Recession bites?

Eviledna

So here we are, cupboards bare and deep in the depths of gloom and doom.

Yet it occurs to us that with €3 in our pocket for food we could buy some stewing steak, much cheaper than other types of meat!! If only we knew how to cook it...

Basically, what are your best recipes for cooking with cheaper yet just as healthy ingredients? Recipes that make delicious things out of cheaper cuts of meat, bruised apples, dark bananas, yesterdays bake bread?

The challenge is to name where you buy the tasty low price ingredients, how you deal with their inherent low price flaws and turn them as if by magic into a tasty meal for almost nothing!

Any takers?

Minder

Beef Rendang

This cannot be cooked with the finer cuts - they are too lean and will dry out in cooking. I use shin of beef for this, from the butcher on the bone if I can get it - as braising steak can be cut from anywhere, I choose shin as it has all the connective tissue that will breakdown and keep the meat moist.

Shorba. A stew/soup made from lamb shoulder diced very small. Tomatoes, dried mint, lemon juice, cinnamon, cumin, garlic and tumeric. It is simmered with a couple of litres of stock or water before some tiny pasta pieces are added. The result is a lightly spiced, thick lamb soup great with some warm bread.

A packet of linguine, a tin of tuna, a handful of chopped parsley, a lemon, a chilli and a clove of garlic. Cook the pasta, fry the garlic and chilli, squeeze the lemon and add to equal quantities of olive oil. Mix the tuna, pasta, parsley and the emulsion of lemon & oil.

One chicken = three meals. Break it down into breast meat, legs & wings, carcass. Or legs and cut the breast as a supreme with the wing bone attached. Carcass is great for stock for a risotto.

Use stale bread to make panzanella - italian bread salad - you need a hard bread to partly take up the flavours of the tomatoes, garlic, vinegar and oil but not turn to mush.

Caesar salad - make homemade croutons with torn up stale bread - whizz garlic with lots of olive oil and pour over the bread before baking in the oven until crispy. Lettuce, boiled eggs, parmaesan, anchovies.

Jamie Oliver was on the other day promoting shoulder of pork as a roast. Cooks it for 6 hours - looked delicious. Forget the supermarkets for cuts like that, butchers won't have it as a stock item, but will get it in. If enough demand comes through the butchers, these cuts will start appearing again.

Pork belly - braised or roasted - acres of crackling and soft moist meat. Problem with a lot of these recipes is the time taken to cook them. The rendang takes about 2 hours, a pork belly is a slow roast, shoulder even slower. Still good weekend fare and it fills the house with great food smells.

taztastic

Vegetables!!!!
For a poor student I am very fussy bout my meat and fish so I eat veg only a few nights a week and then my nice meaty dish the odd time. If you can get them in season all the better - I've even made veggie lasagne with beetroot in it and it still works.

But in terms of cheap eats I'd say think offal; I got liver the other night and covered with garlic and rosemary for myself. For the other half I made stuffing with just breadcrumbs, butter and onion (roasted seperately for a bit in the over) piled it on the liver and covered in streaky bacon and roasted it. Served with green beans and mash potatoes.

Also suggest soups for any ropey looking veg.

1966

taztastic wrote: »

Also suggest soups for any ropey looking veg.

likewise smoothies for ropey fruit !!

the beer revolu

+1 on the pork belly.
Slow roast it.
Medium roast it for more bite but still not tough.#

Or stew it whole or in slices (with the skin and bone)with lots of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, star anise, chilli flakes, some dry sherry, redcurrant jelly (if you have it) and some balsamic. After about 3 hours gentle cooking it's divine!! Serve with any greens and rice or noodles. Super cheap and VERY impressive!

Chicken thighs or legs.
Grill, roast, or stew as for Coq au vin (white or red) or with beer or just stock.

+1 on the shin beef but I can't imagine it being tender in an hour - more like 3 hours!

Look out for deals - Supervalue often sell legs of lamb pretty cheap.

Lamb shanks can be very cheap and are great for stewing.

Pork hocks are very cheap and are great slow roast or stewed. Yumm.

Potatoes, carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips are all cheap.
Tinned tomatoes are cheap.
Soak and boil your own beans also lentils - very cheap and tasty.
Bulk up dishes with the above.

Round lettuce is much cheaper than other lettuce and personally I prefer it. Cucumbers are also pretty cheap.

Go to reduced to clear shelf but avoid chicken and fish from same.

Try to buy in bulk - potatoes esp and rice from Asian shops.

