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

[Geoid]

I just had a roast chicken (not free range because I can't afford that, but it was freedom food), got plenty of leftovers and the carcass is in the pan as I type to make a lovely stock (I might use it for paprika chicken...)

 

I used half of the stock on paprika chicken, had some leftover so I am making leek and potato soup:

2 pints of chicken stock (free!)

2 leeks (£1)

2 potatoes (20p)

1 onion (20p)

 

Chop everything up and fry until softened, add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the veg is cooked, blend and serve. Serves about 4 people (35p per person).

[majorbloodnock]

Excellent choice; leek and potato is great.

 

Of course, anyone with a garden, pretty much however small, can grow a few bushes of chives, and they make a good alternative to leeks. OK, so you have to start being posh and call it Vichyssoise (and theoretically eat it chilled), but that's hardly a big hardship, especially since it'd bring the price down to about tenpence per person.

[Chickendoodle]

I recently discovered a good alternative to rice risotto - barley risotto. Basically made the same way but with pearl barley - takes longer but pretty cheap.

 

Last night I made a tomato and cheese one - fry off some garlic, add a tin of tomatoes, some fresh tomatoes if you have them, a pinch of chilli flakes, smoked paprika and a teaspoon of thyme plus a pinch of sugar to sweeten the toms. Add the pearl barley (about 80g each) and a ladleful of water and cook for 45 mins to an hour, adding more water when it is needed. When it is the texture you like (I like it with a bit of bite), take it off the heat and stir in some cubes of cheese of your choice - I had some mild stilton but feta would also be good.

 

It is also excellent made with stock and chopped beetroot or squash

[Lavenders_Blue]

I'm making a barl-otto tonight! I'm making mine with peas and chives, but I also really like beetroot and goats' cheese or feta with pearl barley. It seems to work well with more earthy flavours like beetroot.

[Space Chick]

I use tons of pearl barley Great cheap and hearty ingredient

[Willow]

Egg fried rice

 

- cooked and cooled rice

- eggs (actually fails the cheap test as my cost per egg is shockingly high )

- peas

- tin sweetcorn

- spring onions

- leftover pork shoulder joint but could be left over ham of chicken

- soy sauce

- little ground nut oil

 

I also added a pack of dried shrimp I'd picked up in the chinese supermarket about £1.40 I think

 

Very tasty and quick to do.

[Cinnamon]

Patricia, do you go to See Woo, just off Rose Kiln Lane in Reading?

We went today for the first time & found it great fun ........ got heaps of dried seaweed crisps, & managed NOT to buy the bags of 'frozen chicken paws'

[redhotchick]

.....& managed NOT to buy the bags of 'frozen chicken paws'

How did you manage to resist!

[sage]

2 large ham hocks from butchers £1, lentils £1, carrot and onion 50p, water free = very yummy soup

12 portions of soup in the freezer

 

Sage

[majorbloodnock]

Don't forget to factor in the ingredients for the loaf to go with it! You can't have lentil and bacon soup without loads of fresh crusty bread to dunk in it, and you're so far under budget already you can afford lashings of butter on it too.