Budget meals

[bex45321]

Can someone help me with some budget meals, that doesn't include pasta? We have pasta twice a week, and this month are shorter than usual of money due to me being ill last month! Two nights need to be something quick! So I wondered if anyone could help me meal plan for the next week? As I going shopping tonight!

Hi! I batch cook a lot and freeze.

I find things like stews/casseroles good for this kind of thing. Makes a load of portions. Then you can bump it all up with a lot of frozen vegetables if needed - cheap, relatively healthy and you end up with loads of it.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/casserole

Jacket potato and beans / cheese
Omelette (eggs very filling)
Soup and crusty bread/ cheap sponge pudding for afters to fill you

Breaded chicken wraps.

Pack of 8 wraps - 90p
Frozen goujons - £2 for a bag of 16
Lettuce, cucumber or whatever - 50p each
Chuck a bit of mayo in there 👍🏻

I make lentil cottage pie that probably costs about £1.50 . Fry onion and carrots with some herbs add tin of tomatoes with a pinch of sugar and handful of lentils and a bit of stock simmer it all for approx 20 mins, top with mash and in the oven for half an hour. Can also add tin of mixed beans and any root vegetables.
Chilli and rice.
Stirfry - so so quick
Chicken fillets with a jar of white wine or spanish chicken sauce over, serve with wedges and green beans.
Pizza

Cheese and onion pie - ignore that it's a Slimming World recipe, it's lovely and not expensive to make! topslimmingrecipes.com/index.php/2018/12/11/slimming-world-classic-cheese-and-onion-pie/

Curries - buy a spice base for say tikka, balti, whatever suits you spice wise, then fill out the curry with anything at all - meat, veg, tins of tomatoes etc. Maybe a tub of plain yoghurt or coconut milk if you want it / cost dependant. You can bulk a curry right up and still enjoy it.

Bulk out spag bol by grating carrot into the bolognese when cooking, get a cheap pack of bacon off cuts, chop them up small, fry them off and add them to the bolognese as well. Lush.

Daal is good - again can make loads and freeze, also lasts for ages in fridge.

Onion
Red lentils
Dried Curry spices (curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric etc)
Chicken/veg stock

Fry off the onion, add the spices and fry for a few minutes more, add stock and then lentils, bring to the boil then simmer until lentils are cooked down and thick.

Serve with rice or naan, or wraps, or on jackets, bit of natural yoghurt and mango chutney if you have it kicking around.

Thank you so much for the ideas so far- keep them coming, I have had a look in the cupboard and freezer to get ideas too.

So far my ideas for the week are-

Chicken in a cream and garlic sauce (we already have ingredients in the house)

We have a korma sauce, so I shall be using that.

One night will be Mac and cheese

Jack Monroe's easy stew/thick soup is great.

Especially after a long, hard day:

cookingonabootstrap.com/2019/03/14/self-love-stew-38p/

Aubergine and kidney bean stew:
Fry an onion in 2tbsp butter
Add a medium aubergine diced
Cook 5 min
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, 1tbsp parsley, 1/2 tbsp basil, 1tbsp tomato puree
Add a tin of kidney beans and whatever stock cube you like
Cook till the aubergine is soft. It's nice with rice or baked potatoes.

Thanks for the ideas

Rice is at least as cheap as pasta, especially when bought in bulk. And frozen veg can be cheaper than fresh, too.

Definitely recommend Jack Monroe - have learned so much about eating cheaply from her.

Risotto. Use any veg, meat etc you have in or have leftovers of from another night but frozen peas do fine if you've nothing else. Bit of parmesan on top if you have it.

And Marmite Spaghetti is my go-to 'nothing left in the cupboard' meal. (I know it's pasta but it's practically free!

Buy a 1kg tray of mince and make a big pan of bolognaise, have it with pasta, next nighy add a tin of beans and some spices to turn it into a chilli, have with rice. Leftovers on jacket potatoes the next night.

Shepards pie is good and can freeslze leftover portions, bulk mince with lentils and onions, carrots, peas.

Large roast chicken to do a roast dinner, then left overs with loads of veg to make chicken fried rice or a stir fry.

Sauasge and bean casserole.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/creamy-tomato-risotto

This is literally an onion, some chopped tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and risotto rice with some optional cheese. It is my store cupboard go to.

The Bosh! Special fried rice is cheap to make, as long as you have the store cupboard ingredients. I usually use half a pack of tofu and freeze the other half for another meal.

www.ruthjaneyoga.com/eat-plants-recipes/2018/12/29/bosh-special-fried-rice

Ratatouille
Home made vegetable soup

Sausage casserole with butterbeans, kidney beans and chickpeas is pretty cheap.
Frittata
Root vegetable crumble
Carrot and kidney bean burgers (Jack Monroe)

Depending on how many you a feeding, I stretch a whole, large chicken to 3/4 meals.
Day 1- roast chicken with lots of veg
Day 2- chicken sandwiches, chicken ceasar salad or chicken curry
Day 3- the carcass and remaining meat goes into a soup. I either do a Chinese chicken sweet corn soup or a chicken noodle soup.

Another thought, if you have a slow cooker or a pressure cooker, cheaper cuts of meat / dried legumes can fall apart and be amazing using these. Beef cheeks, ox tail stew, ham hocks etc. Also, dried beans/lentils/legumes are cheap and come out very well in a pressure cooker. Also, lots of protein and fibre.

Bean and tomato soup - tins of mixed beans (I use at least one in chilli sauce to give a bit of a kick and add some smoked paprika) couple of tins of tomatos, slice up a courgette and some celery, add a slosh of tomato puree and some water and boil and then simmer for a while. Good with a bit of crusty bread and relatively inexpensive.

Meant to say onions in the soup as well. If you dont want it spicy it works well with plenty of garlic too (but don't use beans in chill sauce!!)

Egg fried rice.
Fry an onion and some frozen peas, add enough cooked rice for everyone, add 1,2 or 3 eggs (depending on rice quantity) whisked with soy sauce, stir together overvthe heat until the egg is cooked.

Paella, - paella dry packet mix , paella rice ( or risotto rice) chorizo and any bits and bobs you can find to chuck in , onion , peppers , spring onion, sea food , chicken , peas etc - it goes a long way and the chorizo should go twice if sliced thinly

Potato wedges - potatoes chopped into wedges in skins , put into bag / bowl and coat in veg / corn /olive oil , put them in a layer on a roasting tray , you can either cook them plain in the oven about 35-40 mins ( delicious ) or add a flavour , mixed herbs or salt or salt & black pepper or paprika ( I'm sure other flavours are investable but these are what we use ) eat with sausages or anything really