cheap food substitutes

liz.._4

I wonder if anyone has any good ideas on substituting ingredients to keep meals nice and cheap without compromising on flavour?

The reason I ask is that I was rummaging around in my store cupboard for some tinned white beans (haricot, butter beans etc) and realised I'd run out of them so I decided to use a cheapo tin of baked beans for this recipe I'm doing. Its a pork hock with beans (Boston beans).

It crossed my mind to start a thread to see if anyone had any other ideas about substituting ingredients.

Thanks for any ideas

MATH

My kidz actually prefer cheapo baked beans instead of kidney beans in chilli.

Another moneysaving tip is to reduce mince by half when making shepherd'ds pie and other similar dishes and add a good handful of rolled oats to make up the difference. Toss the oats in the borwned mince and once the dish is fully cooked you can't tell oats from meat. Honest!

Uniscots97

I sometimes substitute turkey in place of chicken. Especially if its going to be slow cooked. Its cheaper and less fat and just as tasty. Saw a tv programme a while ago about how cheap chicken is produced :eek: quite scary about the amount of water and fat there is. Always worth checking labels on things in the supermarket.

Been trying to think of anything else I've substituted only thing I can think of is in cakes instead of using coffee essence I used a teaspoon of instant coffee made up with just enough water to make a paste and used that instead. Much cheaper.

Uniscots97

MATH wrote:

My kidz actually prefer cheapo baked beans instead of kidney beans in chilli.

Another moneysaving tip is to reduce mince by half when making shepherd'ds pie and other similar dishes and add a good handful of rolled oats to make up the difference. Toss the oats in the borwned mince and once the dish is fully cooked you can't tell oats from meat. Honest!

Great tip about the oats. Is this just the oats you'd use to make porridge (or the rather famous Thriftlady's flapjacks)?

liz.._4

Math, you've just remimded me about mince! I spin it out with dried soya mince, less fat, cheaper and healthier, I'll try the rolled oats next time..Thank you

jennybb

My understanding is that turkey welfare is no better than cheap chicken, unfortunately - so I don't buy it.

amyandoli

another mince one, swap it for green lentils, more filling and just as tasty.

**purpleprincess**

I buy minced beef in 500g, this used to last just 4 meals. Now, however, the other evening I divided my 500g in half and froze one half. The other half I used to make a bolognaise, and I got 6 meals out of it!! 2 for that night and 4 to freeze!! I did this by adding red lentils to bulk it out. Yummy!!! And when I come to make a chilli with the other half of the mince I shall use soya mince to bulk it out. So 12 meals out of what used to only give me 4!!!

Bogof_Babe

Economy cheese slices (about 4p or 5p each) are just as good as ordinary cheese for putting in a toastie. Less fiddly too, just slice your onion, tomato or whatever onto the bread and stick a cheese slice on top, then make your sandwich. Once toasted you can't tell the difference from more expensive sliced or grated cheese.

GardenMillie

I also bulk out mince by adding tinned tomatoes and assorted veg: onions, mushrooms, chopped carrots, peas, chopped courgette, tinned or frozen sweetcorn. Plus it's a really easy way to eat more veg and have less washing up.

I also use tinned green/brown lentils which are yummy and filling.:T

meerkatgirl

Red lentils go really well in shepherds pies and curries instead of (or as well as) mince