Best cheap dinner?

[CheerfulYank]

We are spending way too much on food! In an effort to cut down I'm trying to stay within a budget.

What are some easy, quick, CHEAP dinners that are relatively healthy?

I thought of spaghetti already, and we like burritos with beans, cheese, salsa, and guacamole.

What else?

Eggs, peas, onion, potato in a pan, quick and cheap.

Anything with red lentils or mixed beans as a base with veg and tinned toms. Healthy protein and easy to make as a batch and freeze

My Mum's stand by for skint days was egg and chips .

Other solid cheap food would include dahl and rice, risotto, soups, fish cakes.

Oh of course, eggs and veggies and potatoes. Eggs are free to us as FIL keeps chickens. :)

I do like lentils but I'm never really sure what to do with them! I'll Google.

Spaghetti Fritatta with salad or veg

We're having a budget month at the moment, so have been looking or loads of cheap ideas. This lentil ragu has been one of our favourites so far- I added a few things that aren't in the recipe to spice it up a bit (like chilli powder and grated nutmeg) and it was lovely. The recipe makes about 3 litres, and it can be frozen. Works well with pasta/spaghetti or baked potatoes and salad.

Spinach dhal curry with chappattis and mushroom bhajis, all home made.

Italian ribbolita soup

Frittatas are great, eg courgette and cheddar frattata

Check out Jack Monroe's blog for more ideas

Spaghetti and Marmite. It's absolutely lush.

Drain spag, reserving a couple of spoonfuls of the boiling water so it's not too dry, dollop in some Marmite, stir through, sprinkle with fresh parmesan.

Gorgeous.

If you get free eggs how about a Spanish omelette/frittata type of meal? For lentils a thick veggie filled soup makes a good dinner or dahl with rice or chapatis/flatbread, with hardboiled eggs in or eggs poached in the dahl you have a filling curry, huevos rancheros are also delicious in an eggy way

Oh if eggs are free - spaghetti carbonara, risotto carbonara.

The lentil ragu looks gorgeous

I was going to suggest buying a large bag of roosters to bulk out meals

Bacon rashers, cabbage and mash
Quiche
Sausage and mash
Homemade pizza
Stir fry using lots of aldi deal veg

Sausage and mash
Tuna pasta
Tuna jacket potatoes with salad
Eggs
Soup

Poached or scrambled eggs with toast
Egg fried rice with peas, small bits of cooked meat
Baked beans on toast
Jacket potatoes
Pasta dishes eg tomato and Parmesan, bacon and courgette

Mrswellyboot It really is worth a try. Although I'm now more interested in what you'd do with your large bag of roosters?

Stir fry is great for a quick, cheap, healthy meal. You don't even really need to buy sauce- I usually make it with soy sauce, honey, and grated ginger.

Garlic mushrooms (on toast, with pasta or with jacket potatoes).

Some great ideas here, thanks!

That lentil ragu looks scrumptious. :)

Medjera- a delicious rice onion lentil affair, a google away. It's really lovely, cheap, filling. I follow an ottolenghi recipe which is wonderful. It's both cheap AND a treat in this house.

Dhal is lovely too. And can be done in the slow cooker.

BBC good foods butter bean and cheese burgers are cheap and filling, as well as delicious.

Soup! Cheap, comforting, delicious. Can't go wrong with soup.