What is your cheapest tasty dish?

[hidinginthenightgarden]

Looking for a few cheap and cheerful recipes.
My cheap dish is dhal.
20-30p of lentils, coconut milk for 70p, passata 33p, onion, 20p = £1.53

Forgot to add homemeade chapatti to that so totals roughly £1.90 for two or 3 adults.

lentil spaghetti, gorgeous

Is that lentil ragu with spaghetti Eleanor?

Korean Street Toast is pretty cheap and absolutely gorgeous. Here's the pro version:

Basically a bit of veg, egg, sugar and 2 slices of bread.

Fry off chopped onions and garlic
Lidl: add chopped chorizo (£1.49), 3 tins of butter beans (99p) 1 tin chopped tomatoes (28p) water and tomato purée simmer while rice is cooking
Serves 4

Joining for ideas.

Cheesy pasta is my cheapo dish.

Just make a basic bechemel cheese sauce, throw in some bacon if I've any left over from the day before. Add some broccoli. It's delicious and my dd's favourite dinner.

following! after the thread the other day about having £200 for shopping for a month I'm quite horrified by how much I spend on my shopping. going to try your dhal op.

yesteaandwine - we worked out recently we spend £500 a months on food. We need to cut down!
The dhal is one of DH's fav dishes.

@hidinginthenightgarden please could you do an idiot proof method to this meal please :) I'm keen to learn Dahl but tried following a video recipe once and it went v wrong

Badwifey - sounds similar to a dish DH makes - carbonara using eggs and parmesan as the sauce. Add bacon and cooked spaghetti - costs about £3.50-4 depending where we shop for it.

Cook rice. When nearly ready add frozen peas & or sweetcorn to cook. Serve with tinned mackerel in spicy tomato/curry/chilli sauce (50p a tin in Asda).
Or mash up tinned saucy mackerel & stir through pasta.

We do this a lot, it's delicious, and about £5 for 4 portions (assuming you have the spices)

www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/healthy/chickpea-and-squash-coconut-curry/

Great thread.

Eggy bread. Whipped up eggs. Dip in bread. Dry fry. And ketchup.

@originalpigeon
fry off onion, add garam masala, chilli powder and ground coriander.
pour in lentils, coconut milk, passata and cook on low.
I do it in my slow cooker (on high) which works out nicer than on the hob, but it isn't a meal you can chuck in and leave for a few hours. It needs stirring.
On the hob it takes around 20-25 mins. Stir frequently.
I don't know measurements as I guess - probably a teaspoon each for the spices.

Roast ratatouille with cheese mmmmmm

My favourite cheap meal is sabih - fried aubergine slices, hard boiled egg, chopped Tomato, cucumber & onion and a sauce of your choosing in a pitta. I grow herbs so usually do a less spicy zhoug type dressing. Very delicious and 1 aubergine makes enough for 2 large portions.

Cut down costs in 1 simple move..
Meal plan..

Use it to generate a list and stick to it. I spend less than 100 a month for the two of us.

Plus, try to make one meal a week that can portion out and freeze. Like chilli or Bolognese.

Put couscous in a bowl, pour boiling water over. Open a tin of mackerel in tomato sauce over it. Odd, but my kids do like it.

Veggie stew - I cook one large leek in oil, add a pack of this with chopped swede and carrots and cook in stock.

Surprisingly hearty and delicious. It feeds 2 adults and 3 children twice, although I add veggie sausages and dumplings on the second serving.

Chickpea curry
Chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, coconut milk, onions and spices served with rice. We love it

Some great ideas here!

Monkeytoes- we do all that. We also shop around and buy tins in places like b&m etc but we still spend alot. We don't even eat anything extravegant!

@LoveGrowsWhere - looks like I discovered a similar treasure to you!

Pasta e ceci. Bastardised quick version:
Fry up a cup of frozen sofritto (Tesco £1, about a quarter of it, so 25p) a pinch of chilli flakes and some sage (optional)
Add two cups of water, a tin of chickpeas (40p) in its juice, a tin of tomatoes (40p)and a stock cube (10p). Bring to a simmer. Add 1-2 cups of soup pasta (25-50p) cook until pasta is done.
Delicious, cheap, filling. Feeds 4.

I do a giant curry with curry paste, chickpeas, Quorn chicken, tinned tomatoes and 1kg of frozen country veg. It makes a lot of portions.