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Cheap homemade meals

pound of diced pork off oldham market (couple of quid) - Don't live near Oldham, well that's your fucking fault isn't it?

Onions, garlic n that. Tin of chick peas from the ethnic aisle of asda not the asda tinned veg aisle. Couple of tins of various beans off the same isle. Paprika, chilli an lentils.

Tin of tomatoes, tin of mushrooms, length of chorizo (all from lidl) and a tube of puree.Couple of stock cubes. An that'll do yer for about ten days.
 
tufty79 said:
I saw you post this in another thread a while back - belated thank you! (I tried it in my old fridge first and the whole lot froze; works better in a working fridge :D )

my favourite broke dish: onions, garlic, celery, stock, red lentils & cooking bacon; added carrot/spud if you've got 'em = really filling and comforting soup.
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I do the same as this.

Using lentils where you would use mince is a good idea generally, you can get 2kg of brown lentils for about £2 in Tesco.
 
twentythreedom said:
Has anyone suggested going to your local market and picking up discarded veg at the end of the day yet? :hmm:
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If I actually had a market nearby I would definitely do that, and would recommend it to anyone who lives near a food market, you can find a ton of stuff absolutely free on the street once the stalls have shut up shop. Stuff that needs peeling anyway such as citrus fruits and avocadoes can be very easy to come by just lying in the street after everyone has gone, but do a walkthrough as the stalls are packing up and stallholders will also be keen to offload slightly less hardy stuff at very cheap prices too. It is very easy to turn a carrier bag full of slightly over-ripe tomatoes into many portions of basic pasta sauce when you get home and freeze it in portions for later in the month.

Also I don't know whether it still happens, but if you fancy trying your hand at some home bread-making, bakers used to give people live yeast for free, certainly back in the day even bakery counters in big supermarkets would do this, when I worked in Sainsburys many years ago anyone that asked for some live yeast was just given a bit from the massive amount we always had.
 
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There isn't much I miss about living in Leicester, but the fruit'n'veg market with its £1 bowls is one of them. Amazing value for money.
 
Cheesypoof said:
Not a fan of couscous...cannot bring myself to like it,
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You need to steam it for best results and serve it with the right stuff - either a meat tagine (I'd go down the lamb and dates/prunes with toasted almonds route) or veggies (some roasted/grilled, some boiled) and a spicy tomato sauce. Couscous can be lovely, better than rice for soaking up juices IMO.

My fave cheap meal - pasta and either sauce made of garlic, tinned tomatoes, chilli and basil or garlic, mushrooms, cream and parsley. A wee bit of parmesan desired in both cases. TBH, I wouldn't feel ashamed serving these to a guest, if done with sufficient care and consideration to the accompanying veg. My mum doesn't much care for mushrooms but she loved the mushroom pasta when I served her it.
 
I often cook sausage in a pan in the oven, the fatty run off obviously can't go down the drain or on my plate. Then I eye my dogs scientifically prepared all in one dried mix of joyless dried food and imagine myself having to live on dried museli forever. So the fat goes on the dog food


'Tanks wolfed his dinner right down today, thats unusual' comments ma

'Must be hungry I suppose'

*innocent whistle*
 
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Another use for the fatty run off is to cook the Yorkshire pudding batter for toad in the hole.
 
dhal and chapatties is one of my cheap favourites - chapatties are v easy to make. Also, shop herbs are expensive and herbs are easy to grow on a windowsill - there are usually loads of seeds in a packet so sharing cuts the cost. Fresh herbs brighten pretty much any dish. Aldi often have great cheap seeds.
 
A lot of ground covered already but I would always say get big bags of dried lentils, chickpeas, and big bags of spices from the forrin foods shops, and make chickpeas in bulk. I've started doing this after a recommendation by May and am eating way more of them now. Cheap!

Cheap chickpea eats: falafels in 25p for 6 pitta breads, salad, home-made garlic mayo. Chickpea and spinach curry.

