Times are hard, the cost of living is rising, and so, like many people, I’m trying to cook cheaper meals for the family. I recently did the Piri-piri chicken wing, wedges and corn traybake from BBC Food.
Wings are cheap, potatoes are cheap, and corn isn’t crazy expensive. The limes were probably the most extravagent ingredient. Total price, probably £2-£3 per person.
It was great, and the family all enjoyed it. To the point where it would go on the regular rotation even if we had suitcases full of cash stashed around the place!
What are your best economical recipes that aren’t just beans, chickpeas, and rice? Meals you actively looks forward to, rather than just a budget way of getting calories inside you?
On my list for the coming week:
- Carbonara
- Sausage and mash with onion gravy
- Chicken Quesadillas
- Mac and Cheese with salad
- Spicy black bean tacos
- Stir-fried tofu
- Slow cooker leek and potato soup
I can supply recipes for any of these.
some bread you like(soft bread is good for this), cheese slices, tomato. optionally tuna or salmon if you can find some with decent price, maybe some spices(i like dill and oregano). You can also just skip the tuna/salmon, its pretty good with just cheese and tomato too.
Butter the bread, put tomato slice on it and cheese on top of it. Put it on oven and set it to 200c. Let them be there until cheese has properly melted and bread has toasted a bit. Take it out and put tuna on top of it or small slice of salmon. or put something else you like on it.
You can put the spices on top of the cheese before the oven or after it.
And naturally you dont have to make just one singular bread, make as much as you want.
Another food i have been occasionally making is mashed everything. I boil some potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots until they are soft, then just mash them with the wooden… smasherthingy…? (perunanuija). Add some cream if you want, also some salt and other spices you feel might work (again, i like dill and oregano, they go with everything. Some other spices might work for you better so experiment). If it tastes good, its done, if not you could try putting it on stove for some time so new ingredients mix up better.