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4 meals for £10

48 replies

Grinchonrepeat · 10/12/2022 16:53

My challenge for the week, spending a fair bit on Christmas days out this weekend. Can I make four dinners-Mon-Thurs (for 3 people) for £10?
Any ideas please

OP posts:
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9
Slimjimtobe · 10/12/2022 16:55

Oh tricky but I would go for
pasta and pesto (cheaper brand garlic bread)

two nights of that

then something like jacket potatoes with cheese and beans

nellyelloe · 10/12/2022 16:56

Bag of cheap white potatoes and cheap sausages - sausage and mash

DrManhattan · 10/12/2022 16:57

Another vote for pasta

karmakameleon · 10/12/2022 16:57

Of course you can. I’d do jackets with cheese and beans, chickpea curry (serve with pita bread as it’s cheaper than naan), veg stir fry and eggs on toast.

Cheesuswithallama · 10/12/2022 16:59

Yeah but it won't be exactly enjoyable...
That is 80p a person, isn't it.

What do you normally eat? It's all well to suggest stuff but if you eat completely different type of food it would just waste time

Flapjackquack · 10/12/2022 17:00

www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/cheap_family_dinners

This might help OP. They aim for under £1 per portion.

declutteringmymind · 10/12/2022 17:01

Omelettes

MRex · 10/12/2022 17:04

Spanish omelette, pasta with pesto & veg, cheesy bean baked potato, chicken & veg with whatever spices you like on rice, 2* pizzas and add some cheese... £10 isn't particularly tricky if you scrimp on your meat/veg spend by getting stuff in season, on offer, frozen, small portions on the meat etc.

purplethings · 10/12/2022 17:06

Buy a bag of cheap flour. Wraps are just made with flour and water and can be cooked in frying pan with no oil. Make fillings with tinned kidney beans, tinned toms, chilie and an onion,also with grated cheese. Pancakes too are really cheap to make and you can have them sweet or with savoury fillings. Tin of ready cooked lentils a carrot and onion to make a cheap daal curry with rice.

Elbo7 · 10/12/2022 17:07

It depends where you shop but if it's a cheaper supermarket you could get a largish pack of mince, bag of peppers, bag of onions, 4 x tinned toms and other assorted veg and split into 3 to make spaghetti bolognese, chilli and rice and beef stew with couscous. Then maybe for the fourth day veg pasta again? Roast the veggies, use a different pasta, something like that to mix it up a bit?

Luredbyapomegranate · 10/12/2022 17:08

If you have pasta and rice and tinned tomatoes and lentils and/or tuna in the in the cupboard then yes, also ideally frozen peas and maybe tinned sweetcorn - then buy some potatoes, veg of whatever kind you can pick up cheaply, big cheap block of cheddar to grate

If you have pasta then make a pasta sauce with reduced tinned tomatoes, lentils to bulk if you have them. Drop in any veg you can pick up cheap.

If you have rice then do a risotto with frozen peas, bit of cheese to serve.

Baked potato night - cook the potatoes, scoop them out mix the inside with grated cheese, sauté onions and mushrooms / whatever, and put it under the grill to brown.
or you can do it with tuna, if you like cooked tuna.

Tortilla - Spanish omelette with whatever veg you can pick up cheap. If you don’t have potatoes tinned ones work very well.

Tomato Potarto pie. Boiled potatoes, tin of tomatoes, ideally some precooked onions,a lot of grated cheese, in the oven to brown.

Pasta pie, as above but with pasta. Some people do tuna pasta bake.

Macaroni cheese. Going heavy on the mustard allows you to get away with cheaper less flavourful cheese.

if you are more of a cook:

You could also make a Tuscan bean stew - basically tinned tomatoes, butter beans (or whatever kind you have). I am mostly to lazy to cook but this is lovely.

veg chilli with either black beans or lentils

As you can tell I am not a cook, but Jack Munroe and BBC food are both good for recipes

thelobsterquadrille · 10/12/2022 17:09

You can, but they'll be a bit dull and repetitive I think. I would go for:

Jacket potatoes x 4 with cheese and beans.
Omelettes with frozen veg and cheese.
Veggie stir fry
Pasta with peas and pesto.

