What do you consider a "cheap everyday meal"?

[FloopyZebra]

Just made a pasta bake for 4 and decided to cost it out as I like to keep a keen eye on my shopping costs, we spend on average £100 per week for 3 adults and 1 teen (that's for everything including beer and wine)
It was a veggie meal tonight wholemeal pasta with a creamy tomato sauce, onions, courgette and mushrooms topped with grated cheese. The total cost was £4.50.
Tomorrow we are having pulled pork with spicy rice and salad, which will be a bit more at £10.00 but there will be meat leftover.
An ulta cheap meal for us is a thick homemade veg soup served with warm bread.

I use a Jamie Oliver recipe for pizza. It’s pretty cheap, pasta bakes, homemade quiche.

I batch cook so usually have soups, curries, lasagna, stews, chilli, sauces etc all frozen.
I freshly cook some pasta dishes, burritos, baked potatoes, salads, pizza.

Tonight we had cowboy pie. 1 pack of sausages cooked in the oven then chopped and mixed with 2 tins beans. Put in an oven dish and topped with cheesy mash then baked in the oven.
Cheap and basic and everyone loves it - feeds 4.

Just posting to say fab thread. I really struggle with executive functioning amd find planning tricky.

Rice and lentils in a spicy tomato sauce.

We have cheap meals in general unfortunately but I always try and make them balanced, healthy and from scratch with lots of veg but we now do try and incoperate really cheap meals at least once a week even though they're not balanced/healthy - blame cost of living crisis. Unfortunately big portions of carbs seem to be the cheapest way to keep tummies full but the price as low as possible.

For example:

Beans on toast (loaf of bread under £0.50p and two tins of aldi beans) or sometimes fried mushrooms/plum tomatoes on toast

Tuna mayo pasta (using £0.40p pasta, £0.60p asda value mayo, and 2x £0.50p tuna from Tesco etc - sometimes some sweetcorn if we have any in)

Lentil dahl with rice

Carrot and lentil soup (or whatever veg is languishing in the fridge) with bread

Jacket potatoes with beans, or tuna mayo

Frozen sausage rolls (£1.10 for a pack of 4) with chips (homemade is usually cheaper than cheapest frozen chips) and aldi value beans

I am am impressed with your £100 shopping bill, I would be thrilled to get mine to double that. My bill is disgraceful. Some great ideas on here, fab thread.

The ‘everlasting chicken’.🤣 I buy an extra large chicken, about £5.50. For two of us we have it roasted with vegetables on Sunday and Monday, then use the bits for risotto.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pizza-margherita-4-easy-steps/amp

this is our favourite pizza recipe- it’s really tasty and very easy.

My cheap beaks include coconut dal and whole grain basmati (I buy in 10kg sacks for £12, guessing 40p for 4 people's portion) and the dal is about £2 serves 4 adults, vegan, gluten free.

Another cheap favourite is bean cassoulet with homemade focaccia coming at around £3 for 4.

I have very substantial spice collections (let's not discuss sell by dates!) so very hard to accurately price, it would be £40-50 to replace them all but for meals it's just pennies, frozen garlic and frozen ginger (world food freezer section) saves quite a bit.

Another cheap meal is anchovy pasta

Anything that's pasta or potato based is usually the cheapest meals to make

This was the only thing between me and the food bank! Still enjoy it weirdly.

Can make chilli cheese fries too if you have some potatoes or oven chips and cheese (even plastic cheese slices are good!)

@ShiteRider

I make focaccia dough in my bread machine (bread flour, olive oil, salt, sugar , water, dried oregano, chilli flakes) preheat baking sheets and put thinly rolled on stretched dough onto them, cook a minute at 220, then take out oven, put on toppings of choice and cook further few minutes (time depends on dough thickness and oven, my new oven was 4 minutes

Souo, garlic bread, crumble, custard

Barbecue beans with hamburger

2 cans pork n beans (do not drain).
1 can great northern beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can butter beans
2 lb ground hamburger cooked and drained
1 cup ketchup
3 tbsps vinegar
1/4th or 1/2 cup of brown sugar packed depending on taste. I use 1/2 cup
Put in crockpot for on high for 2 hours and stir and then low for 4 more hours.

This is always asked for at potlucks and cheap to make.

Today made a huge frittata with courgettes, peppers and feta cheese, served with a tomato and red onion salad and garlic roasted baby potatoes. Really inexpensive and tasty with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch

Shepherds pie. Turkey mince, carrots and onions. Celery if we have some. Tomatoes and a squirt of paste. Herbs and a splash of worcestershire sauce. Stock cubes. Loads of mashed potatoes. At least 6 big portions for about 6.50 quid tops. Serve with masses of vegetables.
Serve leftovers with gravy and veg.

I make a mean chilli with 50/50 meat to lentils and also loads of mushrooms, chopped small so as to be indistinguishable from the meat (children will whine otherwise). I make it in the pressure cooker and freeze some too.
We had it tonight in fact and 7 and 5 year old devoured it.

Probably a "using it up" pasta bake
Whatever veg is left - usually courgette, onions, tomatoes
Same with veg - often scraps of roast chicken, bacon etc
Pasta
Tinned tomatoes
Herbs
Whatever bits of cheese are left

Cottage pie isn't too pricey still. Corned beef hash used to be cheap but...

@SkylarSpirit my kind of cooking! Simmer till it looks right. Love it!

Pancakes! One for main with cheese/leeks/leftovers from a beans meal, and one for pudding with jam or sugar and lemon juice.

amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/30/vegetarian-chilli-recipe-beans-pulses-anna-jones-the-modern-cook-student

I love this Anna jones veg chilli. I haven't priced it up, but it's my go to cheap meal. Works well on its own with rice or in a flatbread with some cheese / creme fraiche / plain yoghurt / guacamole / spare coriander if you have any going. Or as part of a simple Buddha bowl, depending on what else is in the fridge... or just on toast, with bread etc...

We batch cook it and always have some in the freezer. You need a petty big pan as it makes a hefty amount. it serves 12 and is fairly simple to make.

Please can anyone link a daal recipe they use. I've never made it and would like to. Thanks. Great thread.

"Bendy veg" 🤣. My husband would throw it in the bin if I dont get it first. Soup/stew is perfect for 'bendy' veg. Love it, I'm using this from now on! #bendy

home made red lentil dahl with brown rice served with home made raita which I just do by adding small chunks of cucumber to some thick Greek yoghurt. I make the dahl in my slow cooker and it is so nice cooked this way as all the spices have time to really mingle. I haven't costed it but it is so cheap and easy as I always have lentils and rice plus the spices. I generally have onions, cucumber and onions in as staple buys.