| favorite cheap meals? 15:31 - Jan 8 with 12117 views | giant_stow |
run out of money again and off to Lidl soon - no Sainsburys delivery this week - oh no! So any ideas for tasty cheap meals?
All i have in my locker is:
Tuna Pasta bake
Spicy bean /sausage stew
Ham and cheese pancakes.
Oh and the cheat's trash food of those mini Goodfella's pizzas
ta! |  |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 19:54 - Jan 9 with 1767 views | GavTWTD |
| favorite cheap meals? on 11:26 - Jan 9 by _clive_baker_ |
Not sure the last bit of advice is too sensible tbh. No doubt filling, but might result in other complications. |
I though pulses were good for you.
Not sure if been said but tinned mackerel on toast mixed with lots of ground pepper and vinegar. |  |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 20:02 - Jan 9 with 1732 views | J2BLUE |
| favorite cheap meals? on 19:54 - Jan 9 by GavTWTD |
I though pulses were good for you.
Not sure if been said but tinned mackerel on toast mixed with lots of ground pepper and vinegar. |
Pulses. Superb work. |  |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 20:04 - Jan 9 with 1724 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
The answer is a tin of sardines and a baked potato.
Edit...oh, all cooked on a pallet fire obviously. [Post edited 9 Jan 2024 20:07]
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| favorite cheap meals? on 20:23 - Jan 9 with 1704 views | Churchman |
| favorite cheap meals? on 18:55 - Jan 9 by hoppy |
What if Tom doesn't agree to that? |
Give Tom a clip round the ear and tell him to man up.
Actually fat fingers to go with a fat head on my part. Typo corrected.
Back to the OP, I’m glad the humble sardine gets a mention in this thread. They’re great. Baked potato, on toast - all good. The basic ones are fine. You can bone them easily and add your own lemon and pepper etc as you wish.
If you must eat the green stuff, salad with lettuce, tomato and cucumber is transformed from dull rabbit food to a joyous feast with sardines |  | | |
| favorite cheap meals? on 21:45 - Jan 9 with 1635 views | soupytwist |
Shakshuka's good - inexpensive ingredients (especially if you have some basic spices in the cupboard already) and if you want to bulk it out a bit I'm sure you could chuck in a handful of red lentils when you add the tomatoes and cook for a bit longer.
This is a Jamie Oliver recipe so it tells you to use organic eggs and 'quality' tinned tomatoes but stick in whatever's cheapest:
https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/shakshuka.html
If you want more inspiration, Jack Monroe has been there before.
https://cookingonabootstrap.com/ [Post edited 9 Jan 2024 21:48]
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| favorite cheap meals? on 10:24 - Jan 10 with 1519 views | Swansea_Blue |
| favorite cheap meals? on 16:23 - Jan 9 by Sarge |
If you have any wine leftover from Christmas, the Bosh vegan chilli is excellent. I would however, at least double all of the herbs and spices from their recipe as they put in far too little (not in terms of heat, but just flavour imo). It’s also taken to a different level with the inclusion of chipotle paste
https://www.bosh.tv/recipes/ultimate-chilli
Two of my favourite sandwiches for lunches are a simple egg mayo and cress on a part baked baguette and, again using up some Christmas stores maybe, a tiger baguette slathered in seriously strong spreadable (vintage preferably) and as many Cheeselets as you can pile on.
Another thing I do sometimes is get a box of ready rolled filo pastry and top with spinach, tomato, cheese, any proteins of your choice for a sort of pizza. More often though I make my own pizza dough, it’s easy, and top as you like. Not quite as cheap as mini frozen pizzas possibly but has the potential to be healthier and more filling. |
That's a good link, thanks. Unfortunately the kids hate mushrooms with a passion and can spot the smallest fragment buried in any other food. But I reckon that would work well with finely chopped aubergine and courgettes as a substitute. And it's probably all about the 'extras' like the maple syrup and chocolate that make that dish by the looks of it.
I'll be giving that a go soon instead of my usual veggie chilli recipe. |  |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 11:07 - Jan 10 with 1486 views | DJR |
Anyone mentioned meat paste which I very much enjoyed many years ago. Or a banana sandwich with sugar on it?
Four or five years ago, I went through a phase of eating salmon or tuna paste on a sandwich, which was still available in those tiny glass bottles.
