Eating on the cheap

Bob Z

What are the cheapest/most economical meals to make?

Malari

Large ones!

I'm not being facetious, but cooking a fairly big quantity and freezing is a good way of reducing cost per portion.

I think one of my favourites that's still a good, nutritious dinner is shepherd's/cottage pie.

Brown the mince in a pot. Add in some beef stock, squirt of tomato puree and dash of worcestershire sauce, seasoning. Chop up onions, celery, carrots, and add them to the pot. Simmer for a while then top with mashed spuds. I always make a big dish for freezing too.

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Anything with rice, it's cheap and you don't need much to fill you. Same with Pasta

Mr Magnolia

I discovered rib steak last year, a really great cut of meat. There's a bit of trimming involved but it is the best cut for stews and the like in my opinion. Slow cook your dish for an hour and a half to two hours and it comes out incredibly tender. It's about €6/kilo.

olaola

There are some good blogs - www.cheapeats.ie which tell you of all the specials. I think Aldi/Lidl for veg, your butcher for meat. And check out the chinese shops for spices/noodles/rice/sauces etc.

Sparks

Slow cooking is one of the best ways to eat cheaply - long cooking times help tough, cheap cuts of meat become edible; and in the process, become some of the tastiest things out there. For example, chilli isn't supposed to be made with fillet steak, but with really cheap stewing beef. Long cooking times convert collagen in the connective tissue of the meat into gelatin and the resulting chilli is one of the best-tasting things you can put in your mouth.

But probably the single best way is to learn how to cook properly - when you know that, cooking good, cheap meals becomes possible.

Edgedinblue

things like chilli, curry, lasanga can be done cheap and can last for few days worth of dinners!