Used Omlet outdoor rabbit run Width 2.2m Height 2.05m Length 3.1m vgc.

[majorbloodnock]

Well, I suggested it in this thread, so here it is.

 

You are all invited to post recipes here that fight back against processed "convenience" foods and/or suspiciously cheap "value" products. The aim is twofold; to demonstrate that first class nutritionally balanced food you can trust doesn't need to be hard work or expensive, and to provide practical examples we can all use. Any recipes posted here should meet at least one of the following criteria:

 

• Good food on the cheap. These recipes should cost the equivalent of feeding a family of four for £3.00 or less. Bonus points for undercutting that price significantly.
  
• Good food quickly. These recipes should take 20 minutes or less to cook from start to finish, preferably inclusive of putting water on to boil and so on, although leeway can be allowed in that area.
  
• Good food, minimum effort. These recipes should take no more than about 10 minutes of active effort. Any slow cooker, stew or casserole recipes may well qualify here, since you can go do something else whilst a pot slowly simmers. If it needs watching, that time needs to be taken into account.

 

In all cases, recipes should be made up from first principles (raw, fresh ingredients), although as a nod towards modern lifestyles commonly accepted staples like packs of frozen veg, tins of tomatoes and tins of baked beans can be included. Any grey areas can be discussed, and majority opinion wins.

 

There. The gauntlet has been laid down. I look forward to your ideas.

[Willow]

One of our favourites when we were newly married - Sardines and Rice and we still make from choice. This is from memory so may need to adjust slightly as you go. I used Tesco.com for prices (the irony is not lost on me )

 

Ingredients

 

2 Onions (20p - I buy sacks onions for £2 at tesco) 20p

1 garlic clove (pk 3 costs 90p, estimate 5p 5p

1 tbsp olive oil (I like Filippo £5.98/ltr) 15p

2 tins sardines in tomato sauce (2 x 42p) 84p

1 tin tomatoes (current price for Napolina in Tesco is 61p, cheapest 30p) 75p

250g basmati rice (currently £7 for 5kg so 35p) 35p

 

Instructions

1. Cook rice according to instructions

2. Whilst rice is cooking saute onions, add crushed garlic

3. Add tin tomatoes to onions and bring to a simmer

4. Mash up sardines roughly and add to pan, mix well

5. Add rice when cooked and mix well. Warm through and serve

 

Total £2.34 not using cheapest brands but saving by buying in bulk

 

I think the instructions are right, I'll have to make it again soon to make sure

[chickencam]

We were discussing this last night after a very frugal supermarket shop, we spent £66 for 4 of us for the week. We bought shin of beef for at least 2 days worth of casseroles over the weekend and a pack of 10 good sausages all for £10. We didn't go without either we had a few bottles of beer at £1 each on offer, and we had cat food and cat litter neither of which are cheap. There are lots of good deals on veg at the moment too.

[Cinnamon]

I am trying really hard to make the most of leftovers at the moment, & have found these pasta sauces really good for that.

 

PUTTANESCA OR ARRABIATTA SAUCE

Fry an onion

Add a little garlic

For Puttanesca Add a couple of chopped anchovies (use the rest on a pizza later in the week)

For Arrabiatta add a little chilli

Then add a tin of chopped tomatoes

For Puttanesca add a few black olives & some capers (again,use leftovers on Pizza)

For Arabiatta add a couple of handfuls of Spinach. (leftovers for salad or the hens!)

Season to taste & splosh in some wine if you like.

Use to dress any pasta you have.

 

Both are simple,cheap & very tasty. You can also add any other bits you have lurking - celery,mushrooms,courgette etc.

