Cheap homemade meals

[Cheesypoof]

This thread is dedicated to making delicious homemade meals when we are skint. You know the day before payday sinking feeling when all you've got left is £1, and you're knackered too. But you are hungry, and want a good meal.

Lets think of really tasty ideas cos it breaks my heart when I read of Urbs eating nowt but a packet of frazzles or pasta with no cheese cos they can't afford it. Ideas for failsafe cupboard staples too that come in handy before pay/ giro day.

I used to always buy Sainsburys basics crumpets (around 6 for 39p, and you can freeze them) and tins of basics baked beans (29p and really nice too), for skint days and breakfasts. I'd keep some butter in the fridge, tomato puree and Marmite in the cupboard. Next thing you know, on skint day, I have a quid left (which i used to buy a very small block of Iceland mature cheese which isnt bad at all), and can have a delicious dinner/ breakfast.

Another classic would be a fish finger sandwich (using fish fingers from Iceland), with thick cut white bread, cheese (processed slices would be grand) and a fried egg (basics eggs from Sainsburys for which you get around 6 for a quid are also good).

I really believe that its possible to rustle up a pretty good meal even when you have next to nothing. The key is in knowing what megacheap products are good quality, and having some basic staples in your cupboard (i would include things like soy sauce, sesame oil, tomato puree, garlic, olive oil, stock cubes, condiments, a tin of beans and tomatoes).

What cheap meals can you recommend that are also delicious? Thanks!

 

[friedaweed]

If you have your staples in the cupboard like pasta and rice or a few tattys then the only extras you need are a tin of corn beef or a tin of tuna, or grab some chicken wings , belly pork, liver off the butchers counter.

I'm always skint but I can always feed me and the bairns.

An allotment is what you're missing cheesy

 

[Cheesypoof]

If you have your staples in the cupboard like pasta and rice or a few tattys then the only extras you need are a tin of corn beef or a tin of tuna, or grab some chicken wings , belly pork, liver off the butchers counter.

I'm always skint but I can always feed me and the bairns.

An allotment is what you're missing cheesy

Now you're talkin!! The thread isnt for the everyday, its for that end of the month before payday panic, when you have spent all your money and dont have kids!

 

[xenon]

The shittest thing about having to eat really cheap food, is if it's bland too. I can go hungry a bit if I've at least eaten something relatively tasty.

So if you can, always make sure you have a big lump of ginger (keeps for ages) garlic, chili powder if not fresh chilis, noodles stock cubes. Idealy some vege too you know, onioins and shit. Hot spicey noodle soup.

TBH if I had nothing useful in the cupboard and only a quid, I'd probably just buy some chips with loads of salt and vinegar on.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Omelettes. Omelettes are tasty and cheap. Or fritatta.

You can just chuck in veg that needs using up, dried herbs or fresh if you have them. Mousetrap cheese. Owt really

Chili cheese omelette is my favourite. Couple of eggs, dried chili flakes, bit of cheddar. Lovely!

 

[Miss Caphat]

crepes.
homemade tortillas (I've never done this but want to) and then you could make quesadillas if you have some cheese and other bits to throw in.

 

[spanglechick]

When I was both unemployed and making payments on around £18k of credit card debts I spent a lot of days eating these two meals: a few bowls a day (hey, i was still a glutton) of porridge oats with sultanas and milk (cheap museli), and a particularly grim but tasty combination of frozen mince fried off, then a full-size tin of value beans added, then a dollop of cheap cream cheese melted in. Sometimes I had other, more expensive cereals - but most cereal is relatively cheap compared to proper food with actual protein in it.

as a student i had for dinner hundreds of times, pasta with a dollop of condensed mushroom soup stirred though it. One of those little cans used to last four meals.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

Fritatta is an excellent one.
Falafel is another good one because chickpeas are dead cheap and it's not difficult to make.
Tuna burgers if you have a tin of tuna lurking about somewhere.
Ratatouille with cheap veg from the market at the end of the day

 

[moomoo]

Macaroni cheese. It's a winner in this house. Also spag Bol. I make a pan ful and freeze half. It feeds 4 people for 2 meals. And beans on toast. Which I've managed to convince the kids is a 'treat'.

 

[Cheesypoof]

Agreed on most of this. What about fatty and decadent, potato gratin? Just garlic, cream and potatoes really. Cooked Nigella's lazy way, you just boil up the spuds and add some cream and crushed garlic, and roast the lot. There aint even cheese in it (although i would throw some cheap cheddar on). The only beef with this is it'd take too long on a school night if you were starving. But it could DEFINITELY go down a treat with a few friends over (and cheap bottles of Lidl wine) on a Skint Saturday!

