Affordable meals

[AnotherBrightSunrise]

As the cost of food is going up so much, and some foods much more than others, I find I’m often not sure what to cook. Things like chicken thighs, cheese and cream are so much that my cheap go-to meals are changing. What are your favourite family meals that are still reasonably affordable?

Please share your suggestions! Mine is spaghetti Bol/ pasta bolognaise. You can bulk it up with extra veg, replace the mince with quorn mince if necessary (I have to cook both as part of the family is veggie) but it’s still a reasonable price and is eaten happily in my house. I need more suggestions though (both to save money and get out of this food rut!)

Some of our cheaper meals actually end up costing more due to the length of cooking. Cottage pie uses a lot of energy to cook, once you've done the meat postatos then both in the oven and veg as well. We have started to make a double portion of the meat part but still requires multiple hobs and the oven.

Burritos and soft tacos are economical in our house bulk out with a bit of salad and cheese but we always get two meals out of 500g of pork mince. They only need one pan to cook too. I try to use either just the oven (and maybe microwave for veg) or just the hob to reduce energy use as well. Energy costs currently can add £1-£2 to the meal.

I have also switched to frozen chicken peices - I used to buy in bulk and freeze anyway but buying frozen to begin with had reduced costs a fair bit. Quality is slightly reduced but it's still nice enough.

Those of you who use frozen meat- can you just cook it from frozen like you would fresh? So if your making chilli can you just use frozen mince as you would fresh?
I always buy fresh and if I freeze due to dates will defrost before using. But reading that frozen is cheaper is making me wonder if I'm better off getting that?

I don't cook chicken from frozen we take out whats needed for the meal the night before or the morning before and leave it to defrost.

I haven't used frozen mince so I wouldn't be sure, if I buy fresh mince reduced (which I'm always on the look out for) we do the same as with the chicken, will freeze in the right portion size, then take it out night/morning before.

Yes you can cook frozen meat from frozen. @DeathMetalMum do you have a slow cooker? Cook a huge batch of mice and onion, then you can split it into the base of a cottage pie and use the rest to make bold or a chilli. With potatoes you can make a large batch of mash that you can freeze so you can assemble frozen cooked mince with frozen cooked mash, stick in the oven fir 30mins to make a cottage pie.

@JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn I totally agree. I buy a ton in M&S - both essentials and yellow stickers- which I freeze plus non yellow stickers like their gluten free fishcakes and gluten free fish fingers ( unbeatable) I have little waste, don't buy snacks or sweet stuff apart from yoghurt - I also buy bits at Waitrose and some branded type stuff at sainsburys. It's wrong to just dismiss the higher end supermarkets- I've had too many hit and miss things at Aldi and Lidl to regularly do full shops. - I appreciate though everyone is different and some kids and partners are fussier than others

One of my favourite cheap meals is hairy bikers 'pan Haggerty' basically sliced carrots and potatoes layered up with chopped streaky bacon , onions and parsley fried together - cook in chicken stock on stove top covered in foil and sprinkle with cheese for last5 mins- delicious ,

For today, I bought a small piece of gammon for about £4. I soaked it overnight now, it's is in the slow cooker with chopped carrot, celery and apple.

When it's cooked, I'll drizzle some marmalade or maple syrup over it, bake it for 10 minutes with some potatoes and serve with veg.

There will be baked ham for two tonight with roast potatoes and broccoli, sandwich for me tomorrow lunchtime and then diced in carbonara on Tuesday evening. So five big servings of ham at 80p each.

Good idea for a thread OP. I will add my contribution later!

My previously ‘cheap’ meals like cottage pie are no longer cheap, having to boil potatoes for mash and cook the meat and veg on the hob before baking it all in the oven for an hour. It’s actually really expensive (and time consuming!).

Im focusing on quick meals, lots of omelets and frittata, stir fries with noodles, flavored cous cous with falafel hummus and salad, chicken and peppers with fajita spice served in a wrap sometimes with a bit of microwave rice too (a pouch or two between the whole family) beef kofta wraps and one pot meals/ tray bakes etc.

Buy quick cook pasta and rice if you can get it. Chop potatoes into smaller chunks to boil or roast so they cook quicker. If you’re roasting potatoes, add your veg in to roast rather than boiling on the hob. Turn the oven off five mins before the end and it’ll carry on cooking (obviously check meat is cooked- use a meat thermometer. Mine was cheap from eBay and works perfectly fine.)

I try to use the hob or the oven, not both. Hopefully I’m saving time and money!

@MintJulia use the cooking liquid for pea and ham soup. Dried peas work especially if you have a pressure cooker... Put a couple of handfuls of frozen in after the blitz along with a bit of diced ham.

Dals are really economical and can be served with rice or flatbreads to ring the changes. Also we make a batch of mixed bean chilli and then have it with jacket potato / in tortilla wraps / with rice topped with grated cheese and a spoonful of yoghurt (you can get really good value big tubs in lidl / aldi - also use the yoghurt and self-raising flour to make your own flatbreads, it takes minutes and is cheaper than buying them).
Sausage and tomato pasta recipes are really economical - as well as tomato pasta bakes. Also look out for reduced items as you can end up with some lovely goodies that you wouldn't normally be able to afford (we have had lamb, beef and duck that we would never usually buy but have managed to get heavily reduced - same for salmon). As long as you have the freezer space, it is a no-brainer.
Pizza bagels / flatbreads are also another good value, economical option.

Vegetable or chicken curry is our go to.

We add kidney beans and split red lentils to make it go further.

Thank you!

We love risotto

Risotto rice (300g for 3-4 of us)
Chicken stock
Cayenne pepper
Onions

Lovely

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the price of British free range pork. We got a shoulder joint yesterday that fed three hungry adults, with greens and roasties, for £5. I guess because shoulder isn’t a posh cut, but it was divine slow roasted with a bit of apple juice in the bottom of the pan.

So many great ideas, these are so helpful for me and hopefully others. It’s just, yes, when some staples double in price, you feel like you need new staples. I agree that quick food is a good way forward. The M&S basic list are good too - those items you listed are no more than the own brand I buy in Tesco and maybe better quality.

Beef stew made with shin of beef- for 4 meals I chop and fry a large onion, brown 450 g of shin (cubed) then put in a casserole dish with loads of carrots, bitter beer to cover, onion gravy granules and some brown sugar to take the bitterness of the beer away. We are lucky we have a Rayburn which is permanently lit to provide our heating and hot water but a slow cooker would do fine. Cook until the beef is tender. I serve it with cheesy dumplings and mash.

I need to get my kids to like slow cooked meat other than mince !
I don't eat meat at all but they won't really countenance veggie meals so they're stuck with chicken and mince

Meant to say I try to eke out the mince with red lentils and they haven't noticed that so far

I am a bit late to this party @Kitkatandcoffee but I was nodding along to your comments about chicken thighs. Lovely and versatile, so tasty. Eaten every week here. The only dish I couldn't make it work for, was Butter Chicken. I too have a stack of thigh bones in the freezer ready for a good stock.

I also always add things like dried lentils, yellow split peas, rice or pearl barley to soup then a heap of veg. I find this bulks it out cheaply and gives you a good amount of protein. I usually cook a decent sized pot then freeze it in portions. We eat lots of homemade soup for lunches with a roll, crusty bread or just bread. We sometimes have it as our main evening meal with a sandwich or a cheap homemade crumble and custard.