Cheap meal ideas that aren’t pasta?

[CandyFloss35]

I’m trying to do two cheap meals a week to try and keep our food costs under control, we are a family of 5 and were spending over £200 in Asda. One dc has a rare allergy which his bloody had to be sent far and wide to test for so due to poor labelling Aldi and Lidl are out for us unfortunately.

We just had a 2 egg cheese omelet, 1 slice of toast, cooked mushrooms and tomato’s each. Apart from beans on toast, scrambled eggs on toast, soup and roll what other cheap meals do people do that aren’t pasta? We like pasta and have it once a week already just done want to fall into the pasta every night trap. We all eat jacket potatoes which are cheap to buy but the oven is on for 90 minutes which puts that not in the cheap category for fuel unfortunately.

Dc are 2 teens and a 10 year old, not fuss literally eat anything that’s put In front of them.

Thank you in advance

I microwave jackets and finish them in the airfryer.

This sausage casserole is so easy to make and the ingredients wouldn't cost too much. I've made it a lot and it goes down well with my family.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/easy-sausage-casserole/amp/

You don't say what the allergy is, so some of this might not work for you :(

Substitute rice for the pasta - works with most pasta dishes.
Many vegan meals are very cheap. We loved nourishatelier.com/recipes/the-loyal-lentils
If you can get a trial/free offer for Hello Fresh etc, take it and then check out the recipes on the sites. They're generally not made with expensive ingredients, just cost to buy :).
Buy a whole large chicken and roast, but then cut up the result and you'll have enough to put into stews/curries/wraps etc for at least 2 and possibly 3 meals.

Jacket potatoes
I always do my jacket potatoes in the microwave and finish off on the highest oven temp for 10 mins. Supper soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

Campfire stew
Mum sent me a slimming world or Pinch of Nom recipe. It’s a gammon joint and other bits, it does enough to have at least twice and have it with mash or garlic dough balls.

Cheesy mash and beans
mashed potatoes, grated cheese and sautéed onions. Mix together and blob, or of feeling fancy, use a piping bag to add to an oven tray. Grill to go crispy and serve with baked beans. Loved that at school.

cheese on toast - why not?

picnic tea - sandwiches and bits out of the fridge.

vegetarian risotto
carrots, peas, broccoli and onions, stock cube. We sometimes add chicken or seafood (we change the veg). Don’t add dairy due to an allergy and season to taste.

Pasta - just had to!
I know you said no pasta, but a girl I lived with at uni would do a bacon and leek pasta. Sauté the bacon (fat removed) and leeks together really slowly. Creates a bit of a sauce, stir through spaghetti. Seriously tasty.

bacon and tomato pasta. Chop up loads of cherry tomatoes (quarters) and add to sautéed bacon or pancetta. Stir regularly on low, stir through pasta once sauce has thickened.

Some of our (very cheap) regular meals include:

-BBC mixed bean goulash
-Potato pie (beans & tomatoes underneath, mashed potato on top, then grated cheese on top of that)
-Roast vegetables with a glaze or dressing (uses oven but I do lots at once and use leftovers for pasta sauce or soup)
-homemade soup from old discounted vegetables and home made bread made in the slow cooker
-Red lentil curry
-Slow cooker stews with lots of vegetables, some pulses, and sometimes some bacon or sausage
-Jamie Oliver's vegetarian chilli with rice

Aldi chicken savoury microwave rice is 55p a bag

you could serve that alongside some chicken

Cook jacket potatoes in the microwave and then rub with olive oil and salt and pop into oven for ten mins, tastes like they've been cooked in there the whole time.
Chicken thighs seasoned with lots of difference things (lemon and honey, peri peri salt, Italian herbs and tomatoes, with mash or rice and frozen veg (broccoli or peas)
Frozen butternut squash and cauliflower curry, with rice or homemade Naan bread (made with Greek yogurt and flour)
Cheaper cut of gammon in the slow cooker cooked in a bottle of coke, with mash and cabbage.

