PLEASE, please...some seriously cheap meal ideas needed. Totally skint, but don't want to starve

[CrockoDuck]

This week I have £25 to feed me and bottomless pit teenage son for a week. I'm hoping there's people here who only ever spend that on their weekly shop, so can give me some big tips.

Thanks.

Oh goodness...hope my post didn't sound patronising . Just meant, I think there are probably better meal planners & budgeters than me.....I'm generally useless at both.

Pasta obviously

Risotto is cheap and filling - about £1 for a box, plus a couple of quid for the other bits and bobs to go in it

Potato bake

Baked spuds with beans

Stir fry with noodles is cheap and you wont need a lot of meat

Garlic Mushroom Pasta (Can add bacon)

Fry however many mushrooms you can spare in butter/oil/marge/whatever you got and add fresh/dried granualted/pureed garlic to taste.
Add two rashers of Bacon chopped small (optional)

Once the bacon is cooked turn down heat.
Add parsley or italien herbs (optional)
Add supermarket own brand mushroom soup and warm through.
Serve over supermarket basics cooked pasta.

If you're not a fan of garlic leave it out but then I'd strongly suggest the bacon.

Cowboy Mince

Brown an onion
Add about half the quantity of mince you'd normally cook and once browned drain some of the fat off.
Add either one or two tins of baked beans depending on how many you're cooking for.
Add one or two tins of chopped toms as for the beans.
Add parsley or Italien herbs to taste.
Simmer for about half an hour or more if you want.
Serve over baked spuds or cheap oven chips or rice, sprinkle with a little cheese if desired.

What have you got in your cupboards/freezer? Do a list and we can mix and match some recipes. Is it £25 for all meals or have you got cereal etc?

Make 3 meals from one - Roast chicken, then chicken and rice/pasta/noodles, then soup. Lots of soup, in fact.

Get some dried beans/lentils and do casseroles. Spag bol can be padded out with lentils and extra tomato.

No soft drinks - if you can't live with only water, get a big bottle of sparkling water (supermarket own brand) and a bottle of cheap stuff to dilute.

Get full fat milk and add water (same price as skimmed but will go further) for porridge & rice puddings.

Ahhhhhhh.....excellent, superb ideas! Thanks :)

The sparkling water idea is genius, balia

And my son will love "Cowboy Mince" Wyrd

Dhal. (Sometimes spelt 'dal'.) Look up recipes on the internet if you haven't made it before. You can use a whole range of beans/split beans/split peas/lentils, it is incredibly filling and absolutely delicious. (And very, very cheap.) One of the few non-meat dishes that gives 'meat' like satisfaction I think (because of the protein?), though you can also make a small amount of cheap meat go a long way by adding it in. It will also absorb pretty much any sort of vegetable (whatever's on a cheap offer, though courgettes are particularly nice). You can make a 'runny' version which is more like a soup, or a thicker consistency which is v. delicious as a side dish or just on toast.

You do need some spices which you might not have and some onion, garlic and tomato to make the 'tarka' (the sort of sauce you add in at the end) but after the initial outlay they'll last you for a while, and spices are much cheaper if there's an indian deli/corner shop anywhere near you.

Lots of recipes mention a pressure cooker but you really don't need one, it just makes it faster.

You can make vast batches at a time and reheat as necessary. It's also economic and time-saving to make a large amount of the tarka at once and freeze what you don't need then add to new batches of dhal as necessary.

Also definitely worth mastering a basic veg soup recipe that is similarly adaptable to whatever you have/is on offer. Particularly good for making tasty use of off-putting root vegetables.

Big pork joints are often marked down in the supermarkets, you could have a roast dinner, stir fry, casserole, sandwiches.

Sainsburys do frozen cooking bacon, 1KG for £2. Its offcuts but we have had it and it's lovely. I find red lentil and bacon soup so filling.