[Willow]

Blew my budget of £3 as comes in at £3.95 but feeds 5-6 or 4 with leftovers for packed lunch. I always stock up on tuna when it is on offer

 

Ingredients

 

225g dried pasta shells (cost between £1-2 kg so 25 - 50p)

2 tins tuna (preferably in water or brine) £4.00 for 4 tins John west in Tesco at moment

1 small tin sweetcorn 50p

3-4 tbsp capers 40p

5-6 chopped spring onions 35p

6-8 tbsp mayonnaise Helmans £2 for 600g so 20p worth

 

Instructions

 

Cook pasta according to instructions on packet but it is probably bring pan of water to the boil, put in pasta and cook for 10 minutes.

Whilst pasta is cooking chop spring onions and place in large bowl together with drained tuna, drained sweetcorn and capers.

Drain pasta and rinse well with cold water, drain well

Put pasta in bowl and add mayonnaise.

Stir well

If possible chill before serving

[Looney]

This is a what-have-we-got-in-the-cupboard dinner favourite.

 

Open large tin of pilchards.

Remove skin and scales ( ), leave the bones. (Purely personal preference!)

Mash up.

Toast one side of bread under grill. (Lightly toast the other if you can be bothered)

Spread pilchard mash on untoasted/lightly toasted side.

Stick back under grill til hot but before the edges are burnt

 

Serve with whatever salad is lurking in the fridge. Or tomato ketchup. And I love a bit of vinegar sprinkled on top.

 

(By the way I have written the instructions as a bit of a joke as I realise that everyone knows how to make pilchards on toast! )

[Cinnamon]

Cheese, Potato & Onion Pie

 

Boil & Mash up a heap of potatoes.

Mix in some cheddar,or whatever cheese you have.

Layer in a dish with gently sautéed Onion, then top with a layer of sliced tomatoes.

Sprinkle more cheddar on top of these & maybe a splash of Worcestershire Sauce.

Bake in the oven until its golden & bubbly on top.

 

You can also add layers of any veggies you have in the fridge - it tastes great with anything,& is a real comfort food dish.

[Lavenders_Blue]

Veggie Lentil Bolognese

 

This won't fall into the 20mins category, but is not very time consuming and is yummy!

 

1 medium onion

1 clove garlic

2 carrots

1 red pepper/2 sticks celery/small courgette (depending on season or what you have in the house)

4 oz red lentils

Tin of tomatoes

Squeeze tomato puree

3/4 pint veg stock (can add a splash of red wine if you have any lying around)

1 tsp dried oregano

seasoning

Spaghetti

 

The original recipe instructs you to chop the onion and pepper/celery/courgette finely and grate the carrot. I tend to bung all these 3 ingredients in the food processor and blitz until finely chopped (thus helping you in your quest to achieve the 20 minute meal goal). Fry the above ingredients in a splosh of oil until softened. Add all the other ingredients, apart from the spaghetti, pop a lid on the pan and simmer gently for 15 mins. At this point, put the spaghetti on to cook, by the time it is ready the bolognese will be fully cooked and should be quite thick but not too dry. You will probably need to stir it a few times during cooking so it doesn't stick to the pan. Serve with parmesan if you like (we use Sainsbury's basic fake parmesan as it's veggie, which also helps towards the budget).

[Lavenders_Blue]

Another good recipe - Madhur Jaffrey's Tex-Mex Vegetarian Chilli (my version of). This should more or less reach the time target as I make it in the slow cooker. It ought to come in under the budget but does have quite a few herbs/spices so might be a bit tight.

 

1 medium onion -- finely chopped

3 cloves garlic -- finely chopped

1 green pepper -- seeds removed & finely chopped

1 green chilli pepper, deseeded and finely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled sage

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

6 1/2oz green lentils -- picked over and washed

Small tin red kidney beans

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

1/2 - 1teaspoons salt (add to taste)

 

Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker with a pint of water and cook until ready to eat! Thicken the chilli with cornflour if needed. Serve with rice or jacket potatoes if you like.

[majorbloodnock]

Ready for the snow, here's a real comfort food recipe; bacon and sage suet roll.

