Cheap Healthy Meal Ideas

[WannabeSaverInvester]

Hello
I'd like to ask for tips and ideas for meals on a very low budget. I know many are struggling right now and money is so tight.

After paying my bills I never have any money left over to save for Xmas or birthdays or to replace old clothes.

I'm currently studying alongside working full time in hopes to manage to get a higher than minimum wage in the future.

But for now I want to spend as little on food as possible and invest in stocks or in a savers account every pence I can free up. I've already cancelled anything non essential.

I'd love to hear what others have done or are doing to achieve this please.

The meals will be for me mostly and then teas to include 2 children every other weekend.

I have a slow cooker and air fryer that can be used but ideally need easy to prepare and cook meals due to studying after work done days and not getting home until after 9pm.

1. Stir fry with egg noodles (buy the dried ones, they’re cheaper). Cheap, quick and adaptable. Buy a hard white cabbage, carrots and onion, cut into strips. Flavour with some Chinese 5 spice and soy sauce. If your budget allows (or yellow sticker bargains) you can add mushrooms, sweetcorn, peppers and either have it as a veggie dish or a little meat goes a long way amongst the veg.
2. Sausage casserole in the slow cooker. Sausages, onions, tin of tomatoes, maybe some mushrooms or a bit of chopped up streaky bacon, few herbs such as thyme, serve with mash. If you have the freezer space, do a whole pack of sausages and do a load of potatoes at once, mash freezes really well so you have a quick dinner another day.
3. Cheat’s spaghetti carbonara. Chop up an onion and a slice or two of bacon, fry until onion soft and bacon cooked whilst boiling pasta. Drain pasta, tip in onion and bacon, add an egg and a splash of milk, salt and pepper, beat in over a low heat until the egg sets a bit. If you are feeling flush, add a bit of grated cheese.

If you have a freezer, I suggest making double (or more) and freezing. I batch cook at weekends. This weekend, I cooked potatoes, mashed them and mixed half with some smoked haddock for fishcakes and mixed the rest. with cheese and some finely chopped onion, carrot and peas and sweetcorn to make a sort of vegetable finger. All coated with stale bread whizzed into breadcrumbs. Eight of each frozen. they can cook from frozen in air fryer.

Lasagne - make one for dinner and put one in the oven. Batch of bread dough (mix and knead in ten mins and leave to rise) roll into pizza bases the size of your air fryer and freeze. Make pizza sauce and freeze or buy a jar. Grate cheese and keep in fridge. (I also freeze mozzarella and cheddar mixed). Cheap pizzas can be made in minutes in air fryer - and from frozen.