What’s the most cost-effective meal you and your family survive on?

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Secure-Occasion-3599@reddit

Chilli con carne but mix it up with the beans. I can get at least 8-10 portions out of 250grammes of mince if you add about 4 peppers and 4-5 tins of beans (mix of kidney, mixed beans, black beans, 3 tins tomatoes. It’s basically a bean chilli plus a bit of meat.

Then freeze what you don’t use. I also use leftover chilli with cheese and wraps to make quesadillas with salad.

I also make a chicken and (red) lentil curry with the picked bits off the leftover roast chicken (tastes better than if you use breast).

I do a sausage and borlotti bean, or sausage and green lentil casserole with dippy bread.

Also home made vegetable soup with bread and butter for lunches.

Lastly, pasta in tomato sauce (made with a tin of tomatoes, chopped onion, clove garlic, stockcube, pinch salt & sugar, half tin of water. Plus optional red pepper, mushrooms, bit of chopped ham, bacon, leftover chicken, sausage, whatever’s left in the fridge). Optional - you can put in an oven dish with cheese on top stick it under the grill 5min and call it a pasta bake.

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Mindless_Switch_4169@reddit

Being broke has taught me to obsess over meal planning and budgeting - we spend £40/week on the food shop for two of us and eat meat or fish for basically every meal. Some of our best and cheapest recently: - pork chow mein & crispy kale “seaweed” ~£2.22 per person - lemon spaghetti with sausagemeat & courgette ~£2.82 per person - tacos, rice & beans (depending what meat) ~£2.58 per person - spicy green peppers stuffed with prawns, with tzatziki and tabbouleh ~£3.53 per person - floured fried fish, buttered new potatoes, homemade tartare sauce inspired dressing in cabbage salad ~£3.02 per person - lamb kofte, brown rice chickpea pilaf, grilled green chilli peppers, flatbread, chilli sauce ~£3.67

Other general frugal things - piling plate with rice, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, and / or beans - shopping at lidl / aldi is by far the cheapest (and i think the quality is good except for a few things like beetroot and avocado) - drumsticks seem to be one of the cheapest ways to buy chicken recently (and wings, and whole) - adding a sauce of some kind (a quick garlic mayo / tartare sauce / adding onions to gravy for bangers & mash / etc) makes a meal feel instantly more fancy and appealing for virtually no extra cost as long as your storecupboard is stocked

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Special-Audience-426@reddit

Stew.

Any meat or even sausages with potatoes, carrots, swede, onion, stock and thyme.

Dumplings are 2-1 flour and hard fat. You can use suet or even frozen grated lard.

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Merlisch@reddit

Mashed potato and cookies or (for time's even worse) rice and cookies. Potatoes and milk contain a large fraction of nutrients/ minerals while cookies are amongst the cheapest (non awful to eat) calories you can buy to maintain energy levels for work. Combined with A-Z minerals you'll be able to last quite some time without major deficiencies.

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Asher-D@reddit

Probably chicken burgers.

Loaf Bread 99p each (get 4) Chicken Burgers 3 for £10 And Condiments £2-3

About £15 and it is about 9 meals and it's quick to make as well. Cook the burger in the cooker which takes like 20 minutes and toast the bread. And then add all the condiments you'd like.

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CocoRufus@reddit

I make batches of spinach and coconut curry to freeze, then add chicken or prawns, or for a vegetarian option, cauliflower, potato and peas. Meat eating friends and family love any version.

Its a Nisha Katona recipe, very easy and so good. Happy to post full recipe 👍

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Hot_Ad_9552@reddit

I buy the 2kg packs of chicken thighs from Asda. I think they are about £5.20. I bone them out myself, keeping the bones for stock and find the meat will do at least 3 meals for my family of 4. Bulk out with beans and veg etc.

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CameronFuckedmyPig@reddit

Swapping beef mince for turkey mince is a good budget option- also a bit healthier.

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cheflifecdf@reddit

It tasted very sad though

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merdeauxfraises@reddit

Turkey is more expensive though

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super_starmie@reddit

Depends where from.

I've noticed in Sainsbury's 500g of turkey mince is nearly £5(!) but at Aldi/Lidl it's £2.99.

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merdeauxfraises@reddit

Very useful info, thank you!

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Strong-Librarian-OOK@reddit

I use 5% pork mince for chilli these days

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Lion-Resident@reddit

Don't you find the smell and taste very animally? I tried it but it was very overpowering

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Strong-Librarian-OOK@reddit

No, not that I’ve noticed. Pork mince pretty cheap and I do prefer beef but for chilli when I add lots of spices, it’s fine with pork

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Glittering-Knee9595@reddit

I use half beef half pork

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Top-Significance8791@reddit

It depends what you normally buy and want to eat.

