Any simple and cheap recipe ideas or ways to save with groceries appreciated

ZsaZsa

You’ll get loads of ideas here, but also check your library for Jack Monroe’s books, they have great simple recipes

wort

Soup should only take 20 min cooking time , just long enough for the veg to cook. Cut veg small .
fry an onion first, add garlic if you like chop a potato add a knob of butter sweat with lid on for 5 min . Add a pint of stock using a stock cube, a head of broccoli chop the stalk very small pieces. Season. And cook till broccoli cooked whizz with a stick blender when slightly cooled, if no blender use a potato masher. Add cheese if liked . Blue cheese adds more flavor for less . Can be kept in fridge for a few days. 

bouicca21

My own take on lentil curry:

fry one chopped onion with 3 cloves of garlic for around about 5 minutes, add ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric chilli flakes and a bit of paprika.  Fry together then add about 150-200g lentils, a tin of coconut milk (I use light) and a chicken or veg stock cube, simmer together until lentils are cooked.  Serves 2-3 and keeps in the fridge.  For extra texture add some chopped fresh coconut.

JIL

I suggest using a lot of vegetarian proteins to supplement a little meat, although I'm not sure you eat meat?
Bean salads, can be made with tinned beans, sold in aldi. 
Chorizo is also cheap and a little goes a long way, try it with a bean and vegetable stew.
Quinoa is economical and a really good source of protein, it's also really good added to mince. 

-taff

You can add rice or pasta to soups ot thicken too, they will absorb any excess water. I have a chicken, rice and mushroom soup I love. One of the chepaer ones is rice and leeks. Cookt the leeks without colouring, add the rice, water and a stock cube, when it's cooked and it should eb thick and soupy, add a sprinkle of parmesan..

Using lots of herbs or spices will make your food mroe interesting too. You can add things to baked beans too, a bit of curry powder, or some cheese, or cook a few fesh tomatoes in them etc.

Authentic bolognese sauce is made with tomato puree not passatta and doesn't take as long https://www.citalia.com/gennaro/traditional-spaghetti-bolognese/ You can leave out the pancetta, wine and use oil instead of butter if you like.

Elisheba

If you are using passata or tinned tomatoes to make a sauce, add a stock cube as well as any fried off veg/onions/mushrooms etc you want, and then you will need to let it simmer with the lid off for a while.  It needs to boil down and evaporate some, then it will be fairly thick with lots of taste.  

if you are worried about the cost of running the oven for stews you might want to think about investing in a slow cooker as they use a lot less energy and are great for that sort of food.  

RAS

Dom135246 said:

Like the idea of soups and stews I used to make these a lot but have trouble thickening everything. Also don’t like to waste hours of electric.

Do you have access to a stick blender or liquidiser (or even a smoothie maker)? If not keep you eye open for one in local charity shops, community shops (sold for spares), local Faceache or freegle website.

Mean-time, a couple of ideas

Chop the veggies fine, or even grate roots, and cook in just enough oil and then add a stock cube and water. When they are cooked, turn off, remove a few tablespoons of the veggies, put on a shallow dish and mash well with a potato masher or a fork. Add the mash back into the soup and stir. Works best when there is at least one starchy veg, so you could add some 1 inch cubes of potato even keep back a few baked beans and mash them.

Or find the cheapo dried mash potato (either tesco or Morries), keep it in a dry jar. Take 2 tablespoons, mix in a mug with enough of the stock (minus veggies) from the soup to make a wet mix. Stir that into the soup, and rinse out with a bit more stock. Bring to nearly to the boil to burst the starch. 

If you like chunky soups, consider adding a tin or part of a tin of beans, or some bits of broken pasta to bulk up the soup. Sort of minestrone?

As for flavour, restauranteurs suggest that "season well" just means add as much salt as you can get away with. But getting a small selection of dried herbs and spices helps. Even if it's only mixed herbs and some paprika. 

Dom135246

A big thank you to everyone who’s offered help, ideas, cooking tips, delicious recipes etc. over the last few days, I’ll be taking note and start to build the ingredients and manage to cook better with all the tips and advice.

