48 hours, 1000 posts consisting of FAST, CHEAP and GOOD, over here please.

[HoneyDragon]

No smugginess, no social commentary or judginess.

I want EVERYONE'S go to, cheapest stand by meals that they use, on one cosmic, love in thread of sharing and nicety.

Lets help each other out with a bit of inspiration.

Pulled pork - not quick, but very easy

Basics pork shoulder from Sainsburys. Stick it in the slow cooker in the morning. Pull it apart when I get home in the evening - add most of a jar of barbecue sauce and let that heat through.

Makes loads - serve the next day with some tinned tomatoes and oregano over pasta and then the next day with cream cheese stirred through on Jacket Potato.

I'm loving all these meals as they are fussy child friendly, but great for grown ups too

tuna pasta

boil pasta
stir in tuna, cheese, mayo and sweetcorn, salt and pepper

Pea and Nutmeg risotto

First make your pea puree:

Chuck some frozen peas in a saucepan with some butter.

Cook for a few mins
Remove half the peas and set aside
Cook other peas in a little stock for couple of mins
Then put them in mini blender and whizz up with knob of butter lots of nutmeg, parmesan and black pepper

Now make the risotto itself:

Sweat off onion and garlic in oil.
Add rice (generous handful per person) and stir for a few mins
Add stock (about 1 litre) ladle by ladle stirring all the while (takes about 20 mins)
Before rice is completely done chuck in pea puree
Stir in and add then add the non pureed peas.

Voila, the most delicious bright green risotto. Cost pennies assuming that is you have rice, frozen peas, stock etc. already to hand.

Garlic chicken:

Score some chicken drumsticks/thighs whatever's cheap
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or squeezy garlic if you're lazy
Large handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
4 glugs of olive oil
1/2 tbsp of lemon juice

Method

1. Chuck everything in a bag. Smoosh it all about.
2. Leave it in the fridge for between 2 and 8 hours.
3. Cook however you fancy - grill or pan-fry until it's cooked through.
4. Serve with whatever you like.

Thank you!

Sausage casserole
Onions, celery, peppers heat in a big pan, add chopped sausages (we cook on George grill while veg heating) add seasoning, tin chopped toms, chicken stock, heat for 30 mins, stir in tin of mixed beans at end.
Can be made in a big pot and freeze portions.

Wedges
Rinse potatoes, roughly chop, microwave (cover bowl with clingfilm) for 10 mins, onto a hot baking tray with seasoning, cook for 30 ish mins shaking half way.

Groundnut Stew. One onion, two cloves garlic, oil for frying, one scotch bonnet chilli, large tin of haricot beans or butter beans, large tin of tomatoes, peanut butter, salt and pepper.

Chop onion and crush garlic, fry till soft in oil. Chop chilli, removing seeds, and add to onion, frying gently for a minute. Add tinned tomatoes, chopped, then tip in drained beans. Add a couple of heaped tablespoons of peanut butter, and stir in so that it thickens the mixture nicely. Add salt and pepper to taste, simmer gently for 20 minutes. You can add chopped up chicken to the recipe at the onion stage for carnivores. Serve with plain boiled rice, couscous or kenkey, if you can get it.

Quick, cheap, tasty and nutritious.

Lettuce soup

Fry onions or leek whatever. Add chopped potatoes, pour over veg/chicken soup. Chuck in lettuce. Cook. Season, then blend then stir through some milk.

Lovely thick soup.

I also buy massive cheap bags of onions from lidl and chop, slice and grate them into portions into freezer bags. Takes an hour every three to four months but saves time and money.

Paprika chicken:

4 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix it up and coat the chicken, leave for about half an hour
Bake for 25 minutes at 190/gas mark 5
Serve with rice and veg and lots of sour cream.

"Mexican" Pizza - Halve bread rolls, spread on some tinned refried beans, salsa on top & then grated cheese & put under a medium grill until everything is hot through & the cheese is melted.

