Cheap eats please- I have a full storecupboard but the ideas cupboard is empty!

[notamumyetbutoneday]

Hi All

As we are skint until payday (in 10 days time) I need some meal ideas to keep us going until then!

I have a full storecupboard with all the usuals- rice, pasta, couscous, lentils, chickpeas, beans, tinned toms, chorizo, etc etc but am totally lacking in inspiration! all the meal ideas i see in magazines seem to use expensive things eg meat and fish.

i would love some ideas please using the stuff we already have.

thanks

Baked bean chilli I can see in there.

You can make a delish pasta sauce from the toms and chorizo.

Looks like my cupboard except you have chorizo and chickpeas.

Chorizo and chickpea soup is very popular here.

Cut up chorizo and sweat with some cut up onion and garlic if you like. Add tinned toms and passata. Add cooked or tinned chickpeas. Eat with loads of bread.

Lentil curry with rice and make your own chapattis (I did this last night and they worked!)

thanks guys- these are really helpful. hadnt thought of putting the chorizo in a tomato pasta sauce but I can see that would work.

benny and joon- do you have a recipe for the lentil curry and chaptis, please? I like the idea of lentil curry but worried it might be a bit dull?

If you have eggs in the fridge and frozen spinach in the freezer you could have chorizo frittata.

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oh thats good nine dragons. im never too sure exactly what a frittata is- is that the same as an omelette?

Lentil curry with the chick peas, toms and any fresh or frozen veg you have.

Or veggie chilli - substitute lentils for mince.

Dps fav....you nee onion, pepper, tomatos, chorizo, egg and cheese.

Fry chorizo in a pan, remove. Fry onion and peppers (oh and a bit of garlic) add tomatos. when cooked add chorizo back in. Stir togther, bung in oven proof dish, make hollows and crack eggs into dips. Cover in cheese. Bake til eggs cooked and cheese melted. Serve with salad/crusty bread.

It's basically a big omlette.

Chop up the chorizo and fry in an ovenproof pot, chuck in the spinach and whatever else you have hanging around (sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms or whatever), whisk about 9-10 eggs in a bowl with a slug of milk, pour over the stuff in the pot, cook on the hob until all but about the top centimetre are done, and then put it in the oven to finish the top.

That makes a big one - it will do me, DH and DD (16m) for dinner and for lunch the next day.

Rainbow rice - rice, cooked in chicken stock, with diced carrot, sweetcorn, frozen peas etc. Can be served with strips of marinated grilled chicken if you've got that, or stir through some chopped ham.

Do you have potatoes? Fish cakes are our last-day-before-the-supermarket staple.

Mash your spuds, add a block of chopped up frozen spinach and two small tins of tuna. Form into patties, dip in egg then breadcrumbs, shallow fry.

With the chorizo you could do a nice frittata - use some potatoes and red pepper/spring onions or whatever is around in it too.

I did a nice pasta sauce the other day with onion, grated carrot, garlic, tin of tomatoes bit of veg stock and some dried herbs - v cheap.

You could get some chicken thighs and make a spicy marinade (just whatever spice you have and a bit of oil/honey/soy) and serve with some cous cous with raisins/chopped apricots/spring onions etc.

Why can I think of ideas for other peoples meal planners but not my own!

these are really good ideas, thank you- will be doing my meal plan for the next ten days today so will have plenty of ideas now!