 

Ingredients:

• Half a pound of plain flour
  
• Half a tsp baking powder
  
• Half a tsp salt
  
• Between 3 and 4 oz suet
  
• A couple of onions, chopped
  
• Preferably 6 bacon rashers, rinded, but bacon pieces chopped up fairly small work well too, and you could go down to 4 rashers if budget demands.
  
• Half a tsp dried sage

 

What to do:

1. Chuck the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and mix together. Some recipes suggest sifting together; you can if you want.
   
2. Mix in the suet, then bind with some water to make a dough
   
3. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, then cover it with the chopped onions, bacon and sage. Leave a margin clear around the edge.
   
4. Dampen the edges you've left clear, then roll the whole lot up like a swiss roll, then either tie up in a cloth and boil for about 2 hours or wrap up in greaseproof paper and steam for about 3.

 

Serve with the usual spuds, veg and gravy. When I did the totting up, I reckoned it'd cost around £2.50 for the roll using Riverford organic bacon pieces, so definitely not substandard meat by any stretch. Add in the gravy and veg, and this should come in comfortably under the £3.00 for four people. If you can grow some sage in a window box, that'd bring the cost down further, and obviously ditto for anyone with a garden/allotment who can grow their own onions. I haven't tried it, but it's highly likely this recipe could also be used to finish off Christmas ham leftovers, although you'd probably want to up the quantity just a tad.

 

I also reckon that after a bit of practice it should be possible to do this in about 10 minutes active effort, although more likely 15 mins the first time or two. Moreover, if you're steaming the roll, it should be pretty straightforward to cook the veg in with it during the last few minutes, thereby avoiding using too many gas rings.

[soapdragon]

Tonight I used 500g of pork mince (reduced from £4.20 to £1.89) mixed with a chopped apple, 1 chopped onion and half a beaten egg. This made 5 burgers with not a mane or tail in sight - served with home made six seeded rolls and some salady bits.

 

We are having leg of lamb for this weeks roast (again, reduced consideraby )and I will mince up the remainder with the Kenwood attachment and mix it with mashed potato and fry the 'resulting rissoles' for supper on Monday just adding a few veg and the rest of the lamby gravy. Hoping this will offset the bag of now liquid rocket that I found at the back of the 'fridge this afternoon

 

Another Franklin favourite is chicken nuggets (can I post those words here?? ) coated with breadcrumbs made from the ends of our home made bread blitzed in the Magimix and mixed with grated parmesan and some herbs. I do use chicken breast but 1 seems to go a long way!

[The Dogmother]

I have a recipe somewhere for my own Kentucky type coating for chicken, will have to loo it out. In fact it may just in in the something nice section.

[patsylabrador]

I have been experimenting with my rice cooker. ES lived/worked in Japan for a year and part of his wages were bowls of rice from the rice cooker. I bought one, because I was a rubbish rice cook.

 

You can gently fry onions etc, toss in rice, add water, stock or whatever and leave to it's own devices just adding basket of vegetables.

I can cook flavoured, beautiful rice and steam veggies over it. A tasty, filling, cheap and quick meal.

Can also steam meat or fish but haven't tried that yet.

[counturchickens]

Tastes better than you might think:

Tin of tuna, tin of beans, tin of tomatoes, Boil some pasta, meanwhile heat tuna, toms and beans. Mix together! If you want to be really posh put some cheese on top when serving!

[The Dogmother]

This reminds me of student recipes a friend of mine runs courses teaching pre-uni youngsters to cook; it's surprising how few know even the basics.

[majorbloodnock]

Let's not forget beans on toast with a fried egg on top. Very nutritious, low in fat despite the frying (most of the oil runs off) and dirt cheap. I won't bother with list of ingredients or instructions....

[Lavenders_Blue]

Good post Major, that's one of my favourite lunchtime meals

[The Dogmother]

I often have a variation when I get back from the gym... toasted homemade bread, hummus and poached egg. Delish!

