Cheap and nutritious pasta/rice recipes

[2bagsofpasta]

Having to rely on the food bank every week now - just looking for good quick healthy pasta meals as we always get lots of pasta and rice.

We have store cupboard things (salt pepper usually some veg or chicken stock cubes)

just looking for some ideas as i always do tomato pasta 🤦‍♀️ it’s a bit boring !

I love chickpeas and I love pasta. Both are cheap ingredients and the chickpeas is good for protein so I'd do something along these lines https://wanderingchickpea.com/2023/08/21/slow-roasted-tomato-and-chickpea-pasta/. Sounds delicious. You don't have to go to the expense of fresh herbs or all the spices

A favourite of ours is fry onion, mushrooms and then add some cheap supermarket cream cheese, black pepper and chilli if you like it spicy. Stir in the pasta - it’s really tasty, quick and cheap.

Italian poster here who’s been where you are. The beauty of Italian pasta and rice dishes is more often than not they have their roots in not having much money, making a little go a long way and filling people up cheaply. A lot of Italian pasta dishes have a base of oil, garlic and chilli flakes if you like them and then add what you have. If you can get some olive oil don’t feel the need to get the pricey stuff, whatever you can afford and I’d go for volume as priority if that is feasible as this can be the base for loads of meals. So if you get courgettes one week then courgettes fried in the oil base are one of my favorite options. A tin of tuna is another one to add. Or a bit of cooked broccolli. Or any veg. Including canned veg. Pasta e Fagioli is a classic cheap dish (pasta and beans)so could be good if you get the tinned beans one week. One of my go to’s is spaghetti aglio olio which is loads of garlic fried in oil and chili flakes and nothing else. Is a classic dish from Rome so you don’t even need to feel like you are being short changed with nothing else added as is an actual dish you can get in restaurants there!. Someone mentioned pasta with chickpeas which is another classic. As is pasta with potatoes. One trick to make a sauce have a creamier consistency without adding cream is to cook the sauce and pasta, drain the pasta and save a ladle of the salted pasta water, add the sauce to the pasta over a low heat and stir in with a bit of the pasta water for a minute or 2 until sauce is mixed and slightly absorbed into the pasta and the water has gone.That also means you can use less oil if you don’t have a lot as you can ‘lengthen’ the sauce with the water. Other key things is make sure the pasta water is well salted, make sure the pasta isn’t over cooked and don’t skimp on salt in the sauces as that really can make the difference and make a really plain sauce tasty. If you google ‘cucina povera recipes’ there seem to be quite a few in English now. And quite a few of the ingredients can be swapped from the Italian staple to a more realistic uk version.

@Cheapitalianfood I am going to add those to our recipe lists .... And try them at home. Thanks for those.

My student staple was pasta with baked beans and cheese. Don't knock it til you've tried it, proper comfort food. If you happen to get your hands on an onion or peppers, even sweetcorn, chuck them in too. Also, if you have balsamic vinegar or Worcestershire sauce in the back of the cupboard they are both great additions.

Marmite pasta is also fab, again you can add any veg or meat you happen to have.

Do you have any oddities in the back of the cupboard we could help with? Any herbs or spices?

OP, if you have a freezer, frozen vegetables are cheaper than fresh and just as nutritious.

Agree re frozen and you can just get a handful and defrost them in the oil when cooking the pasta so is quick and easy and the bag of frozen veg can last a while. You dont need to feel like you need a load of ingredients- it’s all about lengthening the sauce to dress the pasta. So if you eat a carbonara in Italy for example there will only probably be a handful of pieces of the meat. It will be lengthened with the egg and cooking water.

Have just been looking at some of the results of googling cucina povera and want to add the disclaimer that I know a lot of the recipes would only be cheap if you were living in a fishing village in Sicily! It’s worth sifting through though. I can’t vouch for any recipes here as not made them from this site but these are the kind of things am thinking of eg pasta with peas. https://www.cookingwithnonna.com/italian-cuisine/cucina-povera-della-nonna/Page-2.html

And ignore the recipes that call for fresh pasta! Dried pasta is totally fine and is the staple for most Italians. As is whatever rice you have-do t worry if it’s saying Arborio rice for risotto for example- cook the rice you have and mix it with whatever you have as a dressing same as the pasta and it’s just as good as risotto.

I eat lots of pasta and rice dishes :) These are my favourites -

1. Bacon, Broccoli and pesto pasta. A little bacon goes a long way for flavour, so can reduce the amount. Bacon freezes well so if you have a freezer, use e.g. third a packet and save the rest for next time. If you have garlic to add that will add to the flavour. My kids love this! https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/bacon-broccoli-pasta

1. Tuna, tomato and red onion pasta

• I know you said your kids are fed up with tomato based pasta but this is my favourite! Chop and fry one red onion until softened. Add a tin of tomatoes, few big spoonfuls of tomato paste, sugar to taste, and whatever dried herbs and spices you have (ground pepper, oregano, basil, garlic, etc). Let simmer for at least 20 mins. Then add a can of tuna and a splash of bottled lemon juice. Serve with pasta (and cheese if you have)

1. Egg fried rice. There are many variations, but here's a basic https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/egg-fried-rice. I'd forget about the spring onion, and add some mixed frozen veg instead (peas/carrot mix etc). To make this a one pan meal, cook and chop some sausages and throw them into the pan as well.

1. Chilli con carne

This will use up your kidney beans and rice. Several recipes but here's one https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chilli_con_carne_with_75631/amp. I never serve with any youghurt and never missed it. To make cheaper could replace beef mince with lentils (or just use half Lentils half mince)

1. Sweet potato and lentil curry

This uses your chickpeas, serve with rice https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lentil-sweet-potato-curry Forget about the cumin/mustard seeds/ fresh coriander etc and youghurt, never used and never missed. Just use any premixed curry powder for flavour, Aldi does good ones

1. Fajitas with rice filling

• cook some carrots. Carrots are delicious cooked on a pan, here's one recipe https://www.recipevibes.com/pan-fried-carrots-recipe/.
• cut up raw red onions and raw peppers into small chunks. Fry in a pan on oil until softened / cooked.
• separately boil rice in a water with a stock cube and salt. Once done, drain water and mix in with cooked veg. Add a bit of sugar and a bit of bottled lemon juice, mix well.
• fill wraps with the mixture, and add few teanspoonfuls of salsa sauce (just the one you can use for dipping tortilla chips, aldi does tasty ones). Roll up into a Fajita shape and put on an oven dish. Sprinkle with cheese and put in oven for ~10 mins until cheese has melted

I always splash a bit of lemon juice to most things I make - it adds a bit more complexity to the flavour and elevates any dish. Just make sure you do it towards the end of the cooking process (as otherwise it will get quite strong and bitter in flavour).