Help I need cheap ideas for tea

[whowantssmore]

Ok I need some ideas to add to this weeks meal plan. Things are extremely tight this week so i have to pull off some kind of miracle to make sure the kids are fed & full. So far I have
Dippy eggs & toast
beans/ scrambled eggs on toast
naan bread pizza
pasta bake
chicken drumsticks with teriyaki sauce & fried rice.
kids are 6,8 & 14. They are not to fussy, no allergies or anything. I would love if anyone has some suggestions.

What have you got in your cupboards/freezer?

If you said the you needed the money for Christmas at my work and it had been someone internal's error like it has here, we'd do an extra pay run and pay it as an "advance" which would then net out with what you would have got on 30th if hadn't "advanced" it - though obviously it's not really in advance!

Cabbage and noodles.
Shred a head of cabbage and cook it very slowly with an onion, 6oz butter or oil, and a teaspoon of paprika
Cook some tagliatelle (or any pasta)
When the cabbage is soft and caramelized season it and stir it into your pasta.

Cabbage 19p in Aldi today!

I make a really filling curry with a tablespoon of curry paste, but if you've got curry powder and any of cumin, coriander, chilli and garlic just use that.

Sauté a chopped onion until soft, Chuck the paste/spices in and let them warm for a minute, add tin of tomatoes and simmer for five mins, add a chopped up cauliflower or frozen florets, a couple of large chopped up potatoes and a tin of vegetable stock but tbh any stock will do, and chuck it in the oven on 140-150 for 90 mins. Serve with rice or naan if you've got any, It's yum and cheap as chips!

@Augend23 I did ask but the owner (small company) has already gone away for Christmas so its a no. I will be ok If I stick to a very small budget. I could change the plans for my daughters birthday but It already sucks being so close to Christmas so I want to make the day feel like its special just for her.

Jacket potatoes with baked beans.

Homemade veg soup and crusty bread.

Omelette.

Cheese and ham toastie.

Macaroni cheese with crispy breadcrumb topping.

Packet of oven wedges with grated cheese on as lunchtime snack.

Pasta with broccoli florets and tinned tomatoes. Or some other veg, or tuna, if broccoli isn't popular in your house! Grated cheese on tip of you can run to it.

Just looked on Tesco

Onion 12p
Cauliflower 60p
Potatoes 2kg 19p
Tinned tomatoes 32p
Veg stock cubes (10 pack) 50p
2 x pataks paste pots 1.49

£3.22 if you need to buy everything and you'll be stuffed with stock cubes, spuds and a paste pot left over

When I was skint I'd stock up on cheap 3 minute noodles and huge bags of pasta. With very cheap chopped tomatoes and some veg. From that all sorts of things can be made.

BBC cheap family meals
BBC budget dinners

That's a bit shit of your work @whowantssmore but you sound like a lovely mum. Good luck with your shopping!

Breakfasts: porridge, French toast, scrambled eggs on toast

Lunches: sandwiches, soup, leftovers

Dinners: chicken and egg fried rice, chicken and veg pasta bake, jacket potato with beans and cheese, chilli and rice, bolognase and pasta (use 500g pack mince for both and bulk out with veg), cheese, onion and cheese bake with baked beans

Corn beef hash

Mashed Potatoes mixed with a tin of corn beef.

Omelettes chips and beans

Egg chips and beans

I made a weird thing of stir fried rice with left over veg , tuna and dot sauce, everyone loved it!
fritata always easy, or mix red lentils with fried onions and cheese and make a bake.
could you get a 0% credit card and pay it off when your pay is sorted?

Soy sauce!

I went to Lidl earlier,and they had potatoes,carrots,shallots,swede/turnip all for 19p each.I got a good few bags to use up for stews/soups in my slow cooker.

Macaroni cheese with garlic bread is filling and tends to be a people pleaser.

Chilli con carne - you can have it with rice or on jacket potatoes with cheese on top

Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup

Do you have TikTok?

It’s amazing for cheap recipes.

this ^^

Butter beans (tinned) boil in water, drain and add garlic (lots) and oil.
served with rice mixed with chopped onion, herbs of Provence (or oregano), and mayonnaise. You can also add tinned sweetcorn (if you've got it). You can bung a tin of tuna flakes in if you have one spare.

Red kidney beans (tinned) mashed and fried with something tasty - I use tabasco but any thing will do. like chilli flakes or something cooler. Serve in pitta bread or wrap, with grated cheese (let it melt against the hot beans in the wrap), chopped onion, and any other salad, or none.

Have had a quick skim and don't think anyone has suggested Dahl and rice yet... cheap, delicious and nutritious. Add spinach and cauliflower for added nutrition/to pad out if funds permit

How many drumsticks have you got? Could you do a tray bake with them one evening, cook them & a shred them into pasta, rice or noodles another night, make a sort of pie on a third and then jacket potatoes on a fourth?