Cheap meals to get me through the next week or two

watna

I've just come back from holidays. Unfortunately I'm being paid hourly at the moment so didn't get paid for the days I had off. I was also sick for two days last week making my pay extremely puny (we get paid fortnightly in NZ). I have a very low amount of money to get me through the nexg week or two. I'm going to do our fortnightly shop tomorrow and am looking for suggestions for cheap recipes that'll help me feed us properly for the next week or two.

Any ideas for meals that are cheap and you can make in bulk but doesn't taste too studenty? I have a few things up my sleeve but I love my cooking and buying the best ingredients so won't enjoy being poor for a few weeks!

Honey-ec

Mince is your only man when times are a bit lean - chilli, lasagne, cottage pie, tater-tot pie, burrito pie.. all of which are very economical to make and have the added advantage of being even nicer the next day.

Omelettes are also a good option, all you need is eggs and maybe an onion and a potato.

Also, cuts of chicken such as thighs and drumsticks are far, far cheaper than fillets and are fantastic slow-cooked in dishes such as coq-au-vin.

Minder

Falafels are a good veggie option if you can get them ready-made. Eat with salad in flat bread with humous and a hot sauce.

Penne pasta bake with mozzerella - make a red sauce with tomatoes, garlic and basil. Cook penne and dress with the sauce. Dot with torn pieces of mozzerella and grated parmaesan - bake until golden.

What store cupboard and freezer ingredients do you have?

If you have rice, an onion and some frozen peas - buy a piece of rump steak and a jar of chinese curry concentrate for a chinese beef curry.

Buy a whole chicken and butcher it - legs and wings for one meal, breasts for a second meal and make a stock from the carcass - a risotto maybe - thats three dinners from one bird.

As meats go, pork is probably cheapest (maybe lamb in NZ). Cheap cuts like belly of pork make a delicious meal when slow roasted - and leftovers can be stir fried with rice and a few frozen prawns for a Nasi Goreng.

Quiche is a good cheap option - traditional quiche lorraine with bacon and eggs.

Buy neck of lamb for an Irish stew or a Lancashire Hotpot.

Linguine with tuna and a lemon sauce - tinned tuna, cooked pasta, a bit of chilli and some chopped parsley - dress with equal parts of lemon juice and olive oil.

Oxtail braised with spanish paprika, garlic, tomatoes and red wine. Cook for a couple of hours and serve with chips. Lemme know if you want a full recipe.

olaola

Check out this website (just found it on another thread here)
http://www.lidltreats.com/

P. Breathnach

I find that the price of vegetables makes cheap eating very difficult!

I can buy lamb shanks for about a euro each. Braise them on a bed of vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, parsnip, potatoes, whatever) with whatever herbs take your fancy.

Some supermarkets are very good about getting rid of stock by slashing the price as it approaches sell-by date. If you can shop on several days in the week, you should score some bargains.

Superquinn will give you a whole salmon for €9.99. That could keep you going for two or three meals.

eefy

Hi,
I've lurked around here for a while and rarely posted anything at all,
so now is as good a time as any to start I suppose...

I've also been looking for cheap quick meals lately that are tasty and don't make me feel like I'm a poor student (even though I am!).


I tried this recipe a few weeks ago and It turned out fantastic,
Its also very filling, I had it with pita bread (not indian I know, but it went nicely with it)
For times when money isn't an issue, it would be lovely as a side dish.
But I think its really good in its own right.


Curried Red Lentils

1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
40g butter
350g tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
350g red lentils
900ml vegetable Stock
freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
curry leaves for garnishing
*I couldn't find fresh curry leaves so used coriander instead


Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and spices and fry gently for 5 minutes

Add the lentils, stock, lemon juice, salt and pepper, bring to the boil, cover and simmer over a low heat for about 20 minutes until lentils have thickened.

Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and sprinkle with curry leaves/coriander.

watna

olaola wrote: »

Check out this website (just found it on another thread here)
http://www.lidltreats.com/

Looks interesting! Unforunately we don't have lidl or any equivalent in New Zealand. Our cheapy supermarket is called pak n save (it's an awful, awful place where everything is on the shelves in boxes and customer service is to a minimum to save you money - hency the pak n save name!). That webpage did remind me that they have specials with your loyalty card so think we'll see what's there as well.

Thanks for all the recipes. I'm off to the supermarket now so will make a very detailed list. Any treats will have to be baked by me I think - no packets of expensive biscuits