Really struggling with dinner ideas

caronc

A gammon joint is relatively inexpensive and opens up lots of possibilities especially if you boil (or slow cook in water) rather than roast so you get stock:
Gammon, parsley sauce, cabbage & mash
Gammon, egg, chips/wedges, beans
Fried rice
Carbonara
Lentil or pea & ham soup
Minestrone soup
Campfire stew

Added to white or cheese sauce and veg as a pie or pasty filling or topping for a baked spud

Spanish omelette
Quiche

That's just off the top of my head but a joint can go a long way....

buildersdaughter

I would slow cook a ham hock instead of gammon - doesn't slice so nicely, but just as tasty, serve with mash or jackets & home made mushy peas, then all the uses caronc suggests.
If you do the gammon on a Saturday, then roast a chicken on Sunday, you can do a risotto, or a pie with the left-overs.
My kids loved a basic cheese souffle (don't be put off, it's very forgiving!) and scraping the dish was a treat!
Baked potato night is always a good one in the colder weather, and you can use up left-overs by putting them out as different toppings.

elsien

Left over ham, you can also do a pasta dish - basic tomato sauce with ham, mushrooms/other veg of choice plus a bit of grated cheese on top of you're feeling flush.

PasturesNew

suki1964 wrote: »

When one week they are 49p and good sized and the next they are £1.20 and not much bigger then a tennis ball. - Yes

I've not seen a 49p good sized one for about 10 years - and then it was in a tub at the roadside of the house belonging to the farmer that grows them... not in shops.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

falcieri wrote: »

This sounds like the kinds of meals I would make! Good job!

careful with the chilli flakes, if you're unsure test it on the children first!

NaughtiusMaximus

Irish stew is tasty and cheap to make, especially if you do as I do and reduce the proportion of meat but add stock cubes so you still get the flavour.

The recipe I use is below, my version for 4 adult servings has only 400grams of meat but half as much again of all the vegetables plus a couple of Knorr lamb stock cubes. A good shake of Worcester Sauce works well too, but then I love Worcester Sauce and put it in virtually everything

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/seasons/autumn/a-bit-of-the-irish-stew-with-crusted-dumplings

buildersdaughter

Hello, I thought I'd just contribute the list 'what I did with smoked gammon collar' (reminiscent of the 'rubber chicken' thread!). This was for 2 medium appetites:
1. smoked collar bacon 650g cost £5.17 and was cooked in cheapest Coke: Say £6. Served with mash, peas& parsley sauce
2. substantial dinner sandwich with salad & chips
3. used instead of 'lardons' in a beef bourguigonne made with shin of beef for 4
4. thin slices for breakfast eggs benedict
finally there is a very small piece left that can go in a risotto. spanish omelette or mixed salad.

I am aware that a growing family would wolf the lot, and a bigger piece would need more Coke!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Halve the quantity of mince in each meal and replace with red lentils, a handful of porridge oats and gravy granules. It means you get the meaty flavour, texture, protein and a moister texture for two meals rather than one.

If you like curries, instead of meat ones, make them from potato and chickpea/frozen veg and a tin of pulses. Rather than spending out a fortune on precooked extras like Bhajis, make pakora - slice onions thinly, coat in batter made from chickpea flour, water and salt, shallow fry. Make a thinner curry from lentils and spices, add a splash of vinegar and serve with pancakes made from chickpea flour and water (Dosa?).


Use frozen veggies wherever possible (frozen cauliflower is great for curries or cauli cheese, for example), and if you see reduced to clear veg like peppers, courgettes, etc, slice and open freeze rather than have them going off in the fridge.

When you want a cheesy topping sauce, make the white sauce, but only add cheese on the top at the end - the strongest tasting version of your cheese (Cheddar, etc) will give more flavour than melting a ton of mild cheddar into the sauce. If you like Parmesan, buy Grand Padano instead - much, much cheaper, but just as nice.

Potatoes are your friend when you're skint. Jacket Potatoes with cheese and beans, with any small amounts of leftover mince, mash, colcannon, champs, egg and chips, potato curries, gnocchi, potato bread...

If you like deep, rich flavours, McSween do a gluten free haggis - that is incredibly filling with the traditional potatoes and swede/turnip.

Baking your own bread saves an absolute fortune. A single loaf of Warburtons costs £1.05 right now. If you buy a bag of strong flour at roughly the same price and a tub of quick yeast, you've spent £2 but you have (with the addition of some water, salt and a bit of effort), three loaves which will each keep you feeling much fuller than the pap in the orange wrapper. Gluten free bread might cost more, but in comparison to the shop bought versions, maybe it's still a saving - or you just use standard loaves for everybody else.


Make the goujons, but turn them into a proper filling meal by turning into wraps with what I call frying pan bread (which is easy to make with flour, salt, baking powder and yoghurt or milk that's on the turn/milk with a splash of lemon juice or vinegar in it - make it thin and cook in a dry frying pan) and filling them with two goujons, strips of peppers, onion a pinch of cheese and any other random bits you have lurking in the cupboards. Again, might cost a little more from the need to have GF, but still more filling than just having a bunch of goujons and some oven chips.


The idea is to make sure food still has lots of flavour and is warming, but will keep you going physically.

kboss2010

I make lots of tomato-based veggie & chickpea curries - basic recipe is diced & roasted butternut squash, can of chickpeas, diced onions, peas, tinned tomatoes, garlic, ginger, chilli, garam masala, cumin, coriander & cardamom with a tablespoon of sugar to remove the tartness from the tinned tomatoes.

If you’re feeling especially adventurous, making homemade chapattis with gram (chickpea) flour is really easy!