breadline britain - cheap fresh healthy food IS possible

[afterdinnerkiss]

cannot see another active thread on this so sorry if there is

following the guardian stories on families in recession and some on the relyted MN threads e.g. here and was thinking that actually is possible to feed a family of 4 decently enough for five pounds without resorting to ready meals.

What I cook:
a tin of tomatoes, an onion and some cheap dried herbs with cheap pasta can feed a family with enough change left over for some cheese to sprinkle over??

a few boiled potatoes and carrots and a dash of milk makes fresh mash. add frozen peas and frozen herbs and you are still under five pounds.

am i being näive or do you do this too?

hey expat i want to hear your mexi-recipes...
re jars, i've heard patak's are good, but i've not used them. however, when i think how much a lump of farking ginger is costing nowadays i'm coming round to using them as a bit of a base.

Toby, I only buy the type of sauce mixes where I'm getting value for money in terms of ingredients and time saved, and only get them on offer, always under £1 for a large jar. But you're right, a tin of tomatoes, roasted veg, some other cheese, chopped herbs, garlic (don't have any) glug of wine (don't have any) would do instead!

I keep the jars and put home made chutneys in them too (although not many apples, so didn't this year.)

I do buy pataks curry paste, Jamie Oliver says there as good as you can get and I really couldn't be arsed to make a wet paste the odd time I make a chicken and chickpea korma.

Yes Toby give us your mexi recipe, I try with my fahjitas but never get it quite right I use caynne pepper, salt, pepper,tumeric and cinnamon

tbh the cajun spice mix packet comes out better and if you buy the packety seperate it's about 50p I think.

good to know, will investigate next time am in supermarket.

Mexican Rice, serves 2 adults and 2 children or probably 2 adults and 1 teen so adjust accordingly.

1 cup of long-grain rice
2 cups water, diluted by half with tomato puree, tomato passata or ketchup, whatever you have to hand, just whisk it well
oil to cover the bottom of a lidded saucepan you're using to hold it
salt, pepper and garlic or garlic granules to taste
powdered cumin to taste or you can use a teaspoon of cumin seed but put this in when you throw the rice in
one chopped onion or frozen equivalent
one chopped pepper or frozen equivalent

Heat the oil in the pan until, when you throw rice in it, it cackles. Tip in the rice and stir it around and cook until it's translucent.

Add everything else.

Cover with a lid and turn down the heat until the water's boiled off.

You will have the orange 'arroz' served up with Mex/Tex-Mex dishes.

yum. although damn yer cheat's garlic.

Pinto beans are fab, too.

I buy them dried in Tesco.

Measure out what you need by hand, I usually do 2 cups and rinse them in cold water.

Throw them in a pan of boiling water with whatever you've got - a ham hock or bacon cuttings or no meat at all, whatever chopped veg you have (I always put in an onion and celery), plenty of salt and pepper, garlic, chiles, some dried cumin. You can even throw in a crumbled stock cube.

Simmer them with the lid on, checking the water levels every now and again.

They take a couple of hours and you can also chuck in a teaspoon of bicab of soda so the skin goes soft.

Then you can serve them in tortillas with rice as they are, with grated cheddar and soured cream and salsa.

Or, mash them up with a masher or two forks and fry them in oil or lard as leftovers, or lay them on a tortilla, cover with grated cheese and stick them under the grill till the cheese melts.

You can also use goat's cheese.

My father grew up on frijoles, rice and corn tortillas. Meat was for high holy days and then it was fajitas or cheap cuts and offal minced down and made into tamales or empanadas/pies or caldo or tripas (tripe) unless they had or someone had a chicken to kill, but chickens were very valuable for their eggs and were not killed off till they were old. Even roosters had worth till they were old.

Cheese was made from goat's milk, only rich people could keep cows. Even the classic Mexican sweet, dulce de leche is still sold in wrapped nuggets and made from goat's milk and cane sugar. The other is a nugget of quince seed jelly that you slice off by the piece.

I still use cheat's garlic and coriander/cilantro, which is hard to grow here.

Hmm. I try to cook nutritious and thrifty meals. But it needs to be quick too and that often throws one of the first two aims out the window. I am only home one day a week and no longer have time to hang around supermarkets for reductions.

The children and I have vegetarian lunches (I have no idea what dh eats and frankly don't want to as I rather suspect it is 2 for £2 nasty chicken burgers etc) so we do tend to have either meat or fish most evenings.

The children would eat pasta with tomate sauce and cheese, I think they would at the idea of rice and tomato sauce. We are probably spoiled but I think everyone expects a 'meal.'

I cooked a big pan of haleem on saturday night and served that up again tonight, which dispointed the children despite them originally loving it. So I do feel bad batch cooking.

Little ducks could you not of freezed it and brought it back out a week later?

Expaat your recipes sound delicious I am so trying them out!

This is one thing that doesn't freeze well and I had absolutely no time to cook anything new.

