Cheap meals for four....

[oksonowwhat]

Please help me with any ideas you can give me. Worked out finances and got about £40 to last me till the end of the month! Might have to borrow from my mum as got to find petrol to get me to work and back but need some really cheap food ideas please!
There are four of us, myself and four older kids, three veggies so veggie meals are fine although sometimes i throw some meat in to the meat eaters option so that he doesn't feel deprived.
Would appreciate any help.
Been told to make pea soup as just onions and bag of peas needed, that sounds good!

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

When you've got a bit more money again, puy lentils are amazing cooked with garlic, port, thyme and rosemary. Roast some vege separately (eg shallots, peppers, courgettes) and stir them into the lentils; then eat with dauphinoiss and savoy cabbage for a thoroughly decadent tasting veggie meal!

[FurryDogMother]

Minestrone soup

Olive (or other) oil
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 carrots
1 courgette
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin mixed beans
A few pieces of spaghetti
Italian seasoning (optional)
Stock cube or stock
Salt and pepper

Chop an onion and sweat it in a bit of oil. Cut a couple of carrots, and maybe a courgette, into slices, add to saucepan, stir until coated with oil. Chop and add a clove of garlic, then a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes. Add a stock cube (or stock if you have it) and a can-ful of water. Sprinkle in some Schwarz Garlic Italian Seasoning, or whatever suitable dried or fresh herbs you have. Open and drain a 400g tin of mixed beans (or butter beans, or whatever beans you like, really) and add to the pan. Break some pieces of spaghetti into little bits, add them, then simmer the whole thing until the pasta's soft. Check for seasoning, and serve with garlic bread (possibly cheesy garlic bread) on the side. Also good with grated cheese sprinkled on top.

[BoffinMum]

Don't forget that veggie suet dumplings will go well with a lot of meals and are suitably rib sticking. Apple pies are another way if filling people up cheaply - practically free fillings at this time of year.

[BoffinMum]

Frankfurter sausages, mashed potato and puréed apple is a favourite north German dish.

Also Kaiserschmarrn is popular too as a main meal. That's thick pancakes with raisins, chopped up and served with icing sugar dusted over, and a dish of apple purée on the side. Basically dessert as main course! Kid heaven!

[InMySpareTime]

Cheese and onion pie (basically cheesy mash with onion chopped through and a pastry lid) with beans

Bubble and Squeak

Rice cooked in veg stock, with frozen veg chucked in

Ratatouille

Risotto

[BoffinMum]

Potato and cheese pie is good too. Sliced potato and onion, with egg and milk poured over, topped with grated cheese.

[showmethemoneyhoney]

Pasta pie is another cheap meal. Cooked pasta, eggs (I usually use 4 to six) tub of plain cottage cheese or Quark. Mix beaten eggs and cheese together, add pasta and whatever veggies take your fancy. Leeks, onions, tomatoes, courgettes, spring onions, mushrooms are my faves. Salt , pepper, few herbs are good to add too. You could add cooked sliced new potatoes too to make it go a bit further. Bung mixture into a flan dish and bake in the oven until set. Nice hot, but equally nice cold the next day with salad or as a lunchbox filler. Makes loads, so you could freeze one as well. I'm in a similar situation this month too, so I am right with you. Wish mine were more into veggie stuff as it is sooo much cheaper!!

[stressedHEmum]

pasta with caramelised onions
slow braised cabbage pasta with sour cream
spicy potatoes and cabbage
lentil dahl
frittata
bean chilli and rice
jackets, beans and cheese
scrambled egg rice
mushy pea soup
golden split pea soup
lentil and potato curry
Caribbean rice and peas
lentil chilli (green lentils)
sweet potato quesadillas

[luverlytea]

Indian bread or Roti is easy and cheap to make.

Yummy with dhal, vegetable, pickle, yogurt, any gravy.
How to make dhal -

you do not need green chillies, and other spices. all you need is salt
However some cumin seeds fried brown, a tiny bit of turmeric, do taste nice. You can add fried onion and/or garlic, chopped tomato, any vegetable you like. A pinch of hing or asafoetida fried ten seconds stirred into the dhal does taste good. It's all up to you.
How to make spiced potatoes -

• Any vegetable, or combo of vegetables, chopped and and cooked with a little water and some spices browned in a tablespoon of oil tastes yummy with roti, rice and dal. Spices are a quarter teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon each of coriander powder and cumin powder. Again, you can add red chilli powder, fried onion, garlic, ginger, mustard seeds,cilantro, it's all up to you.

