Easy cheap meal ideas

[rascalboys]

Am going shopping in a couple of hours and I'm sick of always buying the same old boring meals.

Am on a bit of a budget at the moment so wondering if anyone can inspire me with what to buy to make mealtimes a bit more interesting. I always seem to do spag bol, shepherds pie, pasta, mild curry, the odd roast dinner.

Please inspire me without it being too expensive!

It's for 2 DC's (8 and 4), me and DH.

Thank you!

go shopping
get only things on offer then come back and we'll sort you out with a week's worth of meals

honest

meatballs
lasagne

you can do for very cheap if need be

sausage beans & mash
fish pie (you can buy a bag of mixed fish from tesco, whizz up a cheese, parsley or white sauce and tope with mash)
hot pot
chilli with rice or cous cous or jacket potatoes with salad

you can make big batches and freeze

will think of some more

My Meals for the week:

Cheese and ham omlette with chunky bread and butter

Chicken curry, using curry paste, chicken thighs and a tin of economy chopped tomatos - put all food in casserole dish and cover, cook on gas 2-3 for 2 -3 hours. Serve with dalh (google recipe for dalh, tis easy to make and extremly cheap.) Use a packet of pitta bread instead of naan for dipping. Toast the pitta bread and cut tinto fingers.

Pasta and bacon with pesto, buy cheep bacon bits in asda for £1 (divide into 4 and pop in freezer bags for the next three weeks) Cut the bacon into pieces, fry in garlic and put boiling water in pan for pasta to cook, when pasta is nearly cooked add some sweetcorn from a bag of frozen sweetcorn or a tin. Drain pasta and sweetcorn and return to pan, add a tablespoon of creme friach and let it melt, now add a 2 dessert spoons of pesto and add the bacon. Serve with cheese grated on top.

Chicken thighs skined and cutinto strips, place in bowl and sprinkle with chinese 5 spice and soy sauce, use vegtables for stir fry that you like - sweetcorn, carrots, cabbage shreded and stir fry chicken first then vegtables and then add noddles.

I buy froozen chx thighs as they are good value for money, usually about 8-9 thighs in a bag. A bag of sweetcorn, use in more than one dish through the week. Mature cheese is better value as you dont need as much to get the flavour.

macaroni cheese with salad is cheap and filling

ommlette and chips

chilli made with a can of baked beans instead of mince with rice and then use left overs with jacket spuds

risotto cheap and yummy, could do a spring veg one or mushroom or spinich and tomato is nice.

can't help on meat cos i'm veggie (tis cheaper to eat veggie anyway )

I made this risotto the other night and it was really tasty. Any half decent sausages will do.