Beat Jamie at his own game!

[ajs88]

the bacon veg bake sounds divine, will defiantly try.

all of us seem to make dinner for less then £5 per meal. these are my 'rules' what are yours?

1. mark downs
2. crush your chicken bones before boiling (get all of that lovely marrow out) for stock & add all veg peelings and stalks etc.
3. make a white sauce
4. cut up an uncooked chicken into portions
5. cut sausages down the side and open up (butterfly) to make them fill the plate more (healthier too) you can sprinkle herbs on as well
6. home made burgers and fish cakes
7. vegetable bakes
8. eggs can make a great dinner
9. go to lidl or local market
10. frozen lamb can make a great curry
11. 'ethnic' shops for spices, herbs, rice, pulses and olive oil
12. jerk seasoning and oyster sauce both go a long way

[Milims]

I hadn't thought about crushing the chicken bones before making stock - I'll try that! Another store cupboard thing I have in is Anchovy paste - I can really change or zip up the flavour of dishes and it's not at all expensive!
For tonights tea it's Pollo Romana
Sauteed onion, garlic and reduced to clear mushrooms. Add 2 tins chopped tomatoes and some Italian seasoning or oregano. A good shake of fresh ground black pepper (it's supposed to have a bit of a kick) and the pickings from the chicken carcass. Then just before serving add either cream, fromage frais or creme fresh - or anything similar you have in the fridge. Serve with pasta! Yummy!

[Loobyloo]

Oooh Milims that sounds lovely!! I bet it'd be nice with garlicy roasted potato cubes too. and parmasan on top

hmm really hungry now!!

[ajs88]

that sounds lovely

were having a mince beef stew with red onion, garlic, celery, carrot, peas (basically whatever was in the fridge), a tin of tomatoes, oxo cube, pepper and dried herbs, with rice.

one that i forgot: cous cous, the cheap alternative to rice. and much quicker to cook as well, i had some last night as a tabbouleh

[flyonthewall]

Leftover roast chicken is made into chicken fried rice with egg and peas, which is even a favourite with OH's extremely food fussy daughter.

OH is a massive meat eater whereas I used to be vegetarian and will happily only eat meat once or twice a week. I make casserole bases in my slow cooker from veggies and dried pulses, then I'll get some beef brisket or something and slow cook that - I'll split the base and add meat to OH's portions whereas I'll eat the veggie stuff.

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Wonderful thread that I will scrutinise, as my food budget - no, make that the everything household budget - has gone down to £200 a month for six people. Thank god one of them's still on breastmilk lol!

[Big Al]

Well we certainly have beaten Jamie at his own bloody game this week. We have just made the mortgage requirment so we had £8.36 left to feed two of us for 5 days. As an unadulterated foodie I was really sad that in the 21st century in the worlds 4th richest country people have to try and eek out 5 days food rations for 2 people [so that's at a minimum 10 meals] on a measily £8.36.

It was hard doing the shopping yesterday with a calculator but the up side is we might / should lose a few pounds in weight between us but we should be able to manage until pay day on wednesday.

All I can say is thank goodness for Asda, marmite and recycled tea bags.......

[Green Aura]

Oh Al, sorry to hear times are tough. Time to raid the cupboards, get out everything and see what you can make with it. I've mentioned earlier that picallili risotto and spaghetti with oil and garlic are good. You can get salad greens - dandelions etc - for free.

And make sure you visit all your friends and family at lunch or dinnertime Come to think of it we've had a troupe of neighbours passing through our doors at mealtimes all this week!

[MrsD'ville mkII]

I must admit I don't actually cost out my meals, but we've worked out we eat for an average of £1 per person per meal, which usually would be £5 as there are five weaned people in the family!

I don't have rigid food rules, but I do things such as:

• Put away unserved food before we eat so that we aren't tempted to have seconds
  If I'm grating cheese I cut off the chunk then grate it, otherwise I can merrily go through 2/3 of a block without realising
  Buy food in as unprocessed a state as possible
  Always give 'value' products a try as some are absolutely fine whereas others aren't worth the saving as you have to use twice as much
  Work on a repeating weekly menu so that certain foods come round frequently and I don't end up with a pantry full of once-used expensive ingredients
  See if I can make a home-made substitute to expensive luxuries like pesto
  Buy in bulk from the wholefood warehouse

Am now off to peruse the list of meals while I eat my supper of wheat-free pasta (my one luxury as wheat exacerbates Max's colic) with SD's tomato/oil/herb creation pesto-substitute, cheese and avocado!

