Cheap cheap meals

[FoxtrotOscar20]

I need some cheap recipes that taste good. Money is a little tight at the moment for a lot of people.

So, can we share ours please?
Mine is Mac n cheese

Pasta
Evaporated milk [tinned]
Cheese - any cheese even square burger cheese!
Cook the pasta
Add the milk to as much as you want
Add the cheese - as much as you like
Stir and Voila!!

Pasta, cook add one teaspoon of pesto. That's it. Freeze the rest of the pesto.

Rice boiled with a stock cube and chuck some frozen mixed veg in near the end - delicious savoury rice!

Ramen noodles with any fridge bit of veg thrown in!

Cheese and ham pancakes
Tuna burgers www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tuna-sweetcorn-burgers
Sweetcorn fritters
Cheese, leek and potato tortilla www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cheese-leek-potato-tortilla

Homemade pizza...about 50p worth of self raising flour and 10p yeast, ball of 44p Mozarella and tablespoon of tomato purée as base. Add half am onion, some thin sliced mushrooms or a slice of cheap ham chopped up. The secret is to rub a cut garlic clove around the edge once cooked, makes it really special.
Hot oven for 8 mins so not too much electric or gas. Much cheaper than a takeaway (about £1.50 total for a big one) but feels like a treat.

While the oven is on for the pizza, put the other half of flour with one beaten egg, a slug of oil (vegetable/sunflower), a mashed banana, a large grated carrot, couple of tablespoons of sugar and some cinnamon in a bowl and mix until a nice batter. Bake in a muffin tray in about the time the pizza cooks. Lovely little muffins for afters or a snack the next day.

We've stopped buying ham and buy a joint of gammon each week. It goes across several meals as ham or lardons.

We also use chicken thighs as they're so much cheaper. De-boning is a hassle but means we get two meals out of a £1.80 box.

No specific meals I'm afraid, we tend to make stuff up each week!

frozen spinach goes a long way -you can making lentil fritters with spinach and spices - ideally you'd use an egg to bind it and to coat them with breadcrumbs, but if you're really broke or don't have an egg, you can just mix it up into a hash instead.
if you can stretch to sour cream or yoghurt to go with it...that really tops it off - particularly if you've put a good bit of spice in it.

Jack Monroe is my go to for cheap recipes.
Peach and chickpea curry
Carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers
Veggie chilli
Are all good.

I've always used red lentils to add bulk to any minced meat recipe - very cheap, & they disappear into the finished product.

I make my own baked beans: more for health reasons, but they are better & cheaper than tinned ones.

Tomato sauce on pasta is a favourite here.

Dice and fry 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic crushed.

Add in tin or two of tomatoes (2 for family of 4).

I always bung in a teaspoon of sugar to balance the acidity.

*next bit you can add your own hint of flavour. Things I add here can be

1. mixed herbs
2. oregano
3. basil
4. teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
5. splash of red wine

Choose 1 of the above!

Then, simmer really low for at least 30 mins! It's time on the job that gives this its thick consistency.

Serve with pasta. Really tasty.

*time on the HOB