Your favourite 'lowish cost' family meals

[longshot]

I need to shave a substantial amount of our monthly food bill and easiest way will be by reducing the spend we make on evening meals. I have calculated that for the 4 of us most evening meals cost us approx £8-16 currently, occasionally more. Once a week we have something 'cheap' like baked potatoes but even then it's probably approx £8 with salad, tuna etc. I do all the usuals eg bolognaise, pasta bakes etc but we have one who needs GF pasta etc which increases the price a bit. Also we are 4 adult size portions so one 500g portion of mince is for 4 of us. Kids are teens and eat a lot as does my sporty DH!

Please can you list any top meals you make that come in as quite budget? Happy to do some veggie but mostly meat / fish ideally.

A big yes to the rice pudding. I make loads and freeze it, it freezes fine. I always add nutmeg, it makes a huge difference. DH and DS like a teaspoon of jam in theirs to serve.

I also regularly do baked apples. Or stewed apples and custard. In summer, stewed plums. Poached pears etc.

Edited to say that I quoted the wrong post, I meant to quote the poster who said not to overlook pudding!

I haven’t read all the replies but :
add lentils to mince dishes (bulk and fibre)!
midweek roast, you can buy a whole chicken for £6 ish- loads of veg
tuna pasta bake- I bulk with peppers and red onion
sausage and mash
crustless quiche filled with whatever you have (ham, cheese etc) with some sautéed potatoes & salad.
seek out yellow stickers and fill your freezer when you can!
I also love veggie chilli, veg lasagna and shepherds pie. Having a couple of veggie days will bring overall cost down.

egg fried rice with chicken and and mixed veg

Sunday roast chicken with lots and lots of cheap vegetables (carrots, broccoli, frozen peas and sweetcorn, potatoes and parsnips£
Monday wraps, leftover chicken, pepper and onions and seasoning (wraps can be made with yoghurt and flour)
Tuesday - often stir fry, peppers, onions, bean sprouts, egg noodles, a store cupboard sauce and a small amount of protein (I cook and shred chicken thighs for this and sandwiches, use an electric hand mixer to shred and it goes miles)
Wednesday jacket potatoes - I make chilli in my pressure cooker and it’s mainly veg and beans and seasoning and tomatoes, does lots of portions
Thursday - pasta - usually with a sauce using whatever veg is knocking around
Friday - homemade wedges, chicken thighs, beans and sweetcorn, often use honey and mustard or bbq on the chicken thighs
Saturday - a longer cook, curry or lasagne or a pie maybe. It’s probably the most expensive meal of the week and a little bit more of a treat.

I try and dovetail meals so that I’m using the same items for multiple meals and there is no waste. I bulk out meals with pulses and vegetables and always serve people the amount of protein I want to.

Bteakfast is usually porridge with frozen mixed berries or eggs. Very cheap.

Lunch - make a big tray of flapjacks, piece of fruit, cut up carrots and cucumbers, sandwich and a protein like a piece of cheese or a hard boiled egg.

I buy multipack of cheap crisps and cheap biscuits and buy cheap fruit for snacks.

We don’t drink alcohol and so that saves tonnes.

Having a rotating menu with just changing small elements makes it really easy to cut costs. No expensive fruit and veg and cheap meat like chicken thighs, gammon roasting joints and mince help with costs.

Add lentils or butter beans to most mince dishes to bulk it up.

