[Closed] Meal ideas

Some nice recipes on the Lidl website!

http://www.lidl-recipes.co.uk/uk/recipes.nsf/pages/Content.r.recipes

Good thread! Personally I manage to cook stir fry (with very very little oil) chicken with about 7 types of veg, egg noodles and a chicken breast for about £1.50 a meal. Makes enough to support my 100kg frame.

Stews/casseroles are always good - I often buy a £4 pack of chicken thighs (cheaper, taste better), a pack of leaks and some other bits and pieces, and a 60p pack of sauce mix and make a casserole mix from scratch. Does 4 days (stays in fridge) and with a handful of rice boiled each day it only costs about the same per meal as the other and is nice and filling.

I rarely "want" for food and I almost never spend more than £15 a week on main meals.

pasta with leeks and bacon and some cream and then parmesan is good. or cream cheese.

chop some chorizo, fry with a chopped onion and pepper, then add some rice, some stock and simmer till rice cooked, add some prawns if you want at the last minute. Kind of a paella thingy.

I also find that you can easily cut down the amount of meat in a recipe and not notice. If I do curries or stirfry I only ever do 1 chicken breast for 2 of us and it's plenty (especially if you use free range as they are bigger).

Recently i have been buying those giant yorkshires, about 40p from Tescos, and filling it with gravy, mince and veg. Cheap and cheerful.

Once you have mastered a basic risotto they are really good as cheap, one pot, one person meals. Lots of combinations, I often do prawn and pea (just chuck in frozen peas and defrosed or fresh prawns), pea and bacon, courgette and bacon, cauliflower, cheddar and creme fraise. If you make too much its really good re-heated for lunch the next day in the microwave too.

Cheers for the ideas, sticking most if not all of those down - the lidl site is proving most helpful too!

cous-cous with roasted veg is always a winner as well.

That it is, but I have it every day for lunch! - cous cous with roasted veg that is

Oh and theres the old classic of nuking a large spud (25p), pouring over halfa tin of beans (20p), grate a bit of cheese (20p), add a bag of asda salad (50p). Yummy cheesenbeans with salad.

Homemade chili is always a winner - I can do one using 1/2kg of mince, a load of onions, two tins of tomatoes, two tins of kidney beans and a few other ingredients (lemon juice, paprika, chili powder, vinegar etc etc etc).

The 'start up cost' is a bit getting all the ingredients, but after that I can make enough for 8 portions costing a total of about £4. If I was being very tight I could add even more kidney beans (or a mix of different types for diferent textues) and make loads more, but as it is, it is a full wok full 🙂

And also it is great freezer food - get one out before a ride, it's defrosted when you get home and no fuss. I portion them into old plastic takeaway trays - perfect for storing and perfect for portioning.

sausage pasta -

dice 1x medium onion, fry until translucent.
De-skin 4-6 sausages (or use sausage meat) chop up roughly to the size of maltesers and brown off, add some stock and simmer.

add some grated carrot and chopped tomatoes (1 or 2 tins) with a little puree or tomato ketchup to taste and continue to simmer

cook some macaroni tubes in another pan and once all cooked, drain pasta and mix with sauce, serve, sprinkle with black pepper and parmesan.

apologies if measurements are a little rough, but I tend to chuck ingredients in without measuring

and, as mastiles said, this is a good freezer food.

Chilli is good...you can buy "fairly" cheap mince if you want beef in it. If you really want to economise, then you could try Quorn, which is way cheaper than good mince. Bulk it out with lots of beans - kidney, black eyed, good old heinz baked, broad. Me and mrs deadly sometimes get three meals out of it. Chuck in a bit of marmite mixed with a little red wine for a beefier flavour or use a good beef and vegetable stock cube. Eat with rice or baked potatoes or your own flatbread (which is a doddle to make too). Could feed yourself for a week, though that might get a little boring. You will be King Trumpet from all the beans too. Freeze half of it too.

Darcy - I beat you to it ^^^^^^^^

😉

Also - put tommy sauce in chili - great big generous splash of it.

