Let's do this..... budget but delicious!

[MissReginaPhilange]

Right I've seen so many threads about feeding a family for "x amount " weekly and they are cropping up all over the spot. I propose to start a thread with recipe ideas for meals along with rough costs. Share the knowledge and the savings. I am not on a particularly tight budget but personally hate spending loads on food, especially when I know I can cook a decent meal from scratch. So let's have some ideas!
Also side note, a lot of my cooking does include recipes for gluten/nut/dairy/soya/egg allergies as these are the known allergies so far of my youngest. Some recipes are what I cook dp and the other kids.
Off to find some good ones.....ill be back!!

I really like things on toast. I know it's not exactly 5*, though with the right bread, and topping, it can be a real treat.

Packet spaghetti-40p
Glug olive oil-10p?
Garlic clove-5p
Tomato purée-30p

Put pasta on to cook
Heat oil in a pan, add garlic & tom purée (abt half tube). Cook for 2-3 mins, then add some of the pasta water and cook until pasta cooked.
Drain pasta, mix through sauce (season at this stage). Add cheese if you wish, for extra cost!

Easy spag bol, using Tesco prices as that's where I shop. Serves 4, ready in half an hour.

Boswell farms mince (£1.49)
Tesco Bolognese sauce (75p)
Tesco spaghetti (20p)
Garlic baguette (£1 for 2 frozen, so 50p for one)

Switch on oven, water in one pan for spaghetti, start browning mince in the other. When oven has warmed up put in the garlic bread and switch the heat on for the water. Once mince is browned drain off the fat and add sauce, let it simmer. When water reaches the boil put in spaghetti and cook until garlic bread is ready. Serve.

Total cost £2.94. Can probably make the sauce cheaper, but convenience wins out for me here. And there are cheaper garlic breads but I prefer the frozen ones, they seem to be more garlicky.

Chicken wings and wedges

Large pack of chicken wings, around £1.65 for enough to feed two adults and at least one child
Potatoes, or sweet potatoes
A couple of tablespoons of flour
Seasoning
Vegetable oil

Season flour and sprinkle over the chicken evenly, you can use anything you fancy, paprika or garlic granules are good, or toss the wings in a little soy or woster sauce first then coat in flour.

Chop potatoes into wedges, toss them in oil and sprinkle on a little salt.

Cook wedges in the oven at 200 for around 15 mins, then add wings and cook for a further 25 to 30 mins. (Sweet potatoes need less cooking if you’re using them).

This is my updated version of something my father used to cook for us as a treat, without us realising it was a budget dinner. He’d deep fry it all in the chip pan, wings first then potatoes, but my version is a little healthier.

Shameless place marking

Dhal - costs pennies:
Chopped onion, fried.
Teaspoon of medium curry powder fried off with the onions.
Boil red lentils until soft/soupy then add to the onions.
You can add garlic and/or wilt some spinach in it, but it’s still good without.
Serve with boiled rice.

Posh salmon pasta:
Tagiatelle or spaghetti, cooked, with a jar of salmon paste stirred through. Add frozen peas and keep on heat till they’re hot. (I got something very similar to this from Jack Monroe’s blog.)

Broccoli 49p
Penne pasta 65p
1/2 Jar pesto 45p

Cook broccoli and penne together until cooked. Drain. Add pesto.

Job done ✅

Fish finger sandwich. You dont even need a recipe!

egg curry. Sounds a bit strange, but it's lovely.

Does need more curry paste IMO and I expect stuff like spinach would work well.

Proper Welsh rarebit is utterly delicious.
If you use a crumbly cheese such as Cheshire or Lancashire it had a real tang.
Grate cheese into a bowl, using a fine grater. Mix in some milk until it's moist, but doesn't look like cheese in milk!
Toast one side of bread under the grill, remove, butter the other side, and spread the mixture on. Pop it back under the grill until burnt melted.
Variations- sprinkle Worcestershire sauce on for tanginess.
Use double Gloucester or red Leicester for more plasticy finish.
You could put pesto under the cheese instead of butter, or tomato puree or ketchup according to tastes.
Utterly delicious.

Pancakes-
Two eggs, one cup of flour (we have to use GF, for DD, but this works just fine), 10fl Oz milk.
Whisk together flour and eggs, slowly add the milk to form a batter. Add a pinch of salt. Leave to stand for ten minutes.
Heat oil in a frying pan, cook pancakes, eat.

Cajun Turkey bake - based on Tesco prices

380g pack of Diced turkey thigh - £2.30
Cajun spice mix - £0.90 for full jar, so maybe 30p for a third of the jar. Depends on how much you use and how spicy you want it.
Tablespoon of oil - 10p

Mix together and leave in fridge for a few hours or overnight to marinate.

