Cheap easy fairly healthy meals

[slushy06]

Any one got any good recipes.
By easy no more than an hour prep.
I will start
paupers pie
Bacon chunks
carrots
peas
mushroom
onion
dumpling mix
potato
2 oxo cubes
Put bacon chunks, carrots, peas and mushroom In a casserole dish add a layer of sliced potato pour over a pint of oxo water.

Put in the oven for 30mins then add a dumpling pie top.
About 30 mins more in the oven.
Well not overly healthy but not junk food and I like this one because you can just chuck any veg you have in really.
Any more ideas?

That sounds lovely. Will have to try it.

Not so much a recipe as it is easy to do but:

tin of chopped tomatoes
two cloves of garlic
Onion
Half a courgette
Plus whatever other veg
Tin of Tuna (although DP won't eat tuna so we have quorn or chicken breast)
Chilli (either dried or fresh)

Fry the veg and meat together. Mix in tomatoes, add the chilli and pour over cooked pasta. Very cheap, very easy and very nice!

Thanks will try that, dp also hates tuna so will use the chicken. I am so sick of healthy food costing a fortune.

Sausage Bake

Cubed potatoes
2 Peppers cut in chunks
Clove of garlic cut in half
2 large red onions in chunks
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Mushrooms cut in quarters
pack of sausages
Parsley
Salt and Pepper to season

Add potatoes, peppers, garlic and onions to large deep baking dish, pour over olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle on Salt and pepper to taste. Toss.

Put in oven and cook for 20 mins. Take out and add in mushrooms and top with sausages. Cook until sausages are cooked through. Chop up parsley and stir in. Serve.

Okay, this sounds like nothing but it's the loveliest tomato sauce in the world.

Jar passata
100 g butter (yes, really!)
Onion, chopped in half so it stays fairly intact i.e. along the 'equator', rather than 'pole to pole'

Put all in a saucepan and simmer gently for about 20-30 mins. It'll need to be stirred now and then to help incorporate the butter. Remove onion, add S&P to taste. Cook pasta - it's nice with spiral-y stuff. Add a bit of parmesan on top. Eat.

Chef's prerogative is the discarded onion smooched onto white bread and stuffed in gob.

Honestly, it's utterly fab and no bits for kids to turn their nose up at.

root veg bake

1 1/2lbs carrots, peeled and diced
1/2lb swede, turnip or parsnip, peeled and diced
1/2lb onions chopped
little bit of milk
2tblspns butter
3tblspns flour
salt, pepper, nutmeg
about 2 inches of bread from an unsliced loaf cut into little cubes
couple of tblspns melted butter or oil

cook the veg in enough water to just cover until tender. Drain the water into a jug and make up to 3/4pint with milk. Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Gradually beat in the stock/milk, bring to the boil, stirring, and simmer until thickened. Season. Put the veg into a big pie dish, pour over sauce and sprinkle bread on top and drizzle over the melted butter or oil. Bake at 180 for about 20 minutes until brown and crispy. Serves 4-5

tomato and cheese rice
2 cups rice
2 onions, chopped
2 tins chopped tomatoes
3 cups hot water or veg stock
salt, pepper
4oz grated cheese

fry the onion in a little oil until softened. Stir in the rice until coated with oil. Add tomatoes and water/stock. Bring to the boil, cover tightly and reduce heat to low. Cook gently until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender (about 12 minutes for white easy cook rice or 45 minutes for brown rice). Season well and serve with grated cheese sprinkled on top. Serves 4-5

tofu fingers

1 block tofu (any kind) sliced into fingers
flour
2 beaten eggs
breadcrumbs

Take the tofu fingers and dip in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, until well coated. Either fry or bake in a hot oven until browned and crisp. Serve as you would fish fingers. MY kids like these in rolls with salad leaves and tomato sauce!

hedgehogs

1lb potatoes
1lb mixed root veg
8oz any kind of left over pre cooked meat, chopped into tiny pieces
squirt tomato ketchup
herbs, salt and pepper
oatmeal or porridge oats

cook and mash the potatoes and veg. Mix in the meat, tomato sauce and seasoning. You should have a fairly stiff mixture. When cool enough to handle, shape into croquette shapes and roll in oats to cover. Bake at 180 for about 20 minutes, until hot and browned. The children call them hedgehogs because the oats make them look spiky. Serve with green veg. This mix is enough for about 16 rissoles, so enough for 4-6.

