cheap food

Diane_239

Hi i have 2 questions,
first i really need to sort my food budget out, I have found some great recipes on the boards.thank you everyone my kids are mad on lasagna does anyone have a cheap recipe idea.
I have looked through the boards but cant find anything. Also can you freeze it?
Second when using foil containers do you use cling film to cover them?
Thank you.:j:j:j

olliesmummy06

i make a pretty big lasagne every 2 weeks or so (its a firm fav in our house).

i use-
sainsburys basic mince-500g is 82p (i used to buy tesco's extra lean steak mince and have found sainsburys is just a nice and less than half the price.)
1 oinon
6 mushrooms
garlic
herbs
1 x tinned toms (19p per tin in tesco)
1/2 tube of tom puree
1 x carton on passata with garlic and herbs (29p i think in tesco)
6-8 lasagne sheets (depending on size of dish and layers you want-i do 2 meat layers and 1 cheese on top)
large bag of cheese (£1.99 in aldi)
uht skimmed milk (44p for full carton-i use about half)
and cornflour to thicken

saute the onion til soft, add m/rooms and garlic for a few mins. Add mince and brown off. Add passata, tinned toms, tom puree and herbs and simmer for around 30 mins til its reduced down a bit-it still needs to be a bit wet so the pasta sheets cook well in the oven.

To make the cheese sauce put the milk and cornflour in a jug and heat in microwave til it starts to thicken up-make sure you stir it every min or so so it'll go lumpy. add the cheese and taste-you may want more/less depending on how strong you like it.

In you oven proof dish put a layer of the meat mix on the bottom, cover with 1 layer of lasagne sheets, add another layer of meat, cover with 1 layer of lasagne sheets and cover the top with cheese sauce. Pop in the oven on 180 (sorry not sure what gas that is) til bubbling and golden. to check that pasta is cooked just pop a knife through-it should not be crunchy and should glide easily through the layers.

Hey presto its done. i leave mine to cool for a few hours then slice up and pop in freezer bags and freeze. I always cover it-if you do not it will get all frosty. i hope it all makes sense for you. From the amounts above i make a pretty big lasagne which will do both me and hubby for 3 dinners. I just pull it out of the freezer the morning before we are going to eat it and let it defrost at room temp during the day. You can then either mircowave it or pop it in the oven to re-heat.

Good luck.xx