Meals that are cheap but healthy, when trying to cut down food spend!

[Lia756]

We are trying to cut down food spend, we live month to month so trying to save money! What cheap meals can also be healthy? Thanks

We eat an almost vegetarian diet which is very healthy...we don't eat any processed foods. We have a roast chicken once a week and minced meat chilli once a week. The other days are made up of vegetarian bologanise, but you can also make chilli without meat. We sometimes use lentils from a can to do that. The lentils give it body so it's got a bit of something to it.

Vegetable soups made with barley and served with bread and maybe cheese or not.

There's also baked potatoes with beans and a side of salad. Eggs...make omlettes and serve with a big salad also.

Ooh forgot curry! We eat about two a week, sometimes vegetarian or if I can get chicken thighs on offer, then I make them with that.

I agree with vegetarian. I make a dhal and have it with oven roasted cauliflower. Or if you like tuna, tuna fishcakes made with tinned tuna in oil, breadcrumbs, grated cheese and egg to bind, then fry or oven bake, eaten with salad or rice/noodles.

Veggie
Not every meal ‘fancy’. Some scrambled eggs on toast, or hearty soup is fine.
Leftovers that you can repurpose. Ie Bolognese day 1, add kidney beans to small remaining and chilli to make chilli day two

How many are you cooking for and what ages? Any allergies or food problems? And what is your current usual budget or typical week?

Jacket potatoes either with grated cheese and salad for a very cheap and easy tea or with filled with leftover chilli/Bolognese/cauliflower cheese etc

Buy lots of veg to bulk up meals. I buy things that are on offer and imperfect veg from the supermarket. Frozen veg is good.
Porridge is cheap for breakfast. Make it with half milk and half water. Add some frozen, fresh or tinned fruit for variety and added nutrition.
Soup for lunch is a staple for me. Last week I had lentil and carrot and a veg and bean one which was a surprising hit with the kids. (Gordon Ramsey recipe on YouTube).
I just bought a butternut squash to make a soup with today.
Buy beans, lentils and rice from the Asian section in the supermarket, if you have one.
If you like stews and curries, they’re very easy to bulk up with veg so you don’t need much meat.
Pasta is cheap and making your own sauce from onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes as a base is cheap too.

Breakfast: Bulk buy oats and or oatmeal, as you prefer. Plus any other grains and seeds you’re prepared to experiment with.

Lunch and dinner: Dahl. Dahl. Dahl. Lentils, split yellow peas … Bulk buy dried peas and beans. Cook with any and all vegetables. Do you have a garden, even a tiny patch of growing space? Growing your own won’t necessarily always save money but it adds variety and seasonality to food sourcing.

Do you bake? Obviously fuel is A Thing, but flour / oil / butter / sugar can be had cheaply and homemade cakes are far better value and far more filling and enjoyable than ready made.

Essentially, forget the existence of processed foods, at least generally. It’s a much more satisfying way to eat, in any case.

We eat lots of
Porridge (with added seeds and frozen berries)
Pulses in everything (dried or canned)
Veggie chillies/ bolognese/ curries
Soups (add pulses and maybe Pearl barley or lentils)
Chicken and veg traybake
Tuna pasta bake
Omelettes/ eggs on toast

Cheaper cuts of meat are fine with longer cooking, so lots of stews/casseroles with plenty of veg in them to bulk out. Use a slow cooker which is cheap to run.

Following this as I'm trying to cut down the food budget with 2 fussy kids to feed. Some of the things I already do:

I tend to stock up on cheap, own brand veg - anything left at the end of the week goes into a big batch of lentil and veg soup for my lunches (and a couple of teas for the kids).

Nut roast with veg is pretty cheap and I have enough for leftovers the next day.

Stir fry is pretty much a weekly thing.

Pasta with veg and sauce/pesto.

Scrambled egg or bacon and egg on muffins/toast.

Thanks everyone, so there are 2 adults, a 3 year old and 5 month old, currently spending about 100-120 each week, including formula and nappies.

I am wanting us as adults to eat healthier, and trying to get my 3 year old to eat better too, as she is currently going through a nugget and chip phase!

