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!

Crustless quiche or a frittata. I really like onions as they add flavour, but everything else is flexible depending on what you have (especially if needs using up) - potatoes, broccoli, peas, sweetcorn, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers. We tend to have five eggs in them between two, but for us that's a whole meal. You might prefer slightly less with salad or some cheap crusty bread.

Frozen white fish is good for baking, drain off liquid part way through cooking and add tomatoes, onions and herbs on top or cheese and onion, potatoes and whatever other veg you have.

Stir fry with egg fried rice.

£1 thick based pizzas - we share between us and add salad (you can make potato salad or your own sliced potatoes and fry for something more filling).

Veggie chilli - fry onions, add tin tomatoes and chilli, alongside whatever veg you have (I use peppers, sweetcorn) and tin value kidney bins/other.

Forgot to say, chilli flavouring can be added after you've served a portion if needs be.

Also, if you can afford the white fish, Tescos have some frozen basa fillets on offer - 500g for £2.75

Following

Cabbage is really cheap and my fussy autistic child eats it.

Bubble and squeak with Worcester sauce and maybe an egg or bit of bacon (also look up minchi)

Chicken ramen - plain stock for DS and stock with garlic, ginger, chilli and soy sauce for everyone else. Noodles, finely sliced cabbage, sweetcorn, any other veg, cooked chicken if you have it. A huge favourite in my family, quick, and very adaptable to raw or near-raw veg for your DS.

I also make coleslaw with grated cabbage, carrot, yoghurt mixed with a little mayo. You get a massive bowl for about 50p. It's a different beast to bought coleslaw, much more filling.

ds loves this
chop up sausages, I do one per person for this so it ends up a cheap dinner as it uses the stragglers in the pack.
fry an onion and your sausage bits, bit of tomato purée,
add tinned tomatoes, beef stock, add the pasta (raw, it’s going to cook in the lovelyness), any herbs you like (I go bay, thyme, oregano, rosemary).
serve.

I also do bubble and squeak with any veg, sweet potato, kale, carrots. Whatever I’ve got mixed with boiled potato / mash, and onion / leek. Serve with left over ham / bacon and en egg. But that will be no good if he doesn’t like cooked veg.

there’s a great chow mein recipe for kids to cook on bbc good food. You can stretch a chicken breast to do a few portions and don’t forget you can use cooked / left over.

Just reading recipes on this thread and everywhere else reminds me that 'a touch of chilli' is the modern equivalent of my Dad's 'bit of brown sauce' - use everywhere.🙂

Watching with interest

Lentil (or other veg) soup and homemade bread. Lasts ages, costs a couple of pound, kids can get involved too.

french bread pizza. They always have reduced French Sticks at the supermarket towards the end of the day and it doesn’t matter if they’re not super fresh as they’re getting toasted. Use wherever veg/meat you have and mix the passata/tomato purée with some Italian seasoning which is only cheap.

I'd be careful to make sure that all your cheap meals have enough protein in them, otherwise any money you save on dinner will evaporate on snacks after dinner.

I love eggs. Even buying free range, for £2 you can buy a box of eggs to feed a family of 4 and do a big Spanish omelette or individual omelettes where the DC get to choose their own fillings, or we might have a lighter main course like soup or a salad and fill up on a bread and butter pudding for dessert.

I do a roast once a week, deliberately buying a bigger joint/chicken and then we eat the meat for the following three days in various different meals using the leftovers. The initial outlay on the meat feels a lot but it goes a long way afterwards.

Quick cheap favourite is what I call 'student' rice or pasta which is basically a case of cooking some rice/pasta and combining in with various odds and ends I've pulled out of the fridge fried with onion and garlic (bacon, leftover other meat, any veg, frozen peas) and a mound of grated cheddar on the top. Brown rice is particularly filling and goes further somehow.

Placemarking