I will always have bread and eggs in the house. Sometimes I’ll have it for breakfast, sometimes I’ll have it for dinner but it’s cheap and filling.

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Sea_Storage4122@reddit

Pastas are typically cheap meals to make

Aglio e Olio Tomato Pasta (Pomodoro) Cacio e Pepe Pasta Mollicata Pasta e Fagioli Vegetable Pasta Mac and Cheese

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curehead98@reddit

Puttanesca really good, cheap and easy to make with only cupboard ingredients

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mdmnl@reddit

🤌 Agreed.

Butter/garlic/herbs/seasoning to make homemade garlic bread/use up bread or rolls to spin the pasta out further.

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Pius_Thicknesse@reddit

Egg fried rice

Eggs are cheap, rice is cheap and frozen veggies are cheap

Beans on toast is a common one. Buy bread that's been discounted / reduced due to best by date then just throw it in the freezer. Buy store brand beans and often grate a block of cheddar on top

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Desperate-Letter2395@reddit

Find a local butcher for specific amounts of meat, instead of buying supermarket packs that are too much for you

I.e I'll take 4 sausages instesd of 12 in a pack

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Desperate-Letter2395@reddit

Cottage pie

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Widebody_lover@reddit

Bloody hell this thread is grim reading

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JasonStonier@reddit

Make a massive batch of bolognese sauce using Quorn mince, red lentils, chopped mushrooms, and brown lentils as a substitute for the beef mince.

First day, eat it as spaghetti bolognaise.

Next day eat it as lasagna.

Third day, eat it as a cottage pie (mashed potato on top).

Batch cooking is cheaper than individual meals, and also stops you going to the supermarket “for a couple of bits” and accidentally buying stuff you don’t need.

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HengeHopper@reddit

Great idea. Another thing I've been doing lately that's gone down well...
Chips on the bottom
Then some bolognese sauce on top
A blob of white sauce on that
Topped off with a bit of grated cheese and black pepper

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ultimateberk@reddit

Used to serve this in a pub i worked at years ago, very popular. They were on the menu as antwerp fries

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Impossible_Delay1023@reddit

Not the cheapest but I eat chicken 3 times a week and I will mix up what I have with it so veg, pasta, rice and it’s super affordable.

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Lower_Canary5713@reddit

Chorizo and garlic pasta. Chorizo you can get the big sausage ring for under £3 and it lasts months, garlic you can get 3 huge bulbs for £1, pasta again like 40p in Tesco and cream cheese is like £1 in aldi. You can make a massive bowl of it and it’s delicious

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Charming_Fail5922@reddit (OP)

Yes love chorizo

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OpeningWhereas6912@reddit

Chicken pilau - shred any left over chicken from a roast, boil the carcass to make stock and use in the rice. Add chicken, some veg (carrots, sweet corn, peas etc) and you have a generous one pot meal. Season accordingly too - plenty of good recipes out there.

Aloo bazi is a Bangladeshi dish but extremely mild and flavoursome. Fry some some sliced onions until they are going crispy, add salt and tumeric. Mustard seeds at the start if you like them, they add some gorgeous flavour. I chop some potatoes up and boil till tender then mix it through. One of the cheapest meals I make.

Sabzi (vege curry) is incredibly nutritious and I have made it with frozen veg easily (beans, cauliflower, peas and potatoes in my favourite combination).

There's a lot of good middle eastern dishes out there. Okra (bamia) is stock cupboard staples and I buy okra from the frozen section. One of my favourite vegetables to eat. Lebanese green beans in tomato gravy is another favourite.

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Charming_Fail5922@reddit (OP)

Thank you 🙏🏽

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OpeningWhereas6912@reddit

Oh and for accompanying carbs - I rotate with bulgur, cous cous, rice and have learned to make rotis. I always buy from Asian or middle eastern supermarkets, always cheaper than commercial standard places.

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good_as_golden@reddit

Soups for lunches

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resident_queerdo@reddit

That's a good idea. Also, I never manage to finish a loaf of bread by myself, so I'll cut some of it in cubes right away and let them go stale like that. Perfect to roast as croutons.

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critterwol@reddit

Stick the loaf in the freezer. Slices defrost very quickly.

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Acrobatic_Page_2800@reddit

I second this. Buying a soup maker was a good investment. Throw in any veg that looks as it’s about to turn, no waster and nutritious. The supermarkets always have reduced veg too.

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Fattydog@reddit

Or Op can just make it in a pan and blitz it up if they want it smooth.

