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Cheap meal ideas
wench02
Forumite 25 Posts
I generally buy Lidl/Aldi cheapo ingredients, apart from what little meat I get, which comes mostly from the local butcher (which I am not going to compromise on).
However I could do with making more savings, so I’m looking for any recipes that are cheap and tasty.
For lunch I have decided that I will be swapping from the “fancy” sandwich’s I make myself (although they don’t work out at much money) to things like beans/spaghetti/scrambled eggs on toast to reduce costs but help keep me full.
I have some good budget dinner recipes, as well as a WW2 cookbook that you can make delicious things from for very little money; however looking for more modern cheap ideas for what I could do with pasta etc. I’m not a fan of curry/Indian/Chinese food. I love puddings and jelly is my go to favourite at the minute, very good value for money. (I have to admit that I get the Rowntrees ones, I’ve tried the Aldi ones, and they really weren’t nice.)
However I could do with making more savings, so I’m looking for any recipes that are cheap and tasty.
For lunch I have decided that I will be swapping from the “fancy” sandwich’s I make myself (although they don’t work out at much money) to things like beans/spaghetti/scrambled eggs on toast to reduce costs but help keep me full.
I have some good budget dinner recipes, as well as a WW2 cookbook that you can make delicious things from for very little money; however looking for more modern cheap ideas for what I could do with pasta etc. I’m not a fan of curry/Indian/Chinese food. I love puddings and jelly is my go to favourite at the minute, very good value for money. (I have to admit that I get the Rowntrees ones, I’ve tried the Aldi ones, and they really weren’t nice.)
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Your cheapest form of non-meat protein are arguably the pulses (beans and lentils). Combine those with wholegrains and you have a 'complete' protein and plenty of filling fibre. Aim to have a really wide variety of wholegrains (oats/ brown rice/ barley), not just wheat (bread/ pasta/ breakfast cereal).
Hearty soups are great for using cheap, nutritious ingredients to fill you up. Again the pulses, wholegrains, canned tomatoes, frozen vegetables, root vegetables. With eggs: frittatas or tortillas or omelettes can be padded out with loads of veg. Savoury versions of bread and butter pudding (eg. cheese strata) are a good way to use up a 'yellow sticker' wholegrain loaf.
Don't forget to include oily fish, which supplies nutrients no other food group is rich in. Cheapest are large cans of pilchards in tomato sauce, or smoked mackerel from the chiller.
HTH.
I eat lots of leftovers for lunch so deliberately cook extra of an evening and reheat the next day. Sometimes a casserole even if there's no meat left in it (like a big soup) or bubble & squeak with pickles. Taking on board what Firefox said, I batch cook veggie chilli to have with a jacket potato.
I should probably have elaborated more, I’m not very keen on most “foreign” foods, I much prefer the WW2/older British style of food, as well as Italian stuff.
I am good at making soup so I will be doing some more of thst
Instead of more modern, have you considered slowly working back in time? Reading up on country/ peasant/ farm recipes from the Edwardian era, Victorian, Georgian, even Tudor? There is loads of information online now.
Tasty and traditional flavours .... makes me think fresh herbs (eg. parsley, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, mint). Last summer mine grew like weeds on my windowsill (north west facing city centre flat so not sunny!). You can grow from seed, get cuttings from friends/ families/ work colleagues or eBay.
Brits have also long used certain ground spices (eg. pepper, mustard, caraway, nutmeg, cloves, coriander, allspice). Then there is Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins) and yeast extract (Marmite). Cheapest spices are in the World Foods aisle (50p for 100g, Morries) or Asian grocers. It probably sounds a bit barmy me suggesting those shopping locations!
Between all the herbs and spices you could jazz up no end of beans/ lentils/ dried split pea/ vegetables in soups/ stews/ casseroles, eggs and organ meats (liver/ kidneys/ heart).
Pasta there is the obvious bolognese sauce (Old Style with loads of veg and lentils), from which you can easily progress to lasagne .... and from lasagne it is a short hop to moussaka (sliced potato plus sliced courgette or aubergine instead of the pasta sheets).
Italians eat plenty of fish and seafood: ask your fishmonger what is cheapest by weight. Most can be shoved in a fish pie if you can already make that? And you can tasty up the mash by putting in other root vegetables or cauliflower, depending what you can pick up cheap in Lidl and Aldi.
Obviously some of my thoughts won't be to your taste, but hopefully something here will click for you.
I eat lots of pickles as it's a quick, easy way to have plenty of veg and little waste compared with salad stuff. Beetroot, red cabbage and Lidl's cornichons are my favourites. They go well with bubble and squeak or with a jacket potato and cottage cheese.
HM veggie pasties: http://www.littlemissmiser.com/2015/12/paupers-pasties.html
Quiche: http://www.littlemissmiser.com/2016/01/frugal-food-diary-do-it-your-way-quiche.html
'Tuscan inspired' bean soup: http://www.littlemissmiser.com/2016/03/beating-bulgeon-budget.html
If you're feeling a little more adventurous, baked bean lasagne: http://www.littlemissmiser.com/2015/07/baked-bean-lasagne-serves-8-365p-per.html
Alternatively, as has been mentioned, baked potatoes (bake in bulk then freeze and microwave if you have one), egg/beans on toast etc are all good options. Do you have a garden? Could you grow some tomatoes and salad leaves?
As I found out the other night, they use cashew nuts in the making of pesto, not pine nuts because they keep longer, so you could throw a few walnuts in. There's a rash of new style pesto type sauces, try some of those, add in crunchy veg pieces, or some of the antipasta in lidls or aldis, tinned sweetcorn etc.
Also, pasta with blue cheese and walnut, cheese sauce with sweetcorn and a few chopped up bits of smoked sausage.
One of the cheapest pasta sauces I know is fry a bit of long thin cut onion [not diced] with a half clove of garlic, add either half a can of toms or two or three tomatoes, cook pasta , throw in sauce [ add a little bit of water if it's too thick], grate parmesan over and mix in, job done.
One more thing, whatever veg you cook, if you have some left over, there's almost nothing that doesn't benefit from adding oil and vinegar [use cider/red wine/white wine NOT malt] to. If you add a little bit too much oil and vinegar, you can mop it with fresh bread [ what I usually do]
Worrks for slightly undercooked veg too, like cauliflower, beetroot, brocolli. Add in some chopped parsley to green beans or potatoes [ very nice even when they're mushed up a bit]