Cheap meals that go far?

[cheeseloversdelight]

We've been really trying to reduce our monthly food costs and we are doing quite well I think. We were spending around £800 pm inclusive of pet food, cleaning materials and food. I'm down to around £100 pw for 3 adults and one child.

I have been using a meal plan and only buying what's on the shopping list for the plan on a weekly I would still like to reduce this cost further if possible.

We still have a roast every Sunday and then I include a meal I cook that last multiple nights (eg bolognese big batch, night 1: with pasta, night 2 with different type pasta, night 3 it turns into chilli with jacket).

Can anyone recommend meals I can cook that will last for 3 (or more) consecutive nights please that are healthy, don't cost a fortune with minimal processed ingredients? Large stews etc? I add lentils and lots of mushrooms and veg to the bolognese so it goes a lot further. We aren't massive meat eaters so can get away with smaller amounts of meat with veg etc to bulk up.
I don't really want to start cooking loads of food and freezing if I can help it.

Thanks in advance!

My family loves sausage pasta bake. I cook the sausages first and cut them up then put them in and bake 😊

bolognese can also become lasagna. When you make it you can double the white sauce and use the extra the next day for cauliflower cheese, you can mix through other veg and even a pack of the the cheap bacon offcuts to make it more exciting with some grated cheese too.

Blackbean chili with rice or jackets which can become burritos, then spicy shepherds pie (particularly nice if you add use sweet potato for the topping

Eggs are cheap and excellent protein, anything involving eggs - Spanish omelette, egg fried rice (the latter is also great for using up any random leftovers), one-pot spicy eggs and potatoes, pisto con huevos, shakshuka, falafel scotch eggs. Kedgeree (eggs again!) is also good as smoked mackerel doesn’t break the bank.

Also, if you live near a decent butcher or ethnic grocer, experiment with cuts of meat you might not usually consider. In a blind taste test, I have yet to cook my ox heart bourguignon or stroganoff for anyone who didn’t realise it wasn’t steak - the taste and texture are amazing.

Somebody above mentioned sausage pasta bake - if you like sausages but want variety from stodgy pasta, then barbecue sausage and bean bake is one of my mum’s large-informal-gathering pot luck specials: decent sausages, onions, any type of tinned mixed beans, tinned or frozen sweet corn, tinned tomatoes, barbecue sauce and herbs. Adjust quantities of everything to suit you. Serve with just about anything else.

Lentil soup, which can be turned into Dahl, or pasta sauce.

I remember that one of the "eat well for less" episodes made a huge batch of meat sauce that they turned into

• shepherds pie by topping with mashed potato
• lasagne - by adding tomato puree and dried herbs
• chilli con carne - by adding chilli powder, tomato puree and a drained tin of kidney beans

You could have a meat free day with things like veggie chilli, macaroni cheese, veg curry, caulifower cheese, Waitrose have a butternut squash and blue cheese risotto online that is very popular in our house

Jacket potatoes with different fillings (beans, cheese, chilli, bolognese)

Sausages can be done in many ways - Sausage casserole, toad in the hole etc

Frozen fish is often good value and can be used in fish pies, fishcakes or breaded and fried/baked

You could look at getting staples in a budget supermarker such as Lidl/Aldi - milk, butter, cheese, bread, flour, sugar, yoghurt, toilet paper etc etc

When I make a chilli I always add tinned lentils to it, really cheap and makes it go a lot further. I also chop up any veg I have left in the fridge and add that.

You can often get cheap pork joints. Slow cook to make pulled pork. Pulled pork sandwiches, add lots of veg and spices to make pulled pork burritos or fajitas, add chopped tomato and veg for pulled pork pasta bake, also good in shepherd pie form

Tarka daal with homemade naan bread. Cheap and very filling

I know it's not exactly what you asked for but could you have a veg stir fry or pasta pesto dinner the odd night. Or omelettes. They are filling quick and cheap.

Otherwise beef stew is great for batch cooking (you could make a tomato based on and serve with rice for a change). I add loads of onions and carrots and parsnips.

Soup and crusty bread is lovely too and you could buy the super six veg from Aldi to make it really cheap

Any joint leftovers can be used in fajitas or in a stirfry or with pasta or maybe in a pie. I do this with chicken, lamb, gammon, pork or beef. Bones get used to make stock for soup.

My meal plan is a joint to last for 3 days, fish and three veggie meals.

The Rose Elliot - Vegetarian Mother and Baby book, although it's quite dated, is full of cheap, easy meal ideas - and makes full, nutritious meals out of ingredients like - 1 onion, some red lentils and a potato. It might be a worth while investment?

My favourite cheap meal is;
a form of carbohydrate - either tortilla wraps, or rice, or potato (about £1.50)

• with -

cook an onion, with a pepper or two (and a couple of carrots if you can be bothered / want to bulk it out) - (about £1.50). Add a tin of 'red kidney beans in chilli sauce' and a tin of chopped tomatoes (about £1). full dinner for a few people- about £4

Where's that chicken...?

Gammon/jam joint: day 1 roast, day 2 sliced with egg and chips, day 3 chopped up in A carbonara/pasta bake or sometimes a sliced potatoe bake

Roast chicken - day 1 roast, day 2 in a curry, day 3 in a pasta bake/onlette/egg fried rice

I was going to say MN rubber chicken. Day 1 roast with lots of trimmings so you can save some meat. Make bones into stock and save remaining meat (and any suitable veg) for a pie. Day 3 risotto or soup using the stock.

Yes!!! Where is that roast chicken for a fiver to feed you for a week?!

Make a lentil "stew" with onions, carrots etc.

First night have with sausages.
Second night make a veggie lasagne
Third night make it spicy like a daal, maybe stir in some spring greens, and serve with eggs.

Whatever meat we have left over from Sunday roast then gets used the next day in the slow cooker in a curry or something similar.

Chicken (thighs as they are cheaper) and chorizo with potato, onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes, herbs and seasoning done in the slow cooker. Could easily do two nights if you have a large enough slow cooker. Serve with crusty bread, salad or green veg.

Tagine keeps well and the flavours get better the longer you leave it. They can be bulked out easily with veg and chickpeas. Can be served with couscous which is so cheap, or with flatbreads.
A proper chilli can be used again and again - in chilli bean pie www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/c/chilli-bean-pie.html, in enchiladas and can be bulked out with red peppers and red kidney beans which are v cheap.
Leftover beef stew can be used as a pasty/ pie filling, or turned into ragu and served with tagliatelle. www.littlemisskaty.co.uk/2018/01/what-to-make-with-leftover-beef-stew.html
This beef ragout can be turned into chilli and tagine. www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/slow-cooked-beef-ragout The instructions for both are at the bottom of the recipe. As it says, it can be kept in the fridge for 3 days.
A big batch of chicken fajita filling can be used to stuff red peppers (mix with rice and top with cheese, before baking for 20 mins. Also works well in a pasta bake www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/recipes/a561011/chicken-fajita-pasta-bake/

If you get a bigger roasting joint/chicken/pork for your Sunday roast you can use leftovers one night for sandwiches and another for sweet and sour with leftovers and rice. (Dead easy to make ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar add in peppers and tinned pineapple. Will also work for lunches for the next day if you make enough.

Has anyone said corned beef hash yet? That's really cheap.

Tuna Pasta bake?

Macaroni cheese with bacon lardons?

Soya mince is also good for bulking out.