If Op is wanting to cut back on expenses, buying a special machine for something so simple is not the answer.

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OpeningWhereas6912@reddit

This. I just use a cheap stick mixer that I found on sale. Makes it just the same and takes up less space

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netzure@reddit

If you want to save money drop the meat. A chilli made with Quorn mince or beans is just as good in my opinion.

Daal with potatoes and spinach, served with rice is delicious, dirt cheap and can be batched.

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critterwol@reddit

I use black beans and cannellini beans, chuck in whatever veg needs eating. Steam some rice.

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TumTiTum@reddit

Finely chopped mushroom in with the mince makes it go further too, and once all cooked together it all tastes/feels the same.

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Thin_Sheepherder_584@reddit

Grated carrot also bulks it out without tasting/feeling odd.

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JedsBike@reddit

Great tip. Our weekly shopping has cost us around 30% less since eating fewer meals with meat in.

Also… cheap meat is a bit grim.

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Life-Frosting-9848@reddit

Or replace beef mince with pork mince for about 50% of the price per kilo

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Charming_Fail5922@reddit (OP)

Ive really gone off anything pork-related but yeah it is cheaper and pork chops

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strawberrychief@reddit

Yeah, we're eating a lot of pork mince at the moment.

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OneRandomTeaDrinker@reddit

I use equal weight of beef mince to kidney beans to make chilli and sometimes toss a tin of lentils in too. I can often get a 750g pack of beef mince for £3 on yellow sticker or maybe less, add 2 400g tins of kidney beans and a 400g tin of lentils and it does 10 portions at about £6 of ingredient cost. Would be £9 if I paid full price for the beef but it’s still less than £1 a portion so I don’t think it’s too bad.

Vegetable and bean chilli is even cheaper, I use diced root vegetables like carrots and sweet potato and a tin of kidney beans, a tin of mixed beans and a tin of whatever other beans were cheap. Usually about £4 for a portion that serves 6.

Spanish omelette is cheap ish, just potatoes and eggs with onions and maybe some cheese.

I like to do rice bowls with rice, diced raw veg, edamame beans cooked in the microwave, homemade teriyaki sauce and a boiled egg. You could do tinned tuna or leftover roast chicken for protein too, and it’s a good use of a yellow sticker salmon fillet if you see one. Frozen edamame is about £3 for a big bag, similar to other frozen veg, but it’s really high protein so goes a long way with vegetarian dinners to keep you full.

Toad in the hole is pretty cheap and filling if you can get cheap sausages!

I love kidney bean curry (rajma masala) and chickpea curry, keeps me full. A tin of full fat coconut milk boosts the calories and helps keep you fuller for longer.

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resident_queerdo@reddit

Well if cost is the only factor, I'd say bread and butter pudding with apple slices.

You can also make old bread into dumplings, add spinach or pumpkin and cheese. Though that's an Austrian influence there, you might picture a different kind of dumping.

Also, I really like something like Antoni Porowski's Cauliflower Steaks. Or you can cook the cauliflower and bake it with bechamel and cheese on top.

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resident_queerdo@reddit

You can also make savoury bread and butter pudding with cheese and onion, or mushrooms, or pumpkin.

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resident_queerdo@reddit

You can also turn all manner of vegetables or grains into burgers, which is cheap... but greasy.

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Eddie173312@reddit

Lentil Dahl

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Charming_Fail5922@reddit (OP)

Yes this is a good one and I keep meaning to do it. Thank you

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Eddie173312@reddit

It’s easy, cheap and filling!

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WGD23@reddit

Chickpea, cauliflower & coconut milk curry is another good plant based one

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Bifanarama@reddit

Anything like chilli or bolognese or casserole, using chickpeas instead of meat. Buy a kilo of them for a couple of quids. Soak overnight then rinse and cook.

Or a classic (ish) cassoulet. Cut a big pack of cheap fatty bacon into strips. Fry gently to release loads of fat. Add loads of sliced onion, to cook in the fat. When everything is nicely browned, add loads of beans. Cannelini, or chickpea, or red kidney. Or all 3. Dried and soaked are nicer and cheaper than ones from jars. Add tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, ketchup for a bit of sweetness, balsamic and/or worcestershire sauce for yet more balance, and a chicken stock cube or 2. Simmer for at least 2-3 hours. Yummy.

Oh. Do you have a bread machine gathering dust? Does it have a jam setting? If so, put in 1 teacup amount of risotto rice, 2 teacups of cold water, and 1 teacup of boiling water with a chicken stock cube dissolved in it. Set bread machine to jam, start the program, and stop it after 30 to 35 minutes. A very easy risotto that's quick and cheap. You'll probably have to adjust quantities and timings depending on your machine and your brand of rice, but the above is a starting point. A nice variation is to use a seafood stock cube and half a teaspoon of smoked paprika.

