When your broke what meals can you always make?

[45hopperbunny]

I have exactly £1.61 to last me until next Friday! I had to buy a bed outright at the end if last month so being £400 down for a month has had a massive impact.

It made me wonder though, when you’re super broke and have no money, what meals can you make at home? Or what food do you always have indoors?

I can always make,

• lasagna
• spag bol
• chicken & pasta
• tuna pasta

I always have in the house,

• pasta
• spaghetti
• bread
• some sort of food in the oven to last some days if need be
• beans
• eggs
• DD’s (15m old) porridge, yoghurts and fruit

Just wondered what other people have in their cupboards/fridge all the time!

Jacket potatoes and baked beans.

Pesto pasta

Lentil and vegetable soup with cheese scones
Vegetarian spaghetti bolognese (green lentils)
Chili con carne (vegetarian with mixed beans)
Greek roast chicken BBC Good Food - but I would stick any meat I had on it, in an emergency
Egg curry

I think you might like the SuperCook app, you enter every ingredient in your home and it gives you recipes.

Lots of different pasta dishes - tuna, bolognaise, puttanesca
Curry with frozen prawns
Noodles with whatever veg we have
Beans on toast

@BastardtheCat

To cook lentils...

Fry a finely chopped onion with (dried, fresh or frozen) garlic and ginger, add dried chilli, Lentils, water, stock cube, turmeric cook until soft. Add finely chopped coriander if you have it.

Variations include using coconut milk instead of some of the water, adding cumin, adding curry leaves at the end and adding green beans 8 mins before the end.

Another lentil dish

Fry chopped onions, garlic, carrots and celery with optional pancetta/bacon/lardons add lentils, stock and herbs de Provence cook until soft. If you have fresh parsley add at the end.

I could always make a sausage casserole if needed (always have them in the freezer).
Plus, always have eggs/cheese so could do numerous egg based meals.

At one stage I was very hard up for money. I would pour half a jar of cheap supermarket own brand jalfrezi sauce over some own brand rice. I'd then use the remainder of the sauce and so the same again the second day. I didn't add any meat etc. Incredibly cheap and filling and tasted surprisingly ok too!

Definitely a vegetable curry, probably a spag bol or a lasagne. Sausage casserole, or just a basic pasta dish with a homemade tomato sauce. Flatbreads for sure. I have an extra freezer and a good supply of herbs, pasta, tinned stuff - I keep a larder, just like my Nan did I guess.

This is partly down to a childhood with a mother who couldn't cook; to a feckless ex-DP who couldn't hold down a job; and partly because I grew up in a mining town in the 80s, and we never seemed to have any food.

Yep I agree with this , get decent quality steak and you should not have to beat it in to submission first ! 😃 I also grill mine sometimes but I have a ferociously hot grill I get this one

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/300400621

Dont get this one , its got a odd texture and is chewy and fatty ( not just my opinion see reviews ) and is more expensive , finest my arse !

Opps forgot the link ,
Don't get this one
www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/302305587

fish (tuna) pie if you have sweet corn and or baked beans they can be mixed into tuna with an onion or half a capsicum (if you have one) add paprika or dash of curry powder or/and herbs top with potato
tuna fish cakes add herbs s serve with baked beans or dhal (wash lentils than boil in a reasonable amount of water - fry onions they should go crispy but before they have got to that stage add spice see brackets(if you have cumin and coriander or use curry power) fry the spice for a few seconds - when dhal has gone soft and absorbed water add salt to taste (never before as it stops it going soft) than add onions and spice mix - dhal is nice with boiled rice by its self (a dash of tomato sauce goes with it and finely slice half an onion and mix in a little vinegar or better still if you have it mix in mince sauce - dhal and rice go with fish (hence fish cake) - it use to be dh & I & dc friday night meal a spin on fish and chips.
Tuna can be made into a risotto or pilau (spice herbs combination differs slightly) pilau add frozen peas fry onions until soft than a teaspoon of whatever spice you have (half a teaspoon of curry powder would work) risotto fry onion and add either tom puree or open a can of toms (tomato sauce can be used instead not perfect but it works but limit how much you use it is pretty intense flavour.
We have made tuna into a bolognaise in the past you will need to drain fry onions add tomato -puree tin or what ever than add tuna later and herbs -
Storage cupboard - onions spices and herbs Worcester Sauce is useful and mint sauce tomatoes tins or puree sweet corn and beans a single capsicum can be divided up into 4 servings for one person
baked beans can be made into a bean chilli again fry onion add curry powder or chilli or paprika if you have capsicum cut finely and about a quarter would go in nicely - if you have carrots add them add baked beans mix and let it cook you may need a bit more tom puree or a dash of tinned toms serve with rice
Eggs are also incredibly versatile - pancakes sweet and savoury (tinned fruit goes with sweet ones if you have some) egg, pea and potato curry (need onions toms and curry powder) omelettes eggy bread/french toast quiche egg mayonnaise sandwiches