Mix with whatever veg you fancy and shove in the oven to roast/bake for 40 minutes or so, till everything is cooked. I use spuds, carrot, onion as standard but am happy to replace with anything I have that'll roast, and that needs used, so sometimes it's butternut squash, courgettes, parsnips, new potatoes....anything that'll roast nicely does the job.
Feeds four to six people happily, for around a fiver for the whole thing. The trick is the marinating.

Corned beef provencale.
Serves 4 with a side of green veg

One can corned beef
Two cans tinned chopped tomatoes
5 to 6 white potatoes
1 onion
a teaspoon of marmite
dried herbs
salt and pepper
water

Chop onion and fry in a teeny bit of oil till soft. Add tinned tomatoes, the marmite, herbs, seasoning and water and simmer until slightly thickened.

Slice potatoes to about the thickness of a pound coin. Oil the bottom of a lasagne dish, and cover the bottom with a thick layer of potato. Use more or less all the potato, just leaving enough slices to cover the top once assembled.

Cover the potato layer with the sliced corned beef.

Cover this with the tomato sauce, then top with the reserved potato slices. Brush these with a little oil and then put into the oven for 90 mins to two hours (160 degrees or so). Check to see it's not getting too dry before the potato has cooked - just slosh on some water if it is.

This is really yummy. Was my favourite tea when I was a child and is still a regular dinner in winter.

Oops forgot to calculate costs. I reckon this is at most £6 for the whole thing, as the corned beef is the most expensive ingredient.

Congee
One cup of rice (I use half a cup of risotto rice and the rest a 50/50 mix of Jasmine and long grain white)
One medium to large carrot
Half bunch spring onions
At least 300g to 500g max of chicken (I go for thighs)
Fresh ginger size of two fingers, width and length
6 x garlic cloves
White pepper
Chicken, veg or mushroom stock
A small tin of sweetcorn if you can afford it.
Sesame oil

Your biggest pot..
In your pot put in the rice (unrinsed), chicken pieces, 10 cups of water, your stock seasoning and turn heat to medium.
While it's heating up, slice the spring onions (white and green)into coins, finely and roughly chop the carrot into small little pieces, and do the same for the garlic and the ginger (more so the ginger). It all goes into the pot.
Let it come to a boil, turn heat down to low medium and allow the lot to simmer.
Stir every once in a while to stop the bottom from sticking.
After an hour you'll have a huge pot of savoury porridge comfort food. The rice will have broken down and thickened into the stock , the chicken so tender and succulent, the ginger giving little bursts of zing and interest, everything all garlicky and tasty..yum. it's really, really good.
At this point, add the sweetcorn and season with the white pepper, a generous glug of toasted sesame oil and perhaps a crack of salt. I do like to use fish sauce sometimes, but I know that's a bit too out there for some, especially if they've never heard of congee before. (Like my food suspicious mum!)

The chicken is the most expensive if taken for granted everyone has things like sesame oil and ginger root knocking about their cupboard and fridge..
It costs no more than £3.50 (being very generous here) and it'll feed easily 4 adults and a couple of children for dinner.

It's a firm favourite in our house. Everyone loves it and it's so nourishing and wholesome.

Yummy.

Thank you everyone for posting your recipes and tips , I’ve really enjoyed reading them and can’t wait to give some recipes a try.

Lentil bolognaise.

1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 cup of red lentils, (I pre cook mine)
Garlic granules, mixed dried herbs, 1 vegetable stock cube

Fry the onion and carrot till soft, add all the other ingredients and simmer for about 20 mins. Serve with basic spaghetti and bit of grated cheese. Should serve 4 - 6

Some yummo ideas

Shameless placemark, love these ideas

Rice Pudding
40g Butter,
75g sugar
100g pudding rice
litre of milk
150ml double cream (or more milk)
tsp vanilla extract
nutmeg
melt butter add sugar then rice then milk, cream and vanilla essence and bring slowly to boil. Generously top with nutmeg Transfer to oven and cook on low heat for an hour.
Costs about £1.50. I make it when I have milk or cream on the use by date and pop it in the bottom of the oven when I'm cooking something else and if it's not eaten on the day it keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days anyway.

Place marking, will have loads to add!

I have one that we call Stovies but isn’t the proper stovies.

Layer up sliced potatoes, sliced onions, cut up bits of meat (I always use sausages) and then onions and top with more sliced potatoes.
Cover with stock.
Boil and then simmer, takes about 45/50 minutes

Ridiculously tasty despite its simplicity.
I make loads and then next day, add baked beans to the remaining amount for a little variance.

Aubergine... say 70p
Tin of tomatoes
2 teaspoons of harissa paste
Cheese.... cheddar/mozerella

Dice aubergine. Dump over tin of tomatoes and mix in the harissa. Top with chunks of cheese.
Bake.
Eat with crusty bread.