[Lavenders_Blue]

Ooh I've not tried hummus topped with a poached egg before, I will definitely give that a whirl!

[The Dogmother]

It's addictive!

[Purplemaniacs]

Let's not forget beans on toast with a fried egg on top. Very nutritious, low in fat despite the frying (most of the oil runs off) and dirt cheap. I won't bother with list of ingredients or instructions....

When I am on my own I often have beans on toast not tried it with an egg on top but I will try that next time

 

I often have a variation when I get back from the gym... toasted homemade bread, hummus and poached egg. Delish!

 

I might give this a try too

 

I like toast, marmite and poached egg on top yum, yum just need the girls to lay some eggs again

 

Chrissie

[Lavenders_Blue]

 

I like toast, marmite and poached egg on top yum, yum just need the girls to lay some eggs again

 

Chrissie

 

That's another favourite here too. I think an emerging theme on this thread is that we all like eggs! However with all the money we spend on our girls, can we honestly say that our eggy meals would come in under the £3 budget?!

[SylvisMum]

I do a chicken and rice thingy that can only take 30 mins, uses very little or as much chicken as you want, can be done with raw or cooked chicken, and in one pot only. I have also done it to disguise a couple of pork chops cut into cubes as my family turn their nose up at pork. Ingredients are onion, chicken, rice, stock and whatever other vegetables you have handy. I always use free range chicken but as I say, you don't need much. It's also a good way of using up the stalks of broccoli grated or chopped up, which personally is my favourite bit of the broccoli you buy in the supermarket.

 

Also good as a side or veggy dish without chicken, maybe with pulses.

 

Also we have eggy pasta, very filling and you can put whatever else you have with it and a sprinkle of grated cheese on top.

 

I also have a Mary Berry recipe for stuffed courgettes which only take 30 mins, going to try that one out in the summer.

[Space Chick]

 

I like toast, marmite and poached egg on top yum, yum just need the girls to lay some eggs again

 

Chrissie

 

That's another favourite here too. I think an emerging theme on this thread is that we all like eggs! However with all the money we spend on our girls, can we honestly say that our eggy meals would come in under the £3 budget?!

 

 

That is sooooooooo true!

 

Here is one of my favourites, it may come just over budget and is slightly over on time though

 

Poach 2 salmon fillets and some broccoli (or cauliflower florets) for about 10 mins, whilst they are poaching make a white sauce with butter, flour, bit of seasoning, milk (if you have some white wine hanging around, you can chuck some in too). Take some stale bread, and make breadcrumbs, mix with some grated cheddar. Pre heat oven to 200/400/gas mark 6. In a dish, chop the salmon fillets and arrange the broccoli around it. Pour over the sauce and then top with the breadcrumb/cheese topping. Bake for 25mins.

 

When I make it, it feeds the two of us, with half left over which I freeze, so will feed a family of 4. I tend to serve it with some sweet potato chips or some carrots and peas.

 

It is a good way to use left over cauli or broccoli that you had for another dinner (I know when I buy a whole cauliflower I find I only need to use half for a dinner and always have half left, some with a big thing of broccoli) , and a great way to use stale bread and left over cheese, so I still maintain its a frugal meal

[soapdragon]

We have just had soup for lunch....... I fried off 2 onions and threw in a pepper that was hanging around and near its sell by date. Added lentils and a couple of tins of tomatoes, seasoning and some stock. This simmered until the lentils were cooKed and I topped up with plain water (you can vary the thicknessthis way.) I chopped some basil (usually have a couple of herbs in pots on the windowsill) and bobs your uncle! (Actually, I do have an Uncle Bob!!)

 

You could liquidize this or just some of it depending on the consistency that you like but it made loads and will be great for lunch tomorrow and some over to freeze. Served with homemade six seed brown bread! Not sure of the cost, I'm afraid, but I buy lentils in big bags from the Asian section in the supermarket - MUCH cheaper than the small packets in the wholefood section!