To ask your absolute cheapest ways to feed 1 adult 1 5 year old

[HAF1119]

Cheapest food ideas - primarily dinners - beans on toast/on jacket potatoes I have on the list. Cheapest fruit/veg and proteins?

A ducks in a row situation literally every penny counts and need a dramatic drop in outgoings (not long term but possibly as much as 6 months so as many suggestions as possible as my head space is poor right now)

Lots of stews and homemade soups OP. A big stew can last 4 days.

If you like garlic, you can cook some crushed garlic up with some butter and then mix in pasta. There are some really simple pasta dishes out there with minimal ingredients. Roast tomatoes and then crush down with a fork and mix with pasta (smaller tomatoes the better). Add any seasoning or cheese.
Wraps, with tomato purée, cheese and any other toppings.
Tins of fruit cocktail.

Have you seen meals by Mitch op. He has an Instagram account and a book...he makes really great budget food.

Okay that is great I've never done chickpeas in anything before thank you!

Bananas are great, cheap filling and really easy to turn in to a pudding if you want something treat like.

• banana in custard
• slice them longwise while still in skin, a couple of chunks of chocolate, push them closed again and wrap in foil then bake them in the oven while dinner is cooking. Unwrap and enjoy the sweet chocolatey yummminess.
• slice into rounds, fry with a bit of brown sugar till caramelised
• freeze whole then blitz the frozen bananas in a food processor for instant banana icecream.

Or just eat as a quick filing snack, have on toast with peanut butter for breakfast, on cereal, with peanut butter in porridge, sliced and cooked in pancakes.

Apples are usually cheap for a big bag, DD loves it when I peel and slice one then cook in the microwave with some sultanas/raisins, and put on top of porridge.

Stick to basic veg, seasonal and local will be cheaper - potatoes, onion, mushrooms, carrots. Potatoes are versatile and filling, if you have an air fryer then tinned new potatoes drained, seasoned and air fried are magical. I hate tinned potatoes but I bloody love them air fried.
You can shred potatoes and turn them into rosti's or mash and have fish cakes using cheap cuts of fish.

Eggs are full of protein and good fats and will be really filling, hard boiled, scrambled, omelette, fried egg sandwich. You can add a hard boiled egg to noodles and broth to bulk it out a bit, and can add veg to omelette or scrambled egg to do the same. Onions, peppers and wafer thin ham or ham offcuts make for a delicious omelette.

If I'm making mince for chilli or bolognaise I'll do 500g mince then a whole punnet of mushrooms (I hate lentils but if you like them then add them too), a couple of big carrots (grate them if DS is fussy about chunky veg), and whatever other veg or tinned tomatoes you have. That way you can double or even triple the volume of your food without adding much cost. Portion it up and freeze it for meals on other days.

Look for cooked meats like gammon offcuts, ham trimmings then just treat them like leftovers from a roast dinner. You can make them in to a pie, curry, pasta bake, stir fry, mix them with mash and onion and make rissoles.

Thank you, we love bananas so some wonderful ideas there. Never done banana ice cream and little one loves ice cream so that's a great way to do it. I have a load of bananas heading towards their end so will definately do that! And masses of mushrooms in bolognaise, yes! I actually used to do that a lot and just forgot all about it. Brilliant to have a load of tubs of it and dinners just done

This carrot and bulger recipe is brilliant for packed lunches as it's lasts for days in the fridge. you can also use rice instead of bulgar, any bean, or swap in chicken pieces, halloumi, tofu for the feta. www.theguardian.com/food/2024/feb/05/quick-easy-winter-recipe-spiced-roast-carrots-feta-dates-bulgur-beans

Rissoles (Delia Smith).
Kedgeree.

Thank you!!

Make sure you buy full fat everything:.cheese, milk, Yog.

Makes you feel fuller

I'd never even heard of rissoles before! Thanks so much for this

crepes (100g flour 2 eggs 300g milk makes loads) - savoury - cheese with mushrooms if feeling fancy then sweet - with jam or cinnamon and sugar
bacon is your friend as can be deployed in different ways - to jazz up fried rice, with tinned tomatoes as a pasta sauce etc.

Feed Your Family For £20 a Week

Check out this website and its sister FB page. £20 is optimistic now, but lots of low cost recipes and meal plans.

Risotto.
Homemade fish cakes.
Bubble and squeak.
Homemade bread and butter pudding.

Lentil bolognaise is cheap and filling - celery, carrots, onions, passata, some veggie stock cubes and tomato puree, dried herbs and garlic powder.

I buy frozen white fish fillets...from the supermarket value range...the Sainsbury's ones are about £2.50 for a big bag. I defrost them as I need them. Make a batter out of flour and water and make my own fish and chips.

God that sounds awful!

Do you have a Turkish supermarket near you? They normally have big tubs of hummous and yoghurt cheap which you can combine with lots of other things to make things feel jazzier.

bit of cumin in some yoghurt mixed with some finely chopped red cabbage is great in wraps/as a side with a potato or lentil curry and cabbage feels more filling than lettuce.

ramen (the packets not the cups) with extra mixed veg, a chopped up omelette, any other bits and pieces is a good quick meal if you don’t have time for curry/stew type stuff.

lurk the supermarket discount sections if you have time!

In the winter I make 3 soups each week. 1. Homemade winter vegetable soup with onion, carrots, swede, parsnips and a potato. 2. Tomato and lentil soup. 3. Leek and potato soup. All with a vegetable stock cubes base. I have it with a French stick or crusty bread.

Growing your own veg takes an awful lot of time and attention and often isn't that cheap.

Thank you. I shall do crepes also. I have all those ingredients in the house already

Thank you. You've reminded me I might get a load of fish fingers. I am very much time limited in terms of cooking so the batter etc I may not be able to but fairly small portions of fish fingers each isn't a bad plan for some days

Pasta with broccoli, peas and cream cheese is a quick cheap go to my kids love

Fish fingers from the value range of supermarkets are surprisingly good. I can't tell the difference between them and the more expensive ones. Really fancy fish fingers and chips now 😂

'egg in a cup' is a soft boiled egg, a torn up slice of bread, salt, pepper, ketchup, mashed in a mug. Easy cheap lunch or breakfast.