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?

That sounds amazing

www.jamieoliver.com/features/lentils-and-basic-tarka-dhal-recipe/

This one. I used a mix of red and yellow lentils.

My parents always shared a tall tin of soup but I think you really need a full tin.

Does anyone have a recipe they recommend. Believe it or not, never had a Dal.

Same but I do dal and pitta

Gorgeous!

See pics for a really easy Madhur Jeffrey recipe. Enjoy!

I agree, I lived in London until 3 years ago and the cost of food and eating out is the same in the area I’m in now, even though the rents/cost of housing is much lower.

Does anyone have a recipe they recommend. Believe it or not, never had a Dal.

@TheRealHousewife have a look around page 5/6, quite a few great recommendations.

I quite often do pea and bacon soup (a rasher of bacon and 2 cups of frozen peas in a cupful of veg stock per person, simmer til it smells lovely, strip the medallion off the bacon and keep to one side, blend the absolute crap out of the rest, chop the medallion and use it as garnish). Reheats well and isn't antisocial in an office kitchen.

Red lentil hummus is really cheap to make at home too if for any reason you can't get/don't like chickpeas.

Riboletto (Tuscan Black cabbage, bean and bread stew) is gorgeous, cheap, and good for using up leftover bits and pieces, especially stale bread.

And if you like jacket potatoes and havea freezer pop a couple of potatoes in the oven when you're doing any long bakes/roasts, then freeze them as precooked jacket potatoes.

We’re on scrambled eggs on toast!!

The too good to go app is pretty good too. Although it's worth checking it throughout the day as some things sell pretty quickly early on and the contents inside it is just luck of the draw. I got a pack of cheese strings, cheese and onion roll, 2 chicken tikka slices and 4 gammon steaks which went in the freezer and some new potatoes for £3.60 it is all that days stuff but most stuff is freezable. I did once end up with about 8 multi packs of pepper pig yogurts so with them I just ate what I could manage and binned the rest. Places like costa and greggs also do too good to go lucky bags but I've never been quick enough to get one of theirs so I've no idea what the contents are actually like.

Baking potato and cheap beans or hummus...

I'm confused, hasn't lunch always been a very cheap meal to put together?

Why? The can says serves 2. It fills a whole bowl. Plus garlic bread. Plenty of calories for lunch! It's never occurred to me to eat a whole can!

Dont eat lunch......

You do realise a can of soup only says it’s two portions so they can keep the salt and sugar per portion to a half reasonable amount don’t you? It’s about 100-150 calories usually. Adding the garlic bread makes it more of a meal but it’s one of the things the people with rather disordered eating mention (minus garlic bread) as a meal.

Heinz Tomato soup comes in two sizes, a single and a double serving.
I'm going to give so many of these ideas a try.

Bag of sweet potatoes and tub of houmous. Bake a sweet potato (or microwave if you’re not WFH) and serve with a big dollop of houmous. It tastes delicious and is very filling

Just throwing it out there that yes some lunches can be cheap, but are they nutritious/filling to have every day.
I knew this would be said in some way on a cheap food thread. Sometimes, for some people, it’s the choice between food that’s not so nutritious and will take the edge off or nothing at all.

For anyone really struggling I recommend joining “Food-Surviving on 50p a day” Facebook group. For those who think Camembert and Salami is a cheap idea probably not for you.

When out and about, Lidl do a fab goats cheese and cherry tomato focaccia for 69p, add some fruit and a bottle of water (I think about 19p) and you have a very tasty, filling and frugal lunch. They also do veg/margherita pizza slices for the same price (actually I think the MP version is 241 too)

No it doesn’t. It comes in a 300g or a 400g tin. If 300g is one serving 400 quite clearly isn’t two and vice Versa. The 300g tin is the one we got for my gran in her late 80s when she had the appetite of a bird.

Im getting that if you are trying to save money you stretch things but it’s risky to suggest 120 calories of soup (which is about half the 400g tin) is a good regular meal for an adult.

I have just discovered steak pies from cooplands (Yorkshire brand) they look a bit underwhelming but they are so tasty and packed with meat.

I warm then (and add a bit more colour) for 15 mins in the oven.

2 for £2.45, tin of mushy peas 55p, and a cupful of reduced salt bisto gravy 12p ish. Feeds 2 and more or a hearty dinner than a lunch.

Crisp sandwich, unbeatable. Not healthy, obviously.

This is really poor nutritionally though. Basically salt and fat!
I'm sure it's fine every now and again but maybe not every day!

Home made soup is my go to. I don’t even use a recipe. An onion fried off a bit, the title ingredient (from my allotment or frozen, usually) top off with hot water and a stock cube, simmer till soft, blend. It’s pennies, even if you buy the veg. Carrot and coriander, pea or leek and potato are my faves.

I make homemade bread as well - flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and water. Costs pennies to make a week’s worth of bread rolls and they aren’t fussy about cooking temperature so you can put them in the oven when it’s on for something else. I freeze them and take them out in the morning, so they’re defrosted by lunchtime and you’ve got freshly baked bread for lunch. I’m sure white sliced is cheaper, but in terms of not feeling like it’s cheap, it’s hard to get luxury for less than fresh bread.