Meal ideas that are cheap to make?

Question

We are really struggling with money at the moment.

We are trying to find ideas of meals to make that are cheap.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

hah I just asked this question as well!! My husband and I eat macaroni and cheese (like kraft, from a box) and mix in peas. We also eat tuna helper a lot. Grilled cheese with tomato soup is good for cold nights. I know just what you're going through. It is hard to find good food for cheap  

Answer 2

Raid your cupboards, do you have flour, milk and marge?

I have a pizza recipe that my mum passed down to me its quite old but it is sooo filling!

To make the base you need 4oz Self raising flour 3/4 oz of Marge and a pinch of salt. Mix those all together til it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add enough milk to mix it all together making a dough like substance, it needs to be together enough for you to roll it out.

It then sits in the bottom of your frying pan you can add a little bit of oil but if you have a non stick pan its not necessary you then chuck any topping you like on while it is in the pan I generally use tomatoe paste for the base then ham mushroom and planty of cheese! Then turn your grill on and put the frying pan under it to top it all off make sure the handle pokes out!

Enjoy! Its been a firm family favourite in my house since I was a kid and as you can add anything you like most people will eat it.

Answer 3

This is your answer.

Cheap, filling and versatile.;

Bread Fritters;

Go to the bakery section of the store where you normally buy bread.

Ask the baker for an "unbaked" loaf of bread.

He must put exactly the same amount of dough he would have used to bake a bread with in to a plastic bag for you, and it would cost no more than a loaf of bread.

Take that home and in a pot warm some cooking oil to about half the depth of the pot. (Smaller pots take less oil than bigger ones do)...

The oil temperature should be medium hot. (About half the heat that the stove plate will go)

Now cut from the unbaked dough a slice about the size of your palm, and with a little water on your fingers (to prevent the dough from sticking to your hand), stretch out the dough in all directions until it is about the size of your whole hand including the fingers. That brings the cutting of dough to about twice the size it was when you cut it....

Now with care, drop the stretched out dough in to the hot oil.

It would rise almost instantly.

Fry it in the oil until it is golden brown all over, taking care to turn it over occasionally.

It would be puffy and crisp when done.

With a large ladle or sieve, scoop out the bread fritter and place on an absorbent kitchen towel to rid it of most of the oil still on it.

Repeat this process until all the dough is done.

These bread fritters are extremely filling, and can be cut open and filled with almost anything from grated cheese to minced meat to cold processed meat, syrup or jam.

Try it, you will probably have some left over for two or three days, which you can take to work if you like....

Bread fritters can be frozen and warmed up again if you have made too much, but the dough cannot, so rather make the whole lot and freeze what is left over for another day. If you decide to freeze them, do so without a filling. Fillings should always be made fresh.

Finger snack variety;

By making the bread dough cutting about half the size when cutting off the raw dough from the batch, you can make smaller sized bread fritters and fill them with fancy foods like tuna mince or savory beef mince for buffet snack parties

By the way;

Anyone who gives me a thumbs down on this one is either a fool, or is trying to earn 10 points for him self because this is a well tested recipe that happens to be very popular in my counrty.

Answer 4

I'm in the same situation.  Some basic ideas would be to use a smaller amount of more expensive foods like your meat and stretch it out by making it into a casserole with lots of vegetables. Also buy the cheaper cuts of meat.  The other day I made a sausage casserole with peppers, onion, garlic, carrots etc a stock cube and water and a tin of chopped tomatoes and bulked it out with a tin of beans and threw in some no soak lentils.  There is only me and my husband but so far it has fed us for 3 days.

Another good idea is tuna pasta bake.  Make up a load of pasta, cook a tin of tomatoes with onion and garlic and dried herbs, add a tin or two of tuna and a tin or two of sweetcorn and any other veg you like or want to use and then put in a baking tin and cover with a bit of cheese and if you have any bread going stale whizz it into breadcrumbs in your food processor and sprinkle on top.  

Casseroles made with cheaper cuts of meat like stewing steak, sausages etc you can't go wrong with if you bulk it out.  I'm not sure if you are in the UK but I buy loads of tins of Tesco value sweetcorn, kidney beans and chopped tomatoes - they are all about 15p a tin.  I use these to bulk out loads of things.  Also buy lots of lentils which do not need to be pre-soaked and chuck them into any casseroles you are making.  Frozen peas are great too for adding to these.

You could go vegetarian a couple of nights a week either buying tinned beans such as cannellini or black eyed beans.  Buying them dried is cheaper but you have to soak them overnight then cook them an hour or two.  These are great made into curries or chilli's.  You just need curry powder or chilli powder and more tinned tomatoes as well as your basic onions and garlic.  These are all very nutritional as well as cheap.

Chilli con Carne and Bolognese sauce is pretty cheap as mince is cheap and again you can bulk it out with peppers, mushrooms, carrots - anything really. Good Luck.

Answer 5

Pasta dishes. There are loads of these.

Shepherds pie.

Cheap cuts of meat stewed well. (Very tasty actually).

Answer 6

Ham and cheese pasta bake

Quick, easy and cheep

Answer 7

cheap foods are:

potatoes (baked with butter/garlic/cheese/beans)

pasta (add sauce/passant/tinned tomatoes, frozen veggies)

ramen noodles are only 12p a pack and can make a good meal 1 day a week (stir fry noodles with veggies)

tortilla wraps with fillings like beans, veggies etc £1 for 10 wraps

Frozen vegetables are good and cheap, like a 1kg bag of brocolli, cauliflour, green runner beans, brussel sprouts, sweeetcorn, cabbage are £1 each

Tinned food is also good, like 5 large tins of chopped carrots £1

Tinned beans like pinto are 20p each.  also chickpeas, black eye beans, kidney beans.  Use for fillings, curries.

Oxo/kknor cubes are good for adding flavour on the cheap 12 for 80p (use only 1 cube per 2 people meal)

Get puff pastry than you can roll out quite thin and put fillings in, £1

Soup is cheap tinned, or make you own.  I microwave mushrooms, carrots, adzuki beans, chopped onions, then add 1/2 an oxo cube and boiling water, and squirt of chilli sauce. Yummy and low cal and filling

You want to eat more vegetables to fill you up.  Its healthier and cheaper!

Answer 8

Pork is the cheapest cut of meat so we tend to be eating it a lot at the moment.

~Roasted belly pork with roast potato's and home grown veg

~Sausages with the skin removed and rolled into little balls then rolled in chili powder and then fried with onions, peppers and mushrooms then added to a tomato sauce with pasta.

~Sausages, mashed potato and green beans

~Pork in a spicy tomato sauce with creamy garlic tagliatelle

If you have leftovers, freeze them in small containers. You will then have a meal ready for you when your running late one day and don't fancy cooking a big meal.

Try to find meal deals like buy one get one free offers. Frozen food's can be cheap also.

~Burgers, waffles and beans

~Breaded fish and chips

Hope this helps!

Lulabelle x*x

Answer 9

all you need to do is buy any assorted reduced vegetables from your supermarket, throw in some cheap or reduced cuts of meat, and stew it for a while. jobs a good 'un.

Answer 10

spaghetti Bolognase is fairly cheap, pasta dishes even if u go to ur supermarket have a look around u will get a few good offers