What are the cheapest meals you can make?

trailingspouse

Chicken all the way. Buy a chicken, a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, and some bread or pasta.

Day 1 - roast chicken with potatoes and carrots. Use the juice from the chicken to make gravy.
Day 2 - strip the chicken of all the remaining meat. All of it. (Look underneath..) Use this meat in sandwiches, or with pasta. Boil the bones to make stock and leave to cool over night.
Day 3 - make soup - skim the fat off the stock and add more potatoes and carrots and a bit of seasoning. Fry cubes of bread in the fat from the chicken to make croutons.

That's 3 meals for 3 people over 3 days.

Liver and onions is another good one.

What don't you like about eggs? There are so many different ways you can have them, there must be one that would suit?

pinkypig

I agree about the chicken. I get a cook in the bag one from Aldi (around £3.99). This does a roast dinner for three of us and a small lunch for two of us to take to work the next day (I always do loads of extra veg and also pad it out with hm stuffing and Yorkshire pudding).
There is always enough meat left over for a large curry or a pie which does another meal and a couple of lunches. I also hold back a small amount of meat to make chicken and pesto pizzas so that's another dinner and a couple of lunches.
Finally I make a family favourite which is left over roast dinner soup. I make stock with the carcass and then chuck everything in it with a stock cube and some mixed herbs and blitz it with a stick blender. I think it's the leftover gravy and roast potatoes that make it really tasty. We use this for lunches or have a soup and a pudding dinner.
Good luck with your mission. Meal planning, a strict shopping list and using up what you've got really is the key to success.
PP x

WantToBeSE

Thanks everyone

So far I've got a rough plan of eating

Baked potatoes
Beans on toast
Garlic Spaghetti
Chilli Salmon Pasta
Chicken (I'll buy 1 whole chicken, so can make that stretch at least 3 meals)

WantToBeSE

Trailingspouce- it's not the taste, its the thought of what they are and where they come from...i just cant stomach eggs at all.

Bogof_babe I easily spend the £100 a week. I like to eat Organic when i can, eat a LOT of fruit and veg, like trying new foods, and my 16 year old is very funny about the texture and taste of food, as he has Autism. Its hard to meal plan with him, as some days he is vegetarian, sometimes vegan, sometimes carnivore, or other days doesnt eat.

Soworried

Home made bombay potatoes, chick pea curries.

For lunch some times I boil pasta and stir through a mushroom cup a soup. Costs pennies but tastes amazing.

suki1964

I would say 90% of my meals are cheap

Already said about the salmon pasta ( which is scrummy hot or cold btw so is ideal to save to take to work)

Others I make are

Liver and bacon, using bacon bits or just a couple of rashers cut through

Afghan aubergine when aubergines are dead cheap, really delish and is vegan

Chickpea and spinach madras

Lentil dhal

Twice cooked pork belly which is basically belly rashers boiled till tender in water with a bit of ginger and spring onion tops in for flavour, then cool and cube, then fry till the fat crisps. Remove from pan, stir fry leeks, cabbage, onions, peppers, garlic, chuck the pork in, add whatever sauce and let it braise a while

Cheese and onion pie

Mac and cheese ( you can add anything to it to make it more of a meal, bits of bacon and tomatoes is nice )

Any mince dish that takes being doubled with the addition of red lentils and veg - chilli and bolognaise for example

Meat balls and pasta ( lidls ones are imo very good and often on special at 12 for £1)

I rarely buy a steak each now, I'll buy cheaper frying steak, cut it into strips and fry with mushroom and onions, stir in a pepper sauce and serve either in a baguette, jacket spud or rice

I always buy meat and fish that is cheap/reduced. This time of year they are practically giving away turkey and ham, I've stocked up. Turkey is as versatile as chicken. Ham can be used so many ways

Reduced fish sits in the freezer till I have enough to make fish pie which is pure luxury for pennies

Tinned salmon fish cakes. Mix into cold mash, add chopped capers, gherkins, Mayo, a bit of cayenne, a dash of lemon. Make into patties and shallow fry