^ on that subject - fresh garlic can go off if you don't use much. Buy minced garlic - again from the forrin foods section in local supermarket (if you live in the sticks like wot I do). It's something like £1.39 for a massive jar of it - lasts ages, DEAD versatile.

Yep, freeze chillis - fine.
 
Yetman said:
My mate came home a while ago and found the dog had drank the entire contents of the chip pan. It wasn't even sick! So yep, your probably right :cool:
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If I leave our frying pan out after using it, one of my cats has got her snout in it faster than you can fucking turn around!
 
Is pasta and ketchup not the easiest cheapest meal of them all?

I had a freind who use to mix gravy granules into smash for dinner...... you can imagine what that looked like.
 
9p super noodles! With half a smart price stock cube crushed in. On toast.

Ketchup pasta sounds abominable :p

I tend to make chips and beans with bread and butter when skint, or a cheap thick soup made with whatever various sorts of beans are in the cupboard, a tin of tomatoes, whatever potatoes are left, cubed, with spices and mixed herbs :cool:
 
Do they still have unmarked tin shops?

I believe there was one in tooting, it was about 9p a tin, but none of the tins had labels on :D
 
Cheesypoof said:
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).
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I'd say the key is when you have a few quid stock up on pulses, dried beans, herbs & spices, flours and a few tins of tomatoes. That way you always can make a decent meal.
The cheapest would be lentil dahl and homemade chapati - lentils, onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric and garam masala and a few chillies or chilli paste. The bread is just chapati flour and water and a bit of oil. Costs pence and tastes great.
I'm a bit of a smug twat and don't buy ready meals or much processed food. You can make most better and cheaper if you make them yourself :)
 
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many disparage the ready meal as cheaper and easier to do yourself, but I know its far more hassle to make your own lasagne. And if you do make it, its wastrel to make a one man serving so you have to make a 'serves three'.

For a single person doing their own grub, a lot of the cheaper bulk buy bulk cook ideas are simply uneconomical. Unless you have a big freezer- but as a single person you are likely in a shared house, with limited freezing space.

It's not always the healthiest option, but the ready meal is often the economic choice.

Thats for complex ones though. A sausage and mash ready meal is a bit pointless.
 
DotCommunist said:
many disparage the ready meal as cheaper and easier to do yourself, but I know its far more hassle to make your own lasagne. And if you do make it, its wastrel to make a one man serving so you have to make a 'serves three'.

For a single person doing their own grub, a lot of the cheaper bulk buy bulk cook ideas are simply uneconomical. Unless you have a big freezer- but as a single person you are likely in a shared house, with limited freezing space.

It's not always the healthiest option, but the ready meal is often the economic choice.

Thats for complex ones though. A sausage and mash ready meal is a bit pointless.
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As a veggie I've yet to find a ready made lasagne that comes even close to what I make. :) Like you say, when I do make one it gets portioned up and the left overs go in the freezer. For the hour or so it takes to make I end up with 6 big meals or 4 for me and 4 smaller ones for my daughter (or sometimes I make two and have shit loads). The slight hassle of making it once, is negated all the other times I can just grab one out the freezer. :thumbs:
 
Just got some cheap corned beef from Home Bargains. Thinking of doing something 'different' with it - can you make corned beef meatballs? :hmm:
 
Fez909 said:
Looks disgusting, but I imagine it tastes nice.

Defo not Tuesday evening in Summer food, though.
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Yeah that picture's rubbish, the stovies of my youth more resembles potato dauphinois to look at. Although I will concede your second point.
 
wests tinned stewing steak in gravy is fucking disgraceful in pricing nowadays, especially because once opened it is virtually indistinguishable from brand name dog food.

I'd eat it, I see food as a necessary chore most of the time- but how are they selling dog food at double the price? the swine.
 
Fez909 said:
Just got some cheap corned beef from Home Bargains. Thinking of doing something 'different' with it - can you make corned beef meatballs? :hmm:
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I was down to 2 potatoes, 3 carrots and a tin of corned beef. I grated the carrots and cooked them with the corned, and had it with chips... I was pleasantly surprised :cool:
 
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