Low cost meals for eight people for one week, please

[itsbeingsofearful]

Just realised that from tomorrow I am going to have to feed 8 people, all but one with adult appetites, for a whole week, and it's half-term, so lunches too.

Oh and money's very tight.

I reckon I can get away with pasta twice, and a chicken tagine, where I can just increase the amount of veg and carbs, without spending too many more pennies on extra meat/fish. But what about the rest of the week?

Any ideas?

[drlove8]

rissoto ? good filling , you can shove anything into it and its mostly rice so very cheap!
get a large roast chicken ,
from that you can make
chicken salad,
chicken caserole
and boil up the carcass(bones , ect) to make chicken stock and use this to make soup. - asda sells bag of soup/casserol veg ,one of them some lentals and a few potatoes added would make enough to feed 10 easy!
sausage casserole is cheap too.
id also make pizza . yourself not -shop bought , it costs next to nothing if you already have most ingreadients in.
this is how you do it...(bread machine dough setting is fab, but you can do it by hand)
you need plain flour , salt ,sugar ,yeast, water and oil .
olive oil is best but you can use normal veg oil .
mix 2/3 cold water with 1/3 boiling (300ml all in), add teaspoon of sugar and stir, then add dried yeast (just follow packet for ammount). stir and wait 10 mins for foamy stuff to rise to surface.
in a large bowl , sift 1lb of flour and a teaspoon of salt. add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and stir in the yeasty water..mix until it forms a smooth dough and need for 5 mins (or chuck the lot in bread machine and let it do it for you)
cover and let the dough proove for about 2-3 hours.
whilst your waiting make sauce.
take one tin chopped tomatoes ,tea spoon sugar, and tablespoon of tomatoe puree(optional)wizz with a blender and heat in saucepan.fry some garlic/onion and add to tomato, add some basil and tiny splash of olive oil. reduce sauce until its thick. cool sauce.
grate some cheese, cut some toppings ,(anything will do ,whatever you have as leftovers, or whats lurking in cupboards is fine, or just have cheese).

when dough is ready it will have expanded so bash it back down and cut into 3 . it should make 3 large pizzas.
roll dough out and put on lightly oiled trays
add tomato sauce ,leave an inch(aprox) from edge of dough, add some cheese , add some toppings, add some more cheese. cook in oven for 20-30 mins @ 200 .

[BonjourIvresse]

stir fry, you don't need to put much meat in it and you can bulk it out with noodles or rice

[GossipMonger]

Carrot and lentil soup

Roast chicken with veg

Leftovers fried up and served with rice like a risotto all mushed up!

Omelettes and home made chips

dhal with rice

Pasta with tomato sauce/cheese

Macaroni cheese

Egg and beans with toast

[TheMysticMasseuse]

why pasta only twice in a week ??? i am italian and we eat it every day, with different sauces etc.

Pasta with lentils is a great, cheap, and healthy meal: stirfry some onion, add canned lentils, then add some stock (enough to boil the pasta in), then when boiling add small pasta shapes and cook for the indicated time. add a knob of butter, parmesan and black pepper. can be eaten soupy or dry, dep on preferences.

pasta bake- cook pasta, in the meantime make some cheese sauce, put everything together in an oven dish with some chopped bacon and frozen peas, cook till the top is nice and golden.

couscous or bulgur wheat with chopped tomatoes, chopped cucumber, sliced red onion, chopped parsley, raisins and flaked almonds and seasoned with olive oil

[miumiu]

Baked potatoes
Couscous (see you have a tangine)

[FaintlyMacabre]

Shepherd's pie- for 500g of mince I bulk out with 250g of lentils (a mixture of red and puy is good) and 3-400g of finely chopped root veg. This is much tastier than the plain mince and onions version and goes much further.

[Tortington]

beans on toast with cheese on top

mucho filling and proper gorg

[drlove8]

• i want a tangine !

[Anifrangapani]

Lasagne
Pasta and tomato sauce

Lunch - tomato & red lentil soup

[Tortington]

oooooooooh ooooooooooh

i had a period of 3 months feeding 11 people

how about

knorr packet soups that you add water to and simmer

two packets at 70p should do you.

then stack up a huge dish of french bread cut on a slight angle

delish

[itsbeingsofearful]

Thank you all. Have enough now for months.

And Driove, I will be getting the kids, all four, to make their own pizzas, food and entertainment all in one

[Ambi]

Toad in the hole.

[naomi83]

Big pot of soup (carrot and sweet potato? winter veg?) followed by baked potatoes and sald with bowls of toppings. very cheap and easy