Dinner ideas for £3.60

[Thisnamechanger]

Anyone up for a cooking challenge?

I'm totally broke this week and I've got £3.60 in my pocket for dinner.

WWYC? (What would you cook?)

For reference I have some dried spaghetti and bean burgers at home, small amount of cheddar mostly full spice rack and I go past an M&S, Sainsbos and Iceland on the way home.

How long was that money supposed to last?

That was my spending limit for today (except the bus). My office gives us breakfast on Mondays and with so many people off for Christmas already I was able to have one and a left over one. They're also getting rid of all the fruit for the Christmas break so I had two banas and an orange too.

Glad you enjoyed your paneer!

My recipe is £3 for four people. You can get a cauliflower for 29p in Tesco at the moment, but even full price isn’t expensive. Curry sauce made out of your store cupboard spices, onions, some fresh tomatoes, tin of chopped toms, or tomato purée. Maybe 50p for the sauce. Your whole block of paneer is £1.50. And some frozen peas......

It’s not an exact recipe I know but done well it’s very nice.

Your whole block of paneer is £1.50

That's the one I got and ate all of

You've already got some pasta, so use that, buy a box of eggs, a small piece of strong hard cheese and some streaky bacon, use all that to make pasta carbonara. Not only is it cheap, it's quick and tasty as well!

Ada dyou know I've never ever been able to cook carbonara! It turns into weird watery scrambled eggs. Evey time!

Pasta not drained properly, eggs too old, pan not hot enough???
Try putting the pan of spaghetti back on a very low light as you add the eggs, speed is everything in the final moments of making carbonara! Have everything ready to hand, hot, your pasta bowl hot too.

Bag of pasta - £1
Chopped tomato tin - 33p
Kidney beans tin - 70p
1 large onion -15- 30p
Whatever seasonings you have in the cupboards (you can often get these for free in some large supermarkets like Waitrose that offer lunches).

Saute onions, then add seasonings / tomatoes, simmer for 20-30mins. once reduced add kidney beans. Simmer for another 5-10mins. Boil pasta. You’ll get 2-3 meals out of it.

Spaghetti with black pepper and butter.
With a bit of grated cheddar on it if you're feeling frivolous. One of my favourite quick meals.

If you like paneer, you can make it at home, btw

www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-paneer-cheese-in-30-minutes-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-57008

6 pints of whole milk will make 1 medium sized block of paneer. It’s often cheaper to just buy it from the shops when it’s on offer. Alternatively if you’re close to an Indian cash and carry then a £2-5 might get you a few kilos that you can then freeze.

Eggs, cream and streaky bacon.

Put spaghetti on to boil. In a jug whisk up two eggs, a splash of cream and mix in finely grated cheddar and black pepper. Drain spaghetti and pour over the mix, tossing it until heated through. Voila, carbonara.

I bloody LOVE carbonara.