Ok, think some other people might like this thread as well.
I need to drastically tighten my belt soooooooooo
Can anyone give me some great recipes to feed a family of 3(but 2 growing boys) for around £2 a meal or cheaper???
Thanks
Lea,

Chicken fried rice.

Breast of chicken,. Rice, red onions, an egg and a can of small garden peas some soy sauce. 

 

Thankyou, sounds good.
Just to say, thats not £2 per person. thats £2 for the whole meal :(
Lea
x

Bean jar. (aka croc)
A pork hock, dried butter beans soaked over night,optional haricots too, onions, parsley and seasoning, all stewed for hours (overnight also).
This is a traditional dish here just beware the wind!!

Karen:)

Pork Hock??????
Lea.

Erm yeah, it's a ham or bacon type thing. You can use belly pork, but the hock is better.
Karen

Thanks will see if they sell it in local supermarket!!!
Lea

asda's pasta twirls with a jar of pasta bake spinkle chesse on top, you should be able to do a big casserole for about £2.

As a student in the days when I could remember how to cook I would do pasta or egg noodles, boiled veg and a jar of sweet and sour sauce. Pasta, potatos and veg, that's what you want. :-)

Oh - pesto sauce is a good one for on pasta too - makes my little brother happy and he is a large sprouting 13 year old.

Had this tonight, it was a couple of days in the making but well worth while, fully nutritious and tasty too.

Karen  :)

A favourite cheap meal in our house is stovies (think others may call it corned beef hash?) Anyway it only costs me about £2 for a meal for 5! (tin corned beef, stock, potatoes and an onion.) Also I find home made pizza is cheap, it works well with cheap flour, and easy too and also only costs me a couple of pounds for us all. We are also eating more lentils, beans, cous cous etc as these work out quite cheap.  Lentils or beans work well to add to mince to make it go further eg in shepherd's pie. I also make toad in the hole as the batter makes the sausages go further! 

Oh yeah... corn beef hash. :-D Forgot about that too... onion, carrot, loads of potato and corn beef, all mashed up together - is good, esp with melted cheese on top (everything is good with cheese :-D ).

I did make corned beef hash the other week. But it was a bit glutonous :(
Should I add stock to it????
Lea

I have never made it with stock, and I never thought it was glutinous - but it may just be that I like it and you don't. Is a question of mashing it really well though - and that's what you have sons for. :-D

The taste was god.
It just seemed to stick to the roof of our mouths!!!!!
And yes, my sons are chief potato mashers!!!!!
Will try again and see if the next batch is better!!!!
Blow the british bred organic etc etc etc food.
Off to lidl tomorrow to buy the cheap Corned beef etc etc
Lea

Everyone tends to have different ways for cooking the same thing, I never mash stovies! I aways fry the onions and potatoes a little first before simmering them in beef stock and the potatoes are cubed, we don't like it all smooth. Anyway however you cook it it's cheap! I can't afford to buy organic either but at least we do eat lots of in season fruit and veg. Of course a simple baked potato is filling and fairly cheap too. Recently discovered marrows that were cheap and they were lovely stuffed and baked wrapped in foil.

I am wrting all these down!

>Recently discovered marrows that were cheap and they were lovely stuffed and baked wrapped in foil

Oh noooooooooooooooooooo It was the meal we HAD to eat once a year!!!!
And ubfortunatly still do :( as mum collars me and the kids to dinner once a year (apart from Xmas) to eat it as Dad loves it!! We all cant stand it!!!!
But we do eat alot of fresh fruit and veg, and will hopefully continue to!!!!
Kids dont like Baked pots, well it osnt their favorite food, but think I will make them eat it, like I did wth the Baked beans tonight, and they said it ws a lovely meal!!!!
Lea

Oh yes, I used to make macaroni cheese a lot and that's quite cheap - don't make it now as my daughter is on a dairy free diet. We do have tagliatelle with a sauce made with garlic, mushrooms, onion, bacon and dairy free cream which is very nice. Lidl do good value pasta. Also omelettes are good for a quick easy tea, eggs are a bit pricey but very nutritious of course.  P.S. our marrows were stuffed with a delicious mix of cous cous, veg stock, bacon and tomatoes which made them very tasty honest!!

solid macaroni cheese (i miss this like mad since i gave up cheese)

cook pasta, grate a good strong cheddar, chop and onion (optional), gently fry some pancetta, or lightly cook some bacon and break into bits (optional), eggs, beaten.

get a cassarole dish

layer pasta, cheese, onion, bacon, pasta, cheese, onion, bacon... till dish is full. pour beaten egg over the lot then top with more cheese. into the oven for about 30 mins depending on size.

the amount of eggs depends on the size of dish (tis very easy to made an individual one or a huge one to feed loads of people) 1 egg to a small to medium dish, probably 2/3 for your size of family depending on how hungry your boys are. basically the egg binds it together.

great with tomato sauce.