We have this the day after having a chilli where the beans & salsa are leftover.

I missed an ingredient off the stir fry, I knew it looked wrong. I'll try again.

Fish sauce
Lime juice
Lazy chilli
Lazy garlic
Lazy ginger
Coriander (fresh if you're posh )
Pinch of brown sugar
Iffy looking left over fish, meat, quorn, tofu, and/or veg

Stir fry til cooked

Add noodles, stir, eat. (If using dried noodles, boil first, if using the straight-to-wok ones just bung them in)

Fry an onion and some garlic, add chopped up chorizo, veg (carrots, courgettes, peppers all work well) passata and herbs.
Simmer. Add either butter beans or chick peas.

Paprika chicken is one of my most favourite things. Your version is quicker and cheaper than mine &

Leftover chilli can be used to make "Mexican" lasagne - layer in the normal way but with chilli instead of bolognaise, and then add crushed up nachoes to the grated cheese on top.

VV trashy, but nice.

Tinned mackerel in tomato sauce, mashed up with some lemon and black pepper. Pile onto toast and grill for a few mins. Delicious!

This one makes a mess but is quick and easy -

Steam some butternut squash until tender.
Meanwhile, fry some onions and garlic with paprika, chilli and cumin seeds.
Drain the squash and put into a big bowl. Add the spiced onions. Add a drained tin of chickpeas and a load of chopped spinach.
Get a packet of tortilla wraps and make rolls with the squashy spiced onion chickpea stuff.
Shove them into a baking dish, all in a row like 10 in a bed.
Shove a load of grated cheese over them and bake until golden.

Tacos - buy a box of taco shells.
Fry onion, garlic, green or red pepper, paprika, chilli, cumin seeds. Add a tub of passata, a teaspoon chipotle paste and a squeeze of barbecue sauce. Cook a bit - it might need a pinch of sugar, as well as s&p.
Add a couple tins drained beans and warm through.
Put it in the tacos and eat with cheese/soured cream/salsa/whatever.

Pie - buy ready rolled puff pastry.
put pastry on baking sheet
Saute leeks and onions.
Shove said leeks and onions in a big bowl and add a mashed up packet of feta (Basics is dead cheap and fine for cooking) and a load of chopped spinach plus black pepper.
Shove the cheese mix on to half of the pastry and then fold it over to make a big slab. Pinch it around the edges and slash the top.
Bake.

Baked sweet potato and beans - bake potato as normal, sprinkle with pepper, top with cheshire cheese, chopped, dried apricots and sliced tomato then add beans. I get about 10 sweet potatoes for £1.65 so it's far cheaper and tastier than using normal baking potatoes.

Vegetable crumble - put any leftover veg in a dish, add a few cooked and sliced potatoes and some onion if not in veg, pour over cheese sauce (bit of strong cheese, milk or creme fraiche, pepper and spoonful of 27p-a-jar mustard) or gravy (I use Tesco's own roast veg), top with crumble made from flour and a little butter, optionally mixed with dried or fresh herbs of choice. Takes about 10 minutes to throw together and can obviously be made with cheap frozen veg or those bags of mixed veg that get marked down to about 6p in the evening as well.

Adapted from an Annabel Karmel toddlers recipe:

Serves four.

Cook some pasta (about 70g per prson).

Make an onion based cheese sauce and add some chopped mushrooms.

Add a tin of tomato soup, and a tin of drained tuna to the cheese/onion/muhroom sauce. Then add the pasta. Put it all in a pyrex bowl. Then sprinkle some cheese on top.

Grill for a few minutes.

Voila - tuna, mushroom and tomato bake.

I always save small amounts of left over veg, cauliflower, peas, broccoli, carrots, potatoes etc anything really. When the bag is full I throw it all into a big saucepad add some boiling water, a cup of red lentils and big dollop of Pataks curry paste. It makes the most delicious veg curry, not saucy but think, serve it with pompadoms or rice :)

Tuna rice + stuff.

