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.

Where's your protein?

Spaghetti and garlicky olive oil with all the leftover veggies in the crisper, topped with parm!

Red Lentil and veggie soup, sometimes with rice sometimes with bread.

Fried rice, again with leftover veggies topped with an egg

Pasta with sauteed shrimp and spinach

Baked potatoes with freezer veggies and cheese

Loaded miso soup with tofu, carrots, greens and green onions

Sheet pan chicken sausage and peppers and potatoes

Grilled bread with goat cheese and sauteed veggies

I’ve managed to get our weekly food shop down from £120 a week at Ocado to £70-80 a week at Aldi for 4 people by meticulously meal planning. We are mostly vegetarian with maybe 1 fish meal a week. This weeks shop was £78 and the meals I planned were:
Black bean and pepper enchiladas (I make the sauce with chopped tomatoes, spices and a spoon of yoghurt, blended)
Red lentil daal with rice
Creamy mushroom pasta (we get the 38p spaghetti)
Salmon, prawn and butternut Thai curry (most expensive meal of the week but only use 2 salmon fillets + small pack of prawns between 4 plus the squash)
Homemade pizzas
Tuscan white bean stew with garlic bread
Peanut lime veggie noodles topped with glazed tofu

That’s six meals then I shop again. Lunches are usually sandwiches, wraps, soup from leftover veg or I often do a huge grain salad by baking a load of bulgar wheat with stock and lemon zest then topping with whatever is in the fridge- peppers, tomatoes, capers, feta - this week leftover squash from the Thai curry.

I have coeliac disease and could eat a lot/all of the meals in this thread just by substituting gluten free pasta/flour etc. Sadly that means it’s nowhere near as cheap, but I do cook normal pasta for my family and just do mine separately.

Maybe you do have some kind of IBD which makes you intolerant of fibre/beans etc.

A big standard in my house is:

Roasted, spiced veg and salmon, or chicken, or halloumi. With rice

Or pasta and prawns in a creamy sauce

Especially in colder weather, substantial multi-veg soups, all seasonal veg except for the essential celery - with a handful of pearl barley/red lentils/orzo pasta, etc, thrown in. Served with bread and grated cheese.

A minestrone, whatever veg plus a tin each of tomatoes and kidney or other beans, pasta, Italian style seasoning. Pref. with garlic bread - I usually have some homemade in the freezer. NB, any leftover garlic butter - I aways make too much - freezes well and a bit can be chipped off and melted for anointing a chicken before it goes in the oven.

Are the people saying that their 'cheap everyday meal' features salmon and prawns the same ones who spend £200 pw on groceries and couldn't possibly spend any less because they only buy basic ingredients and no treats?

So many great ideas and people with imagination.My most useful item is a pressure cooker and the Remoska from Lakeland which saves a fortune in electricity. It now seems many use an air fryer I have no experience of them.Today I am picking apples in a friend’s orchard or mainly on the ground after the storm they will be shared around any left will be put in the church porch where the food share goes every night.Community allotments are springing up in lots of places now.Sharing vegetables and ideas with friends for healthy cheap dishes is wonderful.

@Elderflower14 Would you mind sharing the cheese and onion pie recipe please? I love it but cannot find a good recipe.

Perfectly possible. Go to Italy and they serve a few spoons of the meat sauce with a bowl full of pasta so it just coats the spaghetti. The main part of the meal is pasta. The sauce just provides the taste.

It’s a UK thing that the pasta sits underneath a mound of the meat sauce.

500g of mince in a spag bol often does the 5 of us for 10 meals - BUT it's bulked out or the portions would be far too small.

I'd add 500g mince, mushrooms, onion, garlic, peppers and a couple of tins of chickpeas or kidney/butter beans (plus tinned toms and herbs etc).

Day 1 is then about 60% of the mixture over spaghetti. Day 2 is the rest of it mixed in together with pasta or rice, with a sprinkle of cheese and a side salad.