[luverlytea]

Easy to make your own fresh pasta at home
1.Make well in center of 2 cups all-purpose flour on pastry board. Whisk 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon milk, and 1 teaspoon olive oil in small bowl; gradually pour into well in flour mixture while mixing with fork or fingertips to form ball of dough.
2.Knead dough on lightly floured surface for five minutes until smooth and elastic, adding a little flour to prevent sticking if necessary. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; leave 30 minutes.
3.Unwrap dough and knead briefly on lightly floured surface. Using lightly floured rolling pin, roll out dough 1/8-inch-thick. Check and even out any thick spots. Let rest until dough is slightly dry but can be handled without breaking.
4.Loosely roll the dough on a rolling pin.
5.Slide rolling pin out; press dough roll gently with hand and cut into strips of desired width with sharp knife. Carefully unfold strips.
6.Hang strips over clean clothes hangers or clean broom handle covered with plastic wrap and propped between two chairs. Dry until no longer sticky, about 3 hours.
You can gather the dried pasta into loose bunches and store them in plastic bags in the refrigerator for a few days. If you put them in paper bags, they will continue to dry out at room temperature. Well-wrapped in plastic, pasta can be frozen for a month..
To serve, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water 1 to 3 minutes until it floats up to the top or just until al dente. Drain well. Serve with fried garlic and herbs, ior tomato sauce, or lentils, or stir-fried vegetable.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Butternut squash risotto.

Think if things are that tight, the meat eater might have to go veggie for a while.

[oksonowwhat]

Oh my goodness!! Thank you thank you thank you!! All of you!!
Such lovely ideas, things i wouldnt have thought of, things i didn't know about!:)
Another reason why i love this site:)
You know, not having much cash is going to make our meals alot more interesting.
Going to do remus' chilli tomorrow:)
Infact i'm printing this off and will work though, thank you all.

[stressedHEmum]

leek and cheese pasta
patatas bravas (with or without a little chorizo)
bean burgers
barley risotto
root veg stew
pasta with roasted tomatoes

[BornToFolk]

It gets linked to all the time on here so you've probably seen it but A Girl Called Jack has good cheap recipes.
I made the pasta with mushy peas last week which was surprisingly tasty! It might not be enough for older children's dinners but it would make a cheap and filling lunch.

Have you got an ethnic supermarket near you? Very good for cheap pulses and tinned tomatoes and of course, lots of lovely spices. If you can get to a B&M Bargains, they are worth a look too. They do lots of cheap tins and packets and also 6 free range eggs for less than a quid, and 4 pints of milk for about the same price.

[Lucyadams184]

Sorry to hear that things are tough for you. It would be cheaper to make things from scratch. I always find that mince goes a long way quorn for the veggies, spag bol and cottage pie. Shop around to aldi and lidl are great and icelands have good deals sometime. Split down what you can afford each week and add up as you are going around. Make sure you do meal planners so that you don't buy random things.

[Safmellow]

Also if you go to your local supermarkets near closing time you might be able to suss out when they reduce stuff. My M & S foodhall sometimes drops sandwiches to 50p at about 4pm and we have them with lentil soup from the slow cooker.

You can get cheap big bags of pasta and rice from Lidl. If you get bored with them try looking in world foods sections of somewhere like Tesco for things that are a little different, for instance cornmeal to make polenta.

If you are keeping cooked rice to eat as a left over make sure you cool it quickly by rinsing it with cold water then store in the fridge to avoid food poisoning. Eat within a day and don't leave it standing at room temperature.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Hope you enjoy the chilli. :)

[MrsPnut]

Dried soya mince from the healthfood shop is very cheap and a bag can make a few meals. Much cheaper than buying quorn mince.

I have also made toad in the hole with some stuffing balls mixed with fried chopped mushrooms for my veggie OH instead of veggie sausages.
Gently fry off some chopped onion and mushroom, mix with breadcrumbs, a little melted butter and an egg yolk. roll into balls and put into a hot roasting tin with a very thin coat of oil in it, then add batter mix and cook for 20 mins or so until puffed up and golden.