Your tight budget meal plans please!

[mrsoutnumbered]

I had a large bill to pay a few weeks ago and it has left us tight for the next two weeks. I'm writing a meal plan and am wondering - what are your extreme budget meals that you do when you're penny pinching? I am more than happy to eat veggie as we're trying to cut down on meat anyway.

So far I've got:

Toad in the hole
Lentil Bolognese
Freezer Lucky Dip (Chips, fish fingers, whatever is in there)

Sorry if this topic had been done to death.

My go to 'cheap' dinners are

Bacon, Pea pasta

1 chopped onion
2 rashers of bacon per person - cut into small bits
2 hand full of frozen Peas
whatever pasta you have.

1. get water onto boil for pasta
2. fry onion and bacon
3. add pasta to water for about 10mins
4. just before pasta cooked put in the peas
5. mix pasta and peas into onion bacon mix

you can top with cheese if you like.

Cowboy casserole

brown off 3 or 4 sausages cut each on into then add to a couple of tins of baked beans top with cheesy mash

Loads of suggestions here for main meals which is good. But homemade pancakes are good for a sweet treat with whatever you have in on them.

And Yorkshire puddings are cheap to bulk a roast dinner out or do big ones and fill with chilli con carne (or a bean chilli), or bolognaise or whatever you have in.

Omelette is a cheap tea here (though we have our own chickens). Jacket spuds, beans and cheese. Sausages instead of a joint on a roast dinner. Big pots of slow cooker stews. Anything with mince. Chicken is the cheapest fresh meat, followed by pork.

I can make a large £4 chicken last 3 days.

Roast chicken day one with part baked baguettes and wedges and salad

Day 2 I use half the leftover chicken in a curry using lentils or chickpeas to bulk it up.

Day 3 a chicken risotto, added leeks and mushrooms.

Also lots of pasta dishes with a homemade tomato sauce using passata or tinned tomatoes, dried herbs and garlic.

👍

I bought some bits in Sainsburys earlier, and was given a voucher - £12 off when you spend £50 or more online! I am definitely winning today. Will definitely use that when I do my big shop next week.

That’s brilliant. If you haven’t shopped online before you might get cashback from topcashback.

Well done on the reduced meat 👍

One of my cheap meals is a veg curry. Either mixed veg, whatever you have, added to 1 chopped and fried onion and lentils, and curry paste/sauce/spices depending what’s in the cupboards.

Another one is cauliflower, cut small and blanch then add to fried onion and spice, add stock and or yoghurt/cream/milk to form a sauce. While that is cooking do rice and boil some eggs. Serve the eggs quartered on top of the cauliflower curry.

Mixed bean chilli. Fry an onion with spices - I use loads of cumin, 2 or 3 teaspoons, a little cayenne - half a teaspoon and about a teaspoon of paprika - tweak those to your taste- add kidney beans/black beans/ any beans you have/prefer, a can of tomatoes. Simmer that for about 15 mins, add a square of dark chocolate and turn the heat off, leave for a couple of minutes then stir to spread the melted chocolate. Serve that with rice/mash/jacket spud/wraps.

How are you getting on OP? You must be about half way through by now, are you OK?

Thanks @AdaColeman yes we're getting there! Got all my dinners planned until Friday but might fall short on lunches and fruit we will scrape through though, we always do!

Oh well done you! Any vegetables for soup or eggs for omelettes to do for lunch?

I made a meal last week that worked out at a couple of quid for 4 people, and it was so tasty. Tin of mixed beans, tin of mixed bean salad, tin of tomatoes bit of garlic - left in slow cooker all day. Scooped into wraps served with homemade potato wedges (40 mins in the oven with salt pepper and paprika on).

Yes I have lots of pasta and eggs, I think we will be okay. If not I will do an Ocado or Iceland order, as they take PayPal and I can pay with my bank account (the direct debit takes 2-3 days to come out).

It makes me a bit sad that I am nearly 40 and still getting into this situation.

Thanks for your help xxxx