-Jacket spuds with value brand tuna, mayo and tinned sweetcorn.
-Spag Bol made with frozen mince (just drain the fat off after frying it), tins of chopped tomatos, onion, garlic, mushrooms, tomato puree, dried italian herbs and spaghetti of course- use values brands for everything and make a big batch of the meat and sauce and freeze what you don't use.
-Bacon, cheese and tomato omlette again using value brands for everything.
-Loaded potato wedges- cut potato into wedges brush with oil and season with salt and pepper or even some chilli powder if want spicy wedges and bake for half an hour and then top with anything you want.
Pea and ham soup- use soaked dried peas and boil them with a chopped onion and maybe some lentils and get a pre cooked bacon joint chop up and add to the soup- you can use the left over bacon joint for butties the next day.
-Corned beef hash- boil potatosand chopped onion then mash together and add a tin of chopped up corned beef- spoon into an oven proof dish and top with grated cheese and bake for 20 mins- very nice with ketchup or brown sauce too.

Fruit and veg from Aldi is cheap and usually ok quality too.

Hope some of this helps

pasta with sauce made from pureed peas,garlic,mint and basil or parsleyand black pepper.bit grated cheese

super cheap and my 17yo hollow legged dd eats it til comes out her ears along with soups with lentils

I second what pp have said about lentils, they bulk everything out and protein is v filling
veg soups and bread (homemade brown?)
jacket potatoes with tuna/cheese
"paella" in our house is rice with veg and chicken stock, frozen peas and sweetcorn, some pepper and some diced chicken/ prawns
pasta with tin of chopped tomatoes, some herbs and whatever veg is in thr fridge (courgette, peppers, aubergine, onion are good)
chicken drumsticks ( v cheap) with cajun spices and wedges
mashed potatoes, beans and fried egg
homemade pizza with tomato puree, mixed herbs and cheese
pasta carbonara, onion, bacon offcuts and butter and milk cream

Taking note of all these fantastic ideas. Thanks guys.

It's quite good really, because we'll be trying lots of things we haven't before - so every cloud :)

Gammon shanks are cheap to buy (£1-1.50 each) - just boil and u can shred the meat for stir-fry, pasta sauce, sandwiches, pie-filling. Morrissons do them i think... or highstreet butchers.

Big cheesy potato pie (mash, chopped onion, bit of cheese then grated cheese on top) will last for a few days and goes with everything. Wedges are cheap and easy, use spices to make them more exciting.

Cheap fish pie - use cheap fish like value smoked mackerel, then one piece of frozen 'white fish' (most supermarkets to own brand cheapo versions) and some frozen peas (or cheaper, a sliced leek), cover in homemade white sauce (melt some butter or oil and add flour to a paste, then add milk that you've heated up with an onion in bit by bit so no lumps) and then cover with mash and oven.

Mam used to make a massive saucepan of peeled spuds, quartered peeled onions, a few peeled carrots and a few slices of bacon on top (or bacon bits - Lidl do a big pack of offcuts cheaply) all boiled until done. Simple but lush.

Chicken livers are cheap (99p for a big box, enough for 4 ppl) and are lush stirred through a pasta sauce, or on sexy toast (garlic-rubbed, thick), or in risotto or a salad.

Pearl barley is much cheaper than risotto rice and works brilliantly in salads, soups, as a carbs option instead of pasta/potatoes, or cold in salads to bulk them out.

Good luck and keep us posted! :)

Oh my god, what is sexy toast and how do i make some? :o

tgis chicken and veg pie is amazing and basically you chuck in whatever you have do uses up left over really well. Don't use as much stock and add done thyme

Cheese and potatoe pie with beans/spag hoops or even sausages (wich can just be a couple sliced on top.

If you but a chicken in tge supermarket and it is a set price one ie large roaster for £5 always look at tge length of cooking time, you can get extra just for picking up the right bird.

Frozen fish cakes can be less than a quid for 4, some home roasted chips and basics/own brand peas for a fish supper at a fraction of tge price.

