Extra Easy low cost meals

tinkerbellsmum

Gold Member
can anyone give me some idea of low cost meals for the week got to watch the pennies alittle this week i do ee mainly.
have loads of herbs and spices in. going shopping today
thanks
 
Pasta with a sauce made from tomatoes, onion, carrot, herbs and a couple of rashers of smoked bacon. Lovely!
Carbonara - pasta, eggs, bacon. Simples.

Jacket potatoes, bean chilli and rice, eggs SW chips and mushy peas (buy a box 35p instead of a tin - makes loads!)
 
Firstly, take a good look in your cupboards / freezer. Sometimes if we are really stretched, I can get a week from what we have here, just adding milk from the shops. The food might be a bit strange, but we try to have fun with it!

Second, bulk out meals with more of the cheap stuff, less of the costly stuff. For EE, that would indicate more potatoes / pasta / rice / lentils than meat / fish etc. If you normally get 3 portions of sauce out of 500g mince, add lots of veg (celery, mushrooms, carrots, onions) so that you get 6 portions - then, either eat the same meal twice, or vary it - eg spag bol first day, save half the sauce, add chilli and a can of kidney beans, you have chilli con carne the next day.

Find out what veg are cheap / on offer in your supermarket / market and use them as the basis for your meals - they will still be free on the plan, increasing your superfree foods and saving the pennies too :)

If you like spicy food, look at making dahl, serving it with rice and a maybe a veg curry or side dish. gotta be the cheapest, tastiest meal around.

Try to keep thinking about the superfree element of our meals - it is the easiest thing to forget about when budgeting. Yes, Jacket and beans is very cheap, but where will you get your superfree - will it have to be from an expensive bag of salad? Instead of the beans, you could make a coleslaw (cabbage and carrot etc etc, yog etc) for your jacket potato!
 
we found a new one this week (2 people) 2 packets of savoury rice when its almost cooked add some left over cooked meat and its yummy
 
I have continued to think about this thread, and one thing that occurred to me is that Green is probably the cheapest plan to follow successfully since (expensive) meat is automatically limited, and there is no requirement for the superfree food (yes, eating lots would be a good idea, but you don't have to, and if you buy veg exclusively from a supermarket, it can add up quickly).

So, some specific ideas that rely on bulk from cheaper ingredients:

lentil dahl
veg curry
felafel (made with chick peas)
risotto (use cheap short grain rice designed for puddings rather than risotto rice, works just as well)
pasta and tomato/veg sauce
fishcakes (mash with a bit of tuna/salmon sweetcorn etc)
cottage pie
chips, eggs and ham (or beans)
chille con carne, rice
homemade soup as a meal
special 'fried' rice (ie with egg and lots of little bits of veg)
chinese noodle soup

Oh, and have you ever heard of 'rubber chicken?' lol - it refers to how one chicken can keep coming back to feed you again and again ... it is fairly straightforward to get at least 3 meals for a whole family from one bird - a roast, something where the leftover meat is chopped up, and finally using the carcass and bones for stock as the basis for a soup. google 'rubber chicken moneysaving' for lots on the subject :)

:D
 
Love the rubber chicken!! I have one for tonight - bargain, a 2kg organic chicken half price in Tesco one evening :)

It will do a roast tonight, leave enough meat for risotto and a stew and then I'll make soup.

I wouldn't have minded paying a tenner for it tbh as it will make 4 good meals. A big intial outlay but stretches a long way.

Some great ideas Angie, I'm a fan of green days for the frugality.
 
Stupid question about rice... I don't normally do anything with it other than boil it. If I was to make a risotto, or just egg fried rice, would I have to first boil the rice??
 
Oh, and have you ever heard of 'rubber chicken?' lol - it refers to how one chicken can keep coming back to feed you again and again ... it is fairly straightforward to get at least 3 meals for a whole family from one bird - a roast, something where the leftover meat is chopped up, and finally using the carcass and bones for stock as the basis for a soup. google 'rubber chicken moneysaving' for lots on the subject :)

:D

We do this as standard. It's brill and you get value for money
 
Stupid question about rice... I don't normally do anything with it other than boil it. If I was to make a risotto, or just egg fried rice, would I have to first boil the rice??

Egg fried rice uses cooked rice.

For risotto, the rice is cooked slowly,adding a ladel food of hot stock at a time and stirring until it has been absorbed.
 
for a green day making own rice and putting soy sauce with peppers, mushrooms, onion, toms, garlic, peas, mangetout, sweetcorn (any veg you like) is so yummy
quron meatballs (asda own) the bag is 2 syns but a quit or two but two meals and can be filled up on pasta :)
 
Back
Top