easy family meals on a budget

[lins1uk]

hi everyone,
if possible im wanting some recipes or ideas for family meals, tonight im doing an egg fried rice recipe that i got on here,anything thats not going cost a fortune to buy ingriedients for would be great,
thanks so much
lins xx

Cut up some sausages into chunks, fry with chopped onions until onions soft and sausages browned a little, add grated carrot, tinned chopped tomatoes, 1/3 pint stock, mixed herbs, simmer for an hour and serve over pasta. V. cheap and cheerful, grate some cheese over and it's actually really tasty!

sounds yum anymore thanks xx

sounds yum anymore thanks xx

I make all kinds of things

Meatballs and spaghetti is easy and cheap

Meatballs - 500g minced beef, 1 tblspn grated parmesan, 1 tblspn chopped parsley, salt and pepper. squidge the mixture together with your hands and then make into little balls and chill until needed.

Tomato sauce - finely chop 1 onion and 1 clove of garlic, fry gently in a little olive oil. Add 1 bottle of passata and half fill the bottle with water adding that to the mixture. Add one teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add a big glug of milk and stir - bring back to a simmer and drop the meatballs in. cook the meatballs without stirring for 20 minutes so you don't break them up. Serve with spaghetti or other pasta.

I tend to make double or more of these and freeze then in small portions for a quick dinner.

Picnic pies
Pack of shortcrust pastry

100g grated cheese
6 cherry tomatoes halved
3 large eggs
½ pint milk
salt and pepper

Cut circles out of pastry with 10cm cutter, put in muffin tin. Put half a tomato in each cup. Mix eggs, milk and ¾ the cheese. Add salt and pepper and pour in each cup. Top with the rest of the cheese and cook at gm4/180 for 20-25 minutes.

Bean and Feta Falafel

150g frozen broad beans
½ onion roughly chopped
½ tspn ground cumin
1 tspn ground coriander
2 tblspn chopped fresh parsley
50g feta cheese
tblspn flour

Cook the broad beans then put in the food processor with all the other ingredients. Whizz until chopped small then mould into small patties. Chill for half an hour then fry in a little oil or cook in the oven brushed with oil at gm4 for 15-20 minutes.

Serve with salad, pitta and yoghurt/mint sauce.

Pizza and spinach palmiers

Pack of ready rolled puff pastry
4 tblspns tomato ketchup
75g frozen spinach
125g grated cheese
1 egg beaten

Put both sheets of pastry on the side, and divide the tomato ketchup between them. Spread this out and then cover with the spinach and the cheese. Roll up both ends to meet in the middle and cut into slices.

Lay cut side down on a baking tray, brush with beaten egg and cook for 10 minutes at gm6/200

Sorry was cutting and pasting from my recipe files and missed the last bit

lego, your sausage casserole sounds yum, I am going to cook it for tea. But with rice, with added peas and sweetcorn

Cook pasta, stir in couple of tims of tuna, jar of pasta sauce - you can add anything extra like some lightly fried mushrooms / onions / cherry tomatoes (cheap if you have a market you can get veg from) , top with grated cheese, and put in medium oven til cheese melted.

You can replace the tuna with cooked, chopped sausages.

And although jars of tomato sauce are pretty cheap (and quick!), you could make your own of course with tins of tomatoes or passata, herbs, garlic etc.

Fishcakes are easy and cheap too - buy some frozen cheap fish like coley, cook as per instructions. Cook potatoes, mash them up with parsley, the cooked fish, salt and pepper - you can add a bit of milk or egg to bind it if needed, shape into little patties, dip each side into flour, and fry til brown.

Risotto is cheap - just rice and stock (I use cubes because I'm too lazy to make my own )

You can then add anything you want/have - chicken/ham/fish/various veg.

CHilli - you can make a little bit of mince go a long way with lots of peppers, kidney beans and tinned tomatoes (ie make a huge panful and freeze the surplus).

Tuna Casserole: fry onion, garlic and sweet peppers (red/yellow)in olive oil, then when soft add tinned tuna, mixed herbs, tomato puree, cumin, paprika, curry powder, tin of tomatoes and splash of lea & perrins worcestor sauce. Oh and salt & pepper. Fill up the empty tomatoes tin with water and add to the sauce now and then. Leave it to simmer. Serve with rice. It's very tasty and quite healthy too.

I am also watching this thead for tips. Need to cut down our food bill!

minced beef tacos:
Recipe
Fry medium onion in garlic infused olive oil, add a red and green sliced pepper, add and brown 400g mince, add canned chopped tomatoes, quarter pint of chicken stock (kallo stock cube), 2 tsp of sweet chili dipping sauce, mild chili powder to taste, cook for 15 mins, add small can of kidney beans and cook for a further 3 mins. Meanwhile rinse & cook rice (50g per person), rinse. Pop shop-bought tacos in oven or microwave. Sprinkle filled tacos with grated cheese.

Chicken noodle stir fry

Cook noodles with a chicken stock cube & above in steamer cook frozen broccoli for 4 mins. In wok stir-fry chicken pieces in sesame oil & soy sauce. Add chopped red pepper (or any veg really). Drain and rinse noodles. Add noodles and broccoli to wok. Add two eggs and stir for a further minute.

Chicken noodle stir fry sounds delicious.

It's also very quick

do you beat the eggs before adding?

I just stir them in as it's one less thing to wash up

my kinda girl Don't suppose you know a fajita recipe do you?

Great minds Ladylush!

Coincidentally, I've bought the tortilla and bits for an experiment on Monday but am still looking for a really good fajita recipe.

mrspnut - I'm making those falafels tonight, they sound fab. thanks for the recipe

what a great thread

Btw, some fajita receipes here:

James Martin

Karmel

thanks so much gonna print all the recipes out and try them if you have anymore please send them thanks so much lins xx

Thanks heated - think I'll try the first one.