Most other stuff I cook freezes well though, but the trouble I have is freezing something big enough to feed four and then managing to get it defrosted in time with all the other components of the meal ready in time. In fact I think it is the thinking about it that stresses me out and takes up too much brain space! Far easier to pick up bung in the oven/microwave veg and stick some meat in the george forman gril.

Some weeknights are crazy here, I pick up kids from afterschool club get home and try and feed them something, attempt to get homework/reading books done (why a 4 year old needs to 'reinforce' their letter knowledge by doing a phonics worksheet daily is another thread) then have to pick up dh from station, before children in bed.

I always try and make meals last two days. Eg last week we had chicken and potato curry for three (!) days. First day with boiled rice. Second day with pitta bread and salad and third day we bought fresh chapatti from our local curry house (4 for £1!!). On thurs I always do baked potatoes with cheese/beans/tuna. Fri is usually oven chips with egg and peas. Sat I usually do something like spicy chicken legs with cabbage bake and veg or lasagna. Once a month on a sat we spend £15 on a takeaway and Sunday is lazy dinner day so we eat leftovers from sat.

Luckily I don't have to watch my spends, but I do always try and cook with butter or nice olive oil. My kids would really struggle to have pasta with tin toms and cheese. Instead I would make homemade pasta sauce with nice gulf of olive oil, garlic, ginger, chilli, onions, simmered for a nice long while. I also make my
Own curry sauce. In butter with everything simmered slowly. This is part frozen and one week I'll add chicken to it. The next ill add veg or fish. I really believe in making food from scratch but don't think there's anything wrong with the odd oven chips day. I also think if making simple recipes then s nice bit of butter or oil or cream really adds to flavour and shared between the five of us it means it's not that fattening. My top quick recipe is one tray roast dinner: marinated chicken thighs, carrots, potatoes, parsnips all thrown in large oven tray bunged in oven for hour. Out of oven onto plates with huge side salad. Leftovers go in lunchboxes for next day.

I use a cheats ginger. It's a brand called Nishaan, and I get it from the supermarket. It's a proper grated mush, not chunks, and is fabulous for Chinese, Indian and North African styles of food.

Oh yes, that ginger is good. I LOVE my Asian supermarket. I buy frozen garlic (100%. Garlic only) for £1. It lasts at least 4 months. I also buy ginger in a jar for a quid. My chicken marinade is from a packet of tandoori masala mix also 99p from the Asian supermarket. If you go to the meat counter they will chop up any onions you have bought and bag them for you in small bags for the freezer. Just ask nicely. I've recently also found that fruit is cheaper her as ate rice, herbs, flour, lentils etc.

I buy a piece of ginger and freeze it to grate.

We live in the middle of absolute nowhere. People used to kill each other or send them to gaol over stolen sheep or cattle because let's face it, if someone stole your sheep or what cows or pigs the laird had by his tenants, there was a good chance those people would starve over the winter.

The cheapest way for me to get to Glasgow, on a 'cheap' return is £14 and £8 for a child above 3 and under 16, and then I surface at Central, after 2 hours of travel in good weather, to have to take a bus or walk for miles. Last winter, it regularly took me 5 hours to get through here, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for whingers.

The ferries were off yesterday and the Rest and Be Thankful Pass closed. If you needed medical help, it's the Royal Navy helicopter for you or nowt.

It is raining again and the wind is up. After dawn, who knows. This is 2012 and still, this is area can be entirely cut off.

You live in a place where takeaway is even an option? Must be nice!

But don't tell me your only choice is junk and no, I'm not talking about disabled or the sick and SN, been there, bought the tshirt. Still here now.

My son went without dinner because he refused what was served, noodles and chicken thighs with a peanut butter sauce. Well, we have no money till Wednesday and tax credits but what I've bought on our last shop, so he'll gobble up his porridge in the morning.

I do my chicken fajitas by slicing chicken breasts and marinating them in lime juice, cumin and a bit of tabasco or chilli powder. Sometimes smoked paprika.

Then just fry the strips in a bit of olive oil until browned. They only take a couple of minutes. Not particularly authentic, I'm sure, but delicious!

Before I do the chicken, I fry loads of sliced peppers (a pepper per person, if I have enough in) and sliced onions together until lovely and sweet and soft, then put them in the bottom of the dish I will serve the chicken in and keep them warm in the oven. It makes the chicken go loads further.

If you don't eat meat, quartered mushrooms work really well in place of the chicken (if your DC will eat them, unlike mine :( )

Serve with iceberg lettuce, salsa/guacamole (DD makes the best guacamole in our house), grated cheese, sour cream and tortillas. Not particularly cheap, I shouldn't think. But nice for a treat.

I'm with expat on this one. All tis stuff about "may family wouldn't eat that". if there was nothing else and they were hungry enough, they would. That's how we live - eat what there is or or don't eat at all. DS4 and DD wouldn't eat the eggs I made for tea last night (toast beans and egg ), so they will be hungry for their potato scones for breakfast, then.

We don't have the geographical challenges that expat has because we only live in a semi-rural area of Scotland. but it is an area of very high deprivation where people come to blows in shops over reduced price stuff so I have little sympathy with all of the "couldn't/wouldn't eat that" stuff. You have to cut your cloth and adjust expectations.