Cocoa powder/chocolate also gives it a nice flavour.

And if you like it strong - a few drops of Dave's Insanity Sauce.

🙂

One of my uni favourites was bacon and mushroom fried up in a pan (chunky mushrom & slice bacon into strips).
Cook some pasta and just before you drain it, whack in either a spoon of mayonnaise (has to be full fat) or fromage frais into the bacon & mushroom. It makes it saucy (so to speak) and then just stir in the pasta.

Or chicken breast stuffed with cheese, wrapped in ham and stick in the oven for 20 mins or so. Use cocktail sticks to hold it all together (if it looks like it's gonna unroll). Serve with fresh veg & boiled spuds.

I think as a hangover from being reasonably poor earlier in life my mum adds baked beans into pretty much anything thats made with mince, chilli, spag bol. cottage/shepherds pie.

Cottage pie is cheap and cheerful

I also make a tuna pasta bake,

pack of tuna pasta bake mix
pasta
3/4 pint milk
tin of tuna
some sweetcorn
some cherry toms
some peppers
bit of chilli in the sauce
bit of cheese on top

feeds 5 or 6 people for about a fiver, and if you put the chillis ion there its not too boring to eat again the next day for lunch

Homemade pizza is cheap and fun and messy

I used to buy 2 whole chickens a week, roast dinner one day, risotto with leftovers the next, loads of stirfrys.

In a strange way the better you eat the less it seems to cost you

Steve

Two more cheap and tasty ones...

Spagetti carbonara (proper one - NOT al crema that most people call carbonara)

fry cheap cut of bacon (plenty of fat) with onions and garlic.

Boil and drain spagetti

Throw a raw egg over the spagetti then the bacon etc on top. Stir in some parmesan.

Serve (if it is a little to raw for your taste, keep warm in a pan for a couple of minutes, stirring)

OR

Spagetti amatricana (sp)

fry cheap cut of bacon (plenty of fat) with onions, garlic and chili. Add a tin of chopped toms and simmer.

Boil and drain spagetti.

Serve spagetti on plate with sauce over. Sprinkle parmesan on top.

stick red lentils in any mince dishes as well to make it go further. Oh and grated carrot.

Well this thread is now bookmarked for future reference! Thanks 😀

Baked tatties with filling of choice (cheese, beans etc) can be cheap and simple. 🙂

We do veggie stir fry a bit - just any veg that comes to hand can be used - and proper Chinese supermarkets for cheap sachet's of sauce mix.

Homemade pizza is fun and cheaper than buying pre-made - either make your own base, or buy them in.

One thing I will say, when doing mince based dishes, is fry it up without any other ingredients then pour off the fat if you like your heart - every time I do it even with lean mince, not economy stuff, I get almost a mugfull of fat from half a kilo of mince.

Does make me wonder how people whinge about the fact that they cant afford to feed their kids decent homecooked meals though, I mean its EASY to get a freshly cooked meal with all the right contents to be healthy for £1.50/£2 a person at most. Hell I even add a glass of wine with it for an extra fiver a week!

Feta Spaghetti

Spaghetti
Feta
Garlic
Chilli

Boil pasta.
Chop garlic and chilli fry lightly whilst pasta is cooking.
once pasta is done add garlic and chilli then crumble feta through it.
Serve.

Easy and cheap.

Cheap cut of beef (skirt or gravy beef or something), 3 carrots, 3 parsnips, half a thingy of celery, bay leaf, random herbs, can of guinness or anmy other cheap dark beer, 2 x tins toms.
chop beef up, coat lightly with storngly seasoned flour, fry in a good pan, chuck it into some warm oil in a big casserole pan or just abig stovepot pan, bung everything else in, season, goo for a 3hour ride, come back to dinner for tonight and about another 4 nights or bag up in freezer to be used with jacket spud, mash, chips, bread - whatever. Awesome.
Chilli another goodie
Stir Fry anything.
Curry anything with recipes from curryfrenzy.com[i]

Save yourself some money and teach yourself how to portion a chicken. It's much cheaper than buying separate breast or thigh packs. You can get a whole chicken for under a fiver.
Use a heavy bladed knife and put it into the body cavity. Cut through the back bone and open the carcass out so that the breast meat is uppermost (inside of the chicken on the chopping board).
Feel between the breasts (quiet at the back Jenkins!!) for the breast bone and using a flexible blade cut each breast away from the bone, using the bone to guide your blade.
Now just use your heavy blade to take off the legs. These can then be divided into the drumstick and thigh portion.

Save what is left and roast in the oven for an hour or so, then put the bones into a large pan of water with onion, bay leaves x2 and some peppercorns. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Put it all through a seive and you can freeze your home made chicken stock for use whenever you need it. No need to defrost, just bung it in the pan to add flavour.

Veggie fried rice is a cheap way to go....

Half boil some rice (1/2 cup max per portion) so it's still a bit grainy, drain and run under the cold tap in a seive for a min to cool and stick it to one side

Beat one egg per portion of rice with 2 teaspoons of soy sauce

Heat some sesame oil in a wok or some other pan, pour in the rice and stir over a high heat

Boil the kettle and pour the water over frozen veg in a pan.... leave to one side

Pour the egg mix into the rice and keep stirring so it coats the rice.... keep stirring till rice is browned then drain the veg, add to the rice and stir through.

You can add pretty much anything you like to that.... a nice bit of steamed cod steak with chilli, lemon zest and ginger works well

Get yourself down to the supermarket as they're closing on Saturday evening & pick up the much reduced perishables - that's what you're eating next week

Make a Tartiflette. It sounds like poncy French grub but is in reality a dead simple to cook dish that often powers (alongside large amounts of Trapist beer) proper mountain bikers who venture to the Alps in order to test their mettle. Its basically cheese, potato, onion and bacon baked in the oven, nothing too complex. If you can't find (or afford) the Reblochon cheese that its traditionally cooked with then other cheeses can be subsituted.

Some ideas
Spanish Omlette (Tortilla) Google recipe the BBC one is good
Sausage Casserole (buy marked down ones in supermarket and use in season veg)
Brown sausages in a casserole and remove when done.
Chop leaks,onions, carrots and celery finely and place in the sausage pan with the fat (NB Venison based sausages are not fatty add oil). Sweat the veg for 5 mins or so (low heat) until the veg has softened.
Add tablespoon or 2 of flour to the mix and stir well. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add stock and wine to the pan stirring well.
Add sausages back to the pan and bring to the boil.
Chuck it in the oven for 40 mins at 200c and serve with mash or other carbs.

another good thing to do is to buy a large chicken (roasted) or a large piece of beef, have it for sunday lunch. Put the left overs in the fridge and then use in risotto during the early part of the week.

PAstas can be cook for cheap with almost anything. Usually the combo greens + crême fraiche works a treat.

Pasta courgettes:
Remove on row of sking every two rows, the head and the tail of the courgettes.
Slice them and put them in a plate with salt on them.
cook them for 3-4 minute in the MWO
While they cook have 2TBSP of olive oil in a pan and put the water for the pasta to boil.
Once the oil is hot added a finely chopped garlic in the oil. Once the garlic is gold add the courgettes, stir until the courgettes get 'caramelised'.
Et voila. Works better with long and wide pasta.

This work very well with mushrooms, you just have to use pot with a lid and no MWO to have nice sauce for the pasta. Use farfale in this case.

Penne with provence veggies:
One aubergine, on green and one red pepper, 5 tomatoes and two courgettes.
Chop everything in small dices (1 cubic cm more or less), cook in olive oil starting with green pepper then aubergine then red pepper and courgettes. Add salt and pepper. once everything start to golden, add the tomatoes and a glass of water. Double check the salt and pepper.
Once coocked, mix with the penne and add some finely chopped chive on the top. You can add some parmegiano. Et voila... That's a serving for 4 people.
Omelette. Very easy, dirt cheap, put a hint of balsamic vinegar for a little something and make sure you stir properly. You can add tuna or a bit of cheese or some some finely chopped ham inside.

