To have found the best cheap lunch

[Overthebow]

with the cost of living going up I’m trying to find cheap lunch ideas for work.

this week: pot of pate £1, loaf of bread £0.80, bag of apples £1.50. Pate on toast and an apple, cost for the whole week only £3.30 and really filling.

anyone else got any cheap lunch ideas?

Garlic, red lentils and yellow split peas, salt, pepper and then a bit of turmeric and cumin. Cook for a bit and then do the tarka for the top (hot oil, onions and chillis)

recipes.frescocooks.com/en-GB/4948-tarka-dahl

I don't know if a slow cooker would work well. You need to stir regularly and mash and removing the lid of the slow cooker let's the heat out.

Cheers. I'm never very confident with daal. My meat curry dishes are pretty decent, if I say so myself, but the daal is nothing like how it tastes in a restaurant. Wondered if slow cooking would be the answer.

Thanks for the tips all. I wish I had a pressure cooker!

These are all great ideas! I’m going to try dhal next week I think.

Same, I really want to get it nailed. It's so nice, healthy and cheap, silly not to.

@AppleandRhubarbTart I used to do it in the slowcooker. Can't leave it though like other meals. Needs stirring or you get a crust and it only takes 3ish hours.

Pate on toast and an apple wouldn’t fill me up :( I’d be starving an hour later!

Cheapest I can think of is 3 crumpets 11p. Butter 15p bit marmite. This thread is like the Mumsnet chicken thread. Everyone has to find the cheapest item from the supermarket.
Yesterday I got a box of mushrooms for 20p from Aldi. I could make soup but I’ll use them in an omelette.
The trouble with cheap food shopping is buying other non food items like plants.

I think the secret to good dhal, and probably all cooking is seasoning.

Could always add an own brand yogurt to it, £1 for 6 and about 100 calories each. 450 calories is a perfectly good amount for lunch, assuming it’s not all you eat that day! I tend to have breakfast, dinner and snacks too so not scrimping on calories.

I just over cook the night before so I have a portion for lunch the next day. That's always seemed the cheapest option for me.

Delia's How To Cheat book did a good one that I twiddle with
Bag of rocket, spinsch and watercress 60p (ish)
Mashed potato (I microwave one or two while the green are wilting)
Stock of some sort
I add wild garlic from the garden and any other odds and ends, eg nettles
A bit of milk

Usually enough for 4 decent portions, pretty cheap.

Got a few tins of chickpeas lurking around - anyone got a good recipe for those? Not to hot spicy though.
Used to do ryvita with cream cheese for lunch sometimes when on a budget. Usually 3 ryvita, add ham, tomato, cucumber or tuna for a bit extra.

Oooo and me, every morning!

And homemade leek and potato soup is quite filling.
Chop 2 leeks. Fry in some butter to brown. Add a pint of veg stock. Add 1 large potato chopped up. Simmer until potato cooked. Season to taste (although the stock can be quite salty). Leave to cool for a bit so can liquidise. Liquidise- I usually add a tub of cream cheese when doing this, and some milk to loosen the soup. Usually get 4 or 5 bowls (and might be able to freeze it).

I think you're probably right. Mostly I tend to be good at that but not cracked it yet with daal- my lentil and veg soup is fine though! It's probably trial and error.

Thanks @Ohdoleavemealone

With the Dahl you can do different toppings to change it and add some variation (and vegetables). I love doing some curried radish for the top, or coriander and carrots.

My favourites are:
Broccoli Soup
Spicy radish and curried greens
Risotto (but I don’t add wine)

@Topbird29 use the chickpeas to make carrot or sweet potato falafels yum yum

Big pot of potato soup

half a pack of carrots 20p
stick cubes 40p
bag of baby potatoes 89p
turnip 58p
leek 50p

total £2.67 and five large portions so far with more left for tomorrow…plus i love it. Probably about 40p a portion then a slice or two of bread if you want.

Oh, and my own cheapo recipe is a soup one.

Fry up two onions, two carrots and about a bulbs worth of garlic. Quantities not exact, plus I like my food garlicky so you may want to use less. Add chicken stock, barley, red lentils, a stock cube and about half a pint of water, bit more if you like your soup more liquidy. Don't scrimp on the salt or pepper, and put a knob of butter or marge in too for richness. Then cook on the hob for about half an hour or 40 minutes. It's delicious with some crusty bread, and the whole pan comes in at under a pound excluding cooking costs- not sure what they would be. Does 3 or 4 portions. If it doesn't taste that nice yet, you need to add more seasoning then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes. It's very hearty and great for cold days.

You can do the stock with any chicken bones in a slow cooker and even a bit of it in a soup goes a long way.

For me the secret to dal is the tarka , the spiced oil at the end. So just cook lentils with spices, onion, water but then melt butter/oil and quickly fry fresh garlic, fresh ginger, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric, anything else (couple of chopped tomatoes are good as is chilli ).

pour that over cooked lentils (watching for the splatter) then stir in loads of salt and chopped coriander and joins a good ‘un

I’ve started doing a huge pan of pasta with red pesto, sweetcorn and chicken. It costs around £7 but there’s enough to do two pans full (so about 10 lunches).
Also chickpeas are only 25p a tin and are brilliant in the air fryer with some spices on top and you get a few portions (or 2 if you’re greedy like me!) they’re very filling and great on the side if you’re having a sandwich or something.

Anna Jones (in her book ‘One pot, pan, planet’) has a recipe for lemon, tomato and cardamom dhal that is bloody amazing, and I always double up the quantities so I can have some in the freezer. You may be able to find it online.

Also, Nisha at Rainbowplantlife.com has a recipe for vegan Dal Makhani that is lovely. I’m not vegan so I use more convenient substitutes for some of the ingredients, and again, it’s easy to batch cook a load of it if you’ve got a bit of time.

Admittedly both of these need quite a few spices etc which would bump the price up if you don’t already have them, but they’re such a brilliant way of making really tasty meals from mainly cheap ingredients.

This lentil curry is lovely and makes a big batch.

www.recipetineats.com/lentil-curry-mega-flavour-lentil-recipe/

I had a jacket potato with cheese and some lettuce and tomatoes.
Potatoes x4 - 39p
Cheese - small sprinkle plus we use for other meals
Lettuce 59p
Cherry Tom's 89p
Bananas - 99p