we really enjoy it and always get several meals from it.

You're certainly not alone in this Boatie

goonlord

This probably doesn't work out at 50p but is still very cheap and yummy (and dead easy).

Boil some noodles
Stir fry some veggies of your choice.
Crucial bit: add a tin of mackeral fillets in hot chilli sauce (have only used Princes, about 70p or something, but I'm sure others are available)
Add drained and cooked noodles and continue to heat, tossing it all together,

Eat!
It's yummy!

jb100

Some of these recipes are fantastic! 2 of my kids won't eat tomatoes, tinned or fresh, so quite a lot of the meals are out - why do so many have tomatoes in?
I am struggling to keep my bill under £100 a week for 5!