Minder

the beer revolu wrote: »

+1 on the shin beef but I can't imagine it being tender in an hour - more like 3 hours!

Your right, but the rendang recipe calls for it to cook for another 30 minutes to 1 hour - it's definately tender after that.:D

the beer revolu

Minder wrote: »

Your right, but the rendang recipe calls for it to cook for another 30 minutes to 1 hour - it's definately tender after that.:D

Ahh.

It does sound VERY nice. MUst try it sometime

jdivision

okay a bit over the budget but I bought five lamb shanks or E6 at the weekend and very nice they were too, a sauce for it made with a can of tomatoes together with mixed beans and some roast veg would be good. I'd say it'd cost a tenner and you'd get four meals out of it

taztastic

To be fair there's no way I'd be making a coq au vin for 3pounds let alone 3euro so I think it's safe to assume we're playing fast and loose with the money end of this.

But the spirit ... oh yes the spirt of thrift lives on!!

Quick to the WI, let us don pinny's, make jam and generally show them that the era of the humble stew has returned!

tSubh Dearg

Hearts are a good source of cheap, lean meat.

I got 4 lamb hearts, which was over 500g of meat for €2, that's 50 cent a heart!

They're really good roasted, either stuffed or unstuffed and served with roasted vegetables .

branners69

Pick up some liver and kidney's very cheap and very tasty!

Cherry Blossom

My favourite poor student meal was egg fried rice with diced bacon (or even sausage or any left over bits of meat) with garden peas and mushrooms, probably costs less than €1 per portion!

muckety

Similar to earlier posts my favourite cheap cuts are:

Lambs heart - stuffed and roasted, or casseroled (makes a really rich gravy)

Shoulder of lamb - lovely roasted and much cheaper than leg - very good boulangerie-style (scalloped potatoes with onion in a dish, cover with stock, sit lamb shoulder on top and cook for 1.5 hrs depending on size of shoulder). Use the remainder
to make cottage pie for the next day!

Lambs liver casserole

(I rarely buy pork as it is rubbish in Ireland and too expensive/hard to get free range so can't help there).

Chicken - I stay away from cheap chickens for ethical and flavour reasons, but even good / free-range chicken is good value. 1. roast dinner, 2. lunches for a couple of days and 3. stock for soup (bean soup with crusty bread!).

Apart from meats we eat a lot of chickpeas, and other pulses (eg bean soup) - indian cook books are great for recipies. Great budget food....

deisebabe

get a bag of nasi goreng in aldi! chicken rice and flavoured....better than anything i ate as a student!

also they have like bags of frozen cod/chops/etc. no lidl near me but they probably have even cheaper offers.

For stewing beef - beef rojan josh or use lamb as suggested. http://www.route79.com/food/rogan-josh.htm.

the beer revolu

taztastic wrote: »

To be fair there's no way I'd be making a coq au vin for 3pounds let alone 3euro so I think it's safe to assume we're playing fast and loose with the money end of this.

But the spirit ... oh yes the spirt of thrift lives on!!

Quick to the WI, let us don pinny's, make jam and generally show them that the era of the humble stew has returned!

But I bet I could make Coq au Vin for 6 for about a tenner.
Gonna make it tomorrow - will keep receipts.

Eviledna

Brilliant replies so far folks!

Just to clarify that I never meant to put a restriction of €3 on anything, I just mentioned that I had seen stewing steak for €3.

The challenge is simply lower price food turned into just-as-nice-as-expensive meals!

Here's my take on it:

Tasty Beef Pasta Surprise!

Ingredients:

Thin cut steak from Dunnes: 4.39
1/4 pack frozen peppers, Dunnes: 0.49
2 tins of chopped tomatoes from aldi: 0.70
4 Cloves garlic,aldi: ~0.40
2 onion finely chopped, aldi: ~0.20
1tsp Dried Basil, aldi : ~.20
Worcester sauce 2tsp: ~0.20
Some left over plonk (red/white) from the m&s weekend deals: 1.00
A pinch of salt/pepper: ~0.02
Olive oil from aldi is 2.99, used 0.50 worth of it.
Pasta, 1/3 pack fusilli from aldi: ~0.43

Method:

Cut the thin steak into strips, stir fry on a high heat in olive oil for 5 mins until mostly done.
In the meantime, sweat the onions, peppers in a pot. Then sweat the garlic. Once soft add the chopped tomatoes, wine, basil, worcester,salt/pepper and bring almost to the boil. Add the Beef and bring down to a simmer. Simmer for 30 mins, stirring occasionally. The longer you leave it the tastier it gets.

