Recipes for really bad times?

camNolliesMUMMY

I am in need of some very frugal recipes using just a few ingredients.
I do have herbs and spices in as well as the regular chopped toms n beans etc.

We are going to find jan a really hard time for us! Hubby was short paid £600 just 5 days before Xmas. It's been a nightmare. He won't get this money back till the end of jan.

I am after recipes that may have been used in the world war when food was was made on a shoestring.

I have under £150 for 4 of us and a small dog to get us till the 28th jan. However if anythings left I need to put it back in the bank as we are overdrawn by £600!!! That's our maximum overdraft.


Tia to anyone who replies with some useful info or links to sites that can help me stretch our food.

candlelight_2013

Mrs LW (Lyn) is your best bet, she has many cook books of meals from the second WW. I have some as well, and I think a few more people on MSE have them,

If you can just give us a few ideas on what meat you eat, will the children/young people eat most things. The reason I ask is you can bulk out a small amount of meat with beans, pulses etc.

You can have a vegetarian night, i.e. chilli made from veg with rice. If you buy rice from asian shops, or even the world food isle in the SM it is usually cheaper

Candlelightx

Hard_Up_Hester

Rubber chicken, roast on the first day, chicken pie the 2nd day, boil the carcase, use the pickings to make special fried rice then use the stock to make soup.

xMonsoonx

Growing up my mother would bulk out mince with drained and crushed budget baked beans and finely grated carrot (as well as the usual onion and tomatoes etc - she used to make a pack of mince feed our family of 5 for 2 or 3 days (not in a row as she used to batch cook and freeze).

We also used to eat things like liver and onions with peas and kidney and green pepper risotto, Toad in the hole (one sausage cut into thirds per person with lots of yorkshire pudding) with peas and gravy.

mildredalien

Try this website: http://cookingonabootstrap.com/
A lot of the more recent recipes seem to be on a vegan kick which isn't everyone's cup of tea, but there's a lot of variety and plenty of different ones to have a look at.

candlelight_2013

If you make a meat loaf using mince, sausage meat, some S/O stuffing and a squirt of tomato ketchup this makes a tasty and cheap meal. You can always buy cheap sausages and split the skins to remove the meat.

Served with mashed potato and peas/cabbage it makes a good meal, we had this on Friday

Candlelightx

THIRZAH

Have you seen Jack Monroe's website-it used to be called a Girl Called Jack but is now cookingonabootstrap.com.

She has lots of really cheap recipes.

FairyPrincessk

A few ideas for you:

Jacket spuds (cook several extra)
Next night, bacon and potato cakes--fry off 3-4 rashers of bacon, scoop insides out of jacket spuds, crumble bacon, add an egg and form into cakes. Dip in flour and shallow fry. Serve with salad or coleslaw.
Next night--use up bacon--say leek and bacon risotto or a leek and bacon quiche

Also try fritters--I'm doing courgette tonight. I use this recipe, but do my own seasonings, leave out parmesan etc.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2249638/courgette-fritters

questionss

We do special fried rice - lots of diced veg (whatever is cheap from pepper/carrot/mushroom etc, onion, garlic, herbs - whatever might go! Bit if chilli or paprika or curry powder) - fry it all and add cooked rice. Break an egg (or 2) into it if available. Add either diced meat (ham/salami/chicken picking/cheap white fish cooked in the microwave and flaked into it is my fave). Serve with a good splash of soy sauce if available.

PasturesNew

I always start with the basics I grew up on: potatoes, baked beans, eggs, cheddar cheese.

If you can get a sack of spuds, search for beans at about £1-1.20/4 cans, buy mature cheddar under £5/Kg and get 15 eggs from Lidl for £1.15 then these are the basis for some great, filling, meals:

Egg, chips, beans
Cheese, potato pie + beans
Cheese omelette, chips, beans
Jacket spud with cheese, or beans, or both

Beyond that, you can't beat some filling yorkshire puddings - served with sausages/mash (+ beans!), or filled with veggie stew, mash and gravy. You'll just need eggs, milk and flour for yorkies.

Quiches are cheap to make too. Simple pastry and then filled using milk/cheese and any selection of veggie bits or any spare meaty bits you've got. A simple cheese/onion quiche, with chips/beans is nice. Even a pizza quiche: tomato base, onions, topped with cheese.

Chilli can be cheap if you leave out the pricey things: mince, 2 cans of beans, chopped onion, chilli, tin of tomatoes (31p at Lidl or in supermarket basics ranges). Omit peppers and booze. Serve with piles of rice. Cheap rice isn't always good ... Lidl do a fab basmati for about £1.30/Kg.

Rice dishes in general are cheap/filling. Various fried rices, or flavoured/boiled rices (add your own veggie bits/spices).

You will be better off adjusting what you already eat though .... rather than trying to learn to do everything new at the drop of a hat.

e.g. if you usually have a steak each on Saturdays .... get one, cheaper, steak and use that in a stir fry instead.

WantToBeSE

There is a thread called 'Feeding a Family of 4 for £20 a week' (or something like that) on here.
Have a look at that thread, there are loads of recipe suggestions.

Also, read the first few posts of the grocery challenge, which gives good advice about doing a cupboard/fridge/freezer clear out and listing everything you already have, so you can make some meals out of that.

A few helpful sites:

http://cookingonabootstrap.com/ Jack Monroes Blog

http://www.thriftylesley.com/ Thrifty Lesley, feeding yourself on £1 a day

http://www.netmums.com/recipes/category/budget-friendly-recipes Budget friendly recipes