I try to make sure we always have in the cupboard :
A big bag of cheap oats
Pasta
Rice

And in the freezer frozen veg and fruit

Then we have meals like pasta with frozen veg and pasta sauce.
Porridge with frozen berries added during cooking
Veg curries and rice
Jacket potatoes and beans

Our go to cheap meals are

Lentil and bacon soup to this recipe it's really really good cheap and even my fussy kids love it with some oven bake rolls
allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/29686/simple-lentil-and-bacon-soup.aspx

Beans and egg on toast or crumpets

Mixed bean chilli with wholemeal pittas

Cheesy ham pasta just an easy cheese sauce mix with pasta and cooked ham pieces. Not too unhealthy if serve with a leafy salad

Tuna pasta mayo with mixed peppers sweetcorn and spring onions

@Lia756

Thanks everyone, so there are 2 adults, a 3 year old and 5 month old, currently spending about 100-120 each week, including formula and nappies.

I am wanting us as adults to eat healthier, and trying to get my 3 year old to eat better too, as she is currently going through a nugget and chip phase!

I agree with everyone who says more veggie meals. Porridge and frozen berries are good for breakfasts. Favourite cheaper meals here are

• baked potato and chilli (I always have some lentil chilli in the freezer ready to go)
• red lentil and coconut curry
• chickpea and cauliflower tagine with couscous
• Veg fried rice
• Home made chips with giant mushroom, grilled tomato and / or beans

Vegetarian is the way to go, we eat e.g. red lentil & tomato pasta sauce which is healthy, comforting and cheap. Veg curries, chilli, stews, soups etc.

Don't buy ready made processed meals.

Buy smaller amounts of fish/meat and bulk up the meal with more vegetables/pasta/rice/potatoes.

Cook in bulk; eat one meal and freeze two.

Buy fruit and veg that are whole, loose fresh and raw and peel/trim/slice/cook/mash them yourself.

Menu plan for the week and make a shopping list for it.

Tesco supermarket does this for you; they offer a free booklet with a week's economic family menus plus shopping list (so there's no wasted unused food).

3 year old to eat better too, as she is currently going through a nugget and chip phase!

3 yr olds don't buy the weekly shop.

Just don't buy junk convenience foods; they aren't good for her anyway.

I do a slow cooker dhal once a week. Red lentils, frozen sweet potato, frozen spinach, half a jar of curry paste, onions, garlic, coconut milk. The curry paste is the most expensive item but I use half one week and half the next.

Chicken thighs and crusty rolls with salad isn't expensive.

My dc eat hot food at school so I usually only have pittas and houmous, jacket potatoes, omelette ect on offer for tea/dinner/supper.

If I make a roast I always do bubble and squeak with fried eggs the next day. I love bubble and squeak!

Agree with mainly veggie being the way forward. Also I can see a lot of recipes with lentils and would add that learning to cook with lentils (in soup, curries or as the basis of a meal) has been a revelation for me. One of our go to recipes
Can of lentils
Can of cannelloni beans
Chorizo
Shallot
Garlic &ginger (paste for ease) bit of lime juice and a bit of balsamic
Served with salad
It’s lovely! Takes 10 minutes. And is healthy and filling

I just read on another thread that a fair amount of people like tinned tomatoes on toast! This is a new idea to me, sounds very budget conscious. Could add herbs or garlic or a poached egg.

Use meat for flavour rather than as a main part of the meal. Chorizo is good, just a small chunk will flavour a paella or pasta sauce so few calories or ££. I also like jalapenos for adding a lot of bang for the buck. Cabbage, carrots and broccoli as staple cheap veg, then add whatever's in season (ie on offer!)

Chicken thighs and frankfurters also give a lot of flavour for relatively low price. Also weirdly avocados, £1.09 for 4.

Trade down. Bottled lemon juice is cheap, it works and there's no waste. Any veg that you often end up throwing away, either go without it or consider buying it frozen instead. Pate or square box ham rather than the posher stuff. Fewer crisps (still working on this one!)

I’m trying to weigh up which would be both cheaper and more beneficial health-wise -

Sittingonabench‘s and others’ tinned beans / lentils, surely more expensive per unit but pre-cooked, so saving on fuel costs.

Or

Buying several kilos of the same, dried, uncooked. Much cheaper if you find the right supplier, enough stores for weeks or months so saving on journeys / deliveries, effortless overnight soaking, but considerably longer cooking times, so fuel …

Has anyone ever worked this out properly? (It wouldn’t make a difference to what I buy, I’m just curious.)

@SnowWhitesSM how long do you cook the Dahl for in the slow cooker? That sounds delicious!

Thank everyone for all your ideas!