But a big shout out, as above, to tinned mackerel (in olive oil) which until recently was less than a pound in M & S. Spreading some of the oil on a sandwich means no need for margarine, and is healthy to boot, given the health benefits of both olive oil and mackerel (very high in Omega 3). I usually go through two tins a week, given that, unlike some other fish, mercury is not an issue. [Post edited 10 Jan 2024 11:12]
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| favorite cheap meals? on 11:12 - Jan 10 with 1467 views | Mookamoo |
Anything rice based. Rice feeds the world.
Fried rice with whatever veg you can find is great. Get some Nasi Goreng paste which goes a long way to make it taste of something. If not just use tomato puree and paprika.
and anything becomes a luxury meal if you plonk an egg on top. |  | | |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 13:24 - Jan 10 with 1414 views | Buhrer |
| favorite cheap meals? on 18:20 - Jan 8 by MK1 |
Bag of 20 frozen sausages. Loaf of bread. Bag of frozen fries. Sausage sandwiches and fries for 5 days. All for under £7. |
What about mixing your sausages with pasta, fried onion, seasoning, chilli and oregano and rosemary, with single cream. Can make a bulky rich filling spicey pasta. |  | | |
| favorite cheap meals? on 14:29 - Jan 10 with 1360 views | GavTWTD |
| favorite cheap meals? on 11:07 - Jan 10 by DJR |
Anyone mentioned meat paste which I very much enjoyed many years ago. Or a banana sandwich with sugar on it?
Four or five years ago, I went through a phase of eating salmon or tuna paste on a sandwich, which was still available in those tiny glass bottles.
But a big shout out, as above, to tinned mackerel (in olive oil) which until recently was less than a pound in M & S. Spreading some of the oil on a sandwich means no need for margarine, and is healthy to boot, given the health benefits of both olive oil and mackerel (very high in Omega 3). I usually go through two tins a week, given that, unlike some other fish, mercury is not an issue. [Post edited 10 Jan 2024 11:12]
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I've been unable to buy tinned mackerel in anything other than a sauce or sunflower oil, but today I saw in Home Bargains a 425g tin of mackerel in brine for effectively the same price as a 125g mainstream tin (99p). Packaging didn't look great but the product was fine, but I did have to remove the bones. If you're on a budget these things matter so shop around. At least it didn't have the head and tail! | |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 14:33 - Jan 10 with 1356 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
Sardines or Mackrel on toast |  |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 14:41 - Jan 10 with 1340 views | DanTheMan |
| favorite cheap meals? on 15:45 - Jan 8 by Dubtractor |
Lentils are essential in vegan bolognese or chilli. Too many beans and the texture is all wrong. |
I realise this is quite an old comment but I've found that chickpeas roughly chopped either by hand or in a food processor works best.
And use the juice from the cans both from them and the beans as part of the water.
I've found vegan / veggie chilis actually better than the meat stuff, cheaper too.
It's basically this recipe - https://www.seriouseats.com/best-vegetarian-bean-chile-recipe
Kenji's recipes are always amazing. [Post edited 10 Jan 2024 14:44]
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| favorite cheap meals? on 14:41 - Jan 10 with 1340 views | leitrimblue |
| favorite cheap meals? on 11:31 - Jan 9 by baxterbasics |
Pot Noodles are currently 70p in Stressco if you have a clubcard.
You are welcome. |
If you invest £7-8 in pot noodle and then buy a big bag of potatoes you could treat the family to pot noodle and chips( the lunch of kings) for almost a week |  | | |
| favorite cheap meals? on 14:46 - Jan 10 with 1328 views | Keno |
| favorite cheap meals? on 14:41 - Jan 10 by leitrimblue |
If you invest £7-8 in pot noodle and then buy a big bag of potatoes you could treat the family to pot noodle and chips( the lunch of kings) for almost a week |
Or if you really want to treat them forget the pot noodle |  |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 15:48 - Jan 10 with 1269 views | GavTWTD |
| favorite cheap meals? on 14:41 - Jan 10 by DanTheMan |
I realise this is quite an old comment but I've found that chickpeas roughly chopped either by hand or in a food processor works best.
And use the juice from the cans both from them and the beans as part of the water.
I've found vegan / veggie chilis actually better than the meat stuff, cheaper too.