Cook rice and frozen peas then drain and dump it in a big bowl. Add 1 can of tuna. Stir together with mayo.
Optional tasty extras - boiled eggs chopped up small, chopped cucumber, tomatoes, pepper, sweetcorn.

Potaje.
One tin of tomatoes, chopped.
One tin of mixed beans.
100g of macaroni.
1 Courgette
1 Carrot
1 Onion
1 stick of celery
5 pieces of frozen spinach.
Italian mixed herbs, smoked paprika.
Fry off onions, celery courgette.
Chuck in tinned tomatoes, fill with water, add water and herbs/spices, chuck in everything else bar macaroni.
Simmer for an hour.
Add macaroni, serve when macaroni is cooked.
Serves four.

Smoked Salmon Spaghetti

? 250g Spaghetti
? 1 large onion
? around 150g trimmings/cut up strips of smoked salmon (Nannie says you should use "Sainsbury's Smoked Salmon Trimmings, Basics 120g" for £1.50)
? 25g chopped dill
? 150ml single cream
? 1 table spoon of mayonnaise
? salt, pepper, lemon juice.

1. Boil spaghetti until it is soft enough to eat.
2. While the spaghetti is cooking, chop and fry the onion.
3. When the spaghetti is ready to eat, drain the water and put it back in the pan on a low heat.
4. Add the onions, smoked salmon, dill, single cream, mayonnaise and give it a good stir.
5. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste.

Mushroom, onion, and ginger Spaghetti

? Sliced mushrooms
? Chopped onion
? Fresh grated ginger
? Spaghetti

1. Boil spaghetti until it is soft enough to eat.
2. While the spaghetti is cooking, Fry the onion, mushroom, and ginger.
3. When the spaghetti is ready to eat, drain the water and add the fried vegetables.

Fry off bacon/pancetta whatever you have
Add chopped courgette/onion/sweet corn
Stir in grated cheese and creme fraiche until it makes a sauce

Serve over pasta
Cheap because it uses up odd bits and pieces (can use any meat or veg really)

In less than 10 min (barring DC constant interventions)

• Tabouleh:

Cook 1 cup of couscous. Chop in very small pieces 1 or 2 tomatoes, half a cucumber, 1 pepper. Make the dressing in the salad bowl directly: salt, pepper, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil + paprika, turmeric, cumin, curry..(whatever you find in the cupboard). Throw everything in there and mix. I usually add some grilled chicken dices to it for dinner and a green salad. Can be kept in the fridge for 48h and be used for packed lunches too.

• Soups: either fresh veggies or frozen bags. The secret is 1) to cook them in stock (better to go with diet/light cubes), 2) use a blender to mix (makes the soup thick and nice without using cream). I do tomatoes/peppers/onions/basil, leek and potatoes, carrots and tomatoes, broccoli and cream cheese, mushroom, lettuce (with bits of bacon sprinkled over)... No limits to the imagination, except the contents of the fridge.

Not exactly fast but can be done in advance, frozen and be used to cook 3 meals quickly: veggies in sauce.
I do a big pot of a kind of ratatouille over the week end and then use it to make: casseroles, lasagnas, pasta/rice sauce, stew base, potato cakes... or I mix it to make spread for toasts/sandwiches/wraps/ciabattas.
In a big pot set on medium/high heat: fry some sliced onions and garlic in half butter/half olive oil. Add half a glass of water.
Slice 3 peppers (I use green/yellow/red for colours). Throw them in the pot. Add some water (if it has evaporated already) and a little olive oil.
Repeat the previous step with - in this order - 3 zucchinis, 1 eggplant, 10 white mushrooms, 5 tomatoes.
Add a cup of veggie or beef stock. Season (paprika, cumin, salt, pepper). Cover and let it cook on low/medium for at least an hour.