Recipes????!
Answers: has anybody got any recipes for cheap easy meals my boyfriend had an accident at work so is on the sick so we are struggling to make ends meet at the minute things like casseroles, stews flans anything really thankyou
18/10/2007 A few tips, a few recipes from me, all tried and tested while I was at uni and I still use them 3 years on!
The biggest tip I can give you is USE YOUR FREEZER! At the beginning of each term at uni, I'd make large batches of easy stuff like tomato sauce, bolognese sauce (recipes below), and freeze individual portions in plastic bags. I also bought cheap bulk packs of meat, split them down and froze them so I could defrost and use them as needed - saves a trip to the supermarket as well as money, and you're not eating the same thing for a week! Also take advantage of offers on storecupboard stuff.
Another tip is to check out your local market for fresh fruit and veg. It's often cheaper than your supermarket and if you go there later in the day you can turn up some bargains when they're emptying the stall prior to packing up.
If you like stuff like muesli bars and cookies, buy the ingredients and make your own. It often works out cheaper than buying stuff, and you have the added bonus of knowing what's in them. If your husband's able to move around and is looking for something to do while you're at work, perhaps he could have a go. There are loads of recipes on the Web, but I've included a couple of my "student-tested" ones.
Recipes + variations:
Basic tomato sauce (also good thinned down as a soup):
1 large onion
2 cans tomatoes (the cheap ones - chopped are best, but it's not essential as you can mush them down in the pan)
2 cloves garlic
dried mixed herbs, paprika if you have it.
tomato puree
salt & pepper
a little oil
Chop the onions and garlic finely, ad sweat down in some oil until soft and turning see-through. Add the herbs and canned tomatoes, tomato puree, stir really well and leave to simmer over a low heat for a while. Then taste it and add salt and pepper as needed, cool slightly and whiz with a blender or pulp with a potato masher. Great with pasta and a sprinkling of cheese!
Bolognese: Same as tomato sauce, but adding a 1lb/500g pack of mince to the pan with the onions and browning it before adding the tomatoes - you may need extra water and some more tomato puree to get the consistency right, and it's best to cook it a little longer. To stretch it further, you could add a grated carrot with the tomatoes.
Chilli con carne: Add a can of kidney beans (or baked beans!) and a fresh chilli or some chilli powder to 2 or 3 portions of bolognese and heat slowly.
Curried mince: Fry off some peppers, add some bolognese and curry powder or paste.
Cottage Pie: Mix some frozen mixed veg into bolognese, place in an oven dish and cover with mashed potato and a sprinkling of cheese, then bake at 180 C until the top goes golden brown.
Tuna pasta bake: Mix some drained canned tuna and sweet corn with a little tomato sauce and some cooked pasta, then place in an oven dish, top with cheese, and bake until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.
Roasted Veg:
Chop some peppers, courgettes, potatoes, carrots, other root veg into chunks and shake in a bag with some oil, herbs, salt and pepper, then put in the oven and forget for an hour! Serve with cheese sauce, couscous, or as an accompaniment, or add chunks of bacon or chicken to the dish and remember to stir occasionally during cooking for a one-pot meal...
Cheap chicken & mushroom bake:
Finely chop an onion and some mushrooms, put in an oven dish and sprinkle over some pepper and mixed herbs. Place some chicken portions on top and cover with condensed mushroom soup made up as it says on the can, before baking in the oven for an hour at 180-200C. Can also be done with turkey if it's cheaper!
Sweet stuff:
Flapjack: Melt 4oz/100g butter/marg, 3 tbsp golden syrup or honey, 3oz/75g sugar in a pan, stir in 8oz/225g oats and a handful of nuts or raisins. Press into a tin and bake at 180C for 30min until golden brown.
Easy sponge: Measure 4oz butter/soft marg, 4oz sugar, 8oz Self Raising flour, 2 beaten eggs and 1tsp vanilla extract into a bowl and beat until well mixed, pale and fluffy - about 3-5 minutes if using electric beaters or a cake mixer. Bake in a lined tin at 180C for 35min
Best of luck!
