What's your cheapest hot family meal?

[Missnearlyvintage]

As in the title, I'm trying to bring our grocery budget down if possible and was hoping that you all might be able to help? Thanks!

Macaroni cheese. It is our favourite tea and very cheap. I buy extra mature cheese when it is on offer. Other ingredients very cheap. You can make a more luxurious version by adding pancetta, gruyere, parmesan and a bread crumb topping.

Brains faggots pack of 6 for £1

Homemade pizza made from just bread flour and yeast. Tomato Frito and various cheeses on top.

Egg & chips.
Homemade soup with beans/lentils/split peas
Spag bol, add lentils or pudding rice to the sauce to make it more filling.
Home made pizza.
Cassoulet, use a couple of different types of sausages.
Sardine pasta/ pasta carbonara/pasta prima vera/pasta with sausages

allrecipes.com.au/recipe/6587/quick-and-easy-spinach-lasagne.aspx

This, on the back of ginteresting's cannelloni suggestion.

Very tasty and cheap. FWIW I don't bother with mozzarella and parmesan, I just used strong cheddar instead. It does need the ricotta though, don't sub that for cheddar.

If you have a freezer then batch cooking a basic bolognaise mix, Mediterranean veg tomato mix or similar and then switching it up on various things is a good shout.

Impossible too offer suggestions without knowing your cooking abilities.
I buy the biggest joints of meat I can manage every fortnight then, after roasting, have lots of leftovers to do pies/curries/stews/stir fries/ etc.

It means we can buy meat that has lived and been killed well and still satisfy the DCs’ and DH’s lust for flesh

I don’t have much freezer space and there are 6 of us so this works best for me but you do need a well stocked larder of staples and spices and some cooking knowledge to make it work.

Lentils. I buy a 2kg bag for £3.99. You only need 4oz per portion. I don't know what that works out at exactly but it's pence.

There are loads of recipes out there but basically with your red lentils you can fry onion, garlic and chilli, add lentils stock and whatever bendy old root veg you have with a tin of tomatoes, boil it up and serve with rice.

Yellow lentils on their own with just a couple of spices served with rice is lovely.

halfwit

Bean chilli

3 beans different beans
Tin toms
Sachet chilli spice
Frozen spinach cubes.
Serve with rice

About 50p per person.

3 TINS!

Aldi sell mixed frozen veg, 1kg for 79p. I top it up with potatoes, carrots and kale and left over roast chicken and a few stock cubes. I blend it and it makes a lot of soup.

Pasta with tomato sauce. Dried pasta, tin of tomatoes, dried herbs, chilli flakes, salt and pepper and whatever needs using up in the fridge: peppers/courgette/mushrooms/ham/bacon/tuna etc etc

Red beans and rice. fry onion, add chilis and spices (Chili, cumin etc) cup of rice, kidney beans, (sweet potatoes)two cups of veg stock, tin of tomatoes,lid on, stick some red pepper in before stock all goes. when it does it's done. Serve in pitta breads, with yogurt. Make plenty and fry little patties or take to work.

Thanks everyone. So many nice ideas, and lots I'd forgotten about. I've noted them all down.

Most of your lovely ideas have reminded me why we don't have a lot of this kind of food though... unfortunately my DD (2.5) won't eat most of the things suggested apart from pasta, which we have a couple of times a week as it is. I think she would live on pasta and generic tomato pasta sauce if I let her.

Would you all eat different things to a fussy child when you eat as a family? We have stopped trying with lots of things for the moment as they get rejected, but I was brought up in a family where everyone gets fed the same, so we are basically just eating was DD likes!

Thanks again!

Homemade potato wedges

Saag dhal with a fried egg and either a chapati or rice is a favourite cheap meal here. And pasta with a sauce made with a tin of tomatoes and whatever nearing-mouldy veg are lurking in the fridge.

I have a 20mo and 3yo. I make one meal and they eat it or not. They have both woken up wanting a larger-than-usual breakfast a couple of times but generally they understand nothing else is on offer so they get on with it. Sometimes I cater to their favourites, sometimes to mine and DH's so I figure it's fair. There is always at least one element on the plate I know the DCs are happy to eat and isn't new to them. There is no way I am cooking two meals or putting up with a 'children's menu' every night!

ds1 likes what he calls pasta basil cream - made on the hop with a couple of spoonfuls of pesto, a squirt of garlic (or fresh if you have some on the go), a couple of splashes of lemon juice and a couple of good slurps of cream (or yogurt or cream cheese or ricotta or mascarpone or similar - whatever you have in that needs using up) - mixed up and zapped in the microwave for a minute or two (depends on quantity being made and how strong your microwave is!). Done in the bowl he's going to eat from, add the pasta (that's already been cooked) and eat. He likes pasta pesto too but he's really bad at eating dairy stuff so this is a way of me getting dairy into him.

