This thread is for you to post family recipes that are (well) under a fiver .. with costs

[Twiglett]

I'd be interested in this, will allow for basics from stores (like butter and flour and herbs and spices)

You are allowed to guestimate costs

Just made Macaroni Cheese (like my mama used to make) £4.89 will do 2 meals easily

Big packet penne pasta (about 80p)
onion (about 30p)
butter and flour
milk (about 50p)
tin chopped tomatoes (optional but nice about 49p)
mature cheddar (£1.79 somerfield organic offer)
serve with green veg (allow £1)

Boil pasta with chopped onion till cooked
Make white sauce and add grated cheddar to taste, tin tomatoes (optional add tsp english mustard)
Mix together, sprinkle with cheese and bake 45 mins

Ooh, bookmarking this one, hope to contribute later.

Bacon onion and potato hotpot

4 jacket sized pots (about £2 max)
8 rashers of bacon (ditto)
1 onion 30p
milk 40p

peel and slice potatos very thinly (like for gratin)
cut bacon into 1 inch pieces with scissors
Chop onion v finely

Layer ina casserole dish - onion, bacon, pots x3

make white sauce using roux method
add pinch of nutmeg
pour over potato etc

Cook at 170 for about an hour, uncovered.

Chilli con carne and rice (feeds 4 with leftovers for about 2 meals .. can freeze) .. £4.39 (but excludes green veg and it's nice with veg)

packet of lean mince (beef or lamb) (£2 .. well they're always 2 for £4 in sainsbury's)
1 or 2 tins kidney beans in chilli sauce (for 2 = £1.20)
Tin chopped tomatoes (49p)
2 cloves garlic crushed
dried chilli
cumin
rice (about 70p worth)

brown mince, drain fat, add crushed garlic and stir, add tins kidney beans and tomatoes, add dried chilli to taste (about 1/2 tsp) and 2 tbsp cumin and simmer for 30 mins

cook rice

serve one over other

Good thread! You make macaroni cheese with tomatoes? MMMMmmmmm...I'm going to try that.

like the bacon and potato one .. will try that

c'mon .. particularly veggie types .. I have bags of lentils and pulses and no idea how to make them into a meal

i made a fab lentil curry which was very filling and lush.

Washed red and green lentils, simmer for 30mins and drain.

Fry chopped onion and crushed garlic, add ground chilli, ginger, cumin and tumeric. Add the lentils, then a tin of chopped tomatoes. Cook gently for 10 mins, serve with rice.

Made tonnes for under a fiver.

Lentil cheese and oat bake

6 oz (170g) red lentils - approx 30p ordinary or only 50p organic!

3/4 pint (420 ml) water

1 tsp oil

2 onions, peeled and chopped - say 60p

4 heaped tablespoons porridge oats - less than 10p

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced - 20p

4 1/2 oz (125g) cheese, grated - anything from 50p for a basic cheddar to £1 for a mature or even organic cheese

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

2 tablespoons tomato puree - 5p

Method - put lentils in a pan with the water, bring to boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes until soft and moist and most of water has been absorbed. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat oil and soften onions. Add oats, celery, cheese, herbs, tomato puree and drained lentils. Mix well.

Put into a lightly greased shallow ovenproof dish or tin, bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C, 350 deg F or Gas Mark 4, for about 30 mins.

The bake is soft when warm but firmer when cold, can be eaten hot or cold. My daughter loves it in her packed lunch!

Adapt at will - miss out onions, cook celery with onions instead of putting it in raw, add peppers or mushrooms, use different herbs etc.

Use the rest of your £5 budget for veggies or salad to go with the bake!

boil and mash potato. add in two cans of tuna fish. add chilli powder, salt, cumin and garlic. mix well. add lemon juice. too.
shape and pat into cakes, coat in beaten egg. shall fry. serve with ketchup.
no idea of cost, but poatate s tuna and egg all relatively cheap.

I have a great little book called 101 Cheap Eats - it's a BBC Good Food magazine book, really small and handy to flick through for inspiration. Another great one is One-pot Meals, same series. £5 each book.