Rice is cheap, I make fried rice quite a lot. You can add anything to it and can get away with a very small amount of or no meat.

I love lentils & chickpeas so dahls for me.

Depends on if it's your thing as I love this but my husband hates it - corned beef hash. It's delicious cheap and filling, great in winter: all you need is a can of corned beef, onions, potatoes and gravy granules

Also pork joints are super cheap

£3/4/5

bung in the slow cooker buy a type of marinade (plenty around for £1)

serve with either rice/coleslaw/salad/or buns

dried egg noodles + stir fry veg packet + sauce to make some chow mein

Microwaving potatoes before baking them saves a lot of time as does putting a metal skewer through the potato

Fresh bread from the supermarket like baguettes are filling and well priced imo.

fried rice with egg and mixed veggies. You can get a big bag of frozen veggies like peas and sweetcorn. Add soy sauce

Ramen noodles are cheap and can be topped with leftovers

Mash potato, frozen veg and sausages is one of my faves, as is black bean chilli. My husband likes freezer food which is cheap e.g oven chips and fish cakes, oven chips and fish fingers.

For jacket potatoes we do 2 mins in the microwave, then put a metal skewer through them. They then take 30-45 mims to cook. I put oil and salt on the skin to make them crispy.

Buy whatever veg is cheapest and then plan meals around that on the hoof. Having a variety of seasoning that can be mixed into different combinations for variety.

Bean chilli and rice (use dried beans as cheaper)

Dahl (lentil and/or chana) and rice

Chole bhature (curries chickpeas with bread)

Seitan & veg noodles (seitan is really cheap and easy to make protein if you use vital wheat gluten)

Soups - using whatever veg is on cheap that week. You can add in diced ham, chicken, etc.

Pick up rotisserie chicken late at night when on offer (I've got them for as little as 50p) and then pick apart and freeze to add into noodles, soups, etc.

Curry and rice using onions, chickpeas and frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, green beans, okra, etc). Buy a packet of curry spice mix from an Asian grocery for about £2 and will last months.

Fajitas - peppers and onions in wraps (season with smoked paprika and garlic).

Moroccan stew - potato, sweet potato, carrots, onions, aubergine, etc. Then protein, I use vegetarian meatballs but could use chickpeas, chicken, beef, etc. Whatever you can get on offer.

the large baguettes from the supermarket are about £1 and one would probably do 5 of you as part of one of your meals

How are you making these? I've never got it right yet.

Start jackets in the microwave and then crisp them Up in oven/air fryer.
home made soup and toast- we love home made Tom soup made using 7 bags cherry toms, 2 Tin chopped toms, 1 red pepper and a carrot with stock. Makes loads and so healthy and cheap.
chicken with chips and beans. Or wedges.
tey and make as much as you can, big bag of pots can make so many chips/wedges/ roasties for a lot cheaper than pre bought/frozen ones.

Buy some baguettes and some meat, make your own meatball subs.

Mush room curry. Big punnet button mushrooms, cheap curry sauce, 2 peppers onion and sweetcorn, big bag of rice. That will make a meal for all of you for about £3

Home made "pizzas" using a wrap

This. And very healthy if you chuck some veg in, too.

What poor labelling?

lots of good ideas there thank you, the eat corn beef so corn beef hash will be a good one to try. The peanut butter chicken sounds appealing as well and I’d totally forgotten about egg fried rice.

My ds allergies are to certain E numbers, artificial colourings, flavourings and preservatives, he is anaphylactic so I don’t take risks with swapping brands etc hence me trying to think of one or two cheap meals to put on the meal plan each week.

I have a range cooker, no microwave or air fryer as I’ve never felt the need to have one as we can’t have microwave meals or convenience foods in the foods because of ds.

Brie and bacon risotto from Jack Monroe (you can add mushrooms and all sorts of frozen veg like peas, leeks, brocoli, green beans, Brussels spinach)

Tbh I think some of the cheapest allegy friendly meals are literally meat and two veg