Money saving cookery

[MrCurry]

So everything is going up and up in price and even switching the oven on for an hour or two seems expensive now that electricity has gone up in price so much, which has got me focusing more than ever on what dinner costs and how to put good food on the table for less. It made me wonder if a thread for sharing recipes which deliver good “bang for the buck” might be worthwhile?

I’m not veggie or vegan, but one unexpected effect of this approach is I’m finding we are eating veggie more often, as the most expensive ingredient gets cut out of meat based recipes and I’m substituting lentils or carrots or other veg instead of meat. I’ve recently made lentil and carrot lasagne and lentil bolognese instead of minced beef versions and while it’s not the same, the price per portion is quite a lot lower.

Just about the cheapest meal I know, which can also taste like italian restaurant food is spaghetti aglio e olio, as demoed well by Mr Foodwishes in this somewhat old but still pretty good video



…would be great if people have other ideas to add for lower cost, but appealing meals.

 

[Skim]

Great idea, MrCurry!

One of my favourite cheap meals is black bean stuffed sweet potatoes:

Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes | Easy Vegan Recipe | Two Spoons

This recipe uses avocados, which aren’t cheap, but it works well without. As an alternative to avo, you could mash/whizz up some frozen peas and mint and it would still work.

 

[petee]

So everything is going up and up in price and even switching the oven on for an hour or two seems expensive now that electricity has gone up in price so much, which has got me focusing more than ever on what dinner costs and how to put good food on the table for less. It made me wonder if a thread for sharing recipes which deliver good “bang for the buck” might be worthwhile?

I’m not veggie or vegan, but one unexpected effect of this approach is I’m finding we are eating veggie more often, as the most expensive ingredient gets cut out of meat based recipes and I’m substituting lentils or carrots or other veg instead of meat. I’ve recently made lentil and carrot lasagne and lentil bolognese instead of minced beef versions and while it’s not the same, the price per portion is quite a lot lower.

Just about the cheapest meal I know, which can also taste like italian restaurant food is spaghetti aglio e olio, as demoed well by Mr Foodwishes in this somewhat old but still pretty good video



…would be great if people have other ideas to add for lower cost, but appealing meals.

love me some aglio e olio.

 

[AnnaKarpik]

I make something like this quite often - cheese and potato pie cheese onion potato bake recipe

It makes four portions as a main course or six as a side dish for us; we quite often eat it with vegetables and gravy.
While the oven is on I put in an equally large dish of potatoes boulangere - equal quantities of sliced potatoes and onions in stock with a bit of garlic and butter, or anything else you fancy. I use the same potato to liquid ratio as the first recipe and bake covered with foil. Both recipes freeze well.

Dahl also freezes well, good one here - One-pan coconut dhal recipe | BBC Good Food

Three bean salad - can of beans, about 300g any combination of green beans, broad beans or peas lightly cooked and cooled, any other raw ingredient you fancy (sliced pappadew peppers!), standard vinaigrette and take the leftovers for lunch. Add hard boiled eggs, feta or meaty things as you please.

And on the principle of stuffing the oven if it is going to be used, jacket potatoes freeze well too so that quiche or double batch of cake is never on its own.

 

[moose]

If I was on a tight budget, I would literally have aglio e olio every day. Even if I wasn't on a tight budget but didn't have to cook for others.

I put lemon zest in mine, though, which is probably called something different.

 

[MrCurry]

I make something like this quite often - cheese and potato pie cheese onion potato bake recipe

It makes four portions as a main course or six as a side dish for us; we quite often eat it with vegetables and gravy.
While the oven is on I put in an equally large dish of potatoes boulangere - equal quantities of sliced potatoes and onions in stock with a bit of garlic and butter, or anything else you fancy. I use the same potato to liquid ratio as the first recipe and bake covered with foil. Both recipes freeze well.

Dahl also freezes well, good one here - One-pan coconut dhal recipe | BBC Good Food

Three bean salad - can of beans, about 300g any combination of green beans, broad beans or peas lightly cooked and cooled, any other raw ingredient you fancy (sliced pappadew peppers!), standard vinaigrette and take the leftovers for lunch. Add hard boiled eggs, feta or meaty things as you please.

And on the principle of stuffing the oven if it is going to be used, jacket potatoes freeze well too so that quiche or double batch of cake is never on its own.

I love the idea of the cheese and onion potato bake. And the dhal is a great suggestion as veggie Indian food tastes just as good as meat based curries and a big bag of red lentils is very economical. On a similar theme I’m sure a huge bag of dried chickpeas can still to be had in the world foods section of the supermarket, and soaked overnight then cooked in a pressure cooker they are just as good as tinned chickpeas and would make a great chana masala to go with the dhal and rice.

Bean salad isn’t the kind of food I’ve ever tried, but maybe I should change that.

 

[MrCurry]

Great idea, MrCurry!

One of my favourite cheap meals is black bean stuffed sweet potatoes:

Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes | Easy Vegan Recipe | Two Spoons

This recipe uses avocados, which aren’t cheap, but it works well without. As an alternative to avo, you could mash/whizz up some frozen peas and mint and it would still work.