Meanwhile, boil some water and add the fusilli. When aldente,(8 mins) divide between two plates and spoon out the yummy tomatoey beef. Beef will be soft and tender. Add some cheese if you can afford it! Enjoy.

Serves 2 hungry people, cost per person: €4.20 (And that's really being pedantic, most of this you will have in your cupboard!):pac:

taztastic

the beer revolu wrote: »

But I bet I could make Coq au Vin for 6 for about a tenner.
Gonna make it tomorrow - will keep receipts.

The challenge is on...
However, I refuse to go non-free range on the chicken and spend about 5-6 pounds on a bottle of wine so its no longer the super cheap party favourite it used to be when I got the 60pence chicken thighs and 3 pound red wine.
Getting decadent in my old age! Would the WI approve?

Also, walking past the TV earlier and ready steady cook was on... ingredients poured out and low and behold we were looking at powdered eggs and the talk was about rationing.
So can anyone get really impressive and throw some war time type ingredients?

Minder

Eviledna wrote: »

Brilliant replies so far folks!

Thin cut steak from Dunnes: 4.39
1/4 pack frozen peppers, Dunnes: 0.49
2 tins of chopped tomatoes from aldi: 0.70
4 Cloves garlic,aldi: ~0.40
2 onion finely chopped, aldi: ~0.20
1tsp Dried Basil, aldi : ~.20
Worcester sauce 2tsp: ~0.20
Some left over plonk (red/white) from the m&s weekend deals: 1.00
A pinch of salt/pepper: ~0.02
Olive oil from aldi is 2.99, used 0.50 worth of it.
Pasta, 1/3 pack fusilli from aldi: ~0.43

Left over wine? Nope, you've lost me. What's that?

Tree

i reckon sausages can be pretty neat cheap enough meat. two or three sausages cut up and fried and chucked on to tomatoey pasta.

not especially nutritious, but filling is a whack of pasta with some pesto stirred in.

soup is cheap and lasts forever

smaller portions helps, and replacing half the meat in a dish with soya or veggies

the beer revolu

taztastic wrote: »

The challenge is on...
However, I refuse to go non-free range on the chicken and spend about 5-6 pounds on a bottle of wine so its no longer the super cheap party favourite it used to be when I got the 60pence chicken thighs and 3 pound red wine.
Getting decadent in my old age! Would the WI approve?

Also, walking past the TV earlier and ready steady cook was on... ingredients poured out and low and behold we were looking at powdered eggs and the talk was about rationing.
So can anyone get really impressive and throw some war time type ingredients?

If you make sure the chicken is Irish then it's not so bad. Irish chickens aren't reared nearly as intensively as British ones. I buy Irish, GMO and antibiotic free chicken thighs for 30c each. Sure, free range is better but not much. Organic is considerably better. I wouldn't buy imported chicken.
Actually, I reckon I'll use a strong Belgian pale ale (out of date - about €1.50 a bottle) rather than wine. Chicken with Hommellbier!! Yummy.

the beer revolu

I made a beef stew with chirizo yesterday.
The beef (ribsteak) cost under €5
THe chirizo was €3. something.
A few carrots, stick of celery, some garlic, couple of onions, tin of tomatoes, some pre soaked beans - oh an expensive courgette!!.
Glass or so of left over wine.
Very cheap.
Enough for about 7 or 8 people.

Ok I did have some mexican smoked chillies too!
A damn fine stew!!!

taram

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/bananabread > best banana bread I've ever made, I usually only put 1 small cup of sugar in at most, over ripe bananas are full of sugar so no need for extra.

When I make a stew I make it with a lot of stock/water, so after I throw any veg the bf or I haven't touched back in, throw a mug or two of water in if it needs it, and some cooked potatoes (can microwave some whilst eating dinner), some herbs, and whiz it up, instant soup, usually has lots of lovely flavours from all the different veg we stew. And you can always throw veg that looks dodgy/is limp into stew or into the soup mix if really dodgy

silversurfer

What about a coddle? Cheap and tasty, came across it in Dublin about 14 years ago. still have it every now and again because it's so tasty.

