To ask for your left over recipes/basic and cheap meals!

[gayandokay]

Just that really! Always left at the end of the week with no food in the house and when I look for recipes online I can never find easy recipes with basic ingredients. Thanks guys!

What do you mean by “basic ingredients”? Do you mean stuff in the cupboard/freezer?

Carrot stir fry. 3 medium carrots. I large onion. Fry chopped onions with a bit of salt till soft. Then stir in grated carrots and cook for about 10 minutes. Can add chillies etc. Yummy with rice or nan.

Pasta. tinned tomatoes, chilli flakes and cheese.
I often have left over chorizo and a pepper in my fridge. Add rice and some stock and you have a jambalaya type dish.

Is there anything in particular that you often find you have leftover?

@PurpleDaisies stuff like tinned food, essentials that you've always got in your cupboard

Vegetable pasta bake (can always add bacon, sausages or chicken if you have it)
One carton of Passata, dash of mixed herbs. Any veg hanging about in your fridge, peppers, onions, mushrooms. Sweetcorn from freezer. Mix through add cheese and bake.

Always goes down well here.

My store cupboard fallback is pasta bake made with tinned tuna, tomatoes and sweet corn. Cheese on the top. It’s basic but everyone eats it.

Also anything with eggs: egg fried rice, egg and chips etc.

DH actually made a great Spanish tortilla this week with the sweepings from the fridge: 5 eggs, a slice of ham, a couple of mushrooms, half a tin of potatoes, some cherry tomatoes and some cheese. I was quite impressed.

That Spanish omelette sounds amazing !!

Mac n cheese- make a quick cheese sauce. Add some frozen peas, yum!

Savoury rice- cook in stock and add any veggies.

Soup made with any leftover veg. Could make some good bread or scones to go with it!

Basic tomato pasta.

Omelette, if you have eggs. And serve with frozen chips!

Corned beef hash is a good storecupboard one too.

I love tinned mackerel in a quick stir fry.
Again stir fry large chopped onions with a bit of salt till soft. Add teaspoon curry powder if you have. Then add tinned mackerel and fry for roughly 15 minutes. Can add few tomatoes and chilli. Eat with rice.

I love stir frying spinach, grated potatoes etc. So quick and easy. Plus a great way to eat your 5 a day if you use things like carrots, grated cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, or broccoli.

Got you.

Spicy tomato pasta is mine. Tin of tomatoes. Lots of chillis. Dried oregano. Olives, capers, sundried tomatoes plus whatever else is left in the fridge.

Chick pea curry is easy too. Jar of curry sauce, frozen spinach, other frozen veg (peas, sweet corn etc) and a tin of chickpeas. Heat. Serve with rice/naan

I always do a meal plan for the week before I go shopping and make sure I have everything in that I need. I find this helps keep things on track, less waste and cheaper as not having to go to the shops midweek and spend more or even worse buy a takeaway.

X

@Snowflake9 that's what I'm going to try and do, trying to save money and my downfall is always not knowing what to make for dinner and getting a takeaway, it soon adds up!

Following. I seem to have forgotten how to cook.

Pasta puttanesca: uses tinned everything! Tinned tomatoes, black olives, capers, anchovies, crushed chilli flakes. Takes 10 mins.

Chickpea anything – falafel, or chickpea pasta is good: smittenkitchen.com/2017/10/quick-pasta-and-chickpeas-pasta-e-ceci/

Black bean soup/burgers/chilli/burrito bowl (heat black beans with garlic, tomato purée, cumin coriander and cayenne, serve on top of brown rice, add feta or cheddar if you have some, chopped tomatoes/lettuce/avo if you have them, etc).

Basically keep a big stock of tinned pulses & tinned tomatoes, and plenty of dried herbs and spices as well.

Meal planning helps to avoid this I agree. But I find it helps to build in a few easy nights for when I just can’t be doing with cooking, otherwise we end up having a takeaway.

Hi OP, I had a custom meal plan set made for about £5-£10 from a instagram business if you’re interested? It included a meal plan table and shopping list, and is really useful. My DH and I sit down every weekend and plan for the week ahead, and then write on the shopping list what ingredients are needed. This really avoided arguments, wastage of fresh fruit and veg, no last minute unhealthy takeaways etc. Really helpful!

My quick cheap end-of-month staples are veg pasta bake (any leftover veg plus tinned tomatoes, garlic and dried herbs), chickpea curry, frozen fish plus veg and couscous, coconut dhaal (butter, dhaal, onions, spices, half tin of coconut milk and spinach) etc.

Tinned mackerel in tomato sauce and cheese on toast is one of my stand bys x

Veg fritters - grate or finely chop whatever veg you have left in the fridge, like carrots or courgettes - and/or you could use tinned like sweetcorn - add beaten egg, and fry spoonfuls. Delicious, especially with pitta bread and pretty much any dip or sauces - ketchup, tzatziki, chili.

Frittatas are good for using up leftovers too - the odd potato, chopped meat from a previous meal, any veg you have left.

In a pinch, those condensed cream of chicken/celery soups make a decent sauce for pasta bake if you're going for the good old storecupboard staples.

One of my youngests easy peasy cupboard meals is noodles, tinned tuna, sweetcorn, some chilli paste and a touch of honey, sounds weird but it works x

Ooh, veg fritters sound nice – stealing! Also hash, same idea: fry up chopped onion, leftover potatoes, leftover chopped veg, add some chilli powder, plonk in baking dish and make hollows on top for eggs, bake til eggs are done, serve with ketchup and hot sauce.

What have you got in your cupboards?

We make a roast on Sunday. Usually babe enough for another on Monday and then with the leftover mash and veg I usually make a bubble and squeak
Mash and use it as a cottage pie topping. Nice way to get more veg into your diet. It freezes well too.

So three days worth of evening meals.

Tuna bake is usually doable too with basics. It's just pasta tuna and a sachet mix if nothing else is in the fridge

These are two of my go-to cheap recipes.

Chorizo omelette (from a jamie Oliver book) - fry chopped chorizo and add chopped tomato. Beat eggs add chopped chilli, tip into pan. Add spring onion on top.

Chilli bacon tomato Rigatoni (obvs any pasta will work.) - slice garlic and fry. Add bacon and fry until brown. Add passata and chilli flakes. Simmer for 30 mins and the stir into cooked pasta.

Always a winner too - fishfinger sandwiches!