To ask for your really cheap ideas to feed 5 on a budget

[turquoisegem]

Family of 5.
3 teens not yet of working age.
Food is costing us a fortune at the moment with growing kids and food prices on the hike.

The older boys have huge appetites so I'm hoping for some ideas for meals we can cook on a budget please?
I feel like I'm spending a fortune and still struggling to make it go round.

We do two nights a week meat free. That's a big help. Then when I do meat we add beans in. So a pack of mince would do two meals rather than one.

Can I ask which type of lentils do you use to bulk out a Bolognese or Chilli. My favourite lentils are Puy lentils which I use to bulk out curries. Would they work in a spag Bolognese or do I need the type that break down more?

I love black beans and they can be used to bulk spicy chicken meals.

Soya mince (TVP) in a big bag from Amazon. Half and half with beef mince if you want a more meaty taste.

pulled pork works out cheap and you can freeze half of it for next time

I use the orange lentils with my
mince but you need to get a feel for quantities because they do change the consistency if you use too much. Finely grated courgette is very good too and doesn’t seem to have that issue. I’ve read about people adding porridge oats to mince but I have never tried myself.
For “veggie” chilli I like to use chorizo and fry it off at the start which adds the meaty flavour without the cost. ( we’re not actually veggie obviously). We have that about once a fortnight to use up random veg.

80p tesco cooking bacon, cheap pasta, homemade cheese sauce made with butter milk and flour. Cheesy pasta very cheap. Cut the bacon into tiny chunks and fry it off. Cheesy bacon pasta.

20% fat mince £1.80 in Sainsbury's. Fry and drain the fat off (into a bowl to harden then bin it) steam carrots and potatoes to make cottage pie.

Home mad mac n cheese, veg and a bag of frozen chicken with a chicken tonight sauce. That's really filling to.

Jambalaya. Use normal sausages, frozen chicken and lots of paprika and rice and skip the prawns and chirozo

Straight to wok noodles x2 whole packs, a bag of mixed frozen veg, stir fry pouch sauce and some thinly sliced pork loins or any fatty cut. add beansprouts (I freeze them)

Basically any one pot dish is easy to bulk out

I always use puy/black/green lentils in bolognese as they don't break down into mush, but resemble the mince more closely - my five-year-old is going through a fussy phase at the moment, but is happy to eat this. I boil dried lentils in a separate pan (with some onion and a bay leaf) while I'm doing the bolognese, then add them at the end. Somewhere between half and a full mug of dried lentils bulks out the sauce enough to make about twice the amount, so that's a meal into the freezer.

Slow cooked beef (braising steak) with chunky half carrots, leeks and onions served with mash. If cooked long enough the meat falls apart and the carrots are filling. Big hit here with teens

Our favourite cheap meal is the S&B katsu curry (12 portions from one box, about £5 in oriental supermarkets). Fry a couple of white onions and some peppers, add water and the sauce block, it thickens to a lovely consistency, and tastes amazing with a bit of rice, can also add any kind of leftover chicken, tofu, etc.

Tuna pasta bake with lots of veg, good for leftovers as well.

Spaghetti with a simple tomato and garlic sauce + a tin of sardines, delicious

Baked potato with beans/tuna/cheese plus a salad.

A simple minestrone with a bit of bread is always a winner in this household!

Leek and potato soup.
Mushroom soup, or make a mushroom sauce and stir through pasta.
Thick minestrone soup with bacon and macaroni.
French bread pizza.
Wraps using chicken nuggets/fishfingers and salad.
Use spiced lamb mince to make homemade donner kebab.
Farm foods giant fishcakes with chips and veg.
Sausage toad in the hole/sausage burgers/ sausage meatballs in pasta bolognese.
Omelette.
Pancakes.
Mince is just as nutritious as steak really, make your own beef burgers, meat and potato pasties, mince and onion pie, meatballs, chilli, bolognese, lasagne, bobotie, Hot pot.
Egg and chips.
Chick pea, spinach and potato curry.
Dhal.
Special fried rice.
Chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce poured over and rice.
Welsh rarebit.
Macaroni cheese.

Noodles (can be the cheap type with a sachet or egg noodles) cooked in stock (chicken stock cube) with garlic and soy stir fried broccoli and chicken thigh fillets roasted in oven, cut up and served across the top. Can add minced ginger, touch of sesame oil or chilli flakes to the broth. Can use one thigh per person if using lots of noodles snd veg.

Filled toasted pittas with a choice of hummus, roasted peppers, tinned sweetcorn, grated carrots and either cheese, ham or tuna.

Sheet of ready rolled out puffed pastry on top of layers of cooked sliced and seasoned potatoes with onion and cheese for a cheese and potato pie. Same idea with mince, onion and gravy or slow cooked pork shoulder in a cider sauce.

I like to cook a gammon/ham and then use for several meals- works out as an inexpensive protein sauce. Shred/cut up for potato hash, in pasta bake, in fried rice, with a creamy mushroom sauce in a pie, with linguine and a creamy spinach sauce.

add spices to minced beef and shape into kofta and serve with pittas/wraps/rice and loads of salad/roasted veg.

sausage and lentil casserole

homemade toad in the hole

veggie Thai curry with rice (block of coconut cream rather than tin of coconut milk)

Macaroni cheese is always a hit here. We bake it with sliced tomatoes on top.