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Just reading through...

I bought an £8-odd free range chook the other day and it fed three of us for a roast dinner (DH and SS are veggie so it was me, DD and SD), then I cut four generous breast portions and froze them for DD's packed lunches, and the rest was picked off and will go for a curry. Love curry as you can use cheap rice and store cupboard spices and rustle up some bombay potato and it feels like a feast.

We make our own peanut butter - I guess you could add another 'food rule' that we make all our own jams and peanut butter. Usually make marm too, but as DS was just a month old at the end of Jan when the Seville oranges come in we let ourselves off this year. We've inherited lots of strawb plants and rasp canes in our garden and masses of blackberries grew locally. DH roasts the peanuts when the oven is on for something like baked pots. Always make every effort to use the oven for more than one thing but try to avoid using it wherever poss.

Sadly I've found the local greengrocer far more expensive than the supermarket. I was staggered to see cauliflower at a whopping 99p in Msons, and then horrified to see it at £1.20 in the gg. We live in an inexpensive part of the world, but our nearest town has a rather chi-chi, foody and quaint reputation, which seems to translate into charging an arm and a leg for food.

had to laugh at the Margeurite Patten book refs. She once terrified me when I tried to get a recipe book signed by her as a kid and it's entered family folklore! I'd always assumed she put together smart, expensive recipes - is that not the case?

Last thought - mine to the bottom of the freezer every once in a while and eat/use up all the odds and ends you stuck in there thinking they'd be useful at some point. Ditto the back of the pantry/fridge.

[HennyPenny]

Just to say I am really enjoying reading this thread and getting some new ideas for cheap meals.

different recipe for bacon hotpot..

slice onions, carrots lengthways and tomatoes.
Layer in a caserole dish with bacon, finish with a layer of tomatoes.
Pour over chicken stock and put a lid on.
bung in the oven for an hour

Lovely!

[Clara]

We make our own peanut butter ...

OT - Mrs D'ville I'd be interested to know what you use to make nut butter, I have a thing for hazelnut butter but it's really expensive and there is the question of what to do with the proceeds of 34 walnut trees! Wanting to get a food processor capable of making nut butters but been hoping for a recommendation. Have you tried making other nut butters with yours?

[Clara]

Well we certainly have beaten Jamie at his own bloody game this week. We have just made the mortgage requirment so we had £8.36 left to feed two of us for 5 days. As an unadulterated foodie I was really sad that in the 21st century in the worlds 4th richest country people have to try and eek out 5 days food rations for 2 people [so that's at a minimum 10 meals] on a measily £8.36.

It was hard doing the shopping yesterday with a calculator but the up side is we might / should lose a few pounds in weight between us but we should be able to manage until pay day on wednesday.

All I can say is thank goodness for Asda, marmite and recycled tea bags.......

I recommend dhal and rice until the crisis is over

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Clara, we use redskin peanuts, bought in 25kg sacks from the wholefood warehouse. DH roasts them then batters hell out of them in the food processor. It's nothing flash but does have a strong motor, that's the main consideration. He adds a touch of sugar and salt and that's all. We've never tried other nut butters simply because we don't have the means to buy other nuts. With five of us confirmed beanut putter eaters we get through a lot!

[clare]

Have read all the posts and recipes and glad I am not alone feeling £5 is alot of cash for one meal and also glad I am not the only one to have gone to the super market with a calculator!!
My contribution to the cheap meal recipes is:Spinach pasta Bake for 4-6 people.

cook and drain about 12oz penne and put in a shallow dish (roasting tin size)
pour over a small block of passata(or whizz your own)
sprinkle evenly 1 tsp each of mixed herbs,nutmeg and cinnamon.
Make 1 pint of bechemel sauce and put in 250 g of spinach until wilted.
Pour this over the top ,sprinkle with grated cheese and bake at 200c until golden brown.
serve with salad and to feed 6 serve with garlic bread and salad.could even do 8 people if they don't eat as much as my hubby!