Cheap meals

Faith

Threads merged.

nyeb2007

jamiecoins wrote: »

hi no problems .
i buy the mince in a supermarket dnt no if im allowed name it
but u can get the 700g pack of mince meat for 2.85
buy sthe supermarkets own brand lasagne sheets 50 cent all taste the same
pasta sauce and lasagne white sauce .market brands cost 4.50 for both

fry the mince in the pan for 8-10 mins lightly salt remove any excess fat refry for another min and add the tomato puree sauce

once done add a layer of mince to ur dish then place ur pasta sheets add ur white sauce add cheese also repeat the procces as many times as u want then the last base add loadsof cheese in the oven 30-40 mins at 200.degrees

To be perfectly honest €4.50 for the 2 sauces is maddness - you could make your bolognaise sauce for the price of a tin of tomotoes and puree and add your herbs and spices for waaaay less than a €1, same goes for your basic white or cheese sauce both sauces for way less than your €4.50

You should give it a try

irish_goat

Always keep a bag of frozen peas in your freezer as they are ridiculously easy to add to a variety of meals, or to just to serve on the side of your plate and they're cheap. Easiest way, I find, to get one of your five a day. Frozen sweetcorn is good too, in fact, any frozen veg is handy.

A bag of porridge oats will cost less than a box of cereal and last about 4 times as long and if you're really in a rush you can chug down uncooked oats with a glass of milk. They're healthy too.

Buy bags of beans(butter, kidney, pinto, whatever), they can go into curries, chilli, casseroles and loads of other meals and they cost barely anything plus they're really good for you. Only downside is remembering to pre-soak them.

Here's an interesting wee article about cheap and healthy foods for under $1 which applies in Ireland too. www.divinecaroline.com/article/22107/52070/print

LimeFruitGum

It works out cheaper to make your own sauces than buying jars.

I never buy chicken fillets now unless there's a very good deal. I can pick up a good free range chicken for 5-6 euro and I can make it go a long way with stock for soups, salads, sandwiches.

At the same time, don't skimp so much that you end up malnourished on poor quality food. Once you have some basics like frozen peas, spinach, sweetcorn, tinned tomatoes and a selection of herbs, you can have some good nutritious variety.

hootietootie

With the lasagne I always grate 3 carrots into the homemade tomato sauce as well, bulks it out great, we get 2 days dinner out of one, me, himself and our 6 year old

Amhran Nua

Bit of a thread necro here but I didn't want to start a new one - filling snacks for under a euro:

Pea soup: take a 58 cent can of Dunnes green peas, chop half an onion in and fry it with a couple of thin slices of butter and half a chicken stock cube. Serve when mushy but not completely paste-like with a couple of slices of brown bread and you're done.

Single sausage hot dogs: Take three single sausages and fry them normally, along with half a chopped onion, put them on three slices of white bread with ketchup and mustard, fold over the bread and done.

Also another handy tip, if you don't want to splash out for the expensive rashers, you can give cheapo ones a real zing by rubbing pork spices (or whatever spices or herbs) on them, just a tiny amount as they are usually salty enough already.

nesbitt

unkel wrote: »

That really is the most important thing!

With careful planning, I now spend less than half of what I used to spend on food for my family of 5, but we eat much nicer and healthier meals and we throw out a lot less food.

It has to be said though, we do spend more time planning, shopping and cooking. But a lot of this can be converted into quality time too. I made carrot / walnut / raisin muffins today with the help of my 4 year old daughter and she loved it!

+1

I feed a family of four on a fraction of what friends/relatives with similar family size spend. I eat better in my view and do not throw out food because I meal plan each week and make a shopping list. I limit the junk in the trolley and will plan to shop without kids in tow.... I bake too so give the kids lovely treats very inexpensively.

I have 'chipper' night once a fortnight as a treat, and even then I will buy 2 fresh cod and chips and share it out between us, served with my own veg etc. I know folks who eat alot of take-away in my view and have seen kids eating half of what was bought and the rest put in the bin....

