Cheap but lovely meals for guests

[ForTheLoveOfDoughnuts]

We've just brought a house! It's very exciting and we can't wait to have our friends and family round. We haven't been in this situation before. Our last house was teeny tiny so we rarely hosted, with the exception of bbqs, as we had an oddly huge garden.

We are now on a tight budget, as we've stretched ourselves to buy our new house.

What cheap meals are great for cooking when you have guests?

Tagine and couscous? Can either make it fully veggie or have a little bit of meat but bulk out with a lot of veg.

Veggie or with meat? Either way I think at this time of year a hearty autumnal stew or curry would be nice and easy to do for a crowd. For meat eaters I like a beef carbonade (beef in beer), Nigella has a great recipe and you can make with v. cheap stewing beef providing you give it enough time in the oven to tenderise. Serve with your choice of potatos or crusty bread or even dumplings, plus some steamed or boiled veg. Or for veggies a lovely mild (to suit all tastes) curry made with chickpeas and spinach, or lentils and root veg usually goes down well. Serve with naans, rice, poppadoms and chutnetys and feels really generous. If you are on a super tight budget I find most guests, especially family, will not mind bringing their own alcohol and perhaps a pudding or some nibbles if you ask nicely!

Big pots of something like chilli, curry or stew. Easy to prepare and leave too.

Cottage pie or lasagne would get my vote. Easy to prep ahead of time too.

I agree with the suggestions of curries and stews - easy and cheap and always go down well. If you want something "posher" pork belly or lamb shoulder, slow cooked, always go down well and allow you to serve up a traditional roast dinner for the fraction of the price of a huge leg of lamb or beef joint.

Chorizo and chickpea stew