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Princes_Slayer@reddit

I make a bolognese/mince/chilli base using blitzed mushrooms, lentils & a few chopped walnuts instead of mince (for veggie spouse) or mince with beef oxo, marmite, Hendo’s and bulked out with grated veg (carrot & courgette) and lentils (for me). I can use less mince and buy smaller better quality from butcher that way.

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Braveasalion@reddit

if you're doing a roast, make a stock from the carcass and you've got chicken soup for a few days or to freeze. Add veg, barley and/ or lentils to bulk it out. Also, if you're doing stuff in the oven, throw in a few potatoes or sweet potatoes. You can then mash them or bung in the freezer.

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Dangerous_Bed2566@reddit

Homemade Chick pea curry

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Opening_Nose_2347@reddit

I'm vegan and poor.

one large sweet potato

2 bags stir fry with mushrooms

tin of cannellini beans

Boil sweet potato and blend it with beans to a pulp. Fry stir fry and mix in the pulp. Add curry powder and serve with rice. makes about 6 servings.

About £4 if you go to Lidl or Aldi.

Add fake meat and vegan yogurt if ones state pension has just arrived.

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West_Yorkshire@reddit

Pork mince is cheap as chips. You can get 500g for like £2.50

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ALi_K_501@reddit

Pasta, pasatta (sieved tomato), onion and frankfurters chopped into small chunks.

Add olives/anchovies/chillies for a nice extra boost.

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Aromatic_Lettuce5603@reddit

I make my own tomato soup. I use one tin of condensed, 5 cheap store bought tins mix together. Get a blender blend chopped onion garlic chili peppers salt pepper and an oxo blend simmer and serve last me a week. I also make smoked chilli chicken enough for 3 nights mix onions and mushrooms with it and serve on its own and mix it in a curry gives me different meals

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mad_saffer@reddit

I make a massive butternut and borlotti bean stew and chuck in all the veg I can think of from courgette to aubergine, tinned tomato, lentils, onions, potato etc.

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Dramatic-Parking-943@reddit

I make a huge chilli by adding some cheaper ingredients to the mince. We add kidney beans, mixed beans, and sweetcorn as well as the chopped tomatoes, onion, and veggies. Then we eat in different ways over 3 days. We have it with rice, then we have it with wraps or as tacos.

Sausage casserole is another cheaper meal. Again we pack it with goodness like add chickpeas or beans along with typical veggies like carrots and potatoes.

No meat meals a couple of times a week. Jacket potatoes with tuna, sweetcorn and mayo, creamy mushroom stroganoff, veggie curry.

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mdmnl@reddit

We just had leftovers chilli with nachos.

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HmNotToday1308@reddit

We have been struggling for awhile - a lot of shit went wrong - cancee, job loss, etc so we had to really cut back a few tips

if I'm making something where the chicken isn't the main like soup, casserole etc I buy the boneless drum fillets they're super cheap.
Use red lentils to make mince go further or to replace it completely. I either add it to the grease or soak it in stock.
gnochhi in particular in ridiculously filling - you can either buy it or make it at home.
garlic bread, Yorkshire puddings, bread and butter etc really do help a meal go further
frozen veg and fruit are perfectly acceptable added to most things
learn to make a basic roux, salad dressing and most sauces - it'll save a fortune.
go meat free at least twice a week
freeze anything before it goes off and add it to another dish.

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merdeauxfraises@reddit

Lentil soup

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Slight_Swordfish3812@reddit

I use a small amount of beef and bulk it out with finely chopped mushrooms, green lentils and any veg I have left over tbh. I’m not a big fan of lentil based dishes but I don’t notice them in a chilli/bolognese style dish (and neither do my fussy children!)

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Opening_Succotash_95@reddit

Try pork or chicken mince for the chilli. Beef mince might as well be caviar these days.

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CynicalSorcerer@reddit

I genuinely prefer chili without meat. I use tinned baked beans, kidney beans and mixed beans

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dereks63@reddit

Turkey chilli/stew you don't need to spice it up, cheap veggies, anything really packet of Colemans sauce mix, served with rice or spuds, lasts for ages and good for you

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BumblebeeNo6356@reddit

Look at casserole’s. Sausage is my go to, bulk it out with lentils and if you don’t fancy potatoes then rice works well (and it’s cheap).

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bambonie11@reddit

Spicy tuna pasta. Fry up an onion, add garlic, throw in canned tomatoes and a drained tin of tuna along with chilli flakes and whatever dried spices you might have on hand that you like.