> Thanks will see if they sell it in local supermarket

if not your butchers will have a hock, its a good, cheap cut, great in soups. sort of gammony.

> I did make corned beef hash the other week. But it was a bit glutonous

well i'm scottish so its stovies, but we always boil the potatoes in the gravey, gets it all in about them and tasty.

other things...

a filo tartlet of mushrooms in a creamy sauce- some mushrooms, preferably a couple of different kinds, a can of campbells condenced soup (i used chicken and white wine), some filo pastry (filo is not particularly cheap but you'll only need a couple of sheets for a big tart and have tons left over that you can freeze), chopped garlic

lightly fry the mushys with the garlic, add soup and simmer. place a couple of sheets of filo in a baking pan so that they form a tart, bake blind for a few minutes. add mushroom/soup mix, cook more. scoff while being impressed at how pretty it is without being hard :)

chicken

i don;t know where you stand on the caged chicken thing but tesco do some mighty cheap chickens. a roast chicken will feed you all one day then be a good soup the next.

various things with mince...

buy a massive bumper value box of mince, some onions, some carrots, some beef stock, some chilli's, some kidney beans, some chopped tomatos, some garlic

cook mince with chopped onions and garlic, seperate half the mince. turn half into mince (for tatties) and half into chilli. the chilli is good with frozen rice packs or on top of tortilla chips as nachos.

moroccan veg

go to lidl, buy all the veges you like (we went for sweet potato, butternut squash, onion, baby corn, tomato, peppers...), buy a sachet of morrocan seasoning. part cook some of the veg (stuff like sweet potato and squash, tomatos etc are fine), put in baking tray, lightly oil, bit of garlic (do we see a theme? :)), top with seasoning, oven till cooked. serve with cous cous. (be warned, looks a bit like sick but tastes good and is really healthy)

there are LOADS of cook books aimed at students at the mo that are all about the cheapness so maybe getting one of them would help?

eggs are a bit pricey but very nutritious of course

Find an egg farm and incorporate a trip when you're passing that way.  I pay £1.50 for a tray (30) free range eggs.

My way of doing corned beef hash is to mash potatoes with lashings of butter/marj and milk , then mash in a tin of corned beef . Stick it in a hot oven for 30 mins until the top is crispy - then fight over who gets the crispy bit !
I serve it with boiled onions - yummy !!!!!

My Mum used to make spag boll with rolled oats and oxo cubes for the mince with tinned tomatoe and onion when she couldn't afford meat. Took a bit of getting used to but not too bad. 

> well i'm scottish so its stovies

Maybe it depends whereabouts in Scotland - I'm Scottish and it's Corn Beef Hash. :-D

have you tryed the big tins of chichen soup out of lidil, instead of noddles its pasta shells,
very filling, my son eats as a meal with some bread my whole family love it
well worth a try ;)

> Pork Hock??????

lea, ham hock is vile!  Don't inflict it on your children :( I ordered it in a restaurant one night after the waiting staff told me it was a piece of ham.  when it arrived it became clear it was pig shin - where's the yuck smiley?   On the outside was skin right round it, then the meat and right inside the bone.  It was a great big lump of pig leg.  I couldn't bear to eat it so asked for a doggy bag and took it home for the pooch.

Go for lentils instead, much cheapness and no bones!  Each to their own though...

dundee its definately stovies :)

lol cheeky chow, where on earth was this?? the skin still on? yuck.

my experience of ham hock is similar to a bacon joint but with the bone left in. when boiled it releases a lot of flavour, thats why its so good for soups. i probably wouldn't cook it just to serve itself though.

I've pm'd you the venue.  absolutely vile!

