Really cheap healthy family meals

[SunnyLobelia]

Morning!

I'd love some cheap family meals ideas. Like most I am trying to really reduce our outgoings and I seem to spend way too much on food.

I already shop at Aldi so that is a good start. But my go to meals tend to be pasta based. Although tonight we are having soup and cheese toasties.

I love meal threads on MN and just would love some more ideas of things I may not have thought about or have forgotten about. :)

Many thanks in advance!

Following with interest. really need to cut our food bills and completely lacking meal inspo at the minute.

That sums me up as well @SweetPeaPods :)

I have an issue in that DS1 has food and sensory issues so the more usual things like bean chillis etc are out. He cannot tolerate anything spicy or cooked vegetables so he has alot of raw veg. But I am willing to give anything a go and adapt around him as needed.

One of my go to mega cheap bulk meals is a vegetable tangine with couscous. Delicious, nutritious filling and cheap. There are different recipes but I kind of tweak it to include any veggies I have in the house.

Try these;

www.budgetbytes.com/category/recipes/vegetarian/

Surprisingly filling:

Puff pastry filled with baked beans/cheese/bacon/sausage - whatever combination.

Forget to add risotto. Again, you can make it with anything you have in the fridge and it comes out cheap. The other night we had carrot risotto and everyone loved it.

If you're on Facebook there's a group called 'feed yourself for £1 A day' which is great for lots of money saving food tips and recipes.

Quesadillas, either just cheese and salsa or fry up some turkey thigh chunks with a bit of seasoning and use that too.

Baked potatoes with cheese and beans and whatever raw veg he likes on the side, cucumber, cherry tomatoes. You can cook loads up, let them cool and freeze any you don't want to eat then they can be defrosted and warmed through when you want them. I sometimes just Chuck a couple on the bottom of the oven when I'm doing a casserole or roast chicken so I have them for when I want them and don't have to have the oven on for ages specially just for them.

Chicken drumsticks roasted with a bit of oils and salt and served with corn on the cob and coleslaw or rice.

If you have a butchers near you that sells the big trays on 3 for £12 type offers, get those, bag them into portion sizes, add flavourings and freeze. They marinade while they are freezing and defrosting. Take them out and put them in the fridge the night before you need them then they're ready to just quickly cook. I do thinks like pork loin steaks/chicken breasts use honey and mustard or bbq sauce or lime & coriander. Onto a tray and in the oven for 20-30 mins. I roast greenbeans, broccoli or cauliflower at the same time or do a microwave pouch of rice as a side.

Oh nice. This would go down well.

Oooh thanks!

Invest in an inexpensive Crimpet and lunch times and light evening meals/suppers have an endless list of fillings.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/983094972291667?groupvieww_referrer=search

Tomato cheese and peas pasta.
Using supermarket basic items at current prices, adding salt and pepper and or a pinch of basil/mixed herbs, I costed this @30p/pp

Tuna sweetcorn pasta 38p/pp

Fish fingers, mash and (frozen) mixed veg 49p/pp

Butter bean, grated carrot and tomato (puree) basmati rice 39p/pp

Homemade vegetable soup with toastie bread 18p/pp

watching with interest! My go to cheap meal which we have once a week is butternut squash risotto - costs about £2ish to make for a meal for 4 people. Roast the butternut squash with a few garlic cloves and seasoning/mixed herbs, make arborio rice with vegetable stock and mix all together when done - for extra indulgence I sometimes add roasted green beans and a bit of cheese mixed in at the end. My family love this even the fussy ones!

My kids love veg fried rice. I do one egg per person, and whisk. Cook it a bit like an flat omelette then chop into little pieces.

add to cooked rice, add veg (I use sweetcorn & less) and some soy sauce and sesame oil. It’s cheap to make and really tasty.

Cowboy pie - cook sausages and slice up. Add baked beans and a tbsp bbq sauce. Top with mashed potatoes, or thin potato slices and cheese and bake in the oven till crispy.

mine also love broccoli soup - 2 carrots, one onion, head of broccoli & stock. They have it with French toast.

veg chilli - onion, peppers, sweet potato, tinned beans (I use value chickpeas and kidney beans) baked beans and sweetcorn. I put it all in my slow cooker with cumin, chilli powder etc (lots of good recipes online for chilli) it makes LOADS and we have normal chilli with rice, have it in wraps like a burrito, nachos, baked potatoes, watered down as soup.

Look up the Welsh recipe for Cawl.
It's usually made with lamb, but you can use any cheap meat.
Delicious and nutritious.

My super easy/cheap meals are:

Strip the skins off some cheap sausages, mix the meat with a bit of parsley & black pepper then stuff it into some sweet peppers, any colour. Into a medium oven for 30 mins, then add a garlic baguette or two, and leave it all to bake for another 15 mins. My ds loves it, and it takes 5 mins to prepare.

Or simmer puy lentils in stock for 35 mins until they are tender, then lay frozen white fish fillets on top and let them steam until cooked (about 4 mins). Then serve with fried tomatoes. 😊

I'm doing gammon joints in the slow cooker - 3 for £10.

Fleece have you tried putting a little apple juice in the slow cooker with the gammon? Delicious 😊

I find a pack of wraps makes a wide variety of meals so I think they’re quite cheap. Salad wraps with a protein of choice, quesadillas, enchiladas, tacos and also baking them and turning them into tortilla chips. Oh and don’t forget a wrap pizza - teaspoon of tomato purée and toppings of choice.

Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans. Sounds boring but every time I have it I think “I wish I had that more”. You could have JP with anything. Including home made coleslaw which is so cheap to make yourself and DS might like as it’s raw.

cookingonabootstrap.com/ Excellent source.

Gammon joint - about £6/7

Bake and have ham, egg and chips one night
Use half the leftovers in a cheesy pasta bake
Use half the leftovers in a suet roll. Make up the suet, put chopped gammon on top, steam for a couple of hours and serve with parsley sauce. We have it with Carrots and brocoli but you could serve with chopped raw carrot and/or red cabbage.

My kids and DH love pizzadillas as a quick and surprisingly filling meal.
Tortilla wrap smeared in tomato paste topped with grated cheese, oregano black pepper and any other topping wanted. Top with another wrap and dry fry each side until crispy.

yes, whatever juice is to hand, today is apple + mango, water, onion, carrot, cloves, peppercorns, fennel seeds and my secret ingredient - star anise.

Eggs are a good source of protein and cheaper than most meat. Shakshuka and fritata are regular favourites here, fritata is the perfect meal for using up leftovers.
Homemade falafel in pita with salad.
Sausage and root veg casserole
Frozen fish is really reasonable in Aldi. Lovely if you marinate it in lemon juice and black pepper and top with plenty of fresh herbs and breadcrumbs.