Cheapest recipies.

poppyjay

thank you all have got some eggs in so will be trying that
thank you

hermoine_2

Hi there

Try this from my husband's family cookbook ! Egg and Leek, it's called - for obvious reasons

Take a leek, wash it and slice it lengthways. Trim and chop into half inch lengths.

Take two, three or even four eggs according to how many people you want to feed. Beat the eggs in a bowl, season with salt and peeper, add a tablespoon full of water then add the chopped leeks to get a really thick goo of leeks coated with egg , rather than leeks floating in beaten egg.

Now slide this into a hot. oiled frying pan , cover and turn the heat right down. Check after about ten minutes, when most of the egg will be set and the bottom nice and brown.
Turn the whole thing over and brown off the other side (or brown off under a grill if turning is just too difficult.)
Serve with bread and butter, making sandwiches or serve with bacon for a really satisfying meal. Also delicious eaten cold on sandwiches if you cook too much or if one person doesn't like it !! Great for picnics as a cold dish too or in lunchboxes.

Enjoy !!

sara1880

hiya,

Not sure this is the right place but i'm hoping someone will point me in the right direction if its wrong.

I am a mum of a ten year old girl who loves her healthy foods, but i must admit being on a relatively low income its not always cost affective to cook for the two of us from fresh all the time.
Ive been reading over some people posts and you have some great cheap meal ideas but the problem i have with doing your cooking suggestions is that i don't tend to have a lot of the things just in my cupboard waiting to be used or in my garden waiting to be picked so making the meals starts to become not so cost affective.

I guess what im looking for really is some help and ideas on what sort of things i should be buying, I've never really been into cooking as i had my girl quite young and never really learnt how to cook.

What really would be fantastic and i know its asking a lot, would be like a shopping list and then a meal planner on what to do with the stuff once i have bought it.( i'm trying to avoid cooking things that take hours to actually cook what with gas prices and everything)

I know its a long shot and anything you all could suggest would be great

Thanks

Sara

JailhouseBabe

Hi Sara,
I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will soon be along! In the meantime, have a browse through the Indexed Collections. There's lots of threads on how to get started on OS, doing your first shop, and many others.

Personally, I always make sure I've got tinned tomatoes, fresh onions, mince in the freezer, and pasta or rice. Add a few dried herbs (value brand ones are fine) or chilli powder, and there's always a meal to be made easily with whatever else is lying around.

HTH.
JB x

whatatwit

Hi Sara, have you a freezer, then you could make a bulk amount and freeze some.
There is a thread, by Thriftlady about basic meal building blocks.
Start small, I'm sure you will soon have a cupboard of basics and a full freezer.

Stephen_Leak

Just do it a recipe/meal at a time. None of the recipes on here will use will use weird ingredients that you will only use the once - if you could find them in the first place. Mine certainly don't.

Try this one for a start.

ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE

Enough for pasta for 2

INGREDIENTS

2 cloves of garlic
2 onions
2 tablespoons of olive oil
400g tin of plum tomatoes*
2 teaspoons of basil or mixed herbs
Ground pepper to taste

METHOD

Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces. Peel the onions and chop them into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and onion. Fry the garlic and onion for about 2 minutes. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Open the tin of tomatoes. Put the juice into the pan. Chop the tomatoes while they are still in the can (it’s easier than chasing them around the pan).

Put the chopped tomatoes into the pan. Add the herbs. Continue to cook, stirring as the mixture boils. Season with the pepper. Continue to cook, stirring as the mixture boils, until the sauce has reduced.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Add a glass of wine and cook for a bit longer. (Or drink the glass of wine and cook for the same time.)

Add ¼ of a teaspoon of chilli powder to make it into an Arrabbiata sauce, which is usually served with penne pasta.

Plain pasta (ie. not egg pasta, like tagliatelle) is usually served with oil-based sauces like this.

Cheese, either Parmesan, the mellower Gorgonzola or the sharper pecorino, is not an essential addition to every pasta dish. In Italy it is never added indiscriminately, and is considered optional with oil-based tomato sauces like this.