It's basically this recipe - https://www.seriouseats.com/best-vegetarian-bean-chile-recipe
Kenji's recipes are always amazing. [Post edited 10 Jan 2024 14:44]
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Interesting spelling of chili/chilli. Always assumed it was the latter but both seem in use. | |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 16:56 - Jan 10 with 1219 views | leitrimblue |
| favorite cheap meals? on 14:46 - Jan 10 by Keno |
Or if you really want to treat them forget the pot noodle |
Where is the joy and mystery in that? | | | |
| favorite cheap meals? on 17:13 - Jan 10 with 1192 views | BlueBoots |
| favorite cheap meals? on 11:12 - Jan 10 by Mookamoo |
Anything rice based. Rice feeds the world.
Fried rice with whatever veg you can find is great. Get some Nasi Goreng paste which goes a long way to make it taste of something. If not just use tomato puree and paprika.
and anything becomes a luxury meal if you plonk an egg on top. |
Rice feeds half the world, Pasta feeds the other half 
No mentions so far, so I'll add Risotto and Macaroni Cheese to the list; learn your base recipes (Risotto - Rice & Stock / Mac&Cheese - Pasta, White Sauce, Cheese) and can improvise based on what you have in the house, what's on offer / marked down at the shops. A mushroom risotto is a very fine thing indeed, and once elevated a Mac&Cheese with some yellow sticker mozzarella and pepperoni which has now become a request from the repertoire 
And if you're so pushed for time (or so hungry) you can't be bothered with a white sauce for a Mac&Cheese, pasta with a cream and blue cheese sauce is another fallback; pretty inexpensive as doesn't require much of either to make a tasty sauce. |  |
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| favorite cheap meals? on 19:25 - Jan 10 with 1119 views | DJR |
| favorite cheap meals? on 14:29 - Jan 10 by GavTWTD |
I've been unable to buy tinned mackerel in anything other than a sauce or sunflower oil, but today I saw in Home Bargains a 425g tin of mackerel in brine for effectively the same price as a 125g mainstream tin (99p). Packaging didn't look great but the product was fine, but I did have to remove the bones. If you're on a budget these things matter so shop around. At least it didn't have the head and tail! |
M&S mackerel in olive oil is currently £1.20 bur a year or so ago was only about 80p. Indeed, I remember looking at the price of tinned sardines and mackerel in other supermarkets a year or so ago and realising M&S was actually cheaper, although that is not the case for the vast majority of its products.
As regards its mackerel in olive oil, the olive oil is infused with the taste of the mackerel which makes it particularly flavoursome. | | | |
| favorite cheap meals? on 19:54 - Jan 10 with 1079 views | tractor_lady |
Sausage pesto pasta using Aldi chicken sausages :-). Dhal (lentils go a long way and are cheap, can do in slow cooker if you have one. Chilli and rice one night left over chilli with jacket pot night two.
I also make my own soup now and batch freeze, lovely on these cold days! |  | | |
| favorite cheap meals? on 21:35 - Jan 10 with 1011 views | Churchman |
| favorite cheap meals? on 19:54 - Jan 10 by tractor_lady |
Sausage pesto pasta using Aldi chicken sausages :-). Dhal (lentils go a long way and are cheap, can do in slow cooker if you have one. Chilli and rice one night left over chilli with jacket pot night two.
I also make my own soup now and batch freeze, lovely on these cold days! |
Buy a jar of green pesto and it goes with all sorts of things. Mix it with just pasta and it’s great. Add a bit of chicken, smear pesto on and grill and the day is a tasty one.
Bin lentils, pulses and that sort of ghastly stuff. Trust me you’ll be happier for doing (this is where I duck to avoid abuse 😃)
Rice - brilliant stuff. With chilli or curry mmm. Rice is cheap too if you avoid the packet flavoured stuff.
Yeah, Mrs C makes homemade soups. They’re brilliant and you know what’s gone in them! | | | |
| favorite cheap meals? on 21:56 - Jan 10 with 987 views | tractor_lady |
| favorite cheap meals? on 21:35 - Jan 10 by Churchman |
Buy a jar of green pesto and it goes with all sorts of things. Mix it with just pasta and it’s great. Add a bit of chicken, smear pesto on and grill and the day is a tasty one.
Bin lentils, pulses and that sort of ghastly stuff. Trust me you’ll be happier for doing (this is where I duck to avoid abuse 😃)
Rice - brilliant stuff. With chilli or curry mmm. Rice is cheap too if you avoid the packet flavoured stuff.
Yeah, Mrs C makes homemade soups. They’re brilliant and you know what’s gone in them! |
Yep had fresh supermarket soup today, tasted awful - I’m clearly now a soup princess 😂 | | | |
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