New foods you have have tried to save money or time that are surprising nice

[IncessantNameChanger]

Dh is on a jolly for a week so to make my life easier I bought some ready meals in case I couldn't be bovered to cook / ran out of time.

Yesterday I had two after school clubs, got back at 9.10, tonight exactly the same. So used some Tesco ready prepaired mash. It was 75p and surprisingly yummy. This might be something I eat again. It's 100% better than instant mash, I'm only regretting I didn't try it before!

My only other discovery is the strongest cheddar if your going for cheap cheese. Or my Katsu curry using any crusts for breadcrumbs and instant chip shop curry sauce.

If your a foodie, I can only apologise 😄 so wrong but so right

We freeze leftover mash and have "freezer tea" every so often... fried mash, fish fingers, whatever veg needs using up...

Whenever I open a new block of cheese for toasties/sandwiches I grate the rest and freeze it in a bag. Never have cheese go mouldy or be thrown out.

Oh freezing mash. I will try that. We always throw so much mash out. Most of us love mash.

Sorry, posted too soon... I found some frozen Mediterranean veg at asda the other day, roasted it in the oven with some oil, put on pasta. Cheap, easy, tasty, quick.

I was going to say the Idahoan instant mash. I only bought it in case of emergency and I got home one evening to a direly empty fridge and figured why not. I reckon one sachet serves two. It was really pretty nice. Not as good as home made mash with butter etc, but for emergencies when food is required RIGHT NOW it's a good option.

I would have rejected instant mash out of hand but I happened upon one of the preppers threads on here and someone said it was a totally different product from other instant mashes.

I always save left over mash and veg and fry it up for my lunch the next day, like bubble and squeak.

Frozen ready made mash is the future. Brilliant product. We mostly buy frozen veg as no prep and no waste.

The ready to fry grated potato things from lidl that keep in the cupboard
Frozen chopped mixed veg.
I like a quick meal

I add butter and cheese or spring onion to prepared mash and it's a game changer.

A tin of M&S mince in gravy with Idaho mash on top -> laziest cottage pie ever, as I discovered last week.

Frozen chopped onions are an absolute game changer for me. It means you can get started on something really quickly, and about 80% of the savoury things I cook start with onions.

I just love a big bag of potatoes 😂

Asda extra special frozen sprouts with bacon. I'm the only one in the house who likes sprouts and it's such a faff to roast, cook bacon etc etc for one person. They are really nice.

Leftover mash. What a weird concept.

Bloody love frozen onions. No food waste and no faffing chopping onions (which I hate).

The frozen onions/celery/carrot mix is also genius for making casseroles.

Always cook more than we need. So having no leftover mash is an alien concept to me 😁

Spaghetti Carbon. Pasta, eggs, streaky bacon, garlic cloves, parmesan. So easy and economical, never mind tasty

I'm here for the Idahoan instant potato love. I bought some cheese and bacon flavoured pots and oh my. They're perfect for lunch. Sometimes I pinch one of DS's mini BabyBels and break it up into the mash.

They also do a nice cheesy mash. I agree it's a good thing to have in the cupboard.

We tried Faggots recently and omg! I love them

Potato waffles just bunged in the toaster from frozen. It's taken me 40 years to do this. They are really good. Baked beans on top. Takes minutes and pretty much all the food groups if you have an apple afterwards!

Princes tinned stewed steak, and tinned potatoes. I was given them over a year ago, and realised it was just about to hit the BBE date.
Bunged the steak in a casserole dish (it looked & smelt GRIM, like dog food), added some carrots, peas, beans, bit of stock etc. Topped it with the tinned potatoes, thinking 'if this is a disaster, at least it won't have cost me much more than about 40p in ingredients', cooked it on low for about 2hrs.
It was one of the best things I have ever made. The steak was absolutely feathery. No way will I ever pay twice the price for fresh stewing steak and all of the faff involved in making the gravy etc.

Having googled it since, there are quite a few foodie bloggers who swear that tinned potatoes make the best roast potatoes too. I haven't tried that yet though...

I alway scoff at the frozen onions but no I have had my eyes opened I'm going to buy some! I prepped shepherd's pie for dh to cook and told him it took me around 45 minutes to prep the veg. Sometimes I just want a easy day.

@Orangesare what do they look like? Sound interesting!

I do like frozen Mediterranean vegetables I put them in stir fry, not though about using for roasting too. Like frozen peppers. I need to try them too

Can't believe anyone would ditch leftover mash. Bubble and squeak, fishcakes, throw it into home made soup before blending, fry onions , pan fry until brown on both sides and top with fried onions - or freeze for eating another time. We don't usually have leftover mash since we began weighing the peeled potatoes before boiling them. 200g per adult is about the right portion size.

Ooh I've got one of them in the cupboard for a quick work lunch next week. Looking forward to trying it.

Any frozen potato can be ready in 5 mins, so hash browns, waffles, alphabetti bites, etc.

Microwave for 2-2.5 mins, if lots on plate then tend to need bit longer and turning midway. While microwaving, heat oil in pan, then fry off until golden brown on both sides. Saves using oven and no residual freezer taste.

Also can microwave baked beans while e.g. waffles frying, for a simple toddler tea of beans and waffles in about 5 mins, saving yourself from a hangry meltdown!
Or have hash browns done quickly when get in and have something in slow cooker ready. Not particularly healthy though haha.