To ask for serious cheap meals

[Givepeasachancee]

Bonus points if they can accommodate an autistic 4 year old with preference for bread and bland foods.

At the point where we are visiting the community fridge weekly, with credit cards maxed out and overdrafts at the limit.
Barely scraping change together for the community fridges £3.50 donation. But we are making do.

Waiting on carers allowance to start after losing my caring job as my client moved away.

So, sob story aside- cheap meal ideas please! Slow cooker ones always a winner ;)

Family of 5!

I recommend Payplan if you need help with debt, they have really helped me

I go to the community fridge too, ours has veggies and I have been making a simple curry with curry powder, bit of milk and lemon juice. Maybe not for your child but if you fancy something yourself a bit more tasty Ours sometimes does curry kit packs / spices as well.

What is your budget/meal OP?

Some things I do to keep costs down-bulk out mince based meals so it lasts at least 2 meals-we are a family of 5 too and its easily doable. Especially chilli/bolognaise.

I buy the big packs of chicken breast from Aldi and split it into 3 when I get home to freeze.

Cheap frozen sausage-make lovely toad in the hole, which is really filling

Risotto and fried rice are both cheap meals.

I make home made garlic bread, which sounds like a faff, but it isn't and you can make really lovely flatbreads (usually £2-3 each, I can make 3 for £1)

Use the value tinned soups-especially tomato and chicken-as bases for pasta sauces.

Make your own soups/corned beef hash/leftover pies

Buy frozen veg. Or buy fresh and freeze.

These make a big difference to our food shops. I have also started splitting how we food shop. I do a biggish online Asda shop for all the food cupboard essentials, Aldi for fresh and then periodically Iceland, mainly to top up on veg. It saves a lot of money and we eat well.

Passata (they do big jars cheap on home bargains) simmered on the job with a bit of salt and a pinch of sugar makes good tomato soup. Add milk to stretch it if you have it, or a little bit of water. You can add dried herbs if you have them but it's fine without too.

Just noticed this on the BBC News website. Disclaimer, I haven't looked at most of these, never mind actually tried cooking and eating them, but they might give some useful ideas. www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/1_dinners

Cooking bacon mixed into mash potatoe with egg and beans xx

Nigella spaghetti with smooth peanut butter sauces.

www.ocado.com/webshop/recipe/nigella-s-dreamy-creamy-peanut-butter-pasta/223055

Lots of great ideas on this thread, here are some of mine...
Make dumplings to go in any stew.
Add tinned chickpeas or butter beans to dishes like sausage & tomato casserole or vegetable stew.
Make cobbler topping for casseroles, quick & easy as it's a basic scone recipe.
Try liver if you don't usually eat it, it's cheap and full of flavour. I like it with onion gravy and mashed potatoes, or diced and added to a tomato sauce for pasta.
Make oven baked risotto to use up leftover vegetables, this would work in the slow cooker I would think.

If you like to eat meat then look at liver or other offal.
One of our favourite freezer to oven/microwave meals is Brains faggots, rice and peas.

These suggestions aren't the healthiest but we've been in the same position and they've got us through.

Bacon grill sandwich - cut up a can of bacon grill into slices and fry until crispy.

Tuna and rice salad - mix tuna, mayo, boiled rice and any veg (frozen, fresh, tinned or salad veg)

Corned beef hash with baked beans- mashed potato, mash together with a tin of corned beef and fry in a pan so you get crispy outside bits.

Tuna fish cakes- mix a can of tuna with mashed potato and an egg. Coat in breadcrumbs (made from stale bread of you have some) and cook in the oven

Bolognese made with sausage meat instead of beef mince - cheap pack of sausages, remove the meat from the outside sausage casing and fry up with tinned tomatoes and mixed herbs. Serve on spaghetti/pasta or jacket potatoes.

We do macaroni cheese, sweet potato and lentil dhal and veggie cottage pie in the slow cooker which are cheap.

Soups, you can do loads of varieties.

Sweetcorn fritters, canned sweetcorn, an egg, plain flour and a bit of cheese, loosen with a splash of milk. Yummy with ketchup.

Fried rice with egg and whatever veg is in the fridge.

Packet noodles, but don't use the full flavour sachet for the younger kids. Chuck in frozen peas and/or sweetcorn and serve with soft boiled egg. Ramen!

Toad in the hole = dead cheap.

Jacket potato in the slow cooker - with cheese/ beans/ sweetcorn and soft cheese/coleslaw.

Pasta al arrabbiata ( pasta, chopped toms, garlic and chilli) sprinkling of cheese.

honey garlic chicken slow cooker and a rice ( taming twins recipe)

chips and cheese ( take away style)

chips and cheesy beans

cheap oven pizza and wedges

cheese and ham pitta breads ( done in grill to melt cheese)

something on toast ( cheese, beans, egg, spaghetti.

mini pizzas ( using small baps like the Warburtons ones, top half of each bap with pasata, garlic, herbs and cheese, add pepper onions if you have them)

slow cooker curry/chilli/cottage pie

cheese pie ( cheap smash, add cheese and onions and spread over a sheet I’ve ready roll puff pastry and fold in half/seal edges to cook) with beans

cheese whirls ( similar to above but roll and cut into slices) with beans

Beans on toast, pasta, baked potatoes, pancakes / waffles (sweet or savoury), jar of cheap curry sauce bulked out with potato / lentils?

A carrot and homemade hummus (tinned chic peas, garlic, olive oil)

There's a page on Facebook called tamingtwins her recipes are amazing. She done a really good veg Dahl a few weeks ago that even my fussiest child ate.

Don't skimp on food to pay unsecured debt, you need to seek advice from somewhere like Stepchange, but you need to give them a full picture of your circumstances, mortgage/rent, income, essential outgoings etc.

Has something changed or is it simply rising prices? Have a look at

www.moneysavingexpert.com/budgeting-debt-help/

If your family like it (we love it) tinned or a roll of haggis with Yorkshire puddings, mash , carrots and greens is cheap and warming

Cheapest two pastas ever and delish..more grown up tho
fry chili and sliced garlic in olive oil. Pour on pasta. So moreish!
fry breadcrumbs, garlic and some lemon zest pour onto pasta. Yum!
chickpeas fried in garlic and olive oil pour on pasta.
all from a very tight Italian bf!

Hi OP, sorry things are tight.

I recently found myself out of time and out of most foodstuffs, and ended up making value-pack instant mash with a handful of grated cheese in it, accompanied by an apple, sliced and fried with slightly out of date chopped bacon. Surprisingly nice. Apple fried with onion may work too.

Second red lentil stews - with onion, any kind of root veg, stock cube and maybe curry type spices - and fried egg and potatoes. Also rice boiled with frozen peas served with sweet soy sauce- my 9yr old still considers that a meal.

Hope things improve.

Chickpea curry with rice -use a packet of shan chickpea spice packs.
Dahl with rice or chapati (chapati four is cheaper as are lentils)
Macaroni cheese
Homemade fried chips with fried egg and beans. Or with fish fingers.
Apple, carrot or banana etc for vitamins.

Mashed potato with mature grated cheese and baked in oven. Serve with baked beans. So filling and delicious.

Macaroni cheese
Jacket potatoes with tuna or beans
Ham omelette

All winners with my ASD kid