Cheap nutritious meals?

[Terrie]

Money is tight so I need ideas for cheap meals that are also healthy for thr kids and will fill them up...

 

[munchkin1982]

how old are the kids? i always find shepherd's pie/cottage pie is a winner. If you have a large dish - you can get a minimum of 6 serving out of one batch...? and because of the potato and mince - very filling...? don't know if that helps? Also, a pure veg dish would be something like ratatouille? Plenty of veg in there which you can have with pasta or rice? xx

 

[Princess81]

spag bol is a good one too, also can be made in batches - if they like that sort of thing xx

 

[munchkin1982]

aye - spag bol is also a winner. also, soup? you can make it as liquidy or mushy as you like when you make it yourself... the mushier it is the more filling it is though plus you can "pad" that one out with some bread to make it more "filling"? plus