To ask your favourite budget meals

[Whereisthecoffee]

Recently moved house so it’s a budget month. Also I’m sure there are a lot in a similar position of wanting to keep the shopping cost decent.
Please share with me your favourite low cost meals
I’m admittedly here for traffic

Omelette with any reduced veg and cheap cheese

Lentil soup, lentil slice, lentil loaf. Love em

Pasta, pasta, butter, eggs, salt and pepper, tomatoes if you’re feeling flash!

Pasta with tomato sauce.
Vegetable risotto.
Baked potatoes with beans
Stir fry.

Jamie Oliver's anchovy spaghetti

Oh some lovely meal ideas thanks 😊Tonight’s dinner is garlic spaghetti with veg and sausage meat balls made from reduced sausage meat. Really cheap to make actually.

Chicken and Chorizo Jumbalya.

We stop having meat if we’re a bit pressed for cash; that’s the easiest way to slash the shopping bill.

Good meals...

Lentil dal with rice and steamed spinach

‘Bolognese’ made with tinned green/puy lentils instead of mince

Veggie tagine with couscous

Ratatouille and pasta

Frittata made with whatever veg looks good and some of that soft goats cheese you can get for quite cheap in the supermarket

Home-made pizza and salad

(Also following for ideas - some suggestions look great!)

Spaghetti in garlic oil with parsley and cheese (any cheese - Parmesan if you like it, I don't so I opt for thinly grated cheddar). So simple to make, takes 10 minutes, is delicious, cheap and filling.

Pasta with garlic, tomato purée, any herbs I can find in the cupboard and any green veg I can find like spinach or mushrooms either frozen or fresh. Add some beef mince if you can afford to or otherwise just on its own.

I have about nine million variations of the spaghetti in garlic oil base with whatever I have be it chicken or veg.

Baked potato and salad. Love it. Could eat it every day (often do.)

Jacket potatoes, then use any leftover potatoes from the bag another day to make your own seasoned wedges and have with chicken drumsticks you’ve seasoned also

do you make your own garlic oil @fourplusonemore ? I'm not sure i could be faffed with it used to love cooking with it forgot about it for some reason. I used to do it with linguine pancetta, petite pois and parmesan not budget but lovely we called it P pasta

Budget wise I do a pov pie. Which is homemade shortcrust with value flour and cheapest block butter then I take two onions sliced and cooked on low for ages to caramalise then diced potatoes fried off add flour chicken stock made up from cubes pepper and a grating of cheese I make a couple up for the table in 7 inch cake tins they are lovely cold for a picnic as well. Served with carrots if hot iceburg if cold.

Lots of carrots in everything as they are dirt cheap morissons do a wonky veg range might be worth looking at as well.

Probably not really most people's idea of a meal but... Ham, cheese and onion toasties, with salad. Mmm mmm! Ingredients all from Aldi.
I also love the random packets of noodles our local market sells. About 30p a packet and make a nice meal for one with a bit of mayo added (I drain them as don't like them soup style) and some steamed vegetables on side.

@nousernameforme I’m definitely poaching your pie recipe! Thanks!

Also if you make a chicken casserole in the slow cooker, or slow cook it in your oven a whole med chicken shredded will make about 6 portions with plenty of veg in there, whatever you fancy/is reduced in terms of veg with a stock cube, dried parsley/thyme, lemon zest and juice, seasoning. 2 for dinner on the day rest for your freezer 👍🏻.

We make what we call 'bean pie'.
You chop one onion and fry it until soft, add a drained tin of cannellini beans, a tin of chopped tomatoes, and spices to taste (I add cumin, paprika and chilli powder). Meanwhile, boil and mash some potatoes. Put the bean mix in an oven dish and top with the mash. Bake in the oven until top is crispy. If you have some spare cheese in the fridge, it's nice with a bit of cheese on top too. It's tasty and very filling and comforting.

Butternut squash/gungo peas/black beans/ onion, tinned tomato, jerk seasoning and 600ml veg stock (coriander optional) with rice.

Supermarket cream cheese.

Fry some mushrooms, cook some pasta, stir the cream cheese in and add a bit of pasta water if it is too thick.

You can do it with lots of left overs eg ham onion, bacon and can be served with potatoes or put in pastry.

Eggs, you can do a lot with.

Scotch eggs with homemade coleslaw.

Beans on toast, with a bit of bacon and cheese.

@Nousernameforme I just add half a cup of extra virgin olive oil to a hot pan and some crushed garlic cloves (4-6 as I like it strong) then leave the garlic in when eating. I never bother straining it because I like lots of garlic in my pasta. The worst part is peeling the cloves but then I just slice them thin and crush. I have a garlic press (somewhere) but again, faff.

Our favourite at the moment is Leftover bread type quichey thing cheaptastyandeasy.wordpress.com/leftover-bread/ it's budget because we put whatever leftovers we have in it.

Most soups and stews are good for this. French onion soup, pea and ham soup, potato soup etc.

Anything veg based, if the veg is seasonal. I have a great recipe for a courgette-based stir fry and a courgette-based pasta sauce.

Have just discovered chickpeas. Adding them to everything! Great for bulking out mince based stuff

Spaghetti al pomodoro
Sausages, mash, veg & onion gravy
Noodles with stir-fried veg & soy sauce
Fish fingers, chips & beans.
Omelette with whatever leftovers are in the fridge
Cauliflower cheese.
Pasta bake with tomato sauce and whatever veg you have.

Magmatic80 we put lentils and grated carrot and courgette in a lot of things, bulks out and tastes nice.