DP is vegetarian and I don't often buy meat or fish for myself do realistically that makes most meals reasonably cheap, as does cooking from scratch and making sure we always use up what we've bought (eg all ailing vegetables into a curry or vegetable bake). We don't drink alcohol either as we both hate the taste so there's also that.

One of the cheapest/easiest and a favourite is a lentil based 'curry'. I make a paste in the blender with onions garlic and spices - turmeric, curry powder, garlic powder, ginger, whatever you fancy, fry it off, add loads of red lentils, loads of veg stock, shove in a load of cooked potatoes or leftovers veg, splosh of coconut based milk (that I use for tea/coffee anyway), generous dollop of mango chutney swirled in. Add meat or chilli if you want more spice. I usually chuck in a load of spinach and frozen peas at the end.

I usually do a vat of it as it keeps well, tastes even better as it ages and freezes well. It's a nice lunch with some naan, dinner with rice and also makes a decent jacket potato filling. Not gourmet by any means but cheap, very tasty and very easy.

I think a lot of people get this at first if they aren't used to so much fibre but bodies adjust. I don't have this issue now, and my kids never have, as we'll have something containing lentils every week.

I also do a version of the shakshuka mentioned above..
Fry onion and pepper, add your preferred herbs / spices (I like chilli and paprika) and a tin of tomatoes to make a sauce. Make wells and add an egg to each well. Cover and cook until the eggs are done to your liking (8 minutes gives you fully set, so maybe 6 if you want runny yolks?) I tend to serve with fresh crusty bread for dipping.
Frittata is another favourite. I always parboil the potatoes for a few minutes. Fry whatever veggies you’re using (bacon or chorizo as well if you eat meat and have some spare) add the potatoes, then cover with beaten eggs. I cook a few minutes on the hob, then finish under the grill. Served with baked beans or steamed vegetables.

Beans on toast
Omelette
Cheese toastie tomato soup
Also used to get through one pack of mince meat for one meal and have now managed to get a spag bowl and a shepherds pie from one pack by bulking out with veg.

Kedgeree - enough kippers (fresh or canned - I use canned as I can't buy fresh on this side of the Atlantic) to feed the number of people. One egg per person, hard boiled and shelled. Enough rice per person - for us that's about half a cup of uncooked rice each. A knob of butter to taste. Curry paste to taste. Cook the rice. Melt the butter (some people like a lot of butter in this dish and you do need some but not a huge amount for my tastes) and throw in the curry paste or curry powder to cook off the rawness. Throw in the chopped up kippers. Fold in the cooked rice. Dish up and scatter each person's dish with a chopped up hard boiled egg. This dish is short on veggies, and if that bothers you, you could saute a chopped onion and a red pepper in the butter before adding the curry paste in.

I have the double edge sword though cos if I eat pasta and rice and don’t end up on the floor with bloating and the beans, lentils causing horrific things at the back end it spikes the sugars into double digits regardless of what colour it is.

so restrictive eating I have to do but I still miss cheese

No…if you are referring to my post, I spend £70-80 a week on groceries, the one meal with salmon and prawns was the most expensive by far and our usual diet of vegetables and pulses means we can afford a slightly nicer meal once a week whilst sticking to a budget.

I boil potatoes enough for however many people you have.. I boil the onion so it doesn't go greasy. Mash the potatoes with butter and cheese. Add the onions put in a dish and grated cheese on the top. Cook till bubbling. ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

Buckwheat kasha - 'grains' - very nutritious. Cooks quickly, so saves on fuel. 100g dry (about 60p if you buy a kilo) provides two portions, for me at least. Toast the 'grains' stirring all the time for 2 mins in a dry pan, add water (ratio 1 part grains to 2 parts water), simmer for approx 15 mins until as soft/chewy as you like. Watch to make sure it does not boil dry.

Meanwhile fry onions/garlic / almost any other veg in some oil; frozen mushrooms (so cheap!) are extra good. Add lots of shredded kale or spring cabbage (both absolute bargains and also easy to grow) when the other veg are almost cooked; also add frozen peas (full of protein and amazingly cheap). Stir around until all cooked.