Have you tried sainsburys feed your family for a fiver, all the recipies feed a family of 4 and we did salmon fishcakes the weekend and had loads left over!! You can look on their website its www.sainsburys.co.uk have a look as its great for a family shopping on a budget and their basics range is excellent their sausages are 53p for 8 and are delicious!!! x

thanks gem but the point is that I think a fiver is quite a lot really .. particularly when you times it by the number of meals you have as a family per week

Well, I use a lot of own brand/smartprice ingredients which I know some people wouldn't but you can always substitute some or all of them for premium versions and these would still be cheapy meals:

Tuna veggie pasta

smartprice pasta 19p
asda chunky veg pasta sauce 81p
tinned tomatoes 21p
tuna in brine 37p
Green Giant Kidney beans 13p (or sweetcorn etc)

(pasta in one pan, everything else in another, cook, drain pasta, mix)

= £1.71

Cowboy Casserole

2 x baked beans 40p
2 chopped tomatoes 42p
smartprice sausages 16p
2 x oxo cube (works out at) 16p
large onion approx 30p
2 x tinned potatoes 44p
mixed herbs, mug of red lentils, tomato puree, garlic, mixed spice, mug of water

(fry sausages with onion and garlic, cut potatoes in half, add everything to big casserole dish, cook until lentils are soft and don't skimp on spices etc) Nice with green veg and mashed potato or crusty bread.

= £1.88

Cheese n potato bake

block of cheese approx £2
4 or 5 spuds approx £1
large onion or two medium approx 30p
few rashers of bacon (optional)
salt, pepper, parsley, milk

(fry onions til translucent and bacon til just cooked, grate cheese, peel and slice spuds, chop bacon. Layer up cooked onions, raw potato slices, cooked bacon and grated cheese in big ovenproof dish, pour over milk seasoned with black pepper, a little salt, mixed herbs etc, finish handful of cheese on top and breadrumbs or crushed crisps, if liked. Bake until potatoes are soft and all is brown and smelling lovely)

= approx £4 but depends how you make it. Best served with lightly cooked green cabbage or broccoli.

Peasants Soup

Onion
garlic
Two carrots
Two spuds
tin chopped tomatoes
tin butterbeans, drained
red lentils
Any other veg, cabbage, leek, mushroom etc
water, bay leaf, mixed herbs, salt, pepper, two oxo cubes, tbsp tomato puree

(Fry onion and garlic til translucent, rinse lentils, chop veg, add all to big pan, bring to boil then simmer for ages with lid on stirring occasionally)

= approx £2/£3 depending on veg added.

If you need it within the hour use tinned lentils and just wait for veg to soften. Serve with crusty brad, or herby dumplings. (1 part suet/veggie suet to 2 parts s/r flour, pinch salt, mixed herbs, cold water, mix and roll into balls, dump in pan for last 30 mins of cooking)

Er, serve with crusty bread, not crusty brad, he doesn't sound hygienic.

baked frittata

1. grate onion or leeks / carrot / potato and stir fry 10mn. leave to cool
2. mix into 4 beaten eggs/3 tbsp cornflour/3 ounces milk
3. sprinkle with a little grated cheese.

bake 20 mn

shameless bumping, as I am really interested in expanding my cooking skills on a budget.

Anyone got anymore?

I was going to say panhaggety - but it looks very similar to AttilaTheAntiHun's bacon hot thing.

Pretty much the same thing without the sauce - bung some cheese on top. Can also put sweetcorn in the layers if you like - or other things like garlic to spice it up a bit.

Tater Hash?

Medium onion 30p
3-4 spuds approx 40p?
tin of corned beef 89p
1 or 2 beef oxo 16p
water

Really simple just fry onion til soft, peel and chop potatoes, cube the corned beef, add to pan with enough cold water to cover the rest of the ingredients by an inch or two, add 1 or 2 beef oxo. No salt as corned beef is quite salty, but maybe a bit of pepper. Bring to the boil then simmer until everything is soft and smushing together a bit, stirring occasionally as it has a tendency to stick or even boil dry so add more water as necessary to make it a stew consistancy. You could add a cubed carrot or two or some passata for more vitamins, but it is a less is more dish, imho. Serve with crusty bread.

= £1.75

Other cheap ideas, not necessarily meals:

-Turkey leg, 99p. Easily enough for two adults and 1-2 kids with spuds and veg, just roast for about an hour.

