Mumsnet Talk

has anyone any ideas? other than spaghetti bolognaise and shepards pie!

I do pork and apple burgers.

500g pork mince
I grated apple
1 grated onion
Honey

Mix up to make 4 large patties.

Fry each side till cooked through.

I use Aldi bread mix (57pence) to make rolls for them.

And serve with caramelised onion and own brand potato lattices.

Other than the honey, it all comes in at under £5

Lentil dhal with rice and a minty cucumber and onion salad - v cheap if you have plenty of spices already.

Baked potatoes with cauliflower cheese

Macaroni cheese plus peas

Chickpea curry

Veggie chilli

Lentil soup

Mince with garlic, Chinese five spice and soy sauces, serve with rice that has been stir. Fried with egg, onion and peas.

Marking my place for my online shopping order

Last night I made sausage casserole. Pack of 12 fancy sausages from Asda for £2; onion and a few carrots, can of smart price tomatoes, couple of handfuls of mushrooms (all from asda or better still Aldi); plus mashed potatoes and broccoli that was on offer. Costed it in my head to £4-£4.50 max and it fed five of us.

Also cheap is anything veggie eg veggie stir fry with ginger and garlic to spice it up and those noodles you don't have to cook; or veggie tomato sauce with pasta.

I tend to stretch meat - I buy orgainc chicken breasts but make risotto for us all with just one so about £2.50 of meat, most of a 90p bag of arborio rice, an onion and a couple of leeks, say 60p, and a slather of butter and about 80p of cheese grated in at the end.

Toad in the hole
Sausage (and bacon) casserole
Spicy chicken with couscous
Baked potatoes, crispy bacon, melted cheese, salad

Anything to do with eggs
Spaghetti carbonara
Baked eggs
Omelettes
Also
Risottos
Tuna pasta bake

Chicken thighs in a caserole or a tray bake served with rice

Heat gently 1 tin of heinz spicy tom soup £1.30 plus 1 cup of water
add 2 packs mussels from tesco fish fridge section £2.70
cook some rice in separate pan and chuck in some frozen peas. Serve.

Cook pasta of your choice.
Gently fry onion, bacon, mushrooms and then right at end chuck in 1/2 tub of garlic philadelphia. Tip pasta into pan, stir and serve.

I use the frozen casserole veg, £1.25 from sainsbury's (if you do the 2 for £2.50 offer) or £1 from farm foods to make all kinds of stew.

Add a pack of stewing steak chopped up with some hot water, a squeeze of tomato purée and a shake of Worcestershire sauce. I coat the beef with flour to thicken the sauce and make some dumplings from veggie suet (£1.20 a box) with self raising flour and serve with shredded cabbage or broccoli. I only add potatoes if there is very little meat.

I also use the veg with sausages and add a chopped apple. Add some chopped tomatoes and herbs. Serve with a jacket potato.

Chicken thighs (5 for £1.99 from Aldi), roasted in the oven with assorted veg, plus either couscous or mashed potato.

Diced turkey thigh is offen quite cheap and is lovely in any kind of stew / casserole / curry type of dish.

Pasta with a tomato sauce made from a carton of lidl passata (29p) onion, garlic,herbs and you can also add any bits of leftover veg (courgette, peppers, mushrooms all work well). Add a pinch of chilli powder if you want a bit of a kick. Grate cheese over the top and grill. Add some chopped up bacon if you want a bit of meat in it.

Cooking bacon is great for pasta dishes and I also use it for bacon butties! The rashers are misshaped but taste good!

wow, i have been busy all day so have only just looked. Lots of ideas for my aldi shop and meal planning tomorrow. Keep them coming though , I am enjoying keeping the food bill down , and saving some money for treats.

Flat breads, hot dog and salad with sauce of choice.

Flatbreads are 500g SR flour, 500g natural yoghurt 1 tbsp salt or less? 1 tbsp baking powder. Mix it all up with hands or food processor. Split into 12. Roll into flat ovals or however you like. Fry each side until charred. Cook 2 mattesons sausages for 1 min each in microwave. Put 1 or 2 flat breads on plate or in bowl. Put salad on top, then sliced sausage. Then BBQ ketchup/tom ketchup/mayonnaise or whatever you want. If you have small children then half the mixture and make 6. 2 for adults 1 each for dcs.

The leftover flatbreads can be frozen in between greaseproof paper in bag/box. Or eat them for snacks with dips.

aldi do massive chickens. I mean HUGE.

ALWAYS BUY the fifty p veg from aldi, and do try to avoid the 'bargains' in the centre aisles.

I'm doing creamy smoked salmon pasta tonight (Sainsburys prices)

1 pack smoked salmon trimmings 120g - 98p (its so strong this is more than enough)
150 mls single cream - 50p or if you wanted more sauce 300ml for 95p

Plus I already have
Frozen peas
Onion
Garlic
Black Pepper
Pasta

I think the all-in price would be less than £5 for 4

Marking my place

Stretching one whole chicken over 2 or 3 meals easily works out at under £5 for 4.
Roast chicken, veg, potatoes (whichever size is on offer)
And use leftovers to make
Chicken noodle soup (use bones to make stock, add chicken, veg, noodles and soy sauce)
Chicken curry
Caesar salad
Chicken pie
Chicken stroganoff
Chicken wraps
A second roast chicken dinner

Consistently cheap cuts of meat in my local supermarket are turkey thigh (which I use in a stir fry), pork steaks, pork mince, turkey mince. Ones that seem to be on offer on rotation are whole chickens, pork shoulder joints and ribs.

Chicken wings and drumsticks are also great value

The vast majority of our meals are under £5!
Homemade Fish cakes with peas
Pasta omelette
Homemade falafel
Baked rice balls
Pitta bread with samosa filling
Biryani
Tempura
Cauliflower and broccoli cheese
Soup
Pasta with a soup sauce
Pork with baked apple
Homemade Potato wedges and beans
Chilli

Pizza, jacket spud and baked beans.

Marking place so I can read through this later

Spaghetti with tomato sauce and parmesan/other grated cheese. I make the tomato sauce through first finely chopping one onion, one celery stalk, one clove of garlic and grating one big carrot. Sautee all this for about 5-10 minutes until soft and then add two cans of plum tomatoes (ideally Cirio or other good quality as otherwise it can get very sour), also add two cans with cold water and let it simmer for 1 hour until you have a thickish sauce. It is absolutely delicious and very cheap.

Alternatively, omelet with green beans/broad beans/or other frozen veg (defrost veg before adding of course), serve with tomato ketchup and bread.

Pancakes, to make them more filling you can add grated cheese and slice of bacon when frying.

Risottos. Especially vegetable risottos are cheap and filling.

Home made chicken soup with chopped veg.

Generally I think large bags of frozen veg work out cheaper as each time you use exactly the right amount, so there is very little waste.