5 cheap but healthy meals -----anyone please?

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Need to meal plan as cheaply as possible.

We will eat anything except liver/kidney and have a slowcooker.

Any ideas?

TIA

IslaL please ccould you tell me how many you're feeding and what size joint you're buying?

TIA

Chaos - I'm only feeding 2 adults (but fairly big appetites)

I'm not sure of the size - I usually just pick up a joint in Aldi - if they have 3 sizes I go for the middle size

I'm fairly stingy with the meat - for example, in the pasta bake I don't use much, but I shred it so it is spread through the bake and it seems more.

In the soup you don't need to add much meat as the stock is so beautifully flavoured - again I shred it into very small pieces so it seems more.

Chaos - at Christmas I bought a 21/2kg gammon joint. I used it too feed my 5 (20, 18, 14, 11, 8) 6 times. I steamed it, cut it up and portioned it out.

They had pasta bake, savoury rice, veg and ham pie, soup (2 meals) and omelette. Like Isla, I only use a very small amount of meat in things like pasta/rice/soup. I shred it into tiny strips between 2 forks so that it goes all through the dish.

On Hogmanay, I bought a 5kg boneless leg of pork reduced to 7pounds from 28. I cooked it and it has already given them 3 meals (roast pork, egg and ham rice and sandwiches) and there is enough in the freezer to make another 6 meals of things like pasta bake, barbecue pork rolls, pie, pasties, hash or whatever.

Thanks Ilsa and stressed.

I think I'm going to give it a try.

Chaso - pre-recession we would have scoffed most of it for one meal and then picked at the rest and maybe made a few sandwiches.

I'm trying really hard to be a bit more frugal.

Today I made pork casserole - I used 2 pork steaks but portioned it out so it was 4 meals. I find if I bulk it out with veg I can make the meat go further.

realise I'm stating the obvious, but I ony had my lightbulb moment recently - I dread to think how much food I have wasted over the years

Chaos, not Chaso!

Mackerel also v good in kedgeree.
DP made an interesting pasta sauce tonight with sardines - v cheap, cost £1.25 for us both.
Another vote for veggie food - I make a really nice dish called 'Red Dragon Pie' which uses aduki beans and is a lot like cottage pie.
Pasta with tomato sauce is good, with maybe a little bit of bacon on the top if you want a bit of meat.
Another meal you could use the gammon/ham idea with is carbonara sauce.
Veggie curries/mince (keema) curries.
I bought a huge joint of pork loin when it was on offer and cut it up and froze it, it made two hot meals, 2 more portions of the casserole are in the freezer and there was enough leftover roast to have in sandwiches the next day too.

just marking spot - also in need of healthy and cheap meal ideas! some great ideas on here

Lentil Dahl
Tuna fish cakes
Veg stir fry
Veg and lentil stew
Shepherds pie

Also recommend looks interesting

My first link Yeahhhh!

Beamur could you post your red dragon pie recipe please? Sounds interesting, plus I've never tried aduki beans.

Red dragon pie.
Tin of aduki beans
1 carrot
1 stick celery
1 onion
Stock (chicken or veg)
Tomato puree
Dark soy sauce
Mixed herbs
Bulgar wheat (other grains will do)
Mashed potato

Chop up celery/onion/carrot, fry in oil for a few minutes.
Cook bulgar wheat.
Add beans (you can used dried ones but tins are easier) to veg, add stock, add herbs, generous squeeze of puree and a splash of soy sauce. Add bulgar wheat when cooked and simmer down to a nice thickish consistency. I often add a little bit more soy sauce at the end too, it gives a nice sweetish flavour.
I haven't given amounts, but its roughly one third beans, one third bulgar wheat and one third veg.
Top with mash and bake in oven
I also often don't do the mash topping, its quite nice served like a stew or casserole with rice or potatoes and veg.
The recipe I got was from DD's nursery, but I've seen a Suma recipe book with it on too.
Just in case its of interest the below is a link to more Suma recipes - I haven't tried them myself.

www.suma.coop/category/recipes/

i am also trying to feed a family well me DP and DD and bump for less than £50 pound a week, i really do think meal planning def saves money

pasta bake is a very cheap meal that wud easily feed 4 with some chips or salad or pots on the side

i make a chilli from scratch, which works out costing about £4.00 and will feed 4-5 people with boiled rice and sum crusty bread

also curry from scratch agen cheap chicken for 4-5 people from my butchers costs about £4.00 then pepper, onion and the spices works out around 6-7 pound but i always end up withloads and freeze a couple of portions

sausage casserole- pack of sausages about £2.00 back of casserole veg a pound and a few pots easily feed family of 4

i also get them birdeye chicken grills from asda think there a pound for 2 and have them with veg and boiled pots another cheap meal

my DP is quite fussy so it is pretty hard for me to think of meals every week but these r the staples that we generally eat quite often

Thanks beamur. That sounds nice.

A nice easy healthy meal that is cheap is stuffed peppers.

Simply brown some mince, add some white sauce (can make it or use jar), add some cheese/cream to thicken and simmer until pipping hot.

Stuff mixture into pimiento (or any) red peppers and bake for 20-30mins.

There are quite a few useful recipes on this site here: www.cheap-healthy-meals.com