Cheap food/meal ideas please!!!

[Wavygravy1]

Sorry I know it’s not an AIBU but we are a family of 5, 2 adults, 2 teenagers and a 5 year old. We go through ridiculous amounts of snacks.

Has anyone got any cheap recipes/ideas for snacks?

Also meals - I feel stuck in a rut. Me and one of the teens are vegetarian, others will eat veggie/meat substitutes so that’s ok.

We’ve just had to get a new car on finance after loads went wrong with ours and I’m panicking about really struggling for money come winter.

I am not so good with snacks, but for veggie meals:
Stirfry ( Tesco stirfry packs are decent value for our family of light eaters but it will be a lot cheaper to cut your own veg)
Daal
Quesadillas filled with black beans and cheese and sweet corn
Tacos ditto
Sticky tofu and broccoli or any other veg on rice
Veggie traybakes with halloumi for protein
"Dirty rice" with bits of any vegetable disguised with soy and chilli and garlic
Baked mushrooms or peppers stuffed with rice or cheese

I don't really use meat substitutes as they are not to my taste.

I find going Asian or Mexican is cheaper if your kids will eat it as much less meat is used.

One of our cheap go to’s is a pasta arrabbiata.

Penne, Passata/chopped tomatoes and then either two red chillis and four garlic cloves or lazy garlic and lazy chilli to taste. Really cheap to make especially when you get the 32p penne from Tesco or Asda.
Tesco also do garlic baguettes for 32p so

2x garlic bread, 64p
Pasta (even if you say two bags) 64p
Passata (again, say two) 90p
Garlic = 30p
Two chillis = 20p

£2.50 to feed everyone.

We also cook a lot with lentils and chickpeas.

If anyone needs a snack, give them toast.

Pasta and rice are reasonably cheap and filling, as is anything with mashed potato.

I have two greedy teenagers and one almost teenager who is constantly playing one sport or another - we have moved from snacks, like crisps and biscuits, to "proper" food like sausage rolls or toasted sandwiches when they're peckish. You can make sausage rolls in the oven (or air fryer if you're part of the air fryer massive!) much cheaper than shop ones, using veggie sausages or good quality meat ones. You can also make those bacon and cheese puff pastry things they sell in Greggs for a fraction of the cost - just a square of puff pastry, a slice of cheese and a piece of bacon on top, then fold the corners in and bake until they're cooked.

Yes, toast is the go to snack here with fruit on the side. Also baked potatoes. And cheese.

I also make a lot of Indian rice dishes- you can Google- such as tomato rice or lemon rice but these may not be to everyone's taste and you likely won't have the spices? Cheap once you get the spics though.

Teen DS has recently got into smoothies with bananas and whatever fruit is going off and a spoon of peanut butter. It really fills him up. Not exactly a snack but worth encouraging.

Thanks everyone some great ideas here, think I need to buy a toastie maker!!

Not sure if it's cheap but it's not too bad, I make this a lot and it's delicious.

Cheese & pea risotto.

Sounds disgusting, it's actually lovely.

I use: Frozen peas, chicken stock, risotto rice, mascarpone cheese and small amount of grated cheddar cheese, and garlic salt, salt & pepper to season.

It delicious and filling 😀

If you have no issues with nut allergies then I highly recommend apples with nut butter as a snack. Nut butter isn’t cheap I know but you only need a spoonful and Morrisons does enormous bags of apples cheaply. The extra protein and fat means it fills you for longer than toast and the bulk of the apples leaves your tummy feeling full. I do a couple for breakfast on a morning and it helps even out my bloodsugar and keeps me going until lunch.

Granola and yoghurt goes down a treat here-I buy the big tubs of yoghurt for 89p at Lidl (I get 3) and a bag of granola for £1.49. Tends to go down well.

Fresh fruit, I always have in, but I have started buying big bags of raisins/sultanas too.

Mashed avocado has become a big hit on seeded toast

Peanut butter on wholemeal toast. Its been better if you put a scrspevof jam kn yhd toast before adding the peanut butter and then dome chopped banana. I buy the one without the added sugar from Lidl.

Hunger and sausage fingers responsible for the typos- sorry.

Macaroni cheese is a cheap and filling go-to for my family. You can save the faff of making the white sauce by mixing Elmlea double with mustard and grated cheese, stirring into cooked pasta, topping with cheese and breadcrumbs, and baking it in the oven. I tend to add sweetcorn and sometimes fried bacon cubes.

I don’t really eat the meat substitutes very often. They’re expensive.

I do a lot of curries - chickpea and potato, lentils etc. All cheap. Stir fries with cashews or tofu. For sandwiches - cheese and salad or falafel and salad wraps. I make lentil and ricotta pasta bake and mushroom and ricotta lasagne. I will eat vegie sausages sometimes and have them with mash or in toad in the hole (make separate dish for the family).

I don’t eat a lot of snacks because I don’t get time. A piece of fruit or some fruit with yoghurt some days.

The most expensive things I buy are eggs and dairy (I also buy meat for the rest of the family).

Big bag of sweet potatoes. You can make all sorts from that.. fries, crisps etc.

Or the corn used to make popcorn. Add some butter and curry powder. Makes a change from the usual sweet or salted.