Cheap meal ideas please!

[hungryhippo90]

Hi all,
At the moment, I've not really got much money, but I'm intent that I'm going to put my all into losing some weight.

I have been to SW before, but cant really afford to rejoin because of the financial aspect,

Does anyone have any ideas for cheap meals I should try please?

I know how to make spaghetti bolognese free, chilli, chips and I love the frozen chicken tikka masala. Other than this I'm quite stuck for meal ideas.

Thank you all in advance!

I'm on a tight budget too so here are some that I do, that are SW friendly. You can do them in the oven or on the hob or in a slow cooker...

1. Butternut squash Pasta Sauce - £1.50 for a large butternut squash, plus 200ml of chicken stock and 200ml of unsweetened almond milk. About a fiver all in, I guess?

Boil the Butternut squash in the stock, with some herbs, salt and pepper and milk then whizz it up smooth. Makes a great base for a pasta sauce. You can add cheese if you have some for a healthy macaroni cheese, or add chunky veg or meat for perhaps? The good thing about this is it makes quite a few portions you can freeze for later.

1. Big batch cook offs of spaghetti bolognese or chilli con carne. You can use turkey mince which is cheaper if you need to, then its just passatta, beans and spices etc. Again, cook a big batch then freeze some portions.

1. Overnight oats for brekkie - I buy Aldi or Lidls fat free youghurt for 30p each, and a bag of their basic oats which is no more than a quid, and a punnet of blueberries if they are on offer. Mix 40g of oats with a handful of blackberries and one of the yoghurt. The oats will last you a month at least and I freeze the blueberries to make sure they last! Putin fridge at night, they're ready for morning.

1. Freeze everything! Anytime some veg is about to go off - chop it and freeze so you can chuck it in a stew or anything else you make for some extra goodness. Freeze bananas before they go off too - slice them, freeze them then whiz them up with a splash of milk for 'banana ice cream'.

1. Don't be afraid of frozen veg, it's fine and good and will save you time and money. One trick I do is to buy a bag of baby spinach - if it's been reduced so much the better - and whack it in the freezer. Once it's frozen I give it a good scrunch - still in the unopened packet - so it crumbles, then whenever I cook anything I just some in and stir it in. Peg the bag up and put the rest back in the freezer. Cooks in seconds, is easy, and adds speed and goodness to your food easily.

1. Lidls and Aldi are good for cheap basics like passata, chopped toms, kidney beans. Try lobbing butter beans in if they are cheaper.

Hope that helps.

Frozen fruit as well as the frozen veg- tesco do a value frozen fruit salad and rasperries etc

Vegetable Curry:
Fry chopped onion, then add chopped veg of your choice, tinned tomatoes, curry powder and veg stock.
Bring to boil, then simmer for 25 minutes.
Can add tinned lentils, chickpeas, etc, or serve with boiled eggs as P food.
Nice with rice.

Any soups with just veg check out butternut squash soup on SW website. When making spag Bol, chilli and anything like that add loads of beans and veg to bulk it out. That way you can freeze extra portions for lunches. I also add rice to stir frys.

Look up stuffed jacket potatoe recipes as they are just bacon cheese and veg that's quite cheap. Also bacon spag carbonara on SW website is cheap to make x