Ideas for a Valentines meal on a budget

ragdoll

Since Christmas have been trying to cut down on grocery bill, trying to keep it under £200 a month. Managed £180 in Jan.

My dh is less keen on the whole concept, I don't know why as we seriously need to cut back!

I want to cook a really nice meal for valentines but on a budget, want to show him that we can have a nice meal at home. He normally wants to go out.

So far I have come up with:-

Parsnip and carrot soup with heart shaped croutons

Taglatelle with king scallops, roasted garlic and parsley (iceland do the scallops already with the garlic and parsley for £3 for 220g)

Individual bread and butter puddings

Does this sound ok and would love to know what other people cook for special occasions

destiny_star2006

sounds very nice but i rekon the price you will pay for this wouldnt it be easier and a tad cheaper or maybe the same to order a chinese/ indian and then you have more time to show him how fun staying at home can be hehe
i no ure wanting to save money but i think both ways will cost just about the same or am i wrong

fiscalfreckles

ragdoll wrote: »

Since Christmas have been trying to cut down on grocery bill, trying to keep it under £200 a month. Managed £180 in Jan.

My dh is less keen on the whole concept, I don't know why as we seriously need to cut back!

I want to cook a really nice meal for valentines but on a budget, want to show him that we can have a nice meal at home. He normally wants to go out.

So far I have come up with:-

Parsnip and carrot soup with heart shaped croutons

Taglatelle with king scallops, roasted garlic and parsley (iceland do the scallops already with the garlic and parsley for £3 for 220g)

Individual bread and butter puddings

Does this sound ok and would love to know what other people cook for special occasions

I think that sounds lovely!
But you'll be needing somethiing to drink too..maybe some cava?

freyasmum

Hi Ragdoll,
First of all, congratulations on your shopping bill Secondly, I would rather have a home cooked meal than go out into an overpriced fancy restaurant and be packed in like sardines, and thirdly Your menu sounds lovely!

Destiny, I agree with what you are saying about the price, but IMHO, sharing a chinese/indian isn't really romantic for valentines.

Last year for Valentines, I cooked;
Tomato and roasted red pepper soup 'cos of the colour :rolleyes:
Steak, and veg
Then for dessert, I made a few chocolate bowls - wrapped tin foil round an orange and put melted chocolate inside to make a bowl. I then made some vanilla ice cream, and strawberry mousse and coated some strawberries in chocolate. It looked lovely, even if I do say so myself

The mousse was a ww recipe and it was all very easy to do, with minimum hands-on time, which made it perfect for V.D. 'entertaining' . I'll see if I can find the recipes and post later, if you want me to

Lx

nic_santorini

I think it sounds lovely and it is much better at home - unless eastenders is on in the background and there are kids running everywhere and the dog begging at your feet. As for the suggestion to get a takeaway - don't they get the concept of 'MONEY SAVING' - takeaways are a rip off. I type out a menu too for good effect - doesn't cost anything - but paper and a bit of ink. Hope it all goes well - will be thinking of my menu very shortly.

Anne_Marie_2

Menu sounds lovely, but watch out on the pudding. Depends on what you're used to eating of course. I'd be wanting to leave some room for afters, if you get my drift.
Also, do bear in mind that you'll need to get a nice bottle of wine and maybe some beer.

My menu is not fully there yet, depends what I can get, and have got on the day, but it's along these lines.

Starter
Prawns on salad leaves (depends what's good on the day, but hoping for spinach and cress), served with smoked paprika flavoured mayonnaise (similar to old fashioned prawn cocktail sauce but much nicer)

Main course, which I'm not sure about yet.
Chicken tikka with naan bread (bought) or chapattis (home-made) (hubby is not big on rice)
Or
Chicken marinaded in yoghourt with mexican spices, cooked same way as tikka. Served with wraps, shredded lettuce, tomato sauce, guacamole, grated cheese etc.

Pudding
Me!
Seriously, neither of us have a sweet tooth, so sweets are a waste of time.

Have a lovely Valentines Day.

Stephen_Leak

OK, this my usual romantic first dinner. All you need to ask is whether they like Italian and it even covers them being vegetarian. The starter can be made in advance. The main course does have to be cooked at the time, but this gives you a chance to show off your culinary skills. Dessert can be dispensed with or even "taken elsewhere", if you know what I mean . The entire meal also has a final "twist", which has never yet failed to impress.

Starter is a mozzarella and tomato salad. Cut the cheese and a big beef tomato into slices and arrange artistically on a small plate. Sprinkle chopped fresh basil over the top and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Serve with focaccia bread. The original recipe also includes slices of raw onion. Under the circumstances, I thought it best to leave this out.

The main course is a simple pasta and tomato sauce. I use fresh spinach and ricotta tortellini, which are half green and half - well, pasta coloured. Advise your partner that, according to legend, tortellini is supposed to be the shape of Venus'* navel. For the sauce, just lightly fry off 2 medium onions and 2 cloves of garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes. Put the pasta on to boil now. Reduce the sauce down a bit.

Now, drain the pasta, add it to the sauce and gently toss them together. Explain to your partner that this is because an Italian would always "bring the pasta to the sauce", not just plonk a dollop of sauce on top of the pasta, like we do. Finally, sprinkle on the rest of the chopped fresh basil. Serve with another bit of focaccia bread to mop up any sauce. For wine, I recommend a Valpolicella.

Dessert is just three scoops of good quality ice cream, one each of strawberry, vanilla and mint. As above, and for whatever reason, this course can be dispensed with in a suitably nonchalant manner, or even "taken elswhere".

The "twist" is to ask your partner if they have spotted the theme to the meal. "Its Italian" is the obvious answer, which is close. The answer is that all the courses are the colours of the Italian flag.

* A later version of the legend says its Lucrezia Borgia's navel. Given her family's reputation for poisoning people, I'd stick with Venus.

PS. If all goes according to plan, my "breakfast to impress" is orange juice, scrambled egg with smoked salmon bits on wholemeal toast and coffee.

MissEyre

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

PS. If all goes according to plan, my "breakfast to impress" is orange juice, scrambled egg with smoked salmon bits on wholemeal toast and coffee.

Anyone who would put that much effort into cooking dinner for me would be pretty much guaranteed the privilege of serving me breakfast the next morning :rotfl:

ragdoll

Thanks for all your replies, your ideas sound lovely, much more adventurous than mine!

I am hoping it will come in a fair bit cheaper than a takeaway, I have priced it out at £5.20 plus £2.40 for a bottle of Tesco's french white wine.

Stephen_Leak

MissEyre wrote: »

Anyone who would put that much effort into cooking dinner for me would be pretty much guaranteed the privilege of serving me breakfast the next morning :rotfl:

So, are you doing anything Friday evening / Saturday morning?

Vampgirl

We never go out for valentines soI'm going to cook something pretty simple I think - too much washing up really spoils the mood

I haven't decided on the starter yet but its definately going to be something prepared in advance.
For main course we'll be having venison steaks with either mini roast potatoes or dauphinoise and veg.
We won't bother with desert though - will probably be full already *lol*

Having said all that, its looking increasingly likely that hubby is going to either be away on valentines or won't be getting back till late so I doubt that we're actually going to have this on valentines itself