I am writing all of these down :)
I like the idea of the lidl chicken soup, and Pasta. As can do that when we get in at 8.30 or 9.30 nights!!!!
Cant believe how expensive corned beef is from Lidl £1.38 a can :( :(
THANYOU ALL
And keep them coming :)
Lea.

Tuna pasta bake is quite cheap. It's just pasta, tuna, whatever veggies you've got in (I like using peas, sweetcorn, brocolli, grated carrot, peppers, mushrooms) and a white sauce with a bit of cheese grated over if you've got any. I know some people make it with mayo but that is too expensive for me to use.

Buying cheaper meat has cut down my food bill. A small bit of brisket is quite cheap and easily feeds 6. Cook it very slowly with whatever root veggies you have in.

I'm also saving a fortune buying eggs at a farm shop as well as big sacks of potatoes. It works out much cheaper than buying from the supermarket.

Chicken casserole made with chicken thighs is very cheap too. Buy the thighs with skin on and take the skin off yourself - it's cheaper for some reason. Then when it's cooked remove the chicken from the pot, and the meat should fall off the bones, chop it a little before returning to the pot and thickening. Buying whole chicken is a good idea too as you can use the carcass for a soup the next day.

Also visiting smaller supermarkets just before closing (especially on a Sunday afternoon) is quite good for bargains. A few weeks ago my local Somerfield was selling packs of stewing beef for 88p. I stocked up and still have some left. I cooked it with a bottle of reduced ale and it was lovely.

Good luck :-)

When we were kids and money was tight, thursday night (night before dads pay day) tea was usually chips and a fried egg, I used to love it and still have it sometimes but its not the same as my mum always did the egg in the chip pan (don't knock it 'til you've tried it :-D ), and we don't have  a chip pan as I use oven chips (yuk :-( ).

As for the whole Stovies/corned beef hash debate - I'm from fife and stovies were usually made for left over sunday roast or mince, I'd never heard of corned beef hash til I joined Scottish Slimmers :-D . So if its beef its stovies, corned beef its hash in our house!

> Blow the british bred organic etc etc etc food.
>

Actually Tesco's (Well my local one is) are selling organic potatoes for 89p a bag at the moment.

We got some local grown potatoes in Sainsbury's when we were in York on holiday and they were the tastiest potatoes any of us have had in years - but I can't remember the variety ahhhhhhhhh!!

My Dad buys a Sack of potatos (25k I think) for £6 from the guy on the local market. And gives hlf a bag to me!!!!
Lea.

Sainsbusy 15 Free range eggs for £2.00 today, there are just some things I can't change from having.

I make a soup that is more of a stew ;-)

You can buy bacon mishapes from Lidl's.

Soak some broth mix in water overnight (a couple of hours if time is short) Drain and put into a large (very large ;-) ) pot. Chop the bacon into bite size pieces and add to pot. Then add cabbage, carrots, neep, diced potatoes, onions, parsnip, and/or any other veg you like. Season to taste. I tend to add a couple of ham stock cubes to add to the flavour. Simmer for a couple of hours (more is good, it makes the broth a bit thicker)

This lasts us for a couple of meals and you don't feel the need for a dinner.

What about buying a sack of horse carrotts - you could freeze them and they'd last all winter ! ( not sure how to cook before freezing though - think you chuck them in boiling water for a minute ).  They only cost £1 for a sack round where i live and they are OK for humans to eat .

I didnt think carrots for horses would be able to be used for humans???
I do use alot of carrots!!!
Lea.

Yes - my Dad buys them for his geese .  He takes the best ones out for himself then chops up the rest for the geese .

Now that sounds like an idea. As I have 2 rabbits as well, so could find the best for myself and then give the rest to the rabbits!!
Will look at the animal feed  Wharehouse I go to to get my dog food and Hay next time I am there!!!
Lea,.

