I am a real foodie :D  I love to cook food and I love to eat food, infact most of my housekeeping money goes on food!  But now that I am no longer able to work :( I was wondering if anyone has some cheap tasty recipes they are willing to share.  Thanks.

Jax :)

I could also do with some of these

Same here...I'm still living off pasta!!! LOL typical tudent diet!

ALthough got treated to steak by boyfriend this weekend!!!!! :D

I can only think of a couple I make.  Tuna pasta bake, 1 tine of Tuna, jar of bolognase sauce, pasta twists, cheese and cornflakes.
1. Boil Pasta till cooked, drain
2. add tuna and bolognase sauce
3. put into oven proof dish
4. crush cornflakes sprinkle on top with grated cheese
5. put in oven about 180 until warm through and cheese melted
its lovely
Sausage and Bean casserole
Sausages (2 -3 per person) onion 1 garlic clove, tyme, tinned beans, tinned tomatoes (chopped) tin of butter beans.
1. fry diced onion and garlic
2, brown sausages
3. add bean, tomatoes and butter beans
4 add tyme salt and pepper to taste
5. put into casserols dish cook 180 for about 40 mins searve with a pile of mash potato, real winter food. :)

Oooh shelwil I'm going for the tuna pasta bake tonight I think!!!!  Sounds lovely although minus cornflakes.....don't have any of them!!!! :D

Stirfry some mushrooms, onions, garlic, peppers, and courgettes in a small amount of butter/spread.

Add a generous dollop of tomato puree, mix well and serve with noodles, The 8p value instant noodles from Tesco are brilliant for this (leaving out the sachet of horrible flavouring :D ).

Put a little grated cheese on top

Enjoy :)

use ready salted crisps, we make it very similar but with crushed crisps in the topping for pasta bake

Bacon Hotpot is a favourite in our house, cheap and simple to make,
slice potatoes, carrots, onion in casserole dish, season with pepper if liked - no salt, salty enough with bacon
top with a layer of bacon or use bacon bits throughout (nan also uses chops instead of bacon)
fill 1/2 with water
bang in oven on 180 until cooked :) yum!

Really simple chicken noodle soup, though it's still in the experimental stage as it's loosely based on my mum's recipe but she never wrote it down!

1. roast a whole chicken.
2. Eat the best bits :D
3. Put the rest (broken up to fit into as small a space as poss) into anything big enough - I use a pressue cooker, the same one mum used, but unlike her I don't use it as a pressure cooker :)
4. Fill with just enough water to cover the meat (not the whole thing as the breastbone sticks up higher and it'll end up too watery).
5. Bring to the boil then simmer very gently for about 90 minutes.
6. Chop up random veggies!  The last batch of mine has carrots, leeks, parsnips and fine beans in it; the one before had courgettes and a couple other bits too.
7. Remove the chicken with one of those spoons with the holes in (I'm a chef me, honest guv :p), place in a bowl.
8. Put the veggies and some noodles - I use dried, it's easier - into the stock water and simmer again.
9. Pick the meat of the chicken.  If it's been simmered long enough the thing just falls apart and you can get every last bit of meat off - even the muscle inbetween the ribs if you want!  It just slides off :)  Put the meat (torn into smaller bits if need be) into the stock.
10. Leave to simmer for another hour or so, or till the veggies are how you like.  Longer for me, I like them squishy :)
11. Eat!

That's just about the only recipe I have :D But it makes a lovely meal, very filling and filling for a long time too without being bulky in your belly.  Tastes great on dipped bread too :) Mum's version (as best I recall) used chicken noodle soup packet mix (just the one) instead of dried noodles, and no veggies, only chopped potatoes.  Just as nice, but I like adding other things to mine.  It's wide open to randomness with the ingredients though - I added all sorts to the first lot, from quinoa grains to lentils to barley and herbs, just about everything!  But, fewer things the better I think :)

I'd love to give you her rice pudding recipe - it really was the most fantastic pudding in the world - but alas, she didn't write that down either :( I think Dad might know it though, I'll have to ask!

Edit to add: blinkin eck, doesn't seem that long when I'm making it!!!

Besides Harleys - anyone got any dishes that are animal flesh free?

D'ya know, that sounds really terrible! ANIMAL FLESH!!! LOL :D

That's why I say it!!!!  ;)

it may sound terrible Dawn - but animal flesh is tasty :p

For shelwil's sausage and bean you could just add a varity of beans insted of sausages :) Or maybe some veg?

or use quorn sausages.............

> quorn

Yuck :D :D Although I am not (or never will be) a vegetarian, I like meals without meat quite a lot - but hate meat 'substitutes'. I love roasted veggies or a nice plate of homemade veggie and lentil soup :) :)

Daisy

When doing weight watchers, I had lots of qourn sausages and they are not too bad when in a sauce...........then again, when doing ww I would have ate anything!!!

Not sure if this would help?

Budget Sainsbury's Recipes

They look nice :)  I was going to say, liver is a very cheap meat that, unlike many other cheap cuts, doesn't take ages to cook and therefore use up lots of fuel.  There is cheap mince of course but I reckon you do sacrifice a lot of taste quality and, of course, it tends to be very fatty and unhealthy.

We make a chicken casserole and then use the remains of the 'sauce' as a base for the next day's veggie soup. Our supermarket has a lot of reduced price veggies which are excellent for soup making :) Adding lentils, beans, potato, pasta etc makes the soup a very filling meal and batches can be frozen.

Daisy

I eat very little meat and enjoy lots of meals without it so like you can't see the need to look for meat "taste" substitutes but you do need to have some protein in your meals so Quorn is a pretty useful item and used to be very bland so good for taking up the flavours you wanted it to. I must admit I don't like it as much now they have made it more "savoury".  It's not that cheap though, Quorn, generally I use a lot more pulses which of course are wonderfully economical, even if you opt for the tinned variety.  We like spicey foods though and make a lot of Dhal stews and the like which I suppose not everybody cares for but they are so cheap to make you can add nice touches like lots of fresh corriander without breaking the bank.  Served with a nan bread, yum yum :)

If you go to the Quorn website there is a really tasty Shepherd's pie recipe. We love it here :) and it's not expensive I'm sure compared to a meat meal.

Vegetable curry is quite cheap and also meals based around rice, potatoes etc with added stir fried vegetables. Eggs are also good value for a meal - egg on toast with beans is simple, tastly and cheap. I never tire of it and it's full of protein, calcium, etc.

Lindsay
x

Guernsey Bean Jar aka Croc.
Belly pork/or a pork knuckle
2 onions
1 1/2 lbs butter beans (can use haricot)
salt  and pepper
1 - 2 pints water

1. soak beans (over night best)
2. drain beans add with all other ingredients into large cooking pot and mix well
3. cook gas mk 2 for at least 12 hours......

Lot's of variations locally, best really in aga's and such like, but if you like beans you'll love this.
Karen ;-)

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=33

Above is a link to the Old Style Forum on MoneySavingExpert.com and it will tell you everything you need to know about cooking on a budget and saving money.  I know I'm not the only MSE fan on here!

Mushroom stroganoff with rice....

Add 2 cloves of garlic (crushed) and 1 onion (sliced small) to frying pan and fry for a few minutes until soft. Make up 150ml of vegetable stock and add about 3 tablespoons to the pan, add 1 tablespoon of plain flour and mix until it all comes together. Add the rest of the vegetable stock and 1 glass of wine. Add as many mushrooms as you want, some thyme, 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard, salt & pepper and simmer for about 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add about 150ml of fromage frais and serve with rice.

It sounds like a lot of ingredients but most of the things you will probably have lying around and they are cheap! :D