It's a great base for a sauce to throw other stuff into too - bacon bits, leftover chopped up meat from a roast (or a single thick slice bought from a deli counter will be enough for the family), other bits of veg that are left overs or cooked separately and added, olives etc.

Corned beef is no longer cheap!

I suggest toad in the hole.

Macaroni cauliflower cheese
Salmon courgette pasta using smoked salmon trimmings v cheap from asda
Jacket potatoes beans and cheese with salad
Veg and bean chilli

Get some tinned goods in- they help bulk a meal out and super cheap and I think are largely forgotten about these days.

Lentils added to pasta dishes, soups, potato dishes, curries etc mean the meal can be portioned to last 2 meals.

Making pancakes for pudding means you can get away with a lighter main meal and kids (usually) love them.

And '3 courses'...soup and bread to start, veg with sprinkled cheese (cauliflower or brocolli) and a small portion of meat for main and a decent sponge pudding / rice pudding for dessert can also be done on a bigger scale and last across 2 meal times. My kids think we're being posh when I serve this on a weds night (when in fact I'm desperate to stretch the cupboard staples out!!)

Lentil bolognese served with pasta or rice, & a little bit of cheese grated on top.
Lentil, tomato & rice soup.
Baked potatoes, scooped out & the filling mashed up with some ham & cheese, then baked for a bit longer till they're melty. Fab with beans or sliced tomatoes.
Picnic - lots of bits & pieces, great way to get them eating veg fingers. Minty yoghurt is a good, cheap dip to make. I boil eggs by the half-dozen so we always have some ready for snacks or sandwiches. Cold leftover sausages, thinly sliced. Always include something they'll eat & a "challenge".

DD has a reward chart. Tick for eating (tasting) something new. Extra tick if she eats a proper amout of it, but she gets a tick even if she spits it out. As long as she tastes & bites it, she gets that tick. When she get enough ticks, she can choose a treat - a comic or something similar.

We have this dilemma with a 6yo who'll eat anything and a 3yo who is increasingly restricting her diet to pasta and cheese. We prefer to eat as a family so I will make something like shepherd's pie or a meat based dish and make sure there's something miss fussy will eat. Our main issue with her is vegetables as she'll only eat tinned carrots so we give her a lot of those! If she won't eat something new I've cooked then I'll offer bread and butter but I'm not cooking separate meals.

For a cheap meal though my fall back is oven baked risotto. We had it tonight and it's so easy. Fry off bacon bits/pancetta/anything similar until crispy. Add butter and diced onion/celery/leek and saute until soft. Add 200g risotto rice and stir for a minute or so. Add glug of vermouth/white wine (optional) stir until absorbed, add 750ml hot water and stock melt. Stir and add any other veg like diced mushrooms, halved cherry toms etc. Oven bake for 25mins at 180degrees. Take out of oven and add parmesan cheese and more butter. Okay, maybe not cheap but we generally have all that in so it's my quick and easy fallback meal

Best bit: fussy dd didn't realise it had leeks in the first time I did that and will now eat them willingly. Picked out the mushrooms tonight but you can't win 'em all

Pasta pesto and peas/corn with cheese.

Chips and fish fingers/chicken nuggets can be really really cheap. Hence us now eating kid food more often...

Jacket potato but the tuna or cheese is expensive.

Frozen pizza in Iceland is £1. With salad or veg and garlic bread.

We have homemade soup at least once a week. Potato & leek or pea & ham. Bread on the side.

Quite often make a variation of Ramen too - chicken broth, small amount of chicken, 5 spice, soy sauce, garlic, noodles, chilli, broccoli, spinach. Sounds like a lot of ingredients but mainly store cupboard stuff & a little goes a long way.

Jack Monroe's chickpea & peach curry was very nice (tried last week).

To answer your question, no I wouldn't cater for a fussy eater. I cook some meals because I know they're someone's favourite, others are a bit 'meh' but they're quick / easy / nutritious. I think you can't have what you want every night, it's just too much if that means preparing a choice of meals every day.