Cheap tasty meals....help!

[Stonerosie67]

Having been hit with an unexpected bill for almost £1000 we really need to tighten our belts....
Please, hit me with your budget meals, the cheaper and tastier the better please!!! Thanks 😊

Quite a few previous threads that have some ideas & also links to other sites that might help. Would changing where you shop help? Aldi & lidl instead of Asda or Tesco.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/2230169-Can-anyone-please-share-their-super-cheap-meals

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/2231702-budget-meals

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/3419028-your-tight-budget-meal-plans-please

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/3414474-Budget-meals

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/2487928-Give-me-your-best-cheap-meals

Look at Jack Monroes webpages, lots of super cheap options. My personal favourite cheap meal is cassoulet...

Take a medium onion, large carrot (or 2 medium) and a couple of sticks celery and finely chop, sauté for 30 mins on low heat, add 3 cloves finely chopped garlic, cook another 5-10 mins, add 1 can chopped tomatoes, 1 can mixed beans, 1 tsp paprika and 2 teaspoons herbs de Provence. Cook 20 mins on low heat. You can serve with crusty homemade bread (far cheaper than buying, works out at 50p) cous cous, if you want meat grill some sausages or lamb koftas work well, or throw in leftover meat from a roast. For authenticity you could do the final stage in the oven and top with bread crumbs but i find serving bread separately works. Without meat it costs around £1 (for the proportion of ingredients used) buying from Lidl.

Anything with cooking bacon! Tesco and Aldi do it, 500g of random bacon bits. I buy two or three split it into 50g per person portion sizes and freeze. Tomato bacon pasta, carbonara (i do it with whole milk/cornflour not cream or egg), omlette.

Yy to bootstrap Jack, especially
salmon paste pasta
Jack's Chilli (bean chilli)

Falafel burgers www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/falafel-burgers
Chickpea curry www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tomato-chickpea-curry
Egg fried rice www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-sweetcorn-egg-fried-rice
Tuna pasta www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/linguine-tuna-sauce
Butter bean crumble www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/vegetable-and-butter-bean-crumble/
Spanish omelette - I add cheese and frozen peas to this simple recipe www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/real-spanish-omelette

Meat balls cooked in tomato sauce.
Minced meat at Lidl £1.50. Tomato passata £1.

Fry chopped onion add tomato passata, two cups of beef broth and make meatballs- one egg, handful of fresh herbs, some seasoning- add them to the sauce and let simmer for 2 hours.
At the end remove all meatballs and purée the sauce.
My dd loves this sauce- go well with any kind of pasta.

Frittatas are hearty but also cheap. Eggs and whatever fillings you have in your fridge. I use bacon, cheese, spinach, mushrooms or corn. Add pre made flaky pastry and cream and you have quiche.

Pancakes are a great treat item and cheap to make for family breakfasts on the weekends.

I try to make double meals every time I cook so that I always have a stash in my freezer. Vegetarian curry can be made with any cheap seasonal veg, a few spices, can of coconut milk and some lentils to bulk it out.

Get baking, flapjack or granola bars, muffins, pop your own popcorn, snack items tend to make my grocery bill climb.

Galett too, buck wheat flower.
Filled sprinkle of cheese and ham

This is great, thankyou all very much x