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.

basil pesto pasta (I add some courgette and pine nuts occasionally)
rice and curry
anything that goes with rice gerally

Any vegetarian Indian food.

Omelette with leftover veg

Also eating leftovers for lunch saves ££££

How do you all cope with gas

chickpeas
lentils
etc causes it

also the bloating from rice and pasta as they are cheap fillers to fill you up when in fact they don’t they make you more hungrier.

Also eating leftovers for lunch saves ££££

This, plus much healthier and nicer than sandwiches and crisps.

Home made dahl is probably our cheapest favourite meal. I make enough for a couple of meals in the slow cooker.

I do splash out on wholemeal basmati rice though. It has much more flavour than the cheaper white variety

Pasta bake

Cheap pasta with beans and peppers through it topped with bread crumbs and cheese then baked. It costs about £1.60 to make as I use value ingredients and serves 4.

By eating lentils and rice from the time I was 6 months old ! Neither make me bloat.

Think it depends on if you’ve got various ingredients etc. already as per a PP suggested

I’d class around £3-4 as average / cheap for us, and £8-15 for things like steak as our little extravagance

we are 2 adult 1 toddler

Meat can add to the cost, but not always!

Eg. A current fave, I do a lemon-honey chicken with jasmine rice. Provided there’s already honey in the house costs no more than £4, and good sized portions, not the mumsnet magic chicken 😂

Today I tried a new recipe from online, a minced beef fried rice, also around £3-4 and was lovely!

currently eying up new recipes to try from online as I find we something get stuck on the same things on repeat, and I love to try out new ideas

I think that s a myth isn’t it?

I eat a lot of lentils etc and never get bloated or farty

I love lentils and Jerusalem artichokes, but they definitely don't agree with DH, so I think they affect people in different ways.

We eat rice all the time, massive part of our diet (I have a Thai family member)
Good quality jasmine infused rice. Not mega expensive.
No bloating at all from that

Things like spring onions/ onion will do that to me though!

not really a bean person so can’t speak to that

Lucky you

I’m gassy and bloated so don’t eat them

I wish it was a myth

Sounds great budgeting @FloopyZebra .

I try to get more protein in my diet (I'm into strength training, plus it's filling) and things with that tend to be a little bit more expensive. Greek yogurt etc.

I have salmon bagels for the omega 3's. Know I could have sardines on toast but it's not the same. Also have nuts for the healthy oils.

Spag bol - 500g mince with 2 tins of tomatoes plus onion, garlic,celery, herbs, maybe grated carrot: serve for 4 or 5 adults with spaghetti on day 2; on day 2 add another tin of tomatoes and some peppers, and make a pasta bake. That's 10 meals out of 500g of mince. You can add in any veg that need using up on day 2.
Chick pea curry- 2 tins of chick peas, one tin of tomatoes, spices, onion and garlic. I usually add in spinach and either quarter boiled eggs, or serve with halloumi. I'd eat it without the extra protein but have very hungry men to feed.
I've always got onions garlic celery and peppers, plus lots of spices which I buy in big packets and share with my mum.
I grow herbs when I can.
This month's favourite has been pan cooked spicy chicken thighs ( tho not as cheap as they were) with rice.

@Dullardmullard Some people can't handle it, maybe you have some IBS or something?

Also if someone eats a lot more fibre than they're used to then they can have issues. But if someone slowly builds up and then is used to a certain amount of fibre then their body can be fine with it.

Some people do need a low FODMAP diet though.

I find beans so filling, they're fab.

Made a chicken stew tonight for 4

Two chicken breasts
Potatoes (from our garden)
Half a Courgette (from our garden)
Celery (from our garden)
Carrots
Puy lentils
Stock cube
Bay leaf (from the garden)
Some herbs

Very cheap

Beef stew - beef mince, onion, carrot, potatoes, garlic, beef stock, salt, pepper, bouquet garni. £4 for 8 portions.

Lentil soup - lentils, onion, carrot, celery, leeks, veg stock, salt, pepper, Italian herbs. £3 for 8 portions.

Veg pasta - Onion, cherry tomatoes, spinach, garlic, salt, pepper, wholewheat pasta. £3 for 4 portions.

Bean chilli - mixed beans, onion, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, garlic, chilli powder, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, brown rice. £3 for 8 portions.

I eat a lot of things mixed with protein powder, some brands are really good value with more protein per penny than virtually any normal food. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01CCSJRQK

As a whole food vegan I eat at least ten fruit and veg every day including lots of beans, pulses and legumes. I eat rice, pasta and/or bread at every meal, as much as I feel like. The only thing I eat now that causes gas is onions. The only thing that causes bloating is too much salt and not enough water. I'm never hungry. I had far more digestive issues when I ate meat and dairy.
It took a month or so for my stomach to adjust, but after that, no issues at all. And I genuinely don't get the carb hate. I've a BMI of 21, bags of energy, and I eat ALL the carbs.

Tomato pasta:

Glug of Olive oil
Finely chopped garlic clove
Tablespoon of Tomato paste
Tin of tomatoes and a splash of water
Teaspoon of sugar
1/2 a veg or chicken stock cube

Mix in cooked spaghetti once sauce is ready. Serve topped with a sprinkle of cheese.

I usually pimp up with any of the following depending on what I have in.

• finely chopped anchovies at the frying off garlic stage (57p a tin in lidl - they add a great flavour. Don't also include the stock cube)
• fresh Basil or dried Italian herbs/oregano
• chopped black olives
• chilli flakes

Recent convert to tofu! As is my husband who is normally a meat-lover! Cooked and flavoured properly with some store cupboard ingredients (soy, chilli etc) it’s delicious, a £2 ish pack will feed 2 or even 3/4, add some microwave rice and stir-fry some veg and you have a cheap, easy, nutritious meal!

I think it should be self evident that people are using parts of packets/ jars etc when making their meals.

People here are not the media trying to tell poor people they can live on £20 a week for 3 people (Jack Monroe) or Lee Evans saying you can feed people for 30p a meal, we are just ordinary people giving each other ideas.

I’m sorry but 10 meals out of 500g mince?! I don’t mean to be rude but I would never be able to achieve that! I get 5 meals max out of that

No recipes but a reminder to make sure you have all the loyalty cards now lots of supermarkets seem to be doing a loyalty card price. I saved £14 on my sainsburys shop last week with their nectar prices ( just buying stuff I normally buy) cheese & butter both £2 something instead of a fiver each.
I’m lucky not to be on a budget but I’d still rather save 14 quid than give it to mr Sainsbury’s!