It is a mindset you develop and then in turn gain experience on using leftovers, storage of food incl sell bys and use bys etc, cooking in quantity to save money for example making a beef goulash and freezing half.

nesbitt

irish_goat wrote: »

Always keep a bag of frozen peas in your freezer as they are ridiculously easy to add to a variety of meals, or to just to serve on the side of your plate and they're cheap. Easiest way, I find, to get one of your five a day. Frozen sweetcorn is good too, in fact, any frozen veg is handy.

A bag of porridge oats will cost less than a box of cereal and last about 4 times as long and if you're really in a rush you can chug down uncooked oats with a glass of milk. They're healthy too.

Buy bags of beans(butter, kidney, pinto, whatever), they can go into curries, chilli, casseroles and loads of other meals and they cost barely anything plus they're really good for you. Only downside is remembering to pre-soak them.

Here's an interesting wee article about cheap and healthy foods for under $1 which applies in Ireland too. www.divinecaroline.com/article/22107/52070/print

+++1 on frozen veg. I have Lidl's organic frozen veg range very tasty and Aldi cauliflower and brocolli grand too. I buy all sorts of veg this way incl green beans and petis pois. On my budget I can serve a lot of veg at dinner by using frozen. Shop around the brands though as some frozen stuff is tasteless whilst other brands are in my view as good and tasty as 'fresh'.

Honey-ec

If you buy the 3 packs of peppers and find that you're always left with one that ends up in the bin, chop it and freeze it. They can be chucked into stir-fries, casseroles etc. straight from the freezer.

Same goes for bread - if you've heels or a slice or two going hard at the end of a pan, blitz them into breadcrumbs and freeze.

Leftover mash can be used to make potato cakes, gnocchi etc. Root veg can go into bubble & squeak. If you've single (raw) sausages or rashers left over after doing a breakfast, freeze them; you'll soon have enough to make a full meal with.

I can't stress enough the importance of using a list when shopping, and never doing it when you're hungry.

We have three dogs too, so thankfully very little gets thrown in the bin round our way!

chickenbutt

cheap/studenty carbonara: spaghetti with cooked bacon bits and creme fraiche, om nom nom!

nesbitt

chickenbutt wrote: »

cheap/studenty carbonara: spaghetti with cooked bacon bits and creme fraiche, om nom nom!

+1

I regularly cook this as family meal. May I recommend Lidl Creme Fraiche with a dash of mustard and black pepper. Add also finely chopped onion and mushrooms to the bacon when frying. I serve this with garlic baguette again courtesy of Lidl... Plates cleared, crumbs left...:)

Amhran Nua

nesbitt wrote: »

cooking in quantity to save money for example making a beef goulash and freezing half.

Oh yeah, it's great shopping for special offers then buying lots of them when cheap.

LimeFruitGum

Here's a good, handy cheap meal from cupboard basics.

1x tin chopped tomatoes or dollop of passata
1x portion of pasta
2 x sausages (highest meat content & quality you can afford, works very well with the tomato)
sprinkle of basil or pepper to season
1 small can of kidney beans (optional, but kidney beans are a cheap source of fibre and bulks out the dish easily. Could use puy lentils for this as well)

Chop sausages and brown them first. Add the tomato, kidney beans and basil/herb/pepper seasoning. Let that simmer (alternatively, leave the sausage, bean & tomato mix in the fridge overnight if you want extra flavour) for about 20 mins. in the meantime, get your pasta going and then put it all together later.

Stheno

Once a month I bulk cook, my local butcher does 2lbs of mince and 2 of stewing beef for €10

That gets me eight to ten portions of stew which the OH's kids love, six portions of spag bol, and six of lasagne.

Excluding the four portions of stew the kids eat, it leaves us with min. 16 dinners for the two of us.

We often do a roast when his kids are over and the leftovers from that are usually turned into sandwiches and stock as well.

edit, I also cook from scratch, the OH knows this and recently after making dinner for his kids and I, he gave his son a tin of bisto, with the announcement that he might be "killed" for having instant gravy in the house Always find it cheaper and you can adapt and learn as you go!