GerbilsForever24 · 10/12/2022 17:10

What do you have in already in terms of store cupboard stuff? Because that would make a big difference.

Baked beans can be jazzed up with a little bacon or chorizo and chopped onion and made into a "stew" with rice. Or just do beans on jacket potatoes if you're buying from scratch.

A packet of chicken thighs can go a long way if turned into a slow cooked chicken stew - chopped onion and carrots, stock (add a bit of wine if you have some old wine lying around, but not essential), preferred herbs/spices from cupboard as per your preference. Buy a tin of chickpeas or cannillini beans to add at the end - heat it through while you strip the chicken (it goes much further this way). Serve with Rice.

Scrambled egg on toast with a few veg on the side? Or omelette?

Iam4eels · 10/12/2022 17:10

I'd look at something that would do for two days like a big pan of broth that'll last for two days.

Eggs are cheap-ish and versatile. You could do omelette, fried eggs, quiche, etc.

Jacket potatoes, most supermarkets do a four pack of baking potatoes for around 50p.

Another meal that will stretch to extra days if you make extra is a tomato sauce. Six tins of basics chopped tomatoes is less than £2, then add whatever you have in the way of onions and veg, mince if you have any (quorn is usually cheaper than meat). Use it as bolognese on the first day, add spices next day for chilli, then cheese and sour cream next day for burrito bowls. Obviously assuming you have store cupboard ingredients.

GerbilsForever24 · 10/12/2022 17:11

Also, big vegetable soup with bread? Butternut is substantial and nutritious?

SapphosRock · 10/12/2022 17:16

Have a look at Miguel Barclay's £1 meals for inspiration and the Too Good to Go app for bargain groceries.

You can make your own flatbreads for pennies by mixing flour and water then frying in a dry pan.

My top cheap meals:

Lentil lasagne

Jacket potato with cheese & beans

Beans on toast with omelette

5128gap · 10/12/2022 17:25

Yes, easily if you forgo meat and fish in favour of tinned beans/pulses, buy wonky and yellow ticket veg, 4 tins of tomatos, some rice and cheap pasta, and have some herbs and spices in your cupboard.
Veg chilli with jackets or rice
Veg pasta with tomato sauce
Lentil stew with mash
Lentil curry with rice

TheAngryFeminist · 10/12/2022 17:26

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Cheesuswithallama · 10/12/2022 17:33

Just carefully with the Monroe's recipes unless you want to lose weight. Lots are very waek calorie wise.

Cheesuswithallama · 10/12/2022 17:33

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Blocked · 10/12/2022 17:39

Replace meat mince with this soya mince from Holland Barrett www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-savoury-soya-protein-mince-60082491 It will easily keep the family eating for a week and it's nice! Spaghetti bolognese one night, cottage pie the next, keema the night after. Maybe lentil soup the night after that for a break from soya mince Grin (1/4 bag red lentils, one onion, one carrot, 2 stock cubes, boil it all together for half an hour)

This all depends on you having some basics in the cupboard obviously. Always shop your cupboards and your freezer first!

TheAngryFeminist · 10/12/2022 17:56

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midsomermurderess · 10/12/2022 17:58

This egg and lentil curry doesn’t cost much to make and you could easily get 2 meals out of it if you up the quantities.

2bazookas · 10/12/2022 18:03

Buy a raw chicken, pkt of pasta, spend the rest on veg from the reduced area.

Day 1. roast chicken dinner with veg and gravy
Day 2, chicken slices in gravy , baked potatoes,
Day 3 pick the carcase, use the bits for a pasta chicken bake.
Say 4 boil up the carcase for stock and make soup.