Stuffed Jacket potatoes...bake the spuds until cooked through, scoop out insides, mash up with tuna and spring onions/sauteed chopped onion and pile the mixture back in the potato skins...sprinkle grated cheese on top, bake in oven for 20 mins. Delish with a simple salad on the side (lettuce, cucumber, grated carrot, tomato)

Smoked mackerel is inexpensive and makes a great kedgeree with a few peas in and sliced hardboiled egg on top

Pulses are your friend - use small brown lentils to make a bolognese type sauce with (cook the lentils in water until done then use as you would mince) which can be used on pasta or in a great shepherd's pie. The key to flavour is add marmite, stock cube, tomato puree and herbs when cooking

As mentioned above - dahl is fantastic, healthy and cheap. You can jazz it up with fresh spinach cooked in it and some natural yogurt to serve

Oh and soups.....there are loads of wonderful cheap soup recipes.

A nice chunky minestrone is what I'd recommend, with beans and a handful of pasta in. Serve with garlic bread.

Also if your local supermarket is anything like mine, check the bit where they have discounted foods that are going out of date. The other day I got an entire free range chicken to roast for less than two quid (which will make three meals for two of us- roast chicken meal, something else such as pie or stir fry from the chicken meat leftovers, and the carcass to make chicken and leek soup), and a big piece of smoked cod loin reduced from four quid to one fifty. It will be stuff that needs cooking immediately, but some can be frozen (as I did with the cod).

Don't forget puddings for the gannet years.

Bread and butter pudding if you have got stale bread

Baked apples. Nicer with raisins but not necessary.

Apple sponge

Jam sponge

Rice pudding if you like it

And all those Victorian fillers such ad yorkshire pudding with meat and lots of veg.

Toad in the hole

Stews with masses of veg, root veg including potatoes and a tin of chopped tomatoes to add colour.

If you have stale bread, bruschetta with chopped tomatoes garlic and onion.

Discounted food / BB date reduced etc is the way forward - also check out frozen versions of what you'd usually buy - can be cheaper.

I bought a chicken (was EUR4.50) on friday - and have fed my 3kids 3times from it- plus three lots of stock for risotto/soup. DH and I will have the last bits of meat in a lentil/chicken curry tonight - so that's at least 10 servings (if you count the childrens as half as they're still only small). So price per meal works out well.

Lentils/beans to add bulk to meals. Also seasonal veggies - roots now / then courgettes etc when they are in season.

Use your freezer - bulk buy/cook sauces etc then defrost as and when you need to go with cheap pasta etc. Look for veggies/meat just around sell by dates and use them - always buy when you see and freeze for another time.

Consider growing own veg if possible - not immidiate help but you'll benefit from it later.

USe BOGOFs / 3-4-2 etc they can sometimes work out better than buying the cheaper versions of the same items.

Student pasta: pasta, tin chopped tomatoes with tin of tuna mixed into it, onion and garlic if you have it.

Has kept millions of students from starving.

most supermarkets do a basics/smart price whatever tortilla chips
you can do a cheap nachos with these plus

fry off onion and spices (chilli powder/paprika/cumin which ever of these or similar that you have - you want to make it reasonably spicy) plus grated cheese on top.

Chorizo is a good thing to have in as you only need a really small amount for a lot of flavour so it gives you your meat kick without needing to use much. I had a bake the other day which was fried onion mixed with diced chorizo, spicy baked bean (add chilli powder into cheap standard baked beans), fried potatos, all mixed up, grated cheese on top and baked. Served with fried egg (though that was unnecessary imo).

sausage n lentil casserole in slow cooker

If you have a greengrocer near you, use him/her. I find prices to be half that of the supermarket for much of what I buy.

And the produce is usually ready to eat that day instead of having to wait for it to ripen, which it does in the time it takes you to go to work and when you get home again it's gone bad.

Or Asian shop - even cheaper, esp for tinned tomatoes and chick peas, bags of lentils and pulses, fruit and veg.