I can't believe that it's cheaper to eat junk and take aways, either. The last time I bought a chippy tea in here, it was well over £20 for my lot. The last Chinese ( for a birthday 2 years ago) was over £40 - that's my weeks food money.

Absobloodylutely. There is no room for pickiness when you can't afford to waste food and have to cook as cheaply as possible.

I fed our family of four for £2.50 last night! Bag of drastically reduced filled tortellini (50p) garlic bread (50p) and basic tomato sauce with basil(80p) and an extra special chocolate tart reduced to 70p. Some days you just hit the bargains at the right time. Our local coop does great reductions. Puff pastry at 10p etc. For those looking for higher fat cheap meals, a sheet of puff pastry covered in a basic tomato sauce and topped with roast veg is a good one, so is mince in Spag Bol etc.

Also from chicken bones on a Sunday, make a stock with them. A carton of coconut milk and a jar of thai curry paste cost £2 for both, mix in with chicken stock(only about 2 tablespoons of curry paste,so you can use the other half to make a curry in the week) a pack of udon noodles (or any noodles) another 50p and some spring onions makes a really good cheap soup and all the extra left over meat off the chicken in it too. It fed us 6 portions and cost less than £3.

We get a lot of fruit "whoopsed" too. In fact there is not one item in my freezer without a yellow sticker

Yy to tinned minced ginger. I get the tinned minced garlic too. Quicker, easier AND cheaper :)

Thanks for the dahl recipes!

Tonight we have eggy bread, and oranges for afters.

I have to mention here though that my meals also take into account that the kids have a cooked meal at school which is well balanced.And there is always fruit/cucumber to hand at home.It certainly makes it easier to cook a cheaper meal when you know they have already had a cooked meal.
I find it easier to cook non-meat meals.I am not a confident cook at all,and I always worry with meat that I've cooked it properly.

Tonight's dinner in here is butternut squash and lentil curry.

2 butternuts (70p each, Aldi super six), 3 onions from a big bag (20p), bag lentils (4 packs for £1 from Approved Food), 2 tins coconut milk (75p each), few blocks of frozen spinach (30p) curry powder, salt and pepper (10 or 15p), 1/2 a bag value rice (20p), total cost £4. It will make 8 servings, so 50p a serving. it has 3 of your 5 a day, protein, carbs, plenty of micronutrients. It's cheap, easy and takes less than 1 hour to make. How is eating junk food any cheaper or easier, really than that?

Lunch was cheese and ham toasties and apples. I got the bread reduced to 20p, the cheese reduced to 20p, the ham reduced to 30p and a bag of apples reduced to 25p, so lunch cost under 20p a head.

Breakfast was potato scones (reduced to 20p a pack) and 1/2 a jar of value peanut butter (about 30p), kids had milk to drink. So that was about 30p a head.

3 decent meals for £1 a head. I can't see how junk food can be cheaper than that.

I wish my DD would eat butternut squash. It's on her 'hate' list. The rest of us love it, and you can make so many delicious cheap meals with it.

It is a little about education ie. but all is not lost as long you know the basics. I came from a family of 5 where money was tight so got used to cooking. Also we could never afford to eat out.

I am a SAHM but even when I worked in the City I cooked daily when I got home. To give mums some encouragement, you can cook a deliciously healthy meal that doesn't cost a lot.

Here are some examples of my delicious but cheap meals:

1. daal/lentils and rice (costs approx. £2 to feed the family)
2. chickpea curry and couscous (again £2)
3. potato and pea curry with chapatti (£2, £1 for chappattis, 3 chickpea tins for a £1 + cost of spices)
4. Fish (frozen from Farmfoods costs £2-3 or £3 from Iceland + homemade chips from spuds for 50p (meal for £4)
5. 4 or 8 mini pizzas made on wholemeal pitta (£3 for 8 mini pizzas)
6. Chicken stir-fry. To make chicken go further, make a stir fry with left over chicken, peppers, tomatoes, sweetcorn (£3)

If you have access to an Indian grocers or a large supermarket, buy your oil, onions, lentils, pitta bread from here, its much cheaper eg 4 pitta packets from an Indian grocer for a £1 and they can be frozen!

Alternatively, in the Indian grocery aisles of major supermarkets, you have oil, tomato tins, chickpea tins, rice etc at a good price.

When buying basics such as flour etc, I tend to buy the supermarkets own brand, it saves a lot of money eg. small items such as tomato puree will be 29p from Lidl as opposed to 70p for a well known brand.

Being of Pakistani origin but born and bred in the UK, I have learnt to make a little go a long way as we traditionally used to have large families to feed.

For inspiration on some healthy delicious recipes with not so fancy ingredients, check out this:

Cheap Healthy Recipes

Please feel free to ask any questions. If anyone is local to me and would like a lesson, I am happy to oblige, as I am passionate about cooking quick healthy food on the cheap and would love to help other mums :)