Ideas for simple meals that don't cost too much

[MilkyWay]

Following on from the "I've cut my food bill in half"thread, and being a failed Sainsburys to You shopper today (spent too much and not got much to show), I need ideas for simple family meals that are quick to prepare and don't cost too much.

I'm facing New Year with a rather large overdraft and it's mostly down to our failure to keep our grocery bills in check so any ideas would be really welcome.

Sausage casserole, veggie soup, baked potatoes with cheese and homemade coleslaw, veggie curry and rice, spanish omelette, pizzas made with pitta bread

hiya, some good meals,

Er, we have a lot of stews etc... you can use a little bit of meat and pile in the pots and veg, if you don't use it all it's ok as you can reheat the next day (normally tastes better) Cornbeef hash is a good end of the month type of a meal. (if you save any gravy left you can use it the day after in a stew or vice versa) and chips with anything if you've not got many spuds as you seem to get more out of the spuds when chippin them. sausages with everything as well, if you get a pack of 20 for about 1.00 you can do loads of things like toad in the hole, sausage caserol, bangers & mash etc... and mince makes a good roast as well. caserols are good as well as you can spend 10 minutes preparing it then it cooks itself. Pasta is always good and cheap, feels you up as well, if you have a sauce, chuck it in with some pepers and any meats you may have, we had chicken and pork once (didn't have enought of one alone!)

I made a chilli the other night and chucked a lod of macaroni in it and it was gorgeous!

pasta, pesto and some fresh/frozen veg

quorn or lentil bolognaise

butterbean goulash - basically butter beans, mushroom and onion in a spicy tomato sauce

pitta bread, falafel and humous

pasta, canned tuna, tomato sauce

mashed potatoes, tinned salmon, peas

also cooking big batches of things then freezing/putting in fridge for a day or so probably works out cheaper than cooking a dinner each night iyswim

Thank you everyone for your ideas - I couldn't get back on last night as had to see to poorly dd. These are brilliant. Will print off and show to dh.