Coddle

Ingredients:
½ lb Sausages
½ lb Rashers
1 large onion
10 potatoes (peeled and halved)
1tbls Olive oil or large knob of butter
Salt and pepper to season after cooking

Method:
Cut onion into pieces and fry, in a large saucepan, for 3 minutes, in the oil or butter,
Cut the rashers in 1 inch pieces and add to the onions (cut the excess fat or rind from the rashers)
Cut each sausage into 3 to 4 pieces and add to the saucepan.
Cut one of the halved potatoes into tiny pieces (this will break up and thicken the coddle)
Add the remaining potatoes and cover with water.
Cover and cook at a medium to high heat until the potatoes are cooked (you should be able to easily stick a knife into the potatoes), this will take between 40 to 60 minutes approx.

Ladle out into wide bowls and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Note: the potatoes will absorb the salt from the rashers during cooking.

silversurfer

This may sound odd, but it's a lovely meal, It's a tasty curry sauce with hard boiled (and shells removed) eggs in it, serve with rice or chips
The curry powder is the only expense, but is needed for the nice taste, and will be enough in the container for a few meals.
Buy the cheapest tomato puree tins (i've tried several and they all taste the same in this meal)
and the sauce freezes well (but not the eggs)
I usually have this with the eggs the 1st day and if there's any sauce left I either freeze it or have it with chips the next night.

Egg Curry

Ingredients:
2 Boiled and shelled eggs per person
2 Chopped onions
2 by 140g tins tomato puree
1 Knorr chicken stock cube
1 pint boiling water
2 tbls Sharwoods Madras curry powder
Rice or chips

Method:
Fry the onions in oil or butter until they are light brown
Add the curry powder and cook on a medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes
Add the tomato puree and cook the mixture until it turns into a brown paste
Make up 1 pint of chicken stock and add to the saucepan
Bring to the boil and then simmer for 1 hour (checking every 10 to 15 minutes)
Place the shelled eggs into the sauce at least 10 minutes before serving.
Stir occasionally to avoid scorching the eggs
Serve on a bed of rice

mags16

the beer revolu wrote: »

I made a beef stew with chirizo yesterday.
The beef (ribsteak) cost under €5

I love stews and think that they are a good option in these hard stretched times. However I wonder if it is that economical. You are using cheap cuts of meat, but are cooking it for hours, using lots of gas/electricity. A steak takes minutes to cook, using very little gas/electricity. Does anyone have any idea how much the gas might cost when you are cooking a stew. I like to cook mine for ages.

Dizzyblonde

I cook all my stews in my slow cooker - it only uses as much power as a light bulb

the beer revolu

mags16 wrote: »

I love stews and think that they are a good option in these hard stretched times. However I wonder if it is that economical. You are using cheap cuts of meat, but are cooking it for hours, using lots of gas/electricity. A steak takes minutes to cook, using very little gas/electricity. Does anyone have any idea how much the gas might cost when you are cooking a stew. I like to cook mine for ages.

I'd imagine that the very low heat is pretty economical but I don't have the figures.

A slow cooker would definately be the way to go but I don't really have the space for one:mad:

Eviledna

Thanks for all the replies so far, you guys really roll with an idea, which is why I love this board:)

As for the left over wine, sometimes the M&S wine is soooo bad it has to be kept for cooking! I can only have white, so it's hit and miss for me!

Another cheap eat is aldi's boxed lemon dusted sole, it's ~€2.49 and it's a great chuck-in-the-oven-er when you are late home from work, great with their salad potatoes (39-69c) and some peas for an easy dinner. The fish is lovely and tender and you get loads.

MJOR

the beer revolu wrote: »

I'd imagine that the very low heat is pretty economical but I don't have the figures.

A slow cooker would definately be the way to go but I don't really have the space for one:mad:

i got a small one in tesco and its great

garbanzo

the beer revolu wrote: »

If you make sure the chicken is Irish then it's not so bad. Irish chickens aren't reared nearly as intensively as British ones. I buy Irish, GMO and antibiotic free chicken thighs for 30c each. Sure, free range is better but not much. Organic is considerably better. I wouldn't buy imported chicken.
Actually, I reckon I'll use a strong Belgian pale ale (out of date - about €1.50 a bottle) rather than wine. Chicken with Hommellbier!! Yummy.

Good thread. Does anyone know where you can get GMO/Anti-biotic free or even just regular chicken thighs in Dublin, preferably southside. You used to be able to get packs of chicken thighs, with the bones taken out, in the supermarket but not any more. A much cheaper and tastier cut to breast meat.

the beer revolu

garbanzo wrote: »

Good thread. Does anyone know where you can get GMO/Anti-biotic free or even just regular chicken thighs in Dublin, preferably southside. You used to be able to get packs of chicken thighs, with the bones taken out, in the supermarket but not any more. A much cheaper and tastier cut to breast meat.

