To want you to share your cheap recipe ideas.

[WheresAllTheGoodInTheWorld]

Just working out how much I've wasted on food this month an I'm disgusted. I fall for the BOGOFS and only £1. Then my potion sizes are ridiculous. And we use far too much meat.. Please don't judge as I've seen the errors and I'm here with pen and paper ready for all suggestions.
Plus in the middle of applying for UC as on 1 wage home. And fonn a have to wait about 6 weeks on just his salary. So nows a good time to Start

For 3 adult size portions and a toddler.

Portion not potion.. Altho a nice potion to stop teen strops would be good.

The BBC good food, mixed bean chilli, is so delicious and really cheap. We don't bother with the chocolate and it's still amazing

Snippets of bacon, whisked seasoned egg, parmesan, can add peas or precooked pepper etc. Drain pasta and while still hot pour egg on and mix up. I use this when I have bacon breakfast to use up!

Other left over meal is Spanish omelette. Defrost a few frozen oven chips and chop, chop up all veggies left overs, add a bit of onion, herbs, anything. Fry in pan, when hot pour over whisked eggs, sprinkle with cheese and pop in the oven for 10 mins

Talking the reliance on meat, that will massively push up you bill.
Vegetable curries and veg and mixed bean chilli are pretty cheap, particularly if you have a stock cupboard of spices.
You can also use more flavoursome meats sparingly so that meals aren’t necessarily veggie but have a lot less meat. Things like bacon and chorizo in pasta dishes are ideal for this.
Look at Jack Monroe’s site, she has loads of really cheap but tasty recipes.
What kind of thing do you eat normally? Maybe if you post your regular meal plan or shopping list people could make suggestions as to ways to cut costs.

We love egg fried rice just a big pan of rice. Left to go cold put it in a wok with oil and make a well in the middle and crack in one egg or 2 depending on how much rice beat the egg in the middle and as it starts to scramble mix in the rice. Add soy sauce to taste and frozen pease and corn. I do add leftover chicken if there's some leftover from Sunday dinner but it's good without it.

When I make a spag bol or chilli just buy a smaller portion of mince and add lots and lots of onions, peppers, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes, grated carrots (whatever you have in the fridge really) you'll end up with a huge pan full of food which you can divide into portions and freeze for when you need it which works out cheaper as you use less energy than if you were cooking fresh every night.

Chorizo beans - fry a sliced onion, add small amount of finely chopped chorizo (and dried chilli if you like the heat or a spoonful of pesto/some herbs whatever ). Add carton of Sainsbury's basics passata and simmer for 15 mins - drain tin of basics baked beans and add to the tomato sauce - simmer for another 30 mins. Serve with rice/pasta/on toast.

Have a look at the Girl Called Jack website - lots of really nice inexpensive recipes (the salmon paste pasta is delicious but serve with a salad or add veg - peas/sweetcorn/broccoli etc)

Homemade pizza must be one of the cheapest meals I make and always goes down well.

Make sure you weigh pasta and rice instead of just tipping it into the pan - it makes it so much easier to keep portion sizes reasonable.

A fav of ours is sweet chilli gnocchi- once your gnocchi is cooked, drain and whack a huge spoon of Philadelphia type cheese (I use aldi’s own brand) in along with about quarter a bottle of sweet chilli sauce. We throw prawns in aswell to jazz it up a bit!

1 small onion - 12p
2 tomatoes - 24 p
I tin of Sainsburys 5 beans in hot and spicy sauce.- 40p = 76p
Chop onions first, fry off, add chopped tomatoes, after a couple of minutes add beans, heat through. Add chilli flakes if you want more heat. 38p a portion, serve with rice, jacket potato or toast.

Brown rice and vegetables. Fry an onion, add some garlic and curry powder (or mix of spices), chuck in rice and vegetable stock, cook as per instructions, 10 minutes before the end chuck in some frozen mixed veg. Serve with a poached/fried egg, or chicken, prawns or whatever you fancy.

Pan haggerty - slices of potato layered with grated cheese and sliced onion, cooked in frying pan with a lid on. Serve with tinned tomatoes.

Could quite happily live of these 3 recipes, just rotating them, with porridge for breakfast and a sandwich with a bit of salad for lunch.