Root veg cooked with lentils - add tin toms- flavour -load with cheese - serve with rice.

Pea and Ham Soup

This simple, traditional soup is extremely tasty and is substantial enough to serve as a main meal for 4 people very easily. Yellow split peas are practically given away.

3 pints water
14oz yellow split peas
1 smoked gammon steak, trimmed of fat and diced small(or 6oz rough-cut smoky bacon trimmings)
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
good handful fresh parsley, chopped
Plenty of pepper but just a little salt because the bacon is quite salty

Place everything in a large saucepan, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for about an hour or until the peas are soft and the meat tender.

TIP... if you have a pressure cooker, this takes about 15-20 mins once pressure has been reached.

Spicy Bean Burgers

This recipe has plenty of flavour and the bean base for the burgers is rich in protein, iron and fibre. Serve on burger buns with ketchup and a few oven chips or a green salad

Make about 8 decent size burgers (Serves 4)

8oz cooked kidney beans (or chickpeas) - if cusing canned ones, rinse and drain thoroughly. Excess moisture makes the mix too sloppy
4 tablespoons porridge oats
2 small carrots, peeled
1 onion, peeled
a handful of sweetcorn
2 eggs, beaten
chilli powder to taste
handful of fresh coriander, chopped
salt and pepper
a little oil for frying

• If you have a mini food processor it makes short work of this one. Add the beans/chickpeas, onion & carrot one at a time until they resemble fine 'crumbs'
• If you don't have a food processor, mash the beans down with the back of a fork or a potato masher and then grate the carrot and onion
• Stir in the eggs, oats, sweetcorn & coriander then leave the mixture to one side for half an hour to allow the oats to absorb the egg
• Finally, shape into eight even-sized patties with wet hands and fry in a heavy-based non-stick pan in a little oil

Finally... a good tip to save £££s. Pulses are dirt cheap and really nutritious. The canned ones are excellent but the dried ones cost next to nothing. Drawback of the dried ones, however, is that they take a lot of soaking and cooking... so not so convenient

So my tip is to soak, cook and freeze beans in one session. Then you have frozen, cooked beans that you can turn into all kinds of casseroles, soups, burgers or throw into salads. A 500g pack of kidney beans costing 67p at Tesco turns into a whopping 1.3kgs cooked product. You'd have to buy 3 x 420g cans at a total cost of £2.10 to get the same weight of beans.

Method

• Soak beans or chickpeas overnight
• Next day rinse, boil up and simmer the beans according to the packet instructions
• Drain the cooked beans really, really well in a colander. Let them go cold.
• Tip the cold cooked beans into a large freezer bag and lay it out on a tray in the freezer so that the beans are in a thin layer
• Once frozen give the bag a shake and 'voila' you have free-flow cooked beans that you can use like frozen peas.

Oooh, we have a "paupers pie" too! Mashed potato, onion, dried mixed herbs and seasoning, cut up tin of spam, in a dish and put a pie crust on top. My stepdad makes it and it is yummy

bumped for Mothersmilk

Pea and Ham soup is a great idea. As is leak and potato (though maybe a bit lacking in protein). This one is a cheap accompaniment that is an inexpensive way to bulk up a meal with spuds. It isn't massively nutritional, but is a great way to make a largish helping of carbs very palatable.

Boil potatoes cut into chunks the size of conkers in a pan that has a close fitting lid, taking them just past the point you'd normally cook them to, so that they are soft at the edges. Drain then add a knob of margarine or butter and a splash of milk, some salt and pepper and a little bit of english mustard. Put the lid on and using a teatowel to protect your hands from the heat of the pan, hold the lid on tightly and shake the pan up and down vigorously so that the outside of the potatoes breaks up, mixes with the other ingredients to create a creamy sauce that coats them all over. Not hugely nutritious, like I warned, but really cheap and tasty. Got me through some lean times!

