In order to afford a new bike for my summer alpine trip, I need to really cut down on my outgoings this month, so I need lots of variety in cheap but still good recipes to keep me on the straight and narrow path to biking nirvana.

Just make one-pot meals in bulk…chillis, bolognese, separate and freeze – as even the nicest chilli is boring after two days.

Also, if you like eggs, omelettes are surprisingly cheap and tasty and can be a meal on a plate by themselves.

If you desperately need protein in your diet, consider bulking out chillis and bologneses with Quorn (unless you can’t stand the thought of it, but it’s cheaper than decent mince).

consider bulking out chillis and bologneses with Quorn

If you do this, bear in mind that you can’t stew it for hours like you can with mince, it just turns to mush.

I tend to fry it off separately, sling some sort of stock / gravy at it for a minute and then pitch it into the bolognese /chilli a couple of minutes before it’s done cooking.

Cheese and onion pie
Meat pie
Meat and potato pie
Steak pie
Steak and kidney pie
Pork pie
Fish pie.

‘A pie a day helps the weight go away’

Pasta & Soup together is a good cheap meal.

Roasting a whole chicken is much better value than buying breasts, legs etc. I get 3 meals out of a roast chicken – a roast dinner, then shred up the leftover meat and make chicken fried rice, and use the carcass to make chicken stock as a soup base.

bulk out stews/soups with pearl barley or country mix (pulses & small pasta pieces).

do chilli stew etc. but bulk it out with double beans & half meat portions.

Pasta & Soup together is a good cheap meal.

can of borlotti beans,
some olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 basil leaves
1 rosemary sprig
1 litre veg or chicken stock
1 red chilli, chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
Salt and pepper
150g of small pasta of some sort

Fry the onions til soft and a bit browned
blend half the tin of beans with a splash of water, the chopped chilli and rosemary and the tomato pure.
add that mush and stock and the rest of the beans and everything else bar the pasta and bring to the boil

add the pasta and cook for 8 mins then turn of the heat, put the lid on and leave for half an hour before you eat.

Really lovely and filling, tastes like much more than the sum of its parts and curiously tastes quite meaty – almost oxtail-y

Double the amount of pasta and do everything else the same and its a pasta dish.

Another quick and filling thing: PanManMark’s Polish Eggs with Maccruiskeen’s Beans

Two pans on the go:

Fry onions, a chilli and oregano in pan one til soft

Fry garlic, chilli and either rosemary or thyme in pan two, then add a can or flageolet or cannelini beans and simmer for 5 mins

Scramble six eggs into the onions in pan one

Put a splash of red wine vinegar into pan 2 as you take it off the heat

Put them both of thick brown toast

Homemade pizzas (bases are very easy to make)

Vegetable curries with rice (dhanzak is a good one) and a few assorted pickles. If you make a vat of garlicky daal you can freeze it and use it as a base for curries or have it with homemade kebabs and a cheeky kingfisher.

Cottage pies bulked out with a tin of tomatoes and a tin of beans

spanish omelette..?

potatoes, eggs, add some veg and maybe cheese or tuna

When I had just left school in the late 80s and was claiming unemployment benefit, me and a couple of buddies had decided that a trip to Amsterdam would be the most appropriate long term solution to our spiritual and financial crisis..

So one week, we pooled our giros and invested in a couple of crates of baked beans, a 55lb sack of spuds and our own combined bodyweight in bacon..
This was to be our staple diet for the next 2 months which would enable us to save enough dough for our adventure..

Needless to say, after a couple of weeks we all had some problems with our digestive systems, and had spent all our savings on hash and crisps and chocolate..
Later on some hippies advised TVP (textured vegetable protein) as a cheap food source.. We didn’t take any further advice from them after trying it..

Pasta & Soup together is a good cheap meal.

Yeah – pasta and half a tin of *condensed* chicken/mushroom soup. Done.

Or pasta with a tin of chopped tomatoes bunged in, add a healthy doppop of chilli flakes and you’re sorted.