I only ever buy meat when reduced. Tesco is good as they have the reduced section rather than the reduced food still in place and you have to search for it. I have a freezer draw just for the reduced meat as obviously if you are using it all week you have to freeze it immediately being about to go out of date. same with bread if you have the freezer space sometimes there’s loads of bread for pennies.

do you drink? A bottle of wine or two a week adds up

things like sauce jars buy in bulk when on offer. Do you need the branded stuff or Will own brand do?

bars of soap. Soooo much cheeper and last much longer than liquid soap (better for the planet too!). I actually have found lots of the eco subscriptions saving me money things like toilet roll washing tabs (give up fabric conditioners). Order 5 litres of white vinegar and it cleans most things.

like the lentils add frozen peas or beans to meals.

lots of pasta meals- if you get the massive supermarket own brand of pasta it’s cheeper just boring penne or fusilli. noodles not pot noodles but the instant kind with the seasoning packet (you don’t have to use the seasoning packet use the noodles in place of the normal more expensive Sherwood noodles or whatever brand you are used to. Rice- again cheeper in bulk.

boring fruits instead of berries. Veg in season (or reduced!)

tinned soup (we have soup whenever I find tiger bread reduced)

iceburg lettuce for salads.

Try not to get set in your ways for packed lunches. Look for what’s on offer and adapt

own brand cheddar cheese. Mature and use less

if you really want to save money then the own brand tinned new potato’s and bother veg is often cheep. You notice the difference in taste however. Tinned fruit is ok though

for gluten free look for reduced. The bread is often reduced. I usually have GF pancakes and bagels in the freezer

I moved to tinned veg to free up space in the freezer for all my reduced purchases.

batched cook and freeze. Things like 500g mince that I’ve stretched with lentils means leftovers I can freeze.

switch to tap water. You do adjust after a while without fruit juice and squash. I’d rather tap water than cheap tea bags 🤢

I'm not a convert but I’ve seen garlic and onion seasoning recommended as cheeper than the fresh.

I know you were asking about food but eBay/bunted bundles of clothes saves loads and you can sell the individual items you don’t like from the bundle.

jumpers and warm socks instead of the heating on. Snuggle under blankets etc. Only wash dirty clothes particularly jeans can be worn more than once before washing.

Cut snacks and Look and your portion sizes. Tinned fruit and possibly tinned custard as dessert means smaller portions for the main meal are easier to tolerate.

own brand breakfast cereal. Own brand jam/marmalde/etc on toast for breakfast.

oats are cheep GF breakfast. Purée whatever fruits are in the reduced section and you can make oat breakfast bars and freeze. The value chocolate bars are disgusting to eat but grate then into breakfast bars etc instead of chocolate chips and it’s good value.

I don’t have the space in my current house but I saved loads when I had the space for a second freezer! If you have the space definitely consider that

Hugh FW’s recent R4 series on Fibre is definitely worth a listen.
One of his tips is to “bung in some beans” - that is, use pulses & legumes to increase the protein & fibre content of meals in a quick & relatively cheap way.
Obviously dried beans, lentils etc are cheaper but do require some prep.
I made hummus from scratch recently; using dried chickpeas it was about 1/4 the cost of ready made& I think was nicer. So add veggies & home made flatbreads (per another recipe on here this week) & it’s an absolute bargain meal!

I cook up semolina here, I just use full fat milk and cinnamon/nutmeg, no sugar. Lovely

Do you have a slow cookeR?

On beans, one of my indulgences is jarred beans (thank you Bold Bean company) but as this is a money saving thread it's definitely worth (and is something that I am planning to do) experimenting with dried beans as these are much nicer than canned and cheaper.

You can cook them in batches and freeze them. The Bold Bean cookbook (Kindle version sometimes on offer for 99 p or just look in the sample) gives instructions about cooking canned ones a bit further with bicarb to make them softer and also has some great recipes, which are also on the website.

As you're not vegetarian OP, things like beans with a bit of chorizo or bacon bits, perhaps also peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and paprika would probably be good.

Also minestrone style soups with beans, veg, bacon bits (I often see these reduced and freeze them) and perhaps a bit of orzo or other small pasta are nice.

Also lentils, one of our quick midweek meals is lentil bolognese made with a can of green lentils, we're not vegetarian but its easy and I like it. I get the Heinz non UPF pasta sauces when they're on offer but obviously you can make your own.