Home made soup. Yesterday tesco were selling carrots, parsnips,sprouts and caulis for 10p. Bread was 4p for good whole meal and granary so today's dinner is curried parsnip soup with club style sandwiches using the last of the turkey and some ham instead of chicken and bacon


For me it's seeing what's out there for the price I'm happy to pay, then online I go to see what I can do with it. I don't bother with a zillion ingredients, I use what I have

One thing I do have though is a pile of herbs and spices that I use constantly. I never buy an ingredient for a single use.

choccy999

Thanks for all these great ideas and links :beer:

My diet has gone to pot recently (eating mainly convenience foods). Really skint and looking for some good cheap recipes. I'm on a debt management plan and low income, so the cheaper the better.

WantToBeSE

Soworried wrote: »

Home made bombay potatoes, chick pea curries.

For lunch some times I boil pasta and stir through a mushroom cup a soup. Costs pennies but tastes amazing.

Those both sound so good! I have potatoes and curry paste and spices etc so could make that

That pasta sounds good. I did a similar thing twice this week- some leftover soup, rice and sweetcorn..just mixed them all together and heated. Tasted so nice! And so easy.

WantToBeSE

suki1964 wrote: »

I would say 90% of my meals are cheap

Already said about the salmon pasta ( which is scrummy hot or cold btw so is ideal to save to take to work)

Others I make are

Liver and bacon, using bacon bits or just a couple of rashers cut through

Afghan aubergine when aubergines are dead cheap, really delish and is vegan

Chickpea and spinach madras

Lentil dhal

Twice cooked pork belly which is basically belly rashers boiled till tender in water with a bit of ginger and spring onion tops in for flavour, then cool and cube, then fry till the fat crisps. Remove from pan, stir fry leeks, cabbage, onions, peppers, garlic, chuck the pork in, add whatever sauce and let it braise a while

Cheese and onion pie

Mac and cheese ( you can add anything to it to make it more of a meal, bits of bacon and tomatoes is nice )

Any mince dish that takes being doubled with the addition of red lentils and veg - chilli and bolognaise for example

Meat balls and pasta ( lidls ones are imo very good and often on special at 12 for £1)

I rarely buy a steak each now, I'll buy cheaper frying steak, cut it into strips and fry with mushroom and onions, stir in a pepper sauce and serve either in a baguette, jacket spud or rice

I always buy meat and fish that is cheap/reduced. This time of year they are practically giving away turkey and ham, I've stocked up. Turkey is as versatile as chicken. Ham can be used so many ways

Reduced fish sits in the freezer till I have enough to make fish pie which is pure luxury for pennies

Tinned salmon fish cakes. Mix into cold mash, add chopped capers, gherkins, Mayo, a bit of cayenne, a dash of lemon. Make into patties and shallow fry

Home made soup. Yesterday tesco were selling carrots, parsnips,sprouts and caulis for 10p. Bread was 4p for good whole meal and granary so today's dinner is curried parsnip soup with club style sandwiches using the last of the turkey and some ham instead of chicken and bacon


For me it's seeing what's out there for the price I'm happy to pay, then online I go to see what I can do with it. I don't bother with a zillion ingredients, I use what I have

One thing I do have though is a pile of herbs and spices that I use constantly. I never buy an ingredient for a single use.

Could you share the Afgan Aubergine please? Sounds lovely, i really like aubergine. And the kids would eat that too i think.

Mac & Cheese in a winner, as is Cauliflower/Broccoli cheese. In fact, my kids will eat anything cheesy!

We dont eat any minced meat, so always replace with a can of lentils. Really cheap (about 70p a can, or cheaper, and makes a whole meal). Meatballs and chilli are a great idea, thanks

That steak sounds really nice! I'll definitely try that.

Adding these to my meal plan,thanks so much Suki, i really appreciate it.

WantToBeSE

choccy999 wrote: »

Thanks for all these great ideas and links :beer:

My diet has gone to pot recently (eating mainly convenience foods). Really skint and looking for some good cheap recipes. I'm on a debt management plan and low income, so the cheaper the better.

I'm glad you find them helpful too