Cheapest dinners for 1?

Lizling

I find I eat much better if I batch cook than if I always actually cook for 1, although of course I do have an omelette, things on toast, a jacket potato, or a strange assortment of things from the fridge sometimes too.

Quite a few of the things I've batch-cooked recently are on the Cook Something Different thread. There's been HM onion soup with an egg on top; yellow splitpea and carrot stew; lemon, black-eyed bean and vegetable hotpot and a few less cheap/successful ones as well.

I make 4-6 portions of each and stick most of it in the freezer. The typical cost is probably around 70-80p per portion, but with scope to make it cheaper by cutting out things like fresh herbs.

MandM90

I've been trying to find some low cost meals on my blog. I think the lowest I've got per person was 25p but that doesn't take SC electricity into account and it was a meal for 8. Batch cooking makes it easier...as do lots and lots of lentils!!

Steve059

GARLIC & OIL PASTA SAUCE (AGLIO E OLIO)

Enough for pasta for 2

INGREDIENTS

2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil

METHOD

Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a frying pan on a moderate heat. Add the garlic. Fry the garlic for about 5 minutes until it is golden brown. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

For Aglio e Olio Peperoncino, add ½ a teaspoon of chilli flakes.

Fruball

Steve059 wrote: »

GARLIC & OIL PASTA SAUCE (AGLIO E OLIO)

Enough for pasta for 2

INGREDIENTS

2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil

METHOD

Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a frying pan on a moderate heat. Add the garlic. Fry the garlic for about 5 minutes until it is golden brown. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

For Aglio e Olio Peperoncino, add ½ a teaspoon of chilli flakes.

I do this with butter and it is delicious. The addition of a large flat mushroom (half finely diced and half sliced) and a shake of dried parsley makes it amazing for about 30p more (1 large mushroom between 2 portions).

Horace

Delia Smith has a cook book called One is Fun - which is full of lovely ideas.

Sometimes I make Alpine Eggs (from her book)

You need about 2oz grated cheese, a tbsp. cream (if I don't have any cream then I leave it out), and an egg.

Sprinkle a bit of the cheese into a ramekin (or v.small oven proof container), break an egg onto the cheese (if using the cream spoon over the top of the egg), cover the egg with the remaining cheese and bake in the oven for about 10 mins (it is done when the cheese goes a bit crispy around the edges and has melted).

MandM90

Fruball wrote: »

I do this with butter and it is delicious. The addition of a large flat mushroom (half finely diced and half sliced) and a shake of dried parsley makes it amazing for about 30p more (1 large mushroom between 2 portions).

That sounds lovely. I always grow fresh herbs as seeds cost pennies and the plants last ages if you look after them. Chives and mint at particularly hardy, I've found.