-Red Tilapia (tesco fresh fish counter) 90p for really large fillet - ready spiced, just grill and serve with salad. These were gorgeous and three times cheaper than tuna/salmon.

-Rainbow trout, usually about £1.40 for two large fillets in chiller section. Grill and serve with baby pearl potatoes 500G 77p, steamed veg or salad.

-Greens cheesecake mix, 40p. Add drained tin of mandarin segments 37p, or sliced banana/strawberries, or crushed maltesers/crunchie for a treat.

-Smartprice strawberry jelly 15p, make up in individual pots, when set pour over Smartprice dessert whip - strawberry 8p. Top with small pinch of sprinkles, or grate tsp of chocolate on top.

-Victoria sponge mix 32p, made up with plenty of mixed spice and poured over a stewed apple or two. Bake for about 20 min (or microwave for 2 min) add smartprice instant custard, 8p!

-"Eton mess" meringue cases, smashed up and mixed with thick fruit yoghurt and tinned or fresh fruit.

-egg n chips
-pizza toast
-jacket spuds
-tuna pasta bake
-rataouille pasta
-egg fried rice (cold cooked rice, cooked peas, cooked onion, egg, soy sauce)
-bacon, cabbage, boiled poatoes, gravy
-pasta n sauce with frozen veg flung in 5 mins before serving, and grilled/poached fish

• buy rock hard reduced to 10p bloomer bread from the supermarket, brush on milk and bake in oven for 10 min, it will make it like new (but eat it straight away with soup etc)

Saying all this and I've got no clue what to make for tea.

My family's favourite Tuna (or salmon) and broccoli risotto. Easy cook, one pan to wash up

1 onion (30p)
Couple cloves garlic
2 veg stock cubes + litre or so boiling water
Approx 50-70p worth brown rice (must be brown, consistency is wrong with white rice)=2-3 good handfuls
Head of broccoli (75p-£1) or good couple handfuls frozen
Tin tuna (50p ish) or salmon if you're feeling flash

Fry onion and garlic in a little oil. When soft add rice and fry for a few seconds. Add stock cubes and water, let it simmer (lid on) for 30 minutes, add broccoli and let it cook for another 10 minutes until rice is done. Stir fish through. Freezes fine if you make loads.

Lentil/pea/tattie soup

Soften a couple of large onions in a little oil, add a couple of large carrots, chopped.

Add lentils/dried yellow peas/chunky chopped potatoes.

Add boiling water and huge quantities of black pepper.

Cook for ages.

Serve with seasoning and bread.

Rough cost approx £2 per cauldronful.

Or bacon risotto

Fry a few rashers of bacon, add onion, add various veg (mushrooms, peppers, courgette etc), add garlic, pinch chilli powder, sprinkle mixed herbs, black pepper, add rice (doesn't have to be risotto rice, basmati is fine), add tin tomatoes, add pint of stock. Simmer, add more water as required. Less than 50p a serving depending on what you include.

Broccoli and cauliflower baked in cheese sauce with potato wedges - less than 60p a serving.

Any homemade curry/chilli/bolognese is less than a fiver for 4 - I'd struggle to make it cost more than a fiver to be honest!

egg and lentil curry (think this was originally delia related but origins lost in time). cheap if you already have spices - not sure how much but a bag of lentils is only about 69p and most of the other things are usually mouldering at bottom of my fridge

Fry a tablespoon of coriander seeds, tsp of fennel seeds, tsp of cumin seeds until toasted. Crush in a pestle and mortar.
Fry a chopped onion on quite high heat til brown, then add chopped green chilli (amount to taste), two cloves garlic, grated thumb-sized piece of ginger, tsp fenugreek and tsp turmeric and the crushed toasted spices. Tip in a load of lentils and about a pint of coconut stuff made with 75g creamed coconut and boiling water. You can stir in some lime pickle if you like it hotter and squeeze of lime juice. Cook on low heat with lid on for up to an hour.
Do some rice meanwhile.
When it's nearly done hard boil some eggs but keep the yolks soft. Cut them open and serve on top of lentil curry on rice.

another lentil favourite: feta and lentil salad, cook some puy lentils until soft: meanwhile wrap a block of feta with some thyme or any other woody herb sprinkled on it in tinfoil, put in oven at 200c for about 20 mins. when it comes out and you open the foil packet it will be all soft. pour basic salad dressing over lentils and chop a handful of any summery herbs in (any of basil, mint, oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley all good) and then spoon the softened cheese over. ds loves this as well as adults.
or even cheaper: poached egg on cooked puy lentils, with or without herbs. thankyou nigel slater.....

lamb and chickpea hash

• makes enough for family of 4, or 2 meals.

