Inspiration for cheap dinners please?

[MrsKoala]

I have recently moved somewhere eye wateringly expensive (think $4 for a tin of kidney beans ) so am searching for some nice cheap dinner ideas.

There are no cheap things here so veggies, meat, pasta, bread (oh god the bread! $4 for a cheap sliced loaf) flour, everything is extortionate and i can't bulk out with 'filler' as the filler costs just as much as everything else!

Out of meat, mince beef is cheapest (so i am living off chilli/bolognese. A whole small chicken is $28 so not able to roast and stretch out either. I have actually cried in the supermarket

Cheers.

I'll be reading this with interest later - jotting down some recipes!
We live in Nz on an island in the Hauraki gulf, closest city is Auckland ...blardy hell, it's spensive.
Cucumber = $6!!!

Oh HA! howcomes, that was the butchers i went into today with the $25 tongue!

I have been down to wreck beach and didn't realise it was clothing optional and sat behind a very old man doing naked yoga. I tell you downward facing dog has whole new meaning for me

Damn about the butchers :(
Re wreck beach, that happened to us too! Dh and I went to explore only to stumble across a dozen naked guys watching a hovercraft rescue exercise. Cue one of them rushing over to tell us not to worry it was just a drill, funnily enough it wasn't the hovercraft which had shocked us, we didn't know where to look!
Much preferred kits beach!

Btw often cheaper to eat out, have you tried brunch at sophies cosmic cafe yet? It's pretty tasty :)

That was the first place we ate when we arrived :) It works out about $30 with tip to eat there. So still cheaper to eat at home.

When we got to Wreck a bloke walked straight over to me (with my DH and DS) and asked if i was taking part in the Bare Buns Fun Run the coming Sunday. I said no and he tried to persuade me i really should and it was 'just good fun'. He then walked off after not even acknowledging DH and DH said to me 'funny how he didn't ask me if i was taking part

BARGAIN! went into the dollarama and got a 450g pack of Spaghettini for 69c, some tinned toms with herbs for $1.25 and 2 tins of baby clams for $1.50 each. Also got a large artisan loaf from Safeway for 99c (and some deli ham 100g for $1.99 - which will do sangers with the left over bread for lunch tomo). So Spaghetti Vongole and naice bread for dinner :)

Yay! :)

Glad you've found some bargains today

I've just been eating Dragon Noodles, a recipe for a spicy noodle sauce from a blog/website called Budget Bytes. Strapline - my belly is full and so is my wallet. The food value came just from the noodles and an egg, but I enjoyed them.

Also 3 tins of beans for $1

step away from the windy koala house

oh and tinned salmon for $1 - is that okay for fishcakes?

perfect, we have that regularly

Fishcakes and...beans?

Well dinner was lovely :) But there was way too much. So in future half a tin of tomato/garlic/herb and one tin of clams would be fine. Which would make it even cheaper.

They also do tinned mussels and squid for $1.50 each, which i thought i could make a paella with and I'll see what frozen prawns are like in the supermarket to add to it.

Fishcakes and beans

Actually it's quite a good recipe - I think you could adapt it easily enough.

Hi Mrs Koala

I'm originally from the UK and have lived here in Vancouver for 10 years. I agree the cost of living here is extortionate - in fact it's making us reconsider living here TBH (sorry, don't mean to rain on your parade!).

Unfortunately you live in one of the more geographically isolated and expensive parts of the city, so food shopping options are limited without a car. There used to be a few more cheap veggie shops etc a few tears ago in Kits, but they have long since been replaced with yuppie shops.

Please stay away from Safeway - they are the most expensive by far of the supermarkets. No Frills is good and if you can get there in the car with DH, Real Canadian Superstore is also fab (and have some cheaper No Name own branded stuff).

Please PM me and maybe I can offer some other suggestions without outing myself too much on here.

Good luck!