Beans and Bacon :-D  From my pal Antonio Carlotti

Gently Fry one onion until soft, remove from pan and add a pack of Aldi Chopped smoked bacon bits (99p) fry until cooked with crispy bits.   Add back the onion and shelled baby broad beans (you decide how many ;) and leave on the skins if you like them)  slosh in some red or white wine - or a little balsamic vinegar and some water (even a dash of apple juice will do)  and cook until the beans are tender. Serve with pasta (buy it in bulk)  or boiled potatoes.   Absolutely delish - a traditional roman dish ;) 

Also

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS  :-D

Shell a quantity of Baby Broad beans (Fava Beans) - frozen are good!
then fry a large onion gently until soft.   Add in some slices of LAMBS LIVER (REALLY CHEAP!) and brown briefly.   Remove from pan and put in Broad (Fava) Beans and then the lamb and onions on top.  Add a good slosh of cheap red wine - Chianti is good :) and cook gently in the covered pan until liver is cooked but still soft (about 7 mins)
Serve with boiled potatoes or pasta or rice

ffuffuffuffuffuff! :-D

Yup we like our Fava Beans here!

Oh and Chilli Con Carne!
But with 2 tins of red kidney beans (or pinto beans, or black eyed peas, or borlotti beans) - we like our beans they're nice and cheap!   Serve with rice!  - very filling and tasty too!

I could do with some ideas too.... however...

I absolutely will not buy intensively reared, non british origin anything.. as I do firmly believe that the economic crisis is in fairly large part, the price we are now ALL paying for dirt cheap food...

So.. good cheap cuts of meat? Better to buy cheaper cuts of british./ethically raised meat no?

Ways to make vegetables go further?

I do a good pasta bake, no jars needed, use whatever pasta you like...

Pre cook sufficient pasta for people you are feeding but leave it quite al dente

Fry half an onion (or a whole onion depending on quantity needed), and two or three rashers of bacon (streaky preferably), snipped into little pieces.

Mix fried bacon and onion together with fairly small diced veg (things like broccoli and cauli, give them a few mins in boiling water first, things like tomatos, peppers, 'softer' veg, dont worry about).. use a tin of tomatoes if you like... Stir together, throw in some salt, pepper or some chilli powder and paprika, mix into pasta, top with grated cheese (i use a really mature one as i can get away with using far less to get the same cheesey taste) and put in the oven until the cheese is all melty and brown.

If we dont have bacon ill chop some sliced ham instead, or if you like tuna you could use that (blargh).

> So.. good cheap cuts of meat? Better to buy cheaper cuts of british./ethically raised meat no?

I'm the same. We're buying cheaper cuts as well as eating less meat generally but I still buy British and ethically raised while I can afford to.

One quick, easy, cheap, meat-free nutritious favourite here is baked beans on toasted granary bread with a poached egg on top, and a splash of Lea and Perrins. Delicious!

If you like liver, try chicken livers.  I do them with s'getti and tomatoes.  Open tin toms (best that you can afford, I find Sainsbury's basics chopped toms very good quality), saute a couple of garlic cloves in olive oil, add toms, basil and or mixed herbs, bayleaf, season (if toms are a bit too acidic add a pinch or so sugar to taste), boil for 5 mins then reduce for approx 15 mins.  In the meantime flash fry the chicken livers (as many as you like) in some olive oil, chopped garlic and fresh rosemary for a couple of mins, then let them sweat for 5 mins (lid on pan on low heat).  Cook s'getti at same time, once cooked add the livers etc incl oil and stir in, then the sauce.  V. tasty and cheap.

I also do a chicken/cauliflower pasta bake.  chop a couple of chicken fillets in small chunks and cook as above.  You do not have to use too much chicken (could probably use just dark meat) cos the rosemary and garlic infuses into it during the sweating process.  Par boil cauliflower florets(they were pretty cheap not so long ago).  Make a pint of bechamel sauce.  Cook some penne pasta.  Mix pasta, chicken & cauli together (you could add sweetcorn, mushrooms, I have even used carrots) pour bechamel over, spinkle over parmesan and fresh white breadcrumbs and bung in the oven for 20 mins or so until golden and crispy.  This goes a very long way.  

I also do lambs/ox/pork liver with s'getti - yummy (but only if you like liver)

I love egg and chips!  Yum, proper chips with a good free range runny egg to dip them, talk about simple food.   try and cook everything from scratch and avoid anything ready prepared, you will get a lot more grub for your money and freeze any left overs for a 'freezer surprise day' (I never label anything).  :D 

> dundee its definately stovies

I'm fae Fife. :-) Don't live there any more tho. :-( Went to nursery school in Dundee - but don't recall ever having CBH. :-D

Grow your own fruit and veggies? They are a big part of a meal and saves money if oyu grow them instead of buying them. Healthier and tastier too :-)