Soda bread

Tbsp lemon juice
200 Ml milk
1 large egg
Tbsp of honey
Tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
450 grams strong plain flour or 50/50 mix of strong white and whole

Lemon juice in a jug add milk stir stand for 5 mins
Dry ingredients mixed in a bowl
Add egg and honey and milk into a well in flour
Mix and turn out onto floured work surface and lightly knead
Make into any shape you fancy, with a sharp knife carve rhe outline of a bike on the top dust with flour and bake in oven on a floured tray for 40 mins 200 c’gas mark 5

Take some beans, and put them on some toast.

Et voila, beans on toast.

Or pasta with a tin of chopped tomatoes bunged in, add a healthy doppop of chilli flakes and you’re sorted.

or two tins of tomatoes, some chilli, rosemary and garlic (and a bit of anchovy paste if you have some) and reduce it down a bit before you put the pasta in.

or two tins of tomatoes, some chilli, rosemary and garlic (and a bit of anchovy paste if you have some) and reduce it down a bit before you put the pasta in.

Absolutely – I was just going for the cheapest and easiest route. If I was going to put more stuff in, I’d start with onion and garlic to go with the chilli.

Carrot, cumin and red lentil soup for 4 – 6:

2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch chilli flakes
600g carrots, peeled and grated
140g split red lentils
1 litre stock (made from your chicken carcass as suggested by littlemisspanda)
125ml milk

plain yogurt to serve

Toast your cumin seeds until they smell fragrant, add chilli flakes, stir then add carrots. Dry fry for a minute then add the lentils, milk and stock. Bring to boil and simmer until lentils are cooked. Blitz and serve with a dollop of fresh yogurt and some toasted cumin seeds. Cheap and delish.

Don’t eat.

Nuts & fruit

Shit load of water

and my student staple – rice, chopped toms & an egg on top

cut out meant and eat lots of pulses you bought and cooked yourself – curries for example
Lentil Dal
Chick pea
Make your own Hummous [ spell?]
Soups – Broth mix and some cheap veg from the market= massive pot for about £2 probably about 20 + portions

Pancakes = flour and milk = loads of calories for f all but not exactly balanced

batter and deep fry everything – tons of calories but not healthy

Porridge – tastes awful IMHO but cheap as

Buy Rice in bulk you can get about 10 kg for about £6-8 – cheapest way of carbs

As above really massive pots and freeze for variety

As a frugal tip actually (and as a general convenience) freezing fresh herbs is good for keeping your food interesting and not wasting a lot of stuff. Stuff like basil is sold in larger bunches than you might want for a meal but goes off quickly but a lot of stuff freezes really well and is easier to use frozen. It means you can buy stuff that is short dated/discounted and get extended use out of it too

Rosemary and Thyme the leaves fall off the stalks when frozen so thyme in particular is easier to use (even though I’ve got both growing outside the door I freeze the thyme because its such a time saver)
Oregano is almost never on the shelf fresh in the shops but freezes perfectly
Basil needs to be tossed in a coating of olive oil before you freeze it and that stops its oxidising and going black.

The other thing thats a good making something special out of not much – tried this after seeing it on a jamie oliver thing –

Pack of pitta bread
brush with oil and stack with a dusting of thyme between each bread
wet a piece of grease proof paper under the tap and wring out
wrap the stack in the paper and put it in a hot oven for 10 – 15 mins

totally transforms them

Buy huge bags of lentils, pulses and rice from the world foods section of the supermarket.

Buy huge bags of lentils, pulses and rice from the world foods section of the supermarket.

Buy huge bags of lentils, pulses and rice from the world foods section of the supermarket CostCo

As a stdent I lived for weeks on porridge. Even the posh organic stuff is much cheaper than any other cereal so its a good way to save.

Buy huge bags of lentils, pulses and rice from the world foods section of the supermarket CostCoIndian cash and carry it is practically free but you wont be able to carry it 😉

If you desperately need protein in your diet, consider bulking out chillis and bologneses with Quorn (unless you can’t stand the thought of it, but it’s cheaper than decent mince).

If you want cheap, lean, mince – buy Turkey.

By far the cheapest and leanest going. We go through loads of it.

eat onions as theyre cheaper than apples

Indian cash and carry

lol – won’t find one of them around here 😉
There is a Thai place though, but the last bag of rice I bought there was a bit steep tbh. Although it did last several months.

but you wont be able to carry it

Fortunately it’s opposite my place. I’m sure they’d loan a trolley for 5mins, and I do have a lift.