To rather undermine my own contribution, It's frustrating that nutritional value/complexity does take a hit when you limit your budget. Carbs seem to feature more prominently in recipes that are more cost effective (viz the meal plans at resourceful cook, that seem to get more potato-ey/pasta-ey the less expensive they are). Maybe it's just psychological but I want fresh greens and lean meat as much as possible, to feel I'm eating healthily. Any cheap recipes that fit that bill really appreciated.

DKW, I don't know so much about lean meat but I do have a v. cheap one for fresh greens.

2 or 3 pounds potatoes
2 onions, chopped
1 large cabbage or other kind of greens, chopped
curry powder
salt, pepper
5 or 6 tablespoonfuls of oil or cooking fat.

Cut the potatoes into 1inch dice and parboil for a few minutes until just beginning to soften.

Heat the oil in a LARGE pan, then fry the onion until fragrant. Add cabbage and drained potatoes. Stir all around until everything is coated in oil. Put the lid on and cook for a couple of minutes until greens start to wilt. Take the lid of, add curry powder and seasoning to taste and cook, stirring all the time, until everything is done (usually about 10 minutes.) I serve this with hm wholemeal or spelt bread and my children love it. It's my daughter's favourite meal. There's no necessity to eat protein at every meal, so even without the bread, this is a good dinner. If you like, you can add a couple of tins of tomatoes to make a kind of sauce, but mu kids prefer it without.

Other good things for fresh greens are:
spinach and cottage cheese lasagne (cook onion, garlic and 2 tins toms until saucy, stir in a pile of chopped spinach until wilted. Stir in a carton of natural cottage cheese and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Layer with lasagne sheets, top with cheese sauce. Leave to sit for a couple of hours and then bake for about 40 minutes)

Saag aloo
spinach,leek and butterbean soup,

greenbean and sweetcorn bake ( slice and parboil 1lb green or runner beans with 1lb sweetcorn, frozen is fine. Mix with 1lb chopped tomatoes and 1/2 pound chopped, roasted nuts. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Pour into a casserole dish and top with a crumble made from breadcrumbs mixed with about 4oz grated cheese. Bake at 180 for about 30-40 minutes.)

Things that you can make with meat that are cheap are;

easy cabbage rolls
chicken casserole and dumplings (I use more veg than chicken, 1 good sized leg or breast from a cooked bird feeds my family, cooked with carrots, onions, swede/turnip/parsnip, chicken stock, parsley and then topped with either dumplings or a dropscone mix)
chicken and rice soup (stock made from carcass and then just 4 or 5 ounces of the meat, shredded in. Use carrots, onions, leek and a handful of either brown rice or barley.)

This is lifted from another thread that I was on:
When I make pulled pork, first of all I roast the pork in the normal way. Then I cut it into thick chunks and put it back in the dish with a couple of chopped onions, some chilli powder, and equal amount of barbecue ketchup and water. (usually about 3/4pint of each for a pork loin joint.) Put it in the oven with the lid on and cooked at a low temperature all afternoon. When the meat is falling apart, shred it between to forks until it is all shredded up. The sauce should just be like a kind of coating on the meat, there shouldn't be any liquidy stuff. Serve it inside rolls with coleslaw and corn on the cobs. If it's too dry just add some more hot water to the mix.

You can make that with chicken as well.
You can make savoury rice with a few bits and pieces of cooked pork or chicken and whatever veg you have lying around.
Chicken risotto only needs a very small amount of meat.

Another favourite with my kids is barley mince; cook 4oz barley, a couple of chopped carrots, a couple of chopped onions and some parsnip or turnip or whatever in 1 1/2pints of stock until the barley is cooked. Drain the stock, but keep it. Finely chop some cooked meat, I usually use either lamb or beef and use the corresponding stock. Return the barley mix to the pan and stir in a couple of tablespoons of flour. Add the meat and mix. Make the stock up to 1/2 a pint with water and slowly pour it into the meat mix. Stir all the time until the stock forms a smooth gravy. Bring to the boil and boil for a minute or two until thickened. Serve with jacket potatoes and cabbage or broccoli. (this serves 4)

Another cheap recipe for left over meat is hedgehogs. Boil 1lb of potatoes with 1lb chopped veg. I usually use onions, carrots and turnip. Mash until smooth. Mix in 1/2lb of finely chopped cooked meat of any kind. Add some salt, pepper and chopped parsley and a handful of breadcrumbs, also a couple of spoonfuls of stock or gravy to help bind it. SOmetimes, I even use brown sauce or pickle. Shape the mix into sausage shapes, this is enough for about 16, then roll them in porridge oats. bake at 180 for about 20 minutes. Serve with baked beans or green veg.