 

[xenon]

Grated potato, onion, carrot. Fry. Sprinkle with salt. Top with grated chese, peas on the side. Ketchup.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

My boy won't eat beans but if I add a few sausage balls (chorizo in particular), an onion and some spices then it's perfectly palatable

 

[xenon]

There's always the sardine curry. It's actually delicious. You need to have the spice though. gara masalah, fenil seeds, black mustard seeds, chili powder. Rest is garlic small onion, sardines, half a can of toms and hand full of spinach if you got it.

Oh and rice but I've had it with pasta or pitta bread too.

 

[Shirl]

My cheap homemade meals were corned beef hash and lentil dahl. I love both of them but as I haven't cooked in years I've not made them. Wolfie always seems to make delicious meals from a few odd bits in the cupboard but that's beyond me

 

[Cheesypoof]

I dont know if they make it anymore, but when i was a skint student, I was a fan of Sharwoods satay sauce (which is really good and has nice peanuts in it) and fry an onion and some garlic, throw in some frozen veg, and a tin of tomatoes (the 30p 'peeled whole' ones which are the same anyway when you break them up) and the sauce. Served with rice and soy sauce. It was absolutely delicious and my flatmates always wanted some.

 

[Fez909]

Noodles.

Use those 15p packets of supermarket own-branded noodles, but throw the flavour packet away. Instead, cook them in water and make up your own sauce.

Some chilli, carrot, mushrooms, green beans, fried until cooked, then add some fish sauce, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, lime juice, corriander, spring onions, and your noodles. Some toasted sesame seed over the top if you have some.

Takes about 10 mins and is delicious. The sauces and seeds aren't cheap but they last for ages and the cost per serving is low. Buy the biggest bunch of corriander you can find at an Asian supermarket and chop it all up and freeze on the first day. Lasts ages then. Use bottled lime juice.

 

[Cheesypoof]

My cheap homemade meals were corned beef hash and lentil dahl. I love both of them but as I haven't cooked in years I've not made them. Wolfie always seems to make delicious meals from a few odd bits in the cupboard but that's beyond me

Corned beef hash is indeed amazing but i've noticed that even a can of Princes corned beef costs £3 these days...which aint really that cheap.....I guess with a bag of white spuds that you get for a quid and a carrot and onion, it does work out cheap. It's a pain in the neck to make though, cos it takes so long. Not really in the mood for it when poor (which i always find encourages ravenous hunger and the need to EAT, NOW!). But i have made Cumbrian hash many a time at the weekend, baking it afterwards with some cheese, and serving with baked beans)

 

[Miss Caphat]

tuna casserole,

crab cakes or salmon cakes (made w/ tinned crab/salmon)

pasta salad

 

[Cheesypoof]

Noodles.

Use those 15p packets of supermarket own-branded noodles, but throw the flavour packet away. Instead, cook them in water and make up your own sauce.

Some chilli, carrot, mushrooms, green beans, fried until cooked, then add some fish sauce, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, lime juice, corriander, spring onions, and your noodles. Some toasted sesame seed over the top if you have some.

Takes about 10 mins and is delicious. The sauces and seeds aren't cheap but they last for ages and the cost per serving is low. Buy the biggest bunch of corriander you can find at an Asian supermarket and chop it all up and freeze on the first day. Lasts ages then. Use bottled lime juice.

Sounds delicious but i would also need bread with that, as one packet of noodles even with veg will have me running to the shop for chocolate afterwards....some pitta bread and a little humus/ butter would work here.

 

[Cheesypoof]

tuna casserole,

crab cakes or salmon cakes (made w/ tinned crab/salmon)

pasta salad

you jokin me? Tinned crab is really expensive (at least in the UK and Ireland it is....). About 4 quid at least for a tin...and if its a skint day, the salmon would need to be pink salmon, as that only costs about 2 quid (in Lidl, its only €1.19, but red salmon would be out of the question...you may as well fork out for a ready meal...)

