Really cheap pasta recipes/meals - does anyone have any?

[Lottie4]

We are generally trying to be careful with food shopping, but money is going to be really tight over the next couple of months.

One thing Ido have a large amount of is pasta. Does anyone have any really cheap pasta recipes or things they put with pasta?

If you can find some decent sausages on special offer, squeeze them out of their skins, chop the meat up and fry with onions, garlic, chilli, fennel seeds and a tin of tomatoes.

Bacon, onion and pea pasta.

Chop a couple of bacon rasher per person and fry with chopped onion while pasta cooking, throw in a couple handfuls of frozen peas to cook.

Once pasta and peas are cooked add to bacon mix and stir with about a cup of pasta water and a couple tbsp of parmesan if you have it. Don't worry if you don't.

Or make a tomato and Vegetable soup and baulk with pasta.

Cook onion, garlic, celery and diced carrot. Add cooked red lentils, tomato sauce/purée ( tbsp), salt and pepper, tsp marmite, dried mixed herbs, tinned tomatoes, tsp sugar, water ( or lentil water drained) if needed. Add butter beans and/kidney beans. Lentil Bolognaise sauce with other pulses.

Fry a chorizo, couple of courgettes and a tin of tomatoes together as a sauce. Aldi chorizo is cheap and cheerful.

Carbonara is only onion and bacon then an egg and handful of cheese stirred into the cooked pasta.

really cheap, and quick.
Any pasta chuck in hand full of frozen peas in last few mins of cooking. Drain, then on low heat add, two cheese triangles, splash of milk, sprinkle of Parmesan and some cutted up ham. Keep storing til cheese triangles have meltedd. Easy cheesy peasy pasta.
All in one pan, our 6 year old makes this all the time.

Pack of chopped bacon, a courgette, grated cheese and a dollop of creme fraiche. Fry bacon and courgette whilst pasta cooks. Stir into cooked pasta with grated cheese. Yum

tinned salmon, broccoli, peas and red pesto pasta.

Tub of Philadelphia (or shop's own soft cheese), some bacon or ham, mushrooms & frozen peas.

Cook bacon (or chop ham) & mushrooms. Cook peas in with the pasta. When pasta is done, drain & add the tub of cheese, bacon / ham & mushrooms. Stir till cheese is melted.

The garlic & herb flavour one is especially nice.

Have a look at 'a girl called Jack' - its a blog run by someone who had very little money but still wanted to cook good healthy filling meals for her and her child. Also the 'skint foodie' written by a single man with little money (but a great flair for writing and a love of food). Both quite inspirational and lots of recipes.

www.theskintfoodie.com/a-few-really-simple-sauces-for-pasta.html

agirlcalledjack.com/

Thanks so much for your replies - they have given me inspiration, and none sound too tricky or time consuming. We had a hamper given us for Xmas and I still have some pesto sauce and ham (which I might get away with in a couple of recipes), so can use these without any cost.

Silverstars - I never thought about using marmite as a flavouring, so I'e learnt something.

Also, thanks for the links, I've already come across a couple of things I'm happy to try.

Any more suggestions still gratefully received.

Puttanesca is nice (but my dcs won't eat it):
Fry a tin of anchovies in some oil until they turn to mush, add crushed garlic, 1tbsp capers, chopped olives, tin of tomatoes. Simmer for about 20 mins. Add parsley at the end and mix into spaghetti.

Oh and cayenne pepper if you want a kick!

Primula squeezy cheese (I buy the one with chives) - the stuff in tubes - makes a great instant sauce stirred into cooked pasta. Great with ham added, or chopped sausages, or salmon. When I'm feeling posh I mix it 50/50 with creme fraiche and add cooked prawns and salmon.

I really like spaghetti with marmite, butter and grated cheese

Or just chopped tomatoes, garlic and veg.

Not sure if veggie mince is cheaper than real?

And one from my student days - a knob of butter, a big squidge of tomato purée and a splash of the water the pasta was cooked in. Stir it into cooked pasta. You want a sort of coating on the pasta - not a load of sauce or it'll be too tomatoey. Again, you can add herbs or anything else you have to hand.

This sounds odd and may well be, it was a long time ago, but my mum used to make tuna pasta bake with a can of campbells condensed celery soup (plus a bit of milk to thin it out) throw in peas etc from the freezer. Whack it in the oven with some cheese on top. I was such a fussy eater but i liked it.

DS used to love pasta with a tin of sardines in tomato sauce stirred into it. DD won't touch it - I don't think I got her used to it early enough in life . That was a brilliant cheap nutritious dinner thought, with some veg on the side.

Pasta with half a jar of pesto (£1?), roasted cherry tomatoes (50p), and a pack of lean cubed bacon (99p in asda!).

Pasta with tuna mayo and tinned sweetcorn.

Pasta with tuna, the rest of the pesto, peas and bechamel sauce baked with a bit of extra cheese on top?

Passata, dried basil, carrot. Instantant tomato and basil sauce for 50 pence.

I frequently do the one PetraStorm suggests, but I use oil instead of butter, and fry a little bit of onion, which I then add the tomato purée and cooking water to, and I stir in grated cheese when it's all done. Obviously, cheese pushes the price up, although value cheddar is not too bad, or you can often get cheddar on special offer.
Butter and marmite also makes a nice coating for pasta! Probably not hugely nutritious to have on a regular basis, though.
Otherwise, just basic tomato sauce using tinned tomatoes, maybe a bit of onion and garlic, maybe dried herbs (Lidl have a good cheap range), pinch of sugar and punch of salt.

Tin of value tuna, half a tin of value sweetcorn, two lightly boiled eggs chopped all mixed through with a bit of oil. Cheese on top if you like.

Basic tomato sauce - tin of tomatoes, pinch of dried herbs, stock cube, squeeze of tomato purée. Simmer.

Lemon juice, fresh basil and feta cheese. Pine nuts are lovely in that but are pricey, it is fine without.

I could live on pasta.

Similar to other recipes, but packed with protein for very little cost: Fry chopped onion, garlic, pack of basic passata, some herbs and chopped veg you need to use up, plus a tin of basic pulses or some dried red lentils. Simmer for around 20 mins.
If you have any cheese, mix sauce and pasta, top with grated cheese and breadcrumbs and bake for 10-15 mins for a pasta bake.