What I usually do is cook some kind of joint at the beginning of the week, or about 3lbs of mince, and then use it up all week in different things like soup, hegdehogs, fritters, barley mince, pies, wraps, rolls, pasta bakes or whatever. Another idea is to change your protein source to non animal protein and eat beans and pulses. If you combine these with a grain, they will still give you all the protein your body needs.

DKW, I made this tonight. It's cheap, cheerful, full of protein and green veg.

2 cups rice cooked in 4 cups water with 2 chopped onions.
1lb broccoli, cooked (frozen is fine)
2 tins condensed mushroom soup and a soup can of milk OR 1 1/2 pints mushroom sauce (white sauce made with some chopped mushrooms)
small tub philadelphia type cheese
breadcrumbs
salt and pepper.

Mix cooked rice, onions, broccoli, soup and milk or sauce and cheese together in a large casserole dish. season to taste and top with breadcrumbs. Bake at about 180 for 20 minutes or so. My kids love this and I have been making it for over 30 years. Adult kids eat it with bread and butter, younger ones eat as is, this more than adequately feeds 5.

It's very cheap for me at this time of year because I grow my own broccoli and onions, but even if I didn't it would probably only cost about 3pounds or so.

Other good things for fresh greens are:

chard quiche ( bunch chard, cooked with some onion, poured into pastry case, topped with 2 sliced tomatoes. Beat a small tub cottage cheese and 2 eggs together, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and pour over chard. Bake until set and golden.)
spinach frittata (my kids like this inside sandwiches. eeewww!)
creamy chard pasta sauce(white sauce with chopped chard,onion, garlic and nutmeg)
spinach pancakes
pea soup
rice with peas, onions and bacon

Recipes like this mean that you are getting all the nutrition that you need with minimal outlay because the greens and what not form an integral part of the meal itself, rather than just an accompaniment.

some good ideas here :)

I like the frozen pulses idea - I don't have many recipes to cook with them but will look out for them!

Ok so what can I do with half a swede, carrots, potato, cauliflower, cabbage, chicken breasts, mince, salad stuff...

I have things like pasta, rice, tinned toms, herbs and garlic and spices....

We keep frozen chickpeas in and use instead of mince in a tomato sauce for pasta - cheaper than veggie mince. Can be made a bit more grown up with coriander and garam masala too, just take out separate portions when you're done cooking and add the spices.

You could make root veg mash, topped with cheese and baked in the oven until cheese melts. My kids love this with some baked beans Another thing to make is root veg stew. Carrots, swede, onions, potatoes, a handful of barley or rice, veg stock, plenty of pepper and some cumin. Just simmer until. veg is cooked and grains are tender.

Cabbage and mince always gets turned into easy cabbage rolls in here. The kids love it. I make about 1/2pints of creamy tomato sauce using a combination of evap milk and passata instead of condensed soup, but either works well. Or you could make coleslaw and have it with potatoes and salad, then use the mince for something else, my kids like tomatoey mince pasta bake.
Cook the mince with a tin of tom soup or 1/2 a pint tomato sauce made 1/2 and 1/2 milk and passata, a tin of toms, a small tin tom puree, a chopped onion and an oxo cube. Mix cooked mince with about 1lb peas and a packet of cooked pasta. Pour into an oven dish and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes.
Or they like creamy mince where I brown the mince with onion then sprinkle with flour and gradually add milk to make 1pint of white sauce with the mince in it. Add about 1lb of frozen mixed veg that you have thawed. Cook for about 15 minutes or so until done. Serve with either rice, pasta, mash or toast.
My kids also like taco spiced rice inside flour tortillas or layered with tortillas and cheese in a pie dish and baked for 20mins at 180. You need 1lb of mince, some onions, taco spices, 3 tortillas and about 6oz of grated cheese for this. It's nice with salad and wedges.

