Frugal meals

[Benny&Co]

I like to make a nice salad out of a tin of tuna and a tin of mixed beans, just mix together with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, bit of S&P and some fresh herbs and some tomato/cucumber/onion if you've got it too.

Usually can't finish the whole lot, so put in a box in the fridge till the next day - then I'll add more tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, onion whatever I've got in

[Orfy]

Last nights meal of Sausage, mash and roasted veggies was around 70p a portion.
All shop bought.

[Scorpiod]

Any left overs here either get eaten the next day, or frozen, no matter how little there is left.

Frozen veg here too.

When I make Yorkshire puds I make an extra 4 and then freeze them.

A quick and cheap meal that the kids love is pasta, left over chicken, any veggies that have a small amount left in the bag, and some passata, mix it all up and viola, and cheap and quick meal.

[Mo]

When i do a joint I find there is resistance to having the same meat every day of the next week - cold with chips, stew, pie, mince in a shepherds pie, casserole, curried etc. "But we had lamb/pork/whatever yesterday"
So when i get towards the end of the week I freeze some and bring it out when I need a change. Should really freeze it the day after I've cooked it I suppose.

Quite frugal really compared to the original roast - we tend to eat lots of meat as roast, less i the made-up dishes.

[Hellebore]

I am not a vegetarian but lately have made some absolutely delicious veggie meals that cost very little to make. The moroccan vegetable tagine type recipes with herbs and spices are especially tasty. As well as having to shop more wisely I have recently had a heart attack and been advised to cut down on red meat, it must be 3 weeks since I last ate any and can honestly say I haven't missed it.

[LynneP]

Side dish to last a couple a week:

Clean, chop and boil a cauliflower and a broccoli. Drain well and mix with one tin of cream of mushroom soup and up to 2C of shredded cheese of any kind, in shallow casserole or in several rondelles. Cook at 350F until the top and edges are bubbly crispy.

or

For zucchini (courgette?) overload:

Stir-fry diced onions, zucchini and fresh tomatoes in a pan with oil, then place in shallow casserole or loaf pans and top with a mixture of shredded cheese. Once baked at 350F for bit it is delicious with chicken, beef, fish or pork and freezes well too.

[Spreckly]

We have at least two omelettes a week, with mushroom, onion, and some grated cheese. I cook potatoes and one other veg to go with them. Eggs potatoes, and onion are from our hens/garden at present.

Toad in the hole is another cheap meal, with own eggs. OH has the sausages, I just eat the half with a chopped mushroom in. Plus potato and one other veg.

[Spreckly]

Forgotten this one. Flat mate and I cooked it regularly when we were struggling on a low wage.

It is basically potato and onion, cut into rings. Layer the potato and onion in a saucepan. Pour on milk to cover, add salt and pepper, and simmer. It is delicious.

We also had a cauliflower cheese regularly, but the current price of cauliflowers is a bit steep.

[kankel]

I get a ham joint and put it in the slow cooker,

1st night is hot ham with veg and yorkshiers
2nd night is cold ham with salad/jacket potato

We also have ham sandwiches for lunch for 3 days....

You can do the same with a beef joint.

[Orfy]

I don't think there'll be too much bbqing weather anytime soon so I have a few standyby bits to use up.

Quality burgers cooked on a griddle and cut into strips,
half an onion and a pepper dry chargrilled in a frying pan, add olive oil, garlic, a small chopped chilli, a sprinkle of papricka a bit of diced tomato and some green leaf herb to taste.

Serve in a wrap with a bit of lettuce and it's a very tastey filling meal.

[Mrs B]

Oooh I like that one Orfy, good for bonfire night or halloween.

[Babycakes]

Last weekend I did a couple of bits of chicken from the freezer in stock (from a value stock cube), threw in the end of a bag of (value) mixed frozen veg and boiled some spuds. Thicken the stock with some gravy granules (also value range)
Voila! Chicken casserole and mashes spuds that even my lot ate!

[Orfy]

It doesn't come more frugal than this, especially if the spuds are from the allotment.

Gnocchi.

A bit of potato and flour. Much easier and quicker to make than pasta and is a good filler.

Some people add an egg I don't bother.
I make a spicy tomato sauce to go with it and serve with or without a little meat.

Good if you've got kids because you can get them to make it.

[Skywise]

I love gnocchi and make it quite often. Luckily we always get a good crop of tomatoes which I freeze during the summer and then use to make tomato sauce (or tomato soup) during the winter.

At the moment, Morrisons are selling packs of lamb bones for about £1.50 which I use to make cawl. I just put the bones in the slow cooker with a pack of diced lamb (coz hubby won't eat the meat from the bones and insists on diced lamb - idiot boy that he is ) then chuck in a chopped onion, some chopped up carrots, some chopped celery - well chopped whatever rooty sort of veg you have lying around, salt, pepper, a bouquet garni of whatever herbs are still around, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a pint or so of stock. Let it bubble away all day and then fish out the bones, pour into a large saucepan, bring to the boil and add a couple of chopped potatoes and some dumplings.

Absolutely to die for and really, really cheap thanks to the lamb bones. I also make it with scrag end of lamb which I think gives the best flavour but, again, hubby's not too keen on the bones!

The other thing I use tons of is stale breadcrumbs - I never throw bread away unless it's turning green. It's great for making burgers with left over roast meat (or turkey mince which is cheap and very good for you) and for suetty, steamed puddings. F'rinstance tonight we're having spotted dick and custard for pudding which is using up the last of the loaf I bought on Friday which has now gone stale. Fantastic stuff - stale bread. If I'm not going to use it straight away then I "breadcrumb" it and stick it in the freezer til I need it.

[paddy graham]

I love breast of lamb,to make a roast just take the bones and fat away,save the bones for a stock,then you can stuff and roll the breast for roasting,but to me the best way of cooking it is to boil the de-boned breast with leeks and carrot(onions are to strong a taste for this),season and thicken the gravy and let it go cold,make the pastry and put in the mix or just freeze the stew and use as and when.Dont know how much you pay for a breast of lamb over your way,but I pay just 1euro from the local butcher.