Cheap tasty meals - ideas please

[Ann]

Seeing Alba's previous thread on tinned potaoes gave me the idea to ask ABers for cheap recipes for delicious meals ...... lets see who can contribute the cheapest and tastiest ............ :) Give prices and where best to get the products from, bargains etc :)

[shaneystar2]

Ooh yes .Lovely bubble .I always fry up the greens and spuds .Yummy .

[Ann]

Yes but ...... here comes the hardest bit........ devise a cheap, tastiest, LOW CALORIE meal. That IS a challenge! :(

[shaneystar2]

My Mum used to do low calorie .When we asked what was for dinner she was always cooking stewed knees and sparrows ankles :)

[Barmaid]

I've done it with own brand packs of frozen veg or I've used whatever veg I've got kicking around. It will normally feed 2 of us for 2 - 3 days. Last week was celariac and potato. This week will be leek and potato. Next week will be mixed veg. I put all manner of stuff in soups - just left overs that others might throw away.

tHe other thing you can do is boil a cheap chicken, have it hot one night. the next night strip the carcass and have it cold or curry it. The third night boil up the carcass with veg and make soup.

[Kiki-frog]

Bubble and squeak - yum! Low calorie version - use one of those Fry-lite spray thingies I suppose. Not the same as beef dripping though

[Barmaid]

Chicken soup. Low cals, no problem.

[albaqwerty]

It's been said that if you can't afford fresh veg, then frozen is next best.

Don't know if this would work,
A couple of beef stock cubes (maybe 3) add the veg, but apart from adding some spuds for thickening? mmmm, maybe not.

[shaneystar2]

Boiled up chicken carcass is the best base for soups .

[Ann]

BM - we do that at Christmas with the left over turkey and veg, especially parsnips - it is really delicious, I don't blend it too finely and add chunky bits of cooked potatoes and carrots afterwards to make it a more substantial meal. It must have plenty of coarse black pepper in though! Serve with hunks of crusty bread - umm could eat some now!

[albaqwerty]

Ann, I'd blitz the leek and potato soup after it had done it's thing in the saucepan.
(That is one of my most favourite soups ever)

[AlwaysConfused]

If you want it low(er) calorie - fry up the bubble and squeak in it's own juices, i don't always add oil. I just let it brown nicely. Try adding a few spices or chillies to give it a kick, the original curry!

[seadogg]

No recipe, as I start every quick meal from what is in the cupboard, but the best "cheat" is to add fresh ingredients to a tinned or dried product to give it an unprocessed taste. Kikkoman fermented soy sauce, Marigold vegetable bouillon, some fresh basil, chives etc., a pot of dried chillies and good old standby ingredients like onions and tinned tomato are examples of handy things to have.

[friedgreentomato]

My veg soup is made from tesco everyday frozen veg 75p for 1kg, add water couple of stock cubes and seasoning once cook blend, that makes enough soup for 5 lunches chuck in some tinned tatties and left over meat to bulk up even further serve with home made wheaten bread.

Total cost 55p per day or £2.25 per week for a huge bowl of soup and a large slab of bread every day.

[DTCwordfan]

I'll enter my beetroot soup as low calorie (forget the smidge of cream though).

[pastafreak]

When I want boneless chicken,I use Icelands cook from frozen mini fillets.( £2.50 a bag ) Fry them gently in butter/olive oil-you don't want them to 'toughen'...add some minced garlic,sliced shallots or minced sundried tomato to the pan. When almost done,cover fillets with grated cheese,add a splash of stock and cover the pan.
Serve on a bed of creamed spinach with roast tomatoes on the side.
All done in 15-20 minutes.

[Barmaid]

Ann, our Christmas Turkey (although I do tend to buy quite an expensive one) feeds us (and the cats) for days.

I take the legs off and make sausages for Mr BM's lad. I roast the rest which we have for lunch and then cold cuts for tea for the next couple of days. Then I'll strip it and use the meat to make a curry or "en croute" it. THen I boil up the carcass and any left over bits to make the base of a soup which I chuck in anything else I happen to have going. So whilst the turkey might cost a small fortune, 2 adults, 1 child and 4 cats will dine extraodinarily well on it for a few days.

[DTCwordfan]

shany, I agree - anybody who throws out a chicken carcass without making a stock from it, ought to be hung. Soups, risottos and all the rest.

Oxtail for making beef stock is good too - and dirt cheap as few eat it now or know how to cook with it. And though it is frowned on by many, dogs love the bigger oxtail bones.

[humbersloop]

^^ I do the three meal chicken thing BM, pressure cook with carrot celery and onion, put that stock towards the soup too. Sometimes do meal 2 as a pasta sauce with a bit of bacon, some mushrooms and cream.

Did I mention pearl barley yet?

[DTCwordfan]

Similar for me with the turkey, Barmaid, except we often had a turkey risotto, (throw in some mush and leeks/red onions as well)

[owdhamer]

Ask Mrs Owd, her corn beef hash is superb tin of fray bentos. some tatties, some onions put in slow cooker, lee perrins, boullon,seasoning, not so much.