Some meals I always make when needing to use ingredients that I tend to have in the cupboards and freezer:

• Macaroni cheese
• My favourite simple, cheap and easy dish is pasta tossed in olive oil with parmesan cheese mixed through. I could eat it forever
• Sausage/chicken/tuna/veg pasta bake
• Corned beef hash (can of corned beef, tin of beans, mashed potato on top, cheese to go on top if you've got it)
• I use my slow cooker a lot and love to put in chicken, bacon, tinned tomatoes, a tin of mixed beans, any bits of veg I have left over in the fridge. I slow cook it and serve it with rice
• Omelette filled with any leftovers I have like veg, bacon, cheese. Served with veg or baked beans
• Toastie with soup
• Egg and chips
• The classic breakfast tea - sausages, bacon, eggs, beans, chips, mushrooms, tomatoes - obviously doesn't need to have all those ingredients!
• Jacket potatoes - I actually love them with just butter and salt

If we had no money until payday then we'd be able to use dried pasta , tomato sauce with dried mixed herbs, chilli and garlic .
Beans on toast.
Freezer surprise.

I keep peppers, spinach , mushrooms in the freezer as well as peas and sweetcorn.
There's usually a few random sausages , mince, chops in there.

We'd be ok for quite a while to be honest.

Pasta with cheese and black pepper.
Always have sausages in the freezer so toad in the hole

We always have
Pasta
Noodles
Rice
Baked beans
Random can of chickpeas or mixed beans or similar
Pasta sauce
Tinned tomatoes
Tinned soup
Tuna cans
Canned or frozen veg
Bread
Eggs

We always have a lot of stock cubes, herbs and spices so that I should be able to pull something together from it. I've started building up a stock of cupboard staples like chow mein sauce, pesto or stir in sauce, beef and ale sauce for the slow cooker (nice done with just button mushrooms and other veg if no beef available). These are often from the likes of Home Bargains.

Some of these honestly sound quite nice, I’ll be trying quite a few things mentioned!

Also, thank you for the links and thank you @jewishmum that app looks perfect

Pesto pasta
omlette or Spanish omlette
Jacket potato’s

Oh and stuffed pancakes - if you’ve got milk eggs flour cheese and maybe some mushrooms or something they are cheap and surprisingly filling

I currently have:
Pasta - five packages including lasagna noodles.
Rice (I buy 10lb bags).
Couscous.
Cornmeal.
Masa mix for tamales.

Dried beans and lentils - black beans, French green lentils, masoor dal lentils, green split peas, yellow split peas.
Red bean and rice box mix, Spanish rice box mix.
Corn muffin mix x4.

Canned - crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, white beans, black beans, chick peas, chili beans with sauce, kidney beans, tuna, sardines. Also peaches in pear juice and several cans of pumpkin.

Various jams.
Lady finger biscuits for tiramisu.

Pantry - flour (plain, SR, strong), sugar (brown and white), molasses, dried cranberries, sultanas, chocolate chips, baking soda and baking powder, two boxes of cake mix, cocoa powder x2, powdered milk, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk.

Pesto in the fridge along with jar of pickles, relish and various other condiments, dried yeast in a jar. Also in the fridge - yogurt, sour cream, various kinds of cheese incl mascarpone for tiramisu for a DD's upcoming birthday, butter, butter and olive oil spread, half a jar of curry sauce, half a jar of jam, salsa, whole wheat flour, almond flour, ground almonds, various nuts which would go rancid in the pantry, and natural peanut butter which separates at room temp, a loaf of Russian rye bread which will go mouldy if left out, and 15 eggs (American eggs need refrigeration). Plus apple juice, milk, almond milk, oat milk, kefir. Leftover turkey and black bean chili.
Various veggies incl spinach, carrots, parsnip, turnip, onion, zucchini, celery, mushrooms - I'm making soup today.

Freezer: a smoked fish, frozen non smoked fish, frozen chili, peas, corn, stir fry veggie mix, green beans, mixed berries, blackberries, cherries, blueberries, bananas to be made into banana bread, chopped spinach. Pork chops, andouille sausages, hot dogs, packet of bacon.

Bread basket: flour tortillas, sliced bread for French toast, hot dog buns.

I never keep potatoes as they tend not to last here. I buy them for specific meals.

I won't be going to the supermarket again until October except to buy milk, bread, and fresh veg. Also need cream for the tiramisu.

@Hungryharriet your liver ragout sounds like something I’d like! Would love the recipe..

When I'm down to the bottom of the barrel we'll have pasta with plain tomato sauce. I also like to toss sardines with pasta, and I make a very filling mixed bean chili. I generally only cook twice a week and we eat leftovers on days I don't cook.

I also have two bags of frozen garlic and ginger cubes. So handy..

Ramen with added whatever veg is around

Daal
Instant ramen with frozen peas and a boiled egg
Pasta and a jar sauce or a basic tomato and onion sauce from scratch
Pasta and tinned sardines/anchovies
Omelette