TIPS

Always “take the pasta to the sauce”. Put the cooked pasta in the pan with the sauce and stir together until thoroughly coated.

* Plum tomatoes can be used either whole or chopped. It is difficult to stick chopped tomatoes back together again if you need to use them whole.

This sauce also forms the basis of my Bolognese sauce and therefore also lasagne, plus chilli con carne.

The little bit of sillyness about the tomatoes actually shows how this OS lark can work. Plum tomatoes on toast is a super little meal: oo, when they burst and the juice soaks into the toast ... :drool: ... damn, I want some now! Anyway, with just one tin of plum tomatoes in the cupboard, you can make this, a full English breakfast and my sauce.

carriebradshaw

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Just do it a recipe/meal at a time. None of the recipes on here will use will use weird ingredients that you will only use the once - if you could find them in the first place. Mine certainly don't.

Try this one for a start.

ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE

Enough for pasta for 2

INGREDIENTS

2 cloves of garlic
2 onions
2 tablespoons of olive oil
400g tin of plum tomatoes*
2 teaspoons of basil or mixed herbs
Ground pepper to taste

METHOD

Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces. Peel the onions and chop them into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and onion. Fry the garlic and onion for about 2 minutes. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Open the tin of tomatoes. Put the juice into the pan. Chop the tomatoes while they are still in the can (it’s easier than chasing them around the pan).

Put the chopped tomatoes into the pan. Add the herbs. Continue to cook, stirring as the mixture boils. Season with the pepper. Continue to cook, stirring as the mixture boils, until the sauce has reduced.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Add a glass of wine and cook for a bit longer. (Or drink the glass of wine and cook for the same time.)

Add ¼ of a teaspoon of chilli powder to make it into an Arrabbiata sauce, which is usually served with penne pasta.

Plain pasta (ie. not egg pasta, like tagliatelle) is usually served with oil-based sauces like this.

Cheese, either Parmesan, the mellower Gorgonzola or the sharper pecorino, is not an essential addition to every pasta dish. In Italy it is never added indiscriminately, and is considered optional with oil-based tomato sauces like this.

TIPS

Always “take the pasta to the sauce”. Put the cooked pasta in the pan with the sauce and stir together until thoroughly coated.

* Plum tomatoes can be used either whole or chopped. It is difficult to stick chopped tomatoes back together again if you need to use them whole.

This sauce also forms the basis of my Bolognese sauce and therefore also lasagne, plus chilli con carne.

The little bit of sillyness about the tomatoes actually shows how this OS lark can work. Plum tomatoes on toast is a super little meal: oo, when they burst and the juice soaks into the toast ... :drool: ... damn, I want some now! Anyway, with just one tin of plum tomatoes in the cupboard, you can make this, a full English breakfast and my sauce.

great post really useful :T

it's also worth noting that whole plum tomatoes are generally a few pence cheaper per tin than ready chopped ones

Cornishpixie_2

Hi, I am a mum of 4. They all have packed lunches and I tend to bake things like Hobnobs/ small fairy cakes. Some receipes I use a kids cook book. You could make a list of basic stock cupboard ingredients, like tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, pasta, spaghetti is good, rice, flour, sugar. Then add small block of cheese, 1/2 doz eggs, couple of potatos, jam. Don't have a bread maker but I've made some Hovis bread packet mix currently 32p in Asda. Also you can buy some pitta bread to put in freezer, and just defrost in toaster when you need it. Have a look at Grocery challenge and the other OS threads. Once you have stuff in your store cupboard, you can then meal plan and just buy what you need from the shop, (with a list),every few days. That way you can buy fruit and veg on offer and use it before it goes off. Hope this helps:D

sara1880

thank you very much for the help and advice so far, the problem i seem to be bumping in to is that when i look to buy things say for example to make spag bol at home, i then look in iceland and i can buy a jar of the sauce for £1 so seems cheaper to do it that way, aso with shopping in iceland for the last while most things when cooking just for the 2 of us do seem to be cheaper than making it myself. Its just way less healthy.

Thanks again guys

thriftlady_2

Useful threads here and here (post 8).