What cheap meals are on your meal plan now the price of food shopping is increasing?

[ILikeCrapTelly]

Just that really, we've always been lucky enough to not worry too much about the shopping cost, and even though we're not in dire straits I am trying to be more mindful about what we spend weekly and stick to a stricter budget.

I was just wondering if anyone else has started to me mindful of putting cheaper meals on the meal plan? And hoping I can steal some ideas

No-one else?!

I tried a recipe yesterday for giant sheet pan Sicilian style pizza. It was cheap to make, really filling and there was leftovers. It felt like a huge treat. We used cheap tinned tomatoes to make the sauce and a few slices of turkey salami torn up to top it. It cost less than £3 to make. I will find the recipe video and attach it.

Jacket potatoes and beans
Omelette
Soup with cheese on toast
Eggs
Sardines on toast
Broccoli cheese

We eat dal and rice regularly. It is cheap and nutritious. We also have chickpea curry with rice for the same reasons. Here is the chickpea curry recipe I use: www.thismuslimgirlbakes.com/2016/12/chickpea-curry-for-halwa-poori.html?m=1

I use up vegetables at the end of the week in a soup or frittata. Eggs are a good cheap source of protein.

I also make my own sourdough. It takes some effort to get it going but becomes part of your routine quite quickly. I used the guide here: bakerbettie.com/no-knead-sourdough/

Chilli, but NOT with potato wedges. Not using my oven again after checking the meter! So it's not just the food price that matters.

Various curries, soup, bolognaise. I cook on the stove in pressure cooker to save gas, usually 6-8 servings then reheat in microwave.

Cheap meals are jacket potatoes, with beans / cheese / chilli from the freezer / tuna.

Soups
Stir fry veggies and rice
Vegetable pasta
Homemade pizza
Jacket potato and salad
Veggie curry
Veggies and bulgar wheat
Stew
Bolognaise

We are in love with lentils at the moment. Tinned are cheap but dried are even cheaper, brilliant in curries and alternatives to mince in bolognese.

@Upupupintheair

Cheap meals are jacket potatoes, with beans / cheese / chilli from the freezer / tuna.

Do you cook them in the microwave? I'm worried that the cost to cook them would outweigh any savings.

Chicken noodle soup. In a big pan Fry chicken (you don’t need much, one large breast or two thighs does us a a family of four) spring onion, mushrooms and a few other bits of veg like carrot and pepper or green beans. Add veg stock and a couple of tablespoons of soy and any sort of cabbage shredded up. One nest of noodles per person in the same pan. Serve with sliced of raw spring onion and sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

One of the things I started doing (even though we are big meat lovers, especially DP) is doing meat-free days. It's amazing how much cheaper the same meal works out if you make it veggie, and on top of that it is also healthy. This week we have Halloumi fajitas on the menu for example.
I also like to reduce the amount of meat/bulk it up with veggies- if I do bolognese I will add grated carrots and courgettes to it; if it's a chilli con carne I might do the same but also add lots kidney beans or any other tins of beans I might have in the cupboard.
Other cheap-ish meals that are often on our menu:
Spaghetti ala carbonara
Chicken thighs traybake
Sausages and mash
Whole roast chicken with buttered baby potatoes and spring onions and any veg we have in the freezer, same with gammon
Use leftover gammon in pasta
Gammon-egg-chips
Stir fry
English breakfast for dinner
Chicken +sweet potato + spinach/kale curry
Sausage and broccoli pasta (Jamie oliver)
Pasta & pesto with any leftover ham/chorizo slices/sweetcorn/peas etc
Hasselback potatoes with bacon/cheese/chorizo
Jacket potatoes with various fillings
Spicy chicken legs with rice/sweet potatoes/salad

Chickpeas instead of meat. A lot more vegetarian meals.

I would use lentils but unfortunately they flare my eczema 🤦‍♀️ Otherwise lentil ragu would be made all the time .

My baby has just progressed to being able to eat a lot we eat so I'm using a cookbook that is suitable for us all to eat from and that saves making something different for everybody.

Pizza. Costs bugger all (if you don’t load it with meat) and is yummy. It does cost a little bit to put the oven on, but I do bread rolls for the following week, some sweet rolls for breakfast and a kids cake treat for the weekend while it’s on.

During the week I am mainly eating bread. Buns for breakfast/lunch and the veg based soup with bread rolls and olive oil/vinegar. I love fresh bread and it’s cheap, so it’s ok, but I am going to be the size of house by the time we get through this!!

Meat alternatives like beans, chickpeas and lentils are great as long as the family will eat them (mine are awkward sods).

Even if you do half meat and half alternative like half lentils and half mince in your bolognaise or chilli, half chicken and half chickpeas in curry.

Frozen meat on offers in Iceland/farmfoods etc are good too.