PUDDING!! Its only like, 50 cents at the store! Go buy loads and loads and tons and tons and baskets and baskets full of pudding!! Seriously though.
black beans and rice
tater tots mashed up with vegetables and cheese (cook them in the skillet)
you can also find alot of food at the dollar store
Bean chili
Here is a couple ideas
Spinach, Mushroon & Squash Lasagne
Ingredients
1 kg (2lb) squash peeled and cut into cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1.4 freshly grated nutmeg
2 onions, chopped
2 clove(s) of garlic, crushed
200 g chestnut mushrooms chopped
250 ml tub reduced fat crème fra?che
300 ml (1.2pt) hot vegetable stock
Salt
Ground black pepper
500 g bag ready-to use spinach leaves
6 sheets fresh egg lasagne
75 g (3oz) stilton cheese, crumbled
50 g (2oz) mozzarella torn into pieces
Method
Heat the oven to 200oC/180oC fan/Gas 6.
Put the squash in a roasting tin, drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle over the nutmeg. Roast for 30 minutes until soft.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onions for 3 minutes over a gentle heat, then add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
Add the mushrooms, and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Spoon in the crème fra?che and pour in the stock, stir and simmer for 15 minutes until the liquid is reduced to a creamy consistency. Season.
Pierce a couple of holes in the bag of spinach and microwave according to the pack instructions. Alternatively, empty into a pan, cover and cook until wilted. Drain in a colander and press to remove excess liquid. Crush the squash with a potato masher.
Spread a thin layer of the mushroom sauce over the base of a large, shallow, ovenproof dish (30x20cm/12x8in) and top with 2 sheets of lasagne. Spoon half the squash over the lasagne. Sprinkle over half the spinach, then half of the remaining mushroom sauce. Top with 2 more sheets of lasagne and repeat the squash and spinach layer. Top with 2 more lasagne sheets and a final layer of mushroom sauce. Sprinkle over both the cheeses.
Cover with greased foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 30 minutes, until the topping is golden and bubbling. Serve immediately.
Stir fry noodles
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 spring onion, chopped
4-5 tomatoes
1 clove garlic, chopped
? sweetcorn cob, corn removed
handful of soft herbs e. g. parsley, basil, chervil, chives
1 tbsp soy sauce
110g/4oz noodles, precooked
Method
1. Stir fry the spring onions and sweet corn and garlic. For 2-3 minutes.
2. Add all the other ingredients and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.
3. Serve immediately.
Chicken curry and rice.
Ingredients: 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1 large onion. 2 pieces of garlic. 1 can of tomato pure 2 potatoes. 1 carrot, 1 apple 2 slices of pineapple, Breast of chicken, rice, salt, pepper - 1 cup of cooking cream, 1/2 cup of olive oil, curry powder and curry sauce(if you have it)
1. keeping aside the chicken breast cut in cubes, the pineapple the cooking cream, and the curry, chop or grate the rest into small pieces and place in a pot with a small glass of olive oil and stir fry slowly moving it with a wooden spoon. Add some pieces of chicken breast chopped very finely and leave all the ingredients to cook slowly. After a few minutes, when it starts to cook, add a glass of water but not much. After about half an hour of simmering all the ingredients should look saucy so then you add pineapple and curry sauce and curry powder and simmer for another 10 minutes adding a 1/2 glass of fresh cream in the last minute. If it looks too chunky you can liquidize it after.
2. Stir fry the chicken breast in a drop of oil on a separate pan and add a pinch of curry powder. When the chicken is done, throw it into the pot with the other ingredients. ( test it for salting)
3, Serve with boiled white rice and Bon Appetite!!
Find two really GREAT recipe links at the "Leap over Web Clutter" section at this site. I think the first one will help you the most.
Or the second one if you just want to know what to fix with what you have.
Also diet ideas there if you are in to that.
Try Savoury Mince:
Beef mince
Chopped onion
Can of baked beans
Brown the mince in frying pan, add chopped onion and baked beans.
Simmer until cooked.
Serve with mashed potato.
Try Rice A Riso:
Beef mince
Chopped onion
Can of baked beans
Assorted vegetables, chopped
Pasta or rice
Brown the mince in frying pan, add everything else except rice or pasta.
Add enough water to cover.
Add pasta or rice.
Simmer until everything is cooked through.