Looks awesome

 

[sojourner]

If I was on a tight budget, I would literally have aglio e olio every day. Even if I wasn't on a tight budget but didn't have to cook for others.

I put lemon zest in mine, though, which is probably called something different.

I put chopped finger chillis in mine, but that's probably called something different too.

 

[Skim]

Another good one is this three-bean Mexican chili, which is really good with white rice, or tortilla chips (or both). Would also work as a jacket spud filling, although the energy used to cook the spud probably costs more than the price of the potato…

Three bean mexican chilli | BBC Good Food

 

[Part 2]

On a similar theme to the OP. Marmie spaghetti. If you don't like marmite it could also be made with any other stock or bovril I expect. I throw mushtooms and brocolli or Kale in mine. It's been one of few things I can taste post covid.

Spaghetti With Marmite

I came across this recipe in Anna Del Conte's memoirs, Risotto with Nettles. Now, there are so many recipes I could borrow from her, and many I have, but this is the one I have to show you here. She introduces it as hardly a recipe, but I wanted to include it because I haven't as yet found a...

www.nigella.com

 

[MrCurry]

On a similar theme to the OP. Marmie spaghetti. If you don't like marmite it could also be made with any other stock or bovril I expect. I throw mushtooms and brocolli or Kale in mine. It's been one of few things I can taste post covid.

Spaghetti With Marmite

I came across this recipe in Anna Del Conte's memoirs, Risotto with Nettles. Now, there are so many recipes I could borrow from her, and many I have, but this is the one I have to show you here. She introduces it as hardly a recipe, but I wanted to include it because I haven't as yet found a...

www.nigella.com

as a marmite lover I bet that’s pretty good actually. Will have to try it with a lunch sized portion as a dip the toe in the water experiment

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Another good one is this three-bean Mexican chili, which is really good with white rice, or tortilla chips (or both). Would also work as a jacket spud filling, although the energy used to cook the spud probably costs more than the price of the potato…

Three bean mexican chilli | BBC Good Food

My go to is very similar but I scale it up - I usually use six tins of beans (2 kidney, 2 black beans, couple of others) plus one or two tins of green lentils. Still only one can of tomatoes though, you get plenty of liquid from the beans. Similar for the rest but I add in some honey (maple syrup is better but we're talking cheap here) and Henderson's Relish (you could use Worcestershire Sauce outside Sheffield but you'd lose the veggieness - Hendos is veggie). You can freeze what's left. Good for burritos too if you get some wraps.

ETA: Oh and it should properly use Cayenne pepper not dried chilli flakes as per their recipe.

 

[moomoo]

If I was on a tight budget, I would literally have aglio e olio every day. Even if I wasn't on a tight budget but didn't have to cook for others.

I put lemon zest in mine, though, which is probably called something different.

That looks delicious! I’m going to make that tomorrow.

Beans near toast is my favourite meal when I’m hard up. It’s vastly underrated.

 

[Part 2]

Beans near toast is my favourite meal when I’m hard up. It’s vastly underrated.

Yea I just bought a tray of Branston beans at Farmfoods. £3.99 for 12 tins.

 

[A380]

On a similar theme to the OP. Marmie spaghetti. If you don't like marmite it could also be made with any other stock or bovril I expect. I throw mushtooms and brocolli or Kale in mine. It's been one of few things I can taste post covid.

Spaghetti With Marmite

I came across this recipe in Anna Del Conte's memoirs, Risotto with Nettles. Now, there are so many recipes I could borrow from her, and many I have, but this is the one I have to show you here. She introduces it as hardly a recipe, but I wanted to include it because I haven't as yet found a...

www.nigella.com

Was going to post this ^^^

You also can’t do much better than beans on toast.

 

[sojourner]

You also can’t do much better than beans on toast.

Poached egg on beans on cheese on toast! Keep you going 24 hours that lot!

 

[A380]

Poached egg on beans on cheese on toast! Keep you going 24 hours that lot!

Cheese or beans on first?

 

[AverageJoe]

Literally beat me to it

 

[what]

As its summer in the UK its a great time to eat food that needs little no or minimal cooking. Cheapest food wherever I have moved is that which serves the communities who live there. My local community has large middle eastern, turkish cypriot etc background. So this time of year meals are often bits and pieces like hoummous, tasziki, flat breads, feta, salad, olives etc.
Some of those like houmous and flat breads you can make very cheaply yourself.

 

[JimW]

This is one of our local staples and you can make cheaper versions with cheap cuts of meat or veggie like I do as I don't eat meat. bean paste might not be in everyone's kitchen but keeps forever and a little goes a long way. You can make a batch of the sauce and it'll keep in the fridge for a week or two fine so you can have something quick when you're knackered and doesn't take much cooking:

Zha Jiang Mian (炸酱面): Beijing’s signature noodles

Pork cubes in a salty, fragrant sauce, served with noodles and various vegetables, Zha Jiang Mian is a signature Beijing dish full of flavour and freshness.

redhousespice.com

You can buy fresh made noodles so cheap here don't make our own but it's actually so easy even I can do it but like a lt of these things probably takes a few tries to get the right feel.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

…would be great if people have other ideas to add for lower cost, but appealing meals.