Dal is also lovely and you can easily make it as part of a selection of batch cooked curries so you don't need much meat, eg dal, spinach and potato and then a chicken one.

PPs have mentioned bone in chicken legs and its astonishing how much cheaper these are than breasts, so are definitely worth buying. I usually pull the skin off and cook on the bone but it depends what you want to do with them - they're also good as part of a Nandos style meal, no need to buy the branded marinade, just Google for recipes (a basic stock of spices is a good investment and not expensive if you buy the Asian branded 100 g packs instead of small jars, I keep mine in old small jam or sauce jars in a drawer).

If you can use a freezer both for reduced food and batch cooking that can be a real money saver as well as reducing the cooking effort as being able to cook is often a big money saver so it's worth finding short cuts to reduce the time needed.

I made lentil bolognese today. Meat loving dh thought it was gorgeous. The recipe made 6 portions so I froze some. I used wholewheat pasta. You can use gluten free or put it with potato wedges etc.
I'm trying to lower my cholesterol so eating less saturated fat. But am finding the food cheaper. Tinned fish is good like pp mentioned.

https://rainbowplantlife.com/10-ingredient-vegan-red-lentil-bolognese/#wprm-recipe-container-5570

Make a batch of tomato sauce - onions, garlic, tin of tomatoes, tomato paste. Maybe extend it with chopped peppers, celery, carrots - whatever is at hand. When it's cooked and reduced a bit, add a couple of tins of sardines, a few olives, perhaps a handful of raisins. Serve with pasta.

5 chicken legs are £2.25 in tesco. Bake them in the oven for an hour, I usually cook them the night before when the oven is on. Strip the meat off and add to a mushroom yoghurt sauce for pasta - costs about £4.50 for 4.

Or you could use the chicken in fajitas or in a casserole. Lots of options.

i used to add chick peas to most chicken dishes,
i also buy frozen diced chicken, particularly so you can choose the amount of chicken you use
curry, or spanish chicken.
use frozen peppers
plenty of mushrooms

i make a giant sausage roll, can add plenty of flavours to the sausage meat.

Sounds similar to Pan Heggarty - sliced potatoes, carrots & onions layered, with bacon and stock and topped with cheese. Very tasty and can mop up the juices with bread.

As others have said, bulk out mince with grated carrot, onions, celery. Plus add soaked red lentils (just disappear into sauce) for extra protein and fibre, tinned beans (same). Make a massive batch for bolognase. Then add 2 or 3 x beans for a chilli with rice etc. Then make the leftovers into a pasta bake or top jacket potatoes or wedges as 'dirty fries'.

Also don't buy everything in the same place - check prices & deals, use the loyalty apps, use an employer benefit scheme to buy discounted gift vouchers. Buy meat / fish on offer and freeze till you have enough to make a fish pie, for example.

Ask ChatGPT to do a weeks menu for you. My prompt is something like:

Give me a week’s menu of cost effective healthy meals. Happy with meat and fish. Include pulses and beans. Feel free to repeat ingredients and to make larger portions so some can be eaten for lunch the next day.

You can also give a budget. Last week mine was about £50, though didn’t include cleaning products or personal care.

I deliberately build in 'left overs'. So I don't do a single baked potato (on my own) I will do a few and then the next day use the left overs for gnocchi. And then I might make a third dish for the freezer.

Things on toast, from basic beans on toast but you can add cheese, bacon, onions etc. My mum would make 'milk cheese' on toast. Put the bread in the toaster, put a pan o the hob with some milk in it, as it warms crumble cheese in to it, it does have to be a crumbly cheese but you then pour it over the toast so you have a cheesy soupy / sauce type thing on a crisp toast.

Soup - save the veg trimmings, broccoli stems and cauliflower leaves are edible and make a good soup.

Talking of soup, the Irish concept of 'soup and a sandwich' can be really filling.

