To ask for your budget meals ??

[newmun]

Statutory maternity starts now. Please can I have everyones fave budget meals/recipes/tips???

I haven’t read it all but batch cooking is great.
I need to get my freezer stocked for Brexit but it’s a great way to keep cost down.
I make big portions mostly and freeze the leftovers.

Buy a soup maker if you can.

Had some today. Half a potato, stick of celery, 2 carrots, 3 parsnips. About 50p, and better than a £2 one from the supermarket.

We are cooking some ragu now for spag bol. Carrot/tin if Tomatoes/Celery/1lb of Mince. The longer the cooking time the better. Bit of grated cheese on top. Parmesan is nice, but cheddar is fine. £3 or so for a nice meal for 3/4.

Chuck a handful of oats into Bolognese to bulk it out, also veg casserole is nice. I've got a slow cooker which is very useful. I live alone but usually cook enough for 4 meals, then freeze it in portions. Economical and you've got ready made dinners

Carbonara - really good recipe on BBC good food.

If you Google Cooking on a Bootstrap you'll get quite alot of recipe ideas. Agree with thinking about meal planning (so if something needs a couple of sticks of celery etc, plan something that uses the rest etc to minimise waste). Smaller portions of meat - things like bacon / chorizo etc will add flavour without you having to have much of it. Agree with lots that have been suggested, also have a look at various risotto recipes (I do one with bread beans and lemon which is delish and costs about £2 for 5 of us), pesto pasta, home made flatbreads - just yoghurt and flour - with veggie chilli or falafel.

Thank you so much everyone. My biggest issue is i never plan so I will definitely have to do a lot of that now 🤭 have saved lots of the ideas.

I find with bootstrap recipes if you i dont really need to plan overmuch. Much of what she makes is from tins and storecupboard basics and cooks in 20 mins including prep. The fresh stuff can be used across many of the recipes. So if you dont fancy one thing it's usually pretty easy to sub something else. No get this in for one recipe or unnecessarily expensive ingredients. I add frozen veg (green beans broccoli)

Proper meal planning has made the single biggest difference to our food bill I think. I plan pretty specifically what we're going to have and have found it really reduces waste and also those 'just pick something up on your way home' extra shops.