Cauliflower could make cauli cheese or, if you have any bacon or ham, cauliflower and bacon soup. You use a cauli, a couple of potatoes, an onion, a few rashers of bacon, garlic, stock and seasoning. Leave it chunky or blend it. This another favourite in here. Another thing would be cauliflower and potato curry, but I don't like curried cauliflower.

Chicken breasts could be turned into chicken pasta bake (1 breast cooked and chopped,) chicken savoury rice (1 breast cooked and chopped,) the pulled pork recipe I have up above can be scaled down and use for chicken breasts. 2 would then feed 4 people easily.

4oz of cooked and chopped chicken can make cream of chicken soup for lunch. I can give you the recipe if you like. I don't carry this one about in my head, I have it written down.

SHred 1 cooked chicken breast and mix with a chopped, fried onion, 1lb cooked mixed veg of your choosing, and 1 pint white sauce made using 1/2 milk, 1/2 chicken sauce. Pour it into a deep dish and top with a herby scone dough. Bake until top is cooked and inside is hot and bubble.

Shred a chicken breast up and mix it with a spicy tomato sauce and use to fill tortilla wraps. Shred a cooked breast and mix with a tin of tomatoes, a jar of salsa and 1/2pint of creamy tomato sauce. Cut a packet of tortillas into inch squares and mix with chicken. Put in a pie dish, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

For recipes using beans and lentils you could try Allrecipes.com or Hillbillyhousewife.com. They have tons of recipes using all different kinds of beans.

some lovely ideas here thank you :)

we tend to eat a lot of chicken and mince - and pork chops now as I can easily get 3 meals out of a pack of 6, so if I get the 3 for £10 with the chicken and mince thats 7 nights meals.

I will be looking at freezing pulses though.

,

I buy chicken thighs as theyre always cheap and i make lots of casseroles with a load of veg or lentils thrown in. Black bean chilli is another new favourite after I had it in a pub a few months back.

Lentil pasta bake - for 4 (big portions)

penne pasta 10 oz
REd Lentils 3 oz
Mushrooms 4 - 8 oz depends on how many you have
1 x red pepper
small amount grated cheese or parmesan
onion x 1
Passata or tin chopped tomato + puree.
mixed herbs.

Cook the penne pasta and put in dish. Boil the lentils til soft - only about 10 mins. Drain them. Make sauce by cooking the onions, chopped pepper and mushrooms in some vegtble oil. Add the lentils, herbs and tomato or passata. Sir into the pasta, sprinkle with cheese and cook in the oven for about 25 mins 180 c Even my lentil hating DH adores this and it is really filling and good on a cold night.

coconut daal

cup of lentils (red or yellow)
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt
2 cloves garlic
pice of ginger
1 medium onion,
tin of tomatoes
tsp curry powder
fresh chillies, sliced (optional)
1/4 block of creamed coconut (cheaper than can of milk!)

add boiling water to creamed coconut to make into a liquid, blend tomatoes and combine with coconut. Meanwhile fry off garlic, ginger, onion and chillies. Add rinsed lentils and stir to coat, then add tomato coconut mix and curry powder, stir and cover. Cook until thick and creamy, check for salt. Serve with rice or homemade flatbreads/chappatis and a salad.

If you have any leftover roast lamb or chicken, you can add it to the lentils towards the end to heat through (or I sometimes make this as a curry with stewing lamb)

Cauliflower cheese with extras:

Normal cauli with cheese sauce but add lots of button mushrooms and tomatoes and top with breadcrumbs then bake.

Cream of chicken soup

Very little actual chicken is required

make a roux from butter and plain flour, add chicken stock (homemade or bought) add lightly fried onion, chicken pieces and cook for c. 20 mins, add small amount of cream and plenty of seasoning, very tasty and very comforting at this time of year served with buttered toast to dip in it!

.