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

@mumda there is no legal requirement to individually list which preservatives, colouring names or E numbers used.

Slow cooker and bulk casseroles out with lentils

Soup with a toasted sandwich is filling and cheap.

Or a light tea, and then cake/Swiss roll or banana and custard later in evening if hungry.

Cauliflower cheese

Cauliflower and broccoli cheese is a good idea,

www.goodto.com/food/recipe-collections/cheap-family-meals-33813

Jamie Oliver has just started offering a free four week meal plan. You can sign up on his website - I've done it and got the first week. It looks good. Standard bolognese, cottage pie, chicken curry dishes that most people will eat, but it's intended to give you a shopping list so you can catch book and save money. There is a veggie version apparently too. Worth trying. It's free after all!

Tbh it's our Christmas day treat. I do a particularly awesome one.i found myself asking why I restrict this to Christmas....

Stovies

I was coming on to say the same thing.

I make mine with butternut squash. I use frozen chopped onion, garlic, chillis, ginger and butternut squash. Cheap and less waste so can make several meals out of the packs.

Another vote for dahl.

We just had lentil cottage pie which was cheap to make.

Risotto and salad.

Toasties.

I am a massive fan of soup (often made with vegetable scraps and stock from chicken carcass) and a sandwich. (Slow cooker!)

There are load of rice recipes so risotto - mushrooms , chicken , peppers not all necessarily together you can make a risotto with pretty much anything or Green curry ( only takes a jar of paste and a tin of coconut milk ) - SlIced potatoes baked with some butter or creme fraiche & something in between eg salmon or bacon or tuna or something in a big dish

I enjoy a Mushroom Stroganoff as a cheap and tasty meal. I cheat a bit and use a Schwartz or Colemans packet mix for the Stroganoff sauce.

Add milk, butter, mushrooms and onion to make the Stroganoff sauce mix. Serve with rice and you have a pretty cheap but nice meal.

Mushrooms always seem to be one of the things in the reduced section of the supermarkets at the end of the day which would make it even cheaper.

You will make a the biggest savings switching to veggie meals. Peppers or field mushrooms filled with onions, rice or cous cous, mushroom stalks, courgette, plenty of garlic, herbs and spices to taste. Top with a bit of cheese, the stronger the flavour of cheese the less you need. Can easily be started in a pan and finished under a grill.
Shakshuka
Fritata (I was reading that tinned even potatoes work ok, not hat I've tried it yet)
Tuna and sweet corn fish cakes (make a batch for freezer)
Falafels in pita (as above) with salad and yoghurt dressing.

Mince, bulk out with lentils, add whatever you want. Could be cottage pie or chilli, use as a base for lots of options with baked potato, rice, mash, veg etc.

Also... pancakes! Super filling and cheap. Your toppings can be as mmm sweet or savoury, as you wish.

Stir fry with noodles

Might be cheaper and more allergy-safe to cook with raw ingredients so no e-numbers?

Cheap meals we regularly eat are:
-stirfry and rice/noodles
-veg curry and rice
-chilli and rice
-mash, beans and veg
-jacket potatoes
-lentil dahl
-savoury bread and butter pudding with veg

Vegetarian meals are so much cheaper.

Get a bag of soya mince. They’re about £2 and will feed a family of 6 twice. A very cheap way to do chilli or bolognese.

Similarly, wraps with fillings of choice, even put a selection on the table and let them.make their own wrap.

And it's nutritious, too! You can add some small veggie curry on the side if you want to tart it up a bit. I lived on daal bhat for a year in Nepal 🇳🇵

Manage your left overs is a great way to save money - left over veg becomes bubble and squeak or add to risotto. Use things like dumplings, yorkshire puddings and stuffing to bulk out meals - even if they don't traditionally go together. 2 chicken breast cut small in risotto that's packed with veg could easily feed 5, bulk out bolognaise sauce with lentils or porridge oats to make it go further. Make stocks and soups from chicken carcasses or left over roast meat - especially if not enough to make a full meal otherwise. Left over bolognaise sauce becomes a pasta bake sauce if you add a bit of extra veg and passata and too with grated cheese. And serve bread with meals... great for filling up empty tummies and using to mop up sauces. Frozen veg is cheaper than fresh and is just as good for most meals, but meat when on offer and freeze until required.

I do mashed spuds. Fry a load of onions finely chopped and some ham/ smoked sausage/ bacon bits/lardons/chopped hot dogs and let them gently brown. Add in a tin of beans, squeeze of tomato purée, a splash of Maggi/ fish sauce/Worcestershire sauce, half a tsp of smoked paprika, a table spoon of butter or Marge. Poor the bean and onion mix over the spuds.

You can vary it by buying one of those £4 gammon joints and cooking it in the pressure cooker with 2l water. Use 1/2 the meat to mix in with the beans. Retain the rest of the gammon stock and half of the meat. Add carrots/celery and onions. Red lentils, spilt peas . Cook under pressure for 40 minutes for a gorgeous soup you can leave chunky or blitz smooth. Perfect with a toasty .

Both meals are cheap and cheerful but very filling.

This risotto is easy and delish

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-risotto-bacon-peas

I used short grain brown rice rather than arborio.

I added chopped carrot, chopped red pepper and sliced leek.

It's easy to make in bulk and freeze too.

Noodles with some freezer veg and a meat of choice? Not sure if your child's allergy but there's a lovely taming twins recipe with peanut butter and sweet chilli sauce.