The Cheapest Healthy Meal Ever!

tigerlily

jennyjelly wrote:

Oooh Tigerlily, that sounds wonderful. That (or some variation on it) is our meal tomorrow sorted.

QUOTE]

it is smelling so good now, I cooked it covered for the first hour now I have just taken off the cover for the last bit of cooking to crisp up the top a bit.
Thank-you for posting this, a simple dish but without reading this I would have probably had oven chips...again!! lol

jennyjelly

Aaah, oven chips, where would we be without them? Probably heading for the chippy again!

At least this isn't full of chemicals and empty calories!

tigerlily

Have just eaten and it tasted wonderful, thanks again!!

Bogof_Babe

It does sound yummy, but I would cost it out at about £2.50, so it would need to serve at least four to be really economical. I would imagine with all that quantity of spuds and cheese it probably does.

Do you really need 8oz cheese? If you grated all of it (say 6oz) instead of slicing, it would go further and probably be a little bit healthier.

Raksha

Strong cheese may be more expensive to buy, but you can use less, saving calories (at least) and possibly £'s too......

jennyjelly

Sooo glad you enjoyed it tigerlily - I'm looking forward to mine tomorrow. Tonight's bririyani was nice though, and I'm completely stuffed!

Bogof_Babe, I'm not sure about the amount of cheese - as I said in the recipe this is really just a guess, and I just do it by eye, so it might be much less. My OH always uses more cheese than me, which I don't like as I'm not a huge fan of cooked cheese. When I make it it just tastes savory, rather than cheesy, IYKWIM.

Re the amount it makes, and therefore cost per portion - I reckon it costs me about £2 - I make mine in a huge casserole that feeds 6-8 people (depending on how hungry we are) and there's usually some left which we fight over the next day - believe it or not it's wonderful cold!

I always use the cheapest ingredients I can buy, either supermarket value stuff, or from the market or car boot. It's very filling and you don't need huge amounts, especially if you are having it with sausages or whatever.

Give it a try - we should start a challenge to see who can make it the cheapest!

Bogof_Babe

jennyjelly wrote:

Give it a try - we should start a challenge to see who can make it the cheapest!

You're on! :beer:

jennyjelly

Fab! I'm making tomorrow, so I'll post the exact cost of what I use. I'll break my rule and weigh everything, and I promise to be completely honest.

To be continued .....

Bogof_Babe

Well it's good for me, especially as it's totally veggie, but we are still working our way through the Christmas leftovers (nowt exciting just sprouts, carrots, coleslaw etc.) so I'll get back to you next week!

Wonder how many we can get to join in. Where's *Mrbadexample when you need him? I bet a bloke will win this challenge :rolleyes: lol.

(Edit: *He takes piccies as he goes along too )

jennyjelly

You're probably right about a bloke winning - my OH can be even pikier than me when we shop together (but then he spoils it all by sneaking choc bicies and beer into the trolley!)

I hope we do get lots of people to join in, it will be fun and we might also learn something we don't know about doing things on the cheap - though you sound as if you don't really need any tips!

I have to say you sound a lot like me in your attitude to saving dosh - do you haunt the reduced counters and fill your trolley with Smart Price (when I'm not in Aldi or Lidl I shop in Asda, as I think it's cheaper than Tesco), but still manage to find a way of stretching it even further? I bet we eat just as well as people who spend 10 times what we do!

Come on everyone, have a bash at this one - let's see if we can get it under a quid!