We’ve aimed to cut the costs but maintain a health and tasty diet so mainly cut down on meat and convenience foods. Trying to buy down in waste too. Lots of oats, rice, potatoes lentils, beans and pasta, bread, eggs, cheese and vegetables. Will buy convenience foods like pizza if on offer. Actually so spend a bit of what we’re saving to buy fresh beans and veg rather than tinned and fresh herbs rather than dried so that what cooking that bit nicer.
Make my own lunches for work now too

I made a big sausage pasta bake last night.. cost about a fiver all in and 6-8 portions (depends if you’re feeding toddlers or teens lol! I got the ingredients from Lidl which helps.
6 sausages, skins removed
One diced onion
2-3 diced cloves of garlic
400g tin tomatoes
500ml carton passata
Tbsp Italian seasoning
Fry meat, remove and fry onions and garlic, return meat to pan, add both tomatoes and herbs, leave to simmer while you boil 500g bag penne (or whatever pasta you have). Stir a bunch of sliced basil in.
Then layer your sauce and pasta in a large oven pan (like a lasagna) finishing with sauce. Top with a ball of mozzarella, sliced, and bake at 180 for ~ 30 minutes.

I also made a nachos bake along a similar vein:
Meat layer was beef mince, onions, peppers, a fresh chilli, then tomato purée, dried spices (all stuff I had anyway.. chilli powder, chilli flakes, regular and smoked paprika - you could improvise depending what you have in your store cupboard) and tinned tomatoes. You could stretch it further with kidney beans or black beans.
Layer with tortilla chips, top with grated cheese, oven until melted, and serve with salsa.

And egg based dishes save money versus meat.
We like stir fried rice and veggies topped with a fried egg and sriracha, sesame seeds add a nice crunch too if you happen to have them.
Or shakshuka (ish!)
Fry onion, garlic, a diced pepper, a chilli if you like it. Add a tin of tomatoes, season, and add in herbs or spices of your choice. Simmer gently. Make four dips in your tomato sauce, crack an egg into each dip, cover the pan with a lid and cook until your eggs are just cooked. Really tasty with fresh bakery bread.

Tuna pasta bake
Risotto
Tomato soup and cheese toastie
Bread pudding
Cauliflower and chickpea curry
Falafel

I have done a few switches to keep costs down, for example beef and pork mince is £1 cheaper than beef mince in Aldi. The cheapest loaf in Aldi is 39p, its quite nice too. I buy big packs of chicken breast and split it for freezing. Chicken legs/chicken thighs are still fairly cheap and can be stripped down for meat instead of serving whole. For meals like bolognaise and chilli, I bulk out with lentils, vegetables (grated carrots are great for this), pearl barley or rice. Corned beef hash is one of my cheapest and easiest meals to make. I make my own soups and pies. I have cut out some foods entirely because of the price-lamb is a complete no go now (£27 for a leg of lamb in Tesco the other day!). Fried rice always goes down well. Pasta bakes or pasta of some description. Toad in the hole. Things I make myself because they are cheaper but still a treat-garlic bread, potato wedges, parmentier potatoes. I make bread and butter pudding if I have bread left over that is past its best. Once or twice a month we will have a very cheap "easy" meal like beans on toast. I minimise food waste and make sure I am keeping an eye on fresh ingredients and change the meal plan if I need to use something up. I will pre prep veg and freeze it (for example spinach, carrots).

I have also found different shops are better for certain items, so I do split the shop across a few supermarkets. I buy almost all frozen veg at Iceland, Asda for tinned items/some smart price stuff/rice/pasta and some cleaning items and Aldi for meat/fresh/bread. I used to buy the massive egg tray from Asda (it was 30 eggs for £3) but they havent had any in for a while, so I think they must have stopped doing it.

I am noticing the prices creeping up though. I check the price per kg on everything now, which I didnt used to do. I also get a too good to go bag once or twice a month. Sometimes you get lucky and get mince/other meat. I have Olio but have never done a food collection (you have to be quick!) but its worth a go.

Meat free days.
Cheap meal days - so jacket potato and something or scrambled egg or soup.
Eat out of your cupboards one day a week.
Freezer lucky dip days.

Pasta with an ariabatta sauce

Indian vegetarian food is very cheap once you buy some spices or curry powder. Serve with rice or home made naan bread/chapattis.

Stir fry veg with 1 or 2 chicken breasts sliced thinly will go a long way.
Similar with curries - you can use a small amount of chicken, meat or fish and bulk up with any veg or even lentils.
I often make chicken, mushroom and spinach and cod, sliced green or runner beans, tomato and coconut milk

Pasties with small amount of minced beef and lots of veg like carrots, swede, onion and potato or minced chicken, sweetcorn and mushroom

I make soups for my lunches and serve some to dcs for after school snack

Use oven to batch cook. Today, I’m making a carrot cake and flapjacks for the week ahead.

If I'm putting the oven on I'll cook several things at once - eg roated curried cauliflower to eat with dhaal and rice that night, chicken thighs in passata with roasted mediterranean veg and some jacket potatoes all in together. I'll reheat the chicken with some of the sauce in the microwave the next day, stir the rest of the sauce into a risotto or have it with pasta the day after (or freeze it - its basically ratatouille) and reheat the potatoes in the microwave to have with beans and cheese another night.

Similar on the meat free or less meat. Having bacon bits or lardons in dishes instead of larger amounts of meat adds flavour but at lower cost. Can't go wrong with an eggs on toast or beans on toast night weekly as well.