Ah yes we're blessed on Cork with the english market.
Cheap, Irish, Gmo & Antibiotic free chicken - not gourmet but not bad either.
Dunnes used to do part boned thighs, maybe still do.

rhapsodyway

This is my recession busting chicken stew which tastes delicious AND nutritious:

1. 1 packet of chicken thighs (in my local supervalu costs less than 3 euro)
2. Onions, celery, garlic (the holy trinity for this kind of thing)
3. Carrots and whatever other bits of veggie are to hand
4. Marigold Bouillon (really worth buying as really gives the best flavour by far)

Start off my sauteeing the onions, and garlic. Add the celery and carrots after five/ten minutes. A lot of recipes tell you to fry the chicken pieces first but I have stopped doing that and i just put them straight into the pot and it turns out fine. Mix in a tablespoon of plain flour at this stage.

Make up the stock according to the packet instructions and bring that all to the boil. Then simmer for at least an hour until the flavours all come together. There is no need to put this in the oven - it cooks happily on the top of the cooker which of course is cheaper too!

I used to be a great one for adding fancy ingredients and thinking you had to do a lot to a dish to make it taste great but believe me this simple dish never fails to taste good and is perfect for cold winter evenings.

If I am feeling particularly frugal I only use half the pkt of chicken and freeze the other half for the next time. I bulk out the stew with lentils, chickpeas and veggies. Makes it very healthy too. As I am only cooking this meal for two people, I get two days out of it. Often on the second day I will make a chicken pie out of this by adding sauteed leeks and topping it with some puff pastry ( i always keep a pkt handy in the freezer for this). So there you have my frugal chicken stew and chicken pie. Try it and tell me what you think:)

<snip>

neuro-praxis

Brilliant thread. However that boiled egg curry sounds horrendous! Appreciate the sentiment though.

Mince ain't as cheap as it used to be, but home-made burgers with mountains of fried onions, gravy and mash is a cheap and satisfying budget winter dinner.

Eviledna

Just to let ye know, the cocoa in Aldi is really great, of high quality. They have loads of caster sugar and golden syrup too, so they are great for making chocolate cakes on a budget

corblimey

rhapsodyway wrote: »

This is my recession busting chicken stew which tastes delicious AND nutritious:

1. 1 packet of chicken thighs (in my local supervalu costs less than 3 euro)

I want to try this, but when you say thighs, do you mean on the bone or off? I would have assumed they'd have to be off the bone for your chicken pie variation to work, but frankly why bother with thighs if you're taking all the meat off the bone, why not just get a couple of good chicken fillets?

gary82

I'd have to recommend PIZZA!

If you've never tried making pizza - it's a lot earier than people generally think. It might be a bit pricey to get all the ingredients initially but you'll get a good load of pizza's out of it!

The Base...
1 cup warm water
8g sachet dried yeast (you get a box of 10 or so sachets)
1 teaspoon caster sugar
2½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano (optional for herby base)
1 tablespool olive oil

Mix all the dry ingredients into a big saucepan, then add the olive oil and warm water until you can form it into a big dough ball (balance with +/- water and flour). Now you've to leave it in a warm place for half an hour. I generally put the lid on the saucepan and float the saucepan on warm water. After 30mins it will have risen, work it a bit then flatten out on a flour-dusted oven tray using your fingers, you'll get a feel for how thick you like it after a while. Add more olive oil to do this, makes it much easier.

The Topping...
I always start with one of those small (and cheap) tins of tomatto puree spread over the base. Add a bit more dried oregano or other herbs.

Now for the toppings that's all up to your personal taste, chop up all your ingredients and top off with cheese. My favourite is to get one of those Dunnes bags of 3-cheeses and add some grated mature cheddar. Mixed herbs on top is good too.

Here's a pizza I really like...
Chorizo (sliced up quite fine)
Onion
Mushroom
Basil
Sweetcorn (small amount)
Clove of garlic
(and Cheese, as mentioned above)

(all chopped up while the base rises).

Now put in a preheated oven at 180deg for 20'ish minutes - just keep an eye on it.

And finally, Bon Appetit!!

I'll probably cook this next Friday so I can put up photos if you like...?

gary82

Oh and if you need inspiration for toppings, simply check out the online menus for pizza delivery companies! :cool: