feed your family for £2.50 or less

[Stargazing]

this may have been done before/ elsewhere, in which case I apologise - but who fancies a thread of recipes and suggestions to undercut Mr Oliver's bloody suggestions by at least 50%?

potato and cauliflower curry
potatoes
cauli
tin of tomatoes
curry powder

cook all together til veggies tender. Depending on where you bought your ingredients you may have money left over for peas/ rice etc to have in/ with it.

WW followers - pretty sure that this is a 0 point recipe too.

anyone else?

mixed bean chili and rice add carrots and peas...
beans (can use dried even cheaper)
tin of tomatoes
store cupboard spices or even use schwartz packet

or homemade falafel
yum

lentil and carrot dahl with rice. Even when i make naan bread ot go with it it costs less than £2.50

In fact, I'm pretty confident not a single meal I make for DS and myself ever costs more than £2.50

Message withdrawn

Beef pie

Tin of stewing steak
some frozen veg
tin of new potato's
pack of puff pastry (or home made)

add frozen veg to the steak and cut up potato's and add to veg and steak. Place in oven proof dish, roll out pastry and place over dish cook for 25 mins on gas mark 7.

very nice and a quick meal also.

Tuna pasta

Tin of toms
Onion
Tin of Tuna
Spaghetti

Chop onion and fry till soft, add tin off toms and simmer. Chguck in tin of tuna.

Boil spaghetti, mix with the sauce.

Yum.

I like the sound of the beef pie DustyTV. Think I'll make that tomorrow night.

Tomato & Egg Pasta

Tin Toms
Onion
Tablespoon Oregano
Garlic
Egg

Chop onion, garlic and fry, add toms and oregano and simmer 20 mins, then add egg and stir continuosly for a min or two ( I add a little caster sugar to take the bitterness off the toms

pour over pasta

juniper, it is delicious DH and I had it last night for our tea. Nest to no washing up to do after either

another bonus !

Good thread, Stargazing! I'm afraid your curry isn't zero points though - potatoes have 1 point per 100g. Still very low though

how about egg fried rice

cold boiled rice
eggs
spring onions
peas
sweet chilli sauce

briefly scramble the eggs in a wok, take 'em out when half-cooked. Give the wok a wipe, add some oil, stir fry the rice for a few minutes. Add peas. Put the eggs back in, add spring onions, toss it all together. Serve with seet chilli sauce.

Total comfort food!

omlette and salad

Variation on Stella's - using cream instead of mayo. Another variation - replace the tuna with ham!

The other night dp and I fancied chips egg and beans so I used asda smart price chips (41p per frozen bag) used around 1/4 bag so say 10p, a tin of asda beans 35ish pence and 4 eggs fried (used free range they were £1-ish. So less than 1.50 but of course there's the fuel from using oven. Cheap and very tasty though.

2 cartons of Passata
2 tins Tomatoes
6 carrots
1 swede
2 pepper
2 onion
2 brocalli

cook all together till soft, blend together till smooth, divide into 4, freeze 3.

Ham hock from Butcher (about £2.50) cook and mix half meat with tomato sauce.

Put over pasta.

Cost per meal £1.50 and it gets veggies down the kids without them knowing it.

Portion 2

1 Asda Pizza base mix £0.59
Spread Tomato sauce over
Grated cheese
Rest of ham
Cook

Italian chicken soup
one onion, 2 carrots, tin chopped tomatos, parsley (dried), left over chicken or chicken from a few chicken thighs, 2 chicken stock cubes, pepper, few handfulls pasta.

Fill large pan with cold water, chuck in tin tomatoes, chopped carrots, onion, chicken (I usually cook chicken in oven on a tray then pick strips of it off the thighs and chuck em in) and add sprinkle parsley. Bring to the boil and then use a little of the hot liquid to dissolve the 2 stock cubes and add that. Then cover and cook of 1hr.
When done cook a little pasta (any sort) and put a handfull in the bottom of soup bowl.
Add some pepper to soup to taste and ladle over pasta in bowls.
This will make 4 big bowls or 8 small bowls of soup. It's very tasty and healthy too yum.

That should have been - cover and cook on LOW for 1hr. T love this soup cause you can just chuck it all in the pan and leave it. It has been passed to me by my italian sil, she is a very good cook, I LOVE ITALIAN FOOD!

Not sure if it comes in at £2.50 but is still cheap, quick and easy.

Creme Fraiche
Cheese
Pasta
Brocolli

Melt cheese into creme fraiche in bowl over boiling water (that pasta is cooking in)

Cook brocolli in another pan

mix it all together!

Last night for a change we added some steak sliced up into it (could use bacon etc) and it was lovely!

Tuna and sweetcorn pie

Tinned tuna
Tinned sweetcorn
Creme fraiche
Cheese
Potatoes
Parsley for sauce (optional)
Mustard for sauce (optional)
Pack of plain crisps (use salt and shake without the salt packet if worried about too much salt)

Boil potatoes. Put ceme fraiche in bowl over potatoes and add grated cheese, tsp english mustard and chopped parsley. Mix.

Drain tuna and put in bottom of casserole dish. Drain sweetcorn and layer over tuna. Pour over cheese sauce. Cover with mashed potatoes.

Crush crisps and scatter over top of potato.

Bake in oven until bubbling and golden.

Actually, not sure that this would come in under £2.50, but would be close and it is quick, easy and yummy.

Bacon and Onion Hotpot

Flour
Butter
Milk

Make a basic white sauce

Preheat oven to about 180c

Potatoes, Bacon and 1 onion.

Peel and thinly slice the potatoes, chop the bacon and slice the onion.

Layer the Potatoes, chopped bacon and onion in a casserole dish, starting with Potatoes, and finishing with them too.

Pour over sauce, cover and cook for 45-60 minutes (until potatoes are tender).

Serve

Can be bulked out with mushrooms/served with veg too - but equally filling on it's own

Baked Bean lasagne - can't remeber the recipe off hand - but do a search in the archives and it's on here.