(new) potatoes (£1)
lamb mince (£2)
chickpeas (40p)
onion (20p)
garlic clove (5p)
frozen peas or frozen mixed veg or leftover veg (50ps worth??)
dollop of mint sauce/mint/thyme/various herbs/bit of lemon

*boil the potatoes and cut into wedges
*fry the onion and garlic and lamb
*add herbs, chickpeas, peas and mix it all together. add the potatoes and eat!!

Dalh

300grams red lentils - 50p per bag (£1.50 for chana dal 2 kilo bag!)
onion 30p
Red chilli powder £1.00
garlic 30p
turmeric £1.00
tinned tomato 40p

add 1 litre of water to 300 grams of lentils add pinch of salt and turmeric and bring to the boil - then simmer for 45 mins. Heat oil in pan and add garlic, then add chilli and then add tomato - cook for 5-7 mins and add to lentil when the water has gone. Serve with rice and pitta breads.

Pitta breads £1.20

I toast pitta breads (straight from the freezer) and use instead of naan - as they are far cheaper and much less fattening!!

Make bombay potato to go with this - make extra for spanish omlette the following night.

a few potatos - at least 16 peeled and chopped into cubes.

Place the potato into boiling water and cook for 7 minutes then drain.

In frying pan heat garlic oil and curry powder - then tip in drained potato and cook for several minutes - 10 approx and then add two chopped tomato or any other lurking vegtable i.e. spinach/french beans/peas and continue cooking for 2-3 mins.

Serve in a hot dish along with the dalh.

The dalh is better if cooked and left in fridge and reheated.

The following night take half the left over bombay potat and place in a hot frying pan. take 6 eggs and whisk in a measuring jug add a little water and salt and pepper. Pour over potato and cook until firm. Place frying pan under grill.

Repeat this with the other half of the potat and another 6 eggs for another spanish omlette.

The eggs cost £1.00 per dozen x 2
Potato cost £1.00

Serve spanish omlette with fresh bread rolls
and baked beans

bread rolls 70p
baked beans 40p per tin

£8.90 for two nights meals which will serve 4 people each night

OK I know this is under a fiver as I spent £4.85 ish in the Co-op last night and £1 of that was on Cadburys caramel!

My Mum's Yummy veg Casserole

2 Onions
1 Potato
2 carrots
4 sticks celery
2 cloves garlic
1 tin kidney beans
450ml milk
300ml veg stock
2 tbsps Paprika
2 tbsps tom puree
2 tbsps cornflour

So, chop/slice/crush all the veg
Fry in butter for 5 mins with the paprika. Add stock and most of the milk along with the tom puree. Stir well, bring to boil, cover and simmer for 30 mins. At end, add cornflour into dregs of milk and stir til smooth. Stir into casserole and keep stirring over low heat til thickened.

Serve with baked potatoes.

Bloody lovely!

DH's favourite is chorizo, bean and tomato stew. Can be done for 5 euros easily where I live. If you can't get cheapish chorizo then leave it out and add extra smoked paprika.

Chop up the chorizo and fry gently in a non-stick pan with no oil until it has released lots of its own.
Lift the chorizo out of the pan and fry a roughly chopped large white onion in the chorizo oil. Scrape up any black bits from the pan at this stage. Add in a clove of chopped garlic.
Add tin of chopped tomatoes, a drained tin of beans, and a teaspoon of smoked paprika (costs about £2.50 for a tin that lasts for ages. We use it all the time here. Adds instant Spanishness.)
Put chorizo back in and stir to reheat.

Serve by itself or with crusty bread (it's very nice with chopped parsley on top).

This also works if you want a side dish to roast white fish.

Keep going - I want to read lots more of these! One of our favourites, although maybe an acquired taste - cooked macaroni with a can of chickpeas, a slug of olive oil, some garlic powder, salt and lots of plain yogurt. We used to make this when I shared accomodatioon with Lebanese students.