When buckwheat is ready, drain off any residual liquid- there should not be much - and stir the fried veg and its oil into the cooked 'grains'. Sprinkle with black pepper and salt or soy sauce/tamari. Add more oil if liked/you can afford it. Really tasty and VERY filling.

If you can afford it, a few cheap tomatoes/raw red peper cut into strips, or some washed celery cut into strips/shreds - also vv cheap - are nice extras.

Buckwheat is seriously good for you - nutrition profile here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat

Re pizza dough or any bread. Really, @shiterider , it's not difficult. Have been making bread for about 50 yrs, before all the online complications set in. This recipe sounds complicated but REALLY it is not.

You need approx 500g strong bread flour - white or wholemeal or any combination. If you don't have 'strong' bread flour, any other wheat flour will do. Plus:
About a generous heaped teaspoon of dried yeast. A bit more will not matter.
About 2 tablespoons of oil or melted butter or lard. But if you can't afford this, it really is not essential
Enough water to mix the dough into a soft but not sticky lump. The exact quantity will depend on the flour, but just add a bit at a time until you find - as if by magic - the dough forms a neat ball that does not stick to your fingers. If you add too much water, just sprinkle in a bit more flour.
Mix all together and knead it - basically, just press it down and turn it over and round with one hand, over and over again - until it feels 'alive' and springy. About 5 mins will do; 10 mins is better.

Cover the dough in the bowl - with foil or a tea-towel or an old plate - and leave it in the fridge overnight. It can stay there for at least 24 hours with no harm coming to it.

The next day, you should find that the dough has risen/ is looking slightly bubbly.
Pull off a good big handful, squeeze it gently into a ball shape, then spread it thinly out on an oiled/buttered/otherwise greased metal tray.
Leave it to rise for about half an hour - or (better) longer if more convenient - while you assemble pizza toppings. Gently fried onions/peppers/tomatoes in oil, plus olives, would be my favourite. Dried oregano is an excellent addition, and some people like chilli flakes. You can add anchovies or sardines (v cheap) as well. Add salt and pepper depending on ingredients.

Heat oven until 200 C or a bit hotter. Spread toppings over the (by now) rather puffy pizza base. Top with grated/sliced cheese (if that's affordable - but it's still good without) and bake for around 15-20 mins until the dough base is browned and the topping is bubbling.

I use 500g mince to make bolognaise in the slow cooker, lots of veg and lentils for extra protein and oats to thicken/ bulk out. It makes 8 good sized adult meals, could stretch to 10 but we have good sized portions.

Fried rice/pilaf, noodle soup, jioazi, shakshouka , pesto eggs, jacket potato, curry and bigos/stew in winter.

I am trying to cut down the amount of meat our family eats, mainly for environmental reasons. We still have it most days, but in much smaller portions than we used to. I make a batch of spag bol or chilli from 500g mince, and use 2/3 for the main meal, and 1/3 for wraps with salad and cheese the next day. I pad the sauce out with loads of mushrooms, fried with butter and minced; also grated courgettes, carrot, and peppers. I also use balsamic vinegar, Worcester sauce and oxo, which make it taste meatier. I don’t use wine in it. That does 6 of us for two meals.

I make a curried rice dish with anything that is lying around (meat leftovers, veg, cashews, frozen prawns) fried up with curry spices or paste, then add a load of cooked rice. We do a similar Chinese style dish with 5spice plus chill spices, leftovers, rice and oyster sauce.

We make loads of soups and stews. Courgette and chilli is a favourite, but I also like potato soup. (Onions, veg stock, potatoes, herbs). It is not as bland as it sounds!

We have loads of wrap-based meals because it’s easy to be flexible about the fillings for the children.

(I’m now awaiting the mockery for 12 portions from 500g mince)

Great thread, following for ideas. I really need to get out food bill down from £200-250 a week but it's so hard wirh dietary requirements and a large family!