Half a dozen boiled eggs makes a good meal. Quick and healthy.

 

[A380]

Half a dozen boiled eggs makes a good meal. Quick and healthy.

Saves on toilet paper too.

 

[Epona]

Frittata (I usually add red onion and cheese, but you could pop any sort of veg or leftover bits of meat in there tbh), boiled potatoes (new or old) crushed with garlic and butter and whatever herbs you fancy, and a bit of salad is a lovely budget meal - the frittata I make when we are a bit skint could stretch to 4 portions with a good amount of potatoes and salad. Beans and chips also works as an accompaniment.

Morrisons do 3 bags of not too terrible frozen fish for a tenner and we typically get 2 basa (6 fillets per bag) and 1 smoked haddock (4 fillets) - that's 16 fillets of fish for £10 and although you wouldn't fry it as a centrepiece to a meal like you would a lovely bit of fresh fish, it is fine for stuff like fish soups/stews/pies/mornay type dishes/curries etc. and with other ingredients (veg, lentils etc). you can make it go a long way.

 

[moose]

That looks delicious! I’m going to make that tomorrow.

Beans near toast is my favourite meal when I’m hard up. It’s vastly underrated.

It took me years to move from beans near toast to beans on toast, and I only do that when I’m in public.

 

[moomoo]

It took me years to move from beans near toast to beans on toast, and I only do that when I’m in public.

I don’t even do that in public. If I order beans in a cafe then I ask for them in a separate bowl.

 

[Cloo]

Doesn't get much cheaper than leek and potato soup. I use (roughly) my mum's recipe, which is approximately:

1 large carrot peeled and sliced into discs

1 medium potato (I find it's creamiest with red potatos) peeled and chopped into small cubes

2 large leeks chopped

c750ml veg stock

Heat tbsp butter and tbsp olive oil on low heat - add potato and carrot and stir for about 10 mins until soft. Add leeks and stir 5 mins or so, cover with stock, bring to boil then let it simmer for 25 mins, blend, done.

Makes 2 big bowls or 4 small ones and is pretty filling served with a roll or slice of toast. Tastes better if made a day or two before eating usually.

Made this a lot an uni and it made people think I could cook

 

[l'Otters]

Saving on fuel for cooking too?

If you’ve got well fitting lids for the pans you can turn the heat off once it’s come to the boil and things like lentils and rice will continue cooking.

You can take this concept further and put a pan in an insulated surround for proper passive cooking. I seem to remember people making a pan container within a bale of straw or something along those lines.

Slightly less bulky and messy, you can also get insulated bags to put the pan in. Someone on a van dwellers forum was recommending them. Bit of an outlay for a ready made one but I reckon if you can sew it wouldn’t be too hard to make one.

I read about solar ovens… looked like too much faff tbh.

 

[Part 2]

Flatbreads are easy, cheap and really nice with just yoghurt and self raising flour. Good with any of your Dahl recipes instead of rice aswell. My mate also rolls the dough very thin for pizza bases but they go too crispy for my liking and cooking time is a lot longer if you're limiting oven time.

Quick and Easy Yoghurt Flatbreads {No Yeast}

These super quick and easy yoghurt flatbreads are made with just three ingredients! These light and fluffy flatbreads are great with curries, soups & stews.

www.cookitrealgood.com

 

[MrCurry]

Saving on fuel for cooking too?

If you’ve got well fitting lids for the pans you can turn the heat off once it’s come to the boil and things like lentils and rice will continue cooking.

You can take this concept further and put a pan in an insulated surround for proper passive cooking. I seem to remember people making a pan container within a bale of straw or something along those lines.

Slightly less bulky and messy, you can also get insulated bags to put the pan in. Someone on a van dwellers forum was recommending them. Bit of an outlay for a ready made one but I reckon if you can sew it wouldn’t be too hard to make one.

I read about solar ovens… looked like too much faff tbh.

That’s one of those ideas that sounds extreme at first, but once you’ve got a good insulated saucepan I suppose you’re saving every time you even boil potatoes for mash. You’ve got me wondering about one of those big 25cm thick polystyrene sheets you can get from B&Q type places, which are meant to be laid down as floor insulation. A circular hole the size of the saucepan so it drops into the hole with its handles level with the top of the sheet and once your spuds come to a boil you could probably turn the hob down to 1 and the pan would stay boiling, because where is there for the heat to go?

It wouldn’t work on a normal radiant heat type hob, not on gas either, but with my induction hob I reckon it’s feasible.

 

[ash]

You can’t beat a Dahl for cheap food - there are so many different recipies Online.
I also agree with Cloo about the soup. Another one is red lentils and tinned toms plus any veg. I often just use the veg we have in the fridge with or without red lentils.