I can feel a big shift happening, it’s funny how asking for help, helps more than you can imagine. 

Just to answer we do eat meat but always enjoyed vegetarian/vegan meals so the vegetable proteins sound good and we have a Ninja blender for smoothies but no hand/other blender.

Thanks again

Longwalker

The ninja is ok for soup, just do it in batches.

Soups take 20mins to make. The trick is to cut the veg small, if you have a processor, than give them a whizz.  If I have the oven on and room, and soft tomatoes/peppers in the fridge to use up, a couple of onions, just chop to even sized pieces and whack in the oven to just charred, throw into a saucepan with stock - chicken or veg - your choice - bring to the boil , simmer for 5 mins, then blend in the ninja - it will thicken itself. The broccoli soup already mentioned is great for using up the stalks if you prefer not to eat them. When I was really broke, potato soup was a basic - just potatoes in water enriched with a spoonful of marmite and a dash of milk for richness. Cooked till spuds were breaking up and the whole lot pushed through a sieve 

I do stews/casseroles on the stove, boil a soup simmer a stew as they say. Get it up to simmer, then add a lid and simmer till cooked. My pan and hob can simmer as low as 2 ( induction)

Lentils are fantastic for bulking out chilli and bolognese, or for making vegetarian. I use chickpeas in curry - either to bulk out the chicken or making say a spinach and chickpea curry. If curries are a regular then make your own sauce. All curry sauces start with onions and garlic. The majority have cumin, coriander , turmeric and chilli. You soften the onion and garlic, add the spices, cook a bit longer, add a tin of tomatoes, a bit of sugar, salt, and when all hot and soft, blend. The onions make the sauce thick. the cumin and coriander give depth of flavour, the chilli the heat and turmeric gives it the colour - along with the onions. Different curries will have other favours like ginger, but those are the ones that are a constant 

Tomato sauce is very easy, seriously. If Im doing a bolognese when Im just in the door and have nothing out of the freezer ( which is the norm ) heres how I do it. Put pan on getting warm, start dicing a couple of onions and garlic cloves. Throw the frozen mince in the now hot pan and keep turning it, breaking it up as it starts to cook. When its all broken up, chuck in the onions and garlic and let cook away for a while whilst finding the oregano, the tin of tomatoes , tomato puree, salt pepper and sugar.  Now add a couple of tablespoons of the puree and stir in getting it spread throughout the mince mixture, cook for a couple of minutes stirring all the time. Then chuck in the tin of tomatoes, half a can of water, the oregano, salt, pepper and most important - a teaspoon of salt, bring to the boil, add a lid, turn down and simmer for at least 30 mins. At that stage you could add to a slow cooker on low for a couple of hours, I simmer on the stove for 2 hours usually. Stir every now and again, testing for taste - usually more salt and possible a tad more sugar, add a drop more water if getting dry, lift the lid if still too wet. Obviously I like oregano, you may not, so use basil or mixed herbs. If you want to add chilli powder or whatever as you go, the spice or herb has to have time to cook out, to release its flavour . So add, let cook a while, taste again. Thats why ready made sauces taste so good and something eaten the day after its cooked takes better - the flavours have had time to develop

Ive seen a recipe on here for hob nobs. Im not sure where it is now as the forum layout has changed since I was last here. If you have cereals then theres a whole host of tray bakes you can make - rice crispie bars and cornflake clusters spring to mind - but theres loads out there 

Hope some of that helps you get inspiration. Its not easy at the moment , I myself whilst can cook, have had to take on extra hours and now dont want to cook so much but cant afford not too. Getting ideas its why Im here as well

newlywed

Hobnob Recipe

 Ingredients
 8oz sr flour
8oz sugar
8oz porridge oats
8oz margarine
1tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp hot water
 1/2 tsp bic soda

 Instructions

 Mix the flour, oats and sugar, melt marg, syrup and water in a pan. Stir in bic soda and add to dry mix. Then mix well and make into smallish balls which you then put on a greased tray and flatten slightly with a fork.

Put in the oven at 180 degrees C for 15 mins... and cool on the tray. The aim is to get them golden in the oven not brown.


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