Make things from tinned food, spam fritters (I personally hate them but many people don't), cook chicken and mushrooms in condensed mushroom soup.

Fishcakes made with tinned tuna rather than fresh fish.

Another personal hate - corned beef hash, my mother and brother loved this, I'd fill up on bread and butter.

I’d love the link!

This is exactly what I do. Our bolognese contains chunky mushroom, plenty onion, pepper, courgette. It really bulks it out, then on day 2 add kidney beans another tin or 2 of tomatoes, chilli powder, some paprika and chilli flakes, have with rice and tortilla chips which are both super cheap. It’s also not double the cost to buy double the amount of mince if you wanted to stretch that further by freezing a batch or extending it in to a jacket potato topping. Homemade soup, curry’s bulked out with similar veg. A simple roast dinner doesn’t cost a fortune especially if you mind the meat portion. You could probably manage some leftovers of a chicken or a large gammon joint - again a large one is more cost effective- to make sandwiches or a second meal eg gammon egg and chips or a salad. Tomato based bakes and sauces are cheap. There are some good pages on Facebook for budget eating as it’s exhausting enough trying to plan meals every night let alone when you’re trying to do it to a budget . New ideas are helpful.

we had baked risotto last night (5adult sized people)

brown 2 onions
add to oven dish (we use 2 pyrex type recangular ones)
add 2 cups of dry rice and spices (we had curry powder) and stirr well
pile up the chopped veg on top (we used one squash, one courgette, some carrots)
top with stock (made with a cube) 11/2 water to 1 rice.
bake covered for 30-40 min

just before serving top with chopped feta/haloumi/paneer

Bulk out mince with red lentils or veg - use a food processor to whizz up carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, red peppers etc - red veg when in a tomato sauce seem to be more unnoticeable, and just do a mix of whatever you have, especially whatever is in season or cheaper. I would tend to use peppers when making Italian style dishes, or carrots/squash for cottage pie…. but it’s always about what you have. I also whizz up mushrooms for mince meals (any) as a great filler and flavour base.

Fried rice meals, with any scraps of leftover chicken or pork off a roast and some veggies, a couple of eggs…I also do nasi goreng using tuna in oil (as the oil of great to use for the frying part - as much for flavour as saving pennies), tin sweetcorn, onion, garlic, whatever scraps of veg or frozen veg you have, curry powder. Another one you can add scraps of chicken to as well as the tuna.

Slow cooker is also your friend for stews or do tray bakes in the oven - a spatchcocked whole chicken or joints on their own or over a bed of veggies (and potatoes/sweet potatoes). Or do a long slow roast if a big joint of lamb (especially shoulder)or pork (belly pork can be good) to use the cheaper cuts and make them delicious. You could do roast pork one night and pulled pork baps the following night with salad. Jamie Oliver had a book about doing big joints and making use of leftovers in other meals.

Also I love bacon/gammon joints - leftovers are really versatile. I often do a big pot of mac’n’cheese with leftover bacon, and a mix of whatever veg I have (fried onion, fried garlic, fried mushrooms, courgette, mange tout, frozen peas, diced peppers, …) - I freeze any leftovers to have as a pasta bake but I have a very large pot and only need to feed 3 (or currently, 1).

In Iceland they do a huge tray of fresh chicken breasts for £20. The breasts are so big I cut a big chunk out of the middle, so I get double the quantity and that gets the two of us 14 meals each! Chicken is so versatile too.

< waits for the ‘but it won’t be corn fed free range chicken’ brigade> no, it’s not, but it is protein that we can afford.

I make a cottage pie with baked beans in to bulk it out
if you like chorizo the that’s a srong flavour especially with the oils that come out. So pasta with onion mushroom and chorizo, or a frittata - eggs potatoes chorizo mushroom and onion. With eggs

smoked salmon pasta - use a pack of the trimmings - fry up a little onion. And the salmon and some cream and lemon juice and mix in pasta