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therealhairykrishna@reddit

Mac and Cheese is always a winner. With bacon bits and peas.

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asphytotalxtc@reddit

Absolutely, you can pick up a kilogram pack of "cooking bacon" from Lidl for less than two quid as well! I put that in quotes as it's basically just the bacon offcuts that weren't good enough to be packaged up as bacon. If you're willing to hunt through the packs you can usually get a good one with loads of decent bacon cuts in...

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Affectionate_Oven610@reddit

Slow cooked pork shoulder - great value for money. First meal “roast”. Leftover meat for sandwiches, fritters, etc.

Tuna sweetcorn pasta (cheese sauce).

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RepublicOfLucas@reddit

I was going to say this, Morrisons pork shoulder is £3 a kilo at the moment. I make pulled pork in the slow cooker then freeze portions. Reheats well.

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Peanut0151@reddit

We pay a bit more for a chicken and get four or five meals out of it

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firerawks@reddit

adding a pepper to a ‘batch’ meal i found extends it. 3 portion meal? Add a chopped up pepper and it’s 4 portions

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2KCoinsLTD@reddit

Oh you mean you're not grinding magic pepper granules on it as I first thought!

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firerawks@reddit

just a regular sliced bell pepper unfortunately haha

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Goldman250@reddit

Pasta bakes. 75p for two bakes’ worth of pasta, about £1.50 for two jars of sauce, £3 for at least four bakes’ worth of cheese. Each bake is four portions.

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Seafood_udon9021@reddit

We eat a lot of pork, chicken and Turkey these days. Beef mince or beef burgers as a treat every few weeks. Also plenty of vegetarian dishes.

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Icy-Belt-8519@reddit

We sometimes buy a whole chicken - roast, soup and sandwich meat

Savoury rice, we don't do it massively cheap but it can be, we do chicken (thigh, cheaper and tastier) bacon, sweet corn, spring onion, but you can pack it out wirh any veg really and cheap or no meat

We make as much as possible from scratch, we buy meat from a bulk butchers place

Chicken thigh, learn to take the bone out and skin off, then it's cheaper, wings and drumsticks tend to be cheap too

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IllustratorOk479@reddit

Coconut lentil dhal. Tastes like korma and costs pennies per portion.

Curry in general. I make lentil and split pea curries most of the week. Best one is pathia for me

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LucyMckonkey@reddit

Add green lentils to anything with mince. Bulks it out and takes on the flavouring

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Strong-Librarian-OOK@reddit

I tend to live on oats (porridge or overnight oats) for breakfast, and soup for lunch. This week I’ve made pea and ham soup that cost around £3 for 6 portions.

Dinners tend to vary but rice based stuff (like veggie fried rice, jambalaya, risotto…) tend to be cheap. Also pasta, chickpea or lentil curries.

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crispycat40@reddit

Use tinned green lentils instead of mince. Or do half and half.

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Traditional_Earth149@reddit

Noodles with frozen veg poured in the broth. We have some ramen seasoning that we can add to kick up the heat. Sometimes add left over chicken to. Cheap, tasty and filling

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Icy_Gap_9067@reddit

Sausage traybake with baby potatoes and peppers and onions is nice and not too expensive. Paneer curry as paneer is cheaper than meat and is delicious. Good old jacket potatoes and beans.

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Ancient-Awareness115@reddit

Sausage pasta bake, cheap sausages skinned and cut into 6 pieces each, load of pasta we do 75g a portion, tin of sweetcorn, I make my red sauce with onion, garlic, dried herbs and tinned toms. Mix altogether, grate cheese on top and bake for 25mins. Serves 4-6

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Lost_Vegetable_2830@reddit

Add a tin of green lentils to the chilli con carne or spag bol. Bulks it out a bit and tastes great.

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Special-Bank9311@reddit

Lentil and chickpea curry
Bean chilli (a couple of others have mentioned)
Chicken soup - with chicken with bone in. Cook that first, then use the bones for stock, then throw the chicken, stock and some veg together. The chicken goes further than in other things
carrot and cashew biryani. Not great for a freezer batch, but it’s nice cold the next day for lunch.

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Lion-Resident@reddit

Lentils

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unfurlingjasminetea_@reddit

Asian style coconut pork curry (pork is a reasonable price compared to other meats) and greek style pork wraps

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Electronic-Score5904@reddit

Chilli with chicken is a thing and IMHO better than a standard westerised chilli con carne.

Curries: make a big batch of base gravy and you can use that as a starting point to cook a ton of restanant style curries.

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