 

[Shirl]

Corned beef hash is indeed amazing but i've noticed that even a can of Princes corned beef costs £3 these days...which aint really that cheap.....I guess with a bag of white spuds that you get for a quid and a carrot and onion, it does work out cheap. It's a pain in the neck to make though, cos it takes so long. Not really in the mood for it when poor (which i always find encourages ravenous hunger and the need to EAT, NOW!). But i have made Cumbrian hash many a time at the weekend, baking it afterwards with some cheese, and serving with baked beans)

It doesn't take longer than it takes the spuds to cook, 25 minutes at most and the more spuds, the further it goes

 

[Miss Caphat]

you jokin me? Tinned crab is really expensive (at least in the UK and Ireland it is....). About 4 quid at least for a tin...and if its a skint day, the salmon would need to be pink salmon, as that only costs about 2 quid (in Lidl, its only €1.19, but red salmon would be out of the question...you may as well fork out for a ready meal...)

oh, they're not as much here, sorry. also I always have some random cans lying around - I thought we were talking about making meals out of odds and ends you have already

 

[Cheesypoof]

In this thread, i really do mean, bottom of the barrel kind of skintness, like you only have about 2 quid and maybe have to feed yourself and another person - and you have high standards, like you want cheese on your pasta or, dont want to go without sauce on your fish fingers....I have been sad reading on the whats for tea thread, of people going without cheese on their pasta and stuff....that's why i ask for suggestions on how to balance things so you can always eat well. I have managed it when i was incredibly skint, and it can be done!

 

[Fez909]

Noodles II

Cheap packet from the supermarket again. Thrown away flavour packet, sauce made from miso paste (or miso soup sachets).

A boiled egg, two or three slices of pastrami and a chopped spring onion. Few splashes of hot sauce over the top and some pepper.

Here's one I made earlier:

You get 8 slices of pastrami in a packet and they cost about £1.50 a packet. So when combining with the egg, you're getting some cheap protein here.

And it's lovely. <3 noodles, me

 

[spanglechick]

When I was both unemployed and making payments on around £18k of credit card debts I spent a lot of days eating these two meals: a few bowls a day (hey, i was still a glutton) of porridge oats with sultanas and milk (cheap museli), and a particularly grim but tasty combination of frozen mince fried off, then a full-size tin of value beans added, then a dollop of cheap cream cheese melted in. Sometimes I had other, more expensive cereals - but most cereal is relatively cheap compared to proper food with actual protein in it.

as a student i had for dinner hundreds of times, pasta with a dollop of condensed mushroom soup stirred though it. One of those little cans used to last four meals.

I should have said... frozen mince is super super cheap, but tastes of very little. You need a stock cube for flavour and bonus saltiness.

 

[Cheesypoof]

Noodles II

Cheap packet from the supermarket again. Thrown away flavour packet, sauce made from miso paste (or miso soup sachets).

A boiled egg, two or three slices of pastrami and a chopped spring onion. Few splashes of hot sauce over the top and some pepper.

Here's one I made earlier:

You get 8 slices of pastrami in a packet and they cost about £1.50 a packet. So when combining with the egg, you're getting some cheap protein here.

And it's lovely. <3 noodles, me

High fives Fez!!! Aside from the pastrami....i do believe you, but i have never seen it that cheap! Am all for boiled eggs and anything, really. Made an egg curry the other week, using just a tomato-based homemade curry sauce with frozen peas and about 6 boiled eggs, with rice. so delicious!

 

[spanglechick]

eggs are great cheap protein. pretty healthy too when not fried.

cheese otoh, i only ever associate with being quite flush. i make my macaroni cheese probably quite heavy on the cheese - it's it's not one of my cheaper dishes, for sure. Bloody lovely though.

 

[Metal Malcolm]

I definitely got into noodles in a big way when I was in Australia - cheap budget noodles, a handful of soggy veg, some cheap protein and lots of spice/soy sauce. It helped that I lived with a guy who'd been to Korea and had bags of weird seasonings I could nab...

 

[Miss Caphat]

In this thread, i really do mean, bottom of the barrel kind of skintness, like you only have about 2 quid and maybe have to feed yourself and another person - and you have high standards, like you want cheese on your pasta or, dont want to go without sauce on your fish fingers....I have been sad reading on the whats for tea thread, of people going without cheese on their pasta and stuff....that's why i ask for suggestions on how to balance things so you can always eat well. I have managed it when i was incredibly skint, and it can be done!

yeah me too cheesy! you wanna fight about it?

I just happen to have random things like cans of tuna, salmon etc that I probably got for free and forget about until I'm totally broke and the cupboard is bare, so there

 

[Cheesypoof]

I should have said... frozen mince is super super cheap, but tastes of very little. You need a stock cube for flavour and bonus saltiness.

I couldnt eat frozen mince...if you mean the own brand nasty stuff in a bag!! Lentils and mixed beans from Poundland would be more palatable.