Veggie casserole, the combo potatoes, carrots, spinach and oignon with some ground cumin is delicious. If you want to have it done quickly, use a skin peeler to make some small stripes of the potatoes/carrots.

Get some chicken stripes, leaves them in a plate with garlic and lemon juice over night, get some normal oil in a pan until very hot, chunk the chicken in... 4 minutes later you have your meal is ready 😉

Home made pizza should cost you absolute peanuts.

If you're buying a whole chicken, don't forget to make stock. a whole chicken does 4 meals for the two of us, plus whatever you make out of the stock.

whatever you make out of the stock.

Ravioles cooked in chicken stock hummmmmm

I had 2 great, cheap meals yesterday.

For lunch, with a client - mushroom stroganoff with a herb crust (which I guess would be optional) on a bed of 'crushed' potatoes (ie: coarse mash). Not cheap in a pub-restaurant but cheap at home.

For tea: pasta with peppers; peppers fried off in a pan and then a little dob of cream cheese (Philadelphia or similar) to make it a bit saucey.

There is of course the classic menu, which kept me and the other 3 students in my house in beer money when I was a student...

Day 1 - Roast Chicken, roast pots & cabbage & another veg (do more veg than you need)

Day 2 - left over chicken pasta / curry / pilaff (then make stock from left over bones)

Day 3 - bubble& squeek plus poached egg / omelette etc...

Day 4 - Soup/stew using the stock

Look for the Pauper's cookbook from Jocasta Innes (I think) as that has some good ideas - my copy was my grandfathers and contains his grumpy comments over the cost of cod, bacon etc...

Spaghetti Con Olio:

Cook spaghetti in boiling water.
Whilst it's cooking, finely chop a clove of garlic
Once spaghetti is cooked, dump it into a colander to drain.
Put a good glug of olive oil and the garlic in the pan and heat gently for a couple of minutes. Maybe add some chilli flakes if you've got them.
Dump spaghetti back in the pan, good grind of black pepper, good stir, eat.

Lovely.

Have a look at Waitrose website they have some great recipes and if you put your mobile number in they text you all the ingredients for free!!

Spag bol - a pound of cheap mince, 4 tins of tomatoes and a pepper (plus the spaghetti) will give you 3 to 4 meals for a total cost of under £3 (depending on the kind of mince you go for). It freezes well too.
I'm also a fan of lentil stew - half a cup of lentils, 400g of diced beef, 1 tin of tomatoes plus a few herbs (bay leaf, mustard etc) and an onion and a carrot - 3 meals for about £4.
Chili - similar to spag bol.
And tbh, pasta has so many potential variations - one £1 pack can last you a week with a variety of fresh veg, frozen prawns, leftover sausages etc.
Oh, and last week I got some cheap chicken thighs, put some honey and orange on top, baked them in the oven til they were really sticky and had them with mash. All for under £2, very tasty and I felt like a cooking god. 🙂
Don't get sucked in by readymeals, as it's usually cheaper, and not much more difficult, to cook it yourself from scratch

Tuna pasta bake too:

Can't remember proportions but basically pasta, tin of sweetcorn, tin or two of (organically reared free range dolphin friendly if you must) tuna, tin of condensed mushroom soup. Cook pasta, add the rest (as is - don't 'make up' the soup) grated cheese on top, in oven until crispy and brown.

Really works well for making in bulk and having leftovers.

i've not read all of this so it might well have been said before, use cheaper cuts of meat, mince, stewing steak, shin of beef use a whole chicken. when making stews, chillis use plenty of lentils, beans etc. as you shop it's worth buying different spices and herbs etc to make different meals from much the same things. it takes more time but most of that is actual cooking time so you can be slaving hard over your studies while it cooks. i think i'm too obsessed with making things from scratch but i can't see a way i'd ever go back to eating processed food, basically paying loads extra for a far inferior end product (to my taste buds)

i think i'm too obsessed with making things from scratch

I don't think you can be can you? I love cooking and eating more than I love riding.