Veggie curry with rice and homemade flatbreads (super easy to make in a frying pan)

Three bean chilli with rice and yogurt dressing, grated cheese

Basically, veggie is the way to go!

I’ve started making a type of shasouska dish that we all devour….fry onions, peppers, garlic, chorizo, cumin, paprika, add tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, pinch sugar, herbs and simmer. Add in cubes potatoes that have been cooked in air fryer. Stir in some spinach. Add eggs - make a little well for each eggs. Sprinkle with feta and allow to cook gently until eggs are cooked. I usually overload the pan and have to finish the eggs under the grill but all the recipes say they should cook in the pan.

You can adapt it however you like . …leave out the chorizo or use bacon instead, use jarred roasted peppers instead of fresh, leave out the potatoes or chickpeas.

@MasterCherry what is the ratio of meat to lentils in your Bolognese? I am going to try this next time. Thanks

Dumplings also great for mince-based or chicken-based stew. Just bought a kilo of beef fat for 5eur (because annoyingly you can't get atora suet in France). 50gr fat, 100gr flour, salt and water makes enough for 5.

Kids would have them breakfast, lunch and dinner, like Yorkshire pudding which is similarly cheap and filling.

I'm going to do more half beef mince, half lentils for spag bol/cottage pie too. Bulk buying stuff like pasta and rice is a no-brainer.

I drastically reduced meat portion. So meat comes in, divided and frozen. Lentils, chili beans, and rice to top up.

Mince beef is mostly carrots when making Bolognese.

I put beans and lentils everything meaty
Bake big cakes to fill up the teens

Macaroni cheese,

Baked potatoes, beans and cheese,

Bean and veg chilli with lots of rice,

Spaghetti carbonara and garlic bread,

Mushroom risotto (or any risotto really),

Fishcakes, green beans and salad,

Veg curry and rice,

Stew with dumplings and bread,

Potato, leek, onion and cheese bake,

Cheese and potato pie,

Bolognaise and pasta.

Sausages, mash, peas and onion gravy (do lots of mash and reduce sausages to save ££)

For meat dishes only buy chicken, pork, sausages, gammon or mince - far cheaper than whole joints of beef or lamb. If you are going to get red meat buy stewing steak or diced cuts that need slow cooking - much cheaper. Serve bread with every meal to bulk it out. Add lentils to curries and bolognaise. For fish buy frozen or reduce the fillets and bulk out with potatoes, rice and veg.

Lots of eggs (we love a good breakfast dinner here or scrambled eggs etc). Toad in the hole, spag Bol (stir through the sauce to make it go further), whole chickens are better value than fillets, yellow sticker shopping.

Irish Stew packed with pearl barley is very tasty and feeds us 5 for 2 days (I just double up the recipe), and is super cheap.

Another firm favourite is Sausage and Fennel Ragu...packed with veg, absolutely delicious: (Lidl prices)

Pack of 8 cheapy sausages - £2
Two carrots - 10p
Pack Spring onions - 39p
250g bag sliced mushrooms - £1 (buy whole if preferred but only saves about 10p)
Couple teaspoons Fennel Seeds - 20p
Couple teaspoons lazy garlic - 10p
Teaspoon oregano - 10p
Tin chopped toms - 35p
3 packs of ping rice - £1.05 (use pasta if preferred, even cheaper)

Total - £5.29

Grate carrots, finely chop onions, finely chop mushrooms, and fry gently with fennel seeds, oregano, garlic and a good pinch of salt for 5 mins. Squeeze sausages out of skins, break into chunks and add to pan until browned. Tip in tinned toms, add third of a tin of water if it looks too claggy, and if you want, a big squeeze of ketchup. Cover and simmer for 20mins. Season to taste. Serve over ping rice, nachos or pasta. £1 per person and absolutely delicious. Use a big pot, double up and freeze for another meal the following week.

Also, I make a quiche a week, pastry from scratch is pence and takes about 2 minutes to make. Use up all the leftovers from the fridge, add a couple of red onions (slow fry with sugar to caramelise first), bake with 2 eggs and a good glug of cream beaten together and poured over, and will last a couple of days for DH and I lunches at home, or as one dinner for all, served with new potatoes and green salad.

As many lentils as I think I can get away with! It does help that I like them and would happily eat them out of the pan on their own, but I have to make something the children will agree to eat. For bolognese I normally end up with about 1 part minced beef : 1 part lentils (going by their bulk when cooked) : 1 part mix of carrot, celery, onion and smoked bacon, all chopped small.

@MasterCherry cool. Will experiment. My kids do like puy lentils but never tried them in Bolognese. I might have to start small and build up...thank you

One good option is to do a roast chicken dinner: whole chicken, pots, carrots, green veg.
Let people have good portions of the chicken and then use the extra bits of chicken left on the bone to make chicken and veg in white sauce which you can serve with jacket potatoes.

So basically the same ingredients for two days meals - you can freeze the second one and use it the following week if it’s too samey.

The same idea works with mince - spaghetti Bol on day 1, lasagna on day 2.

or buy a pack of sausages and do sausage and mash followed by sausage pasta.

Basically anything with eggs/potatoes pasta. I'll make massive frittata/spanish omelette with potatoes, bit of veg and about 3 rashers of bacon cut up in it. Same with pasta (make own tomato based sauce). Stew - fill slow cooker with mainly root veg and spuds, and a little bit of meat, stock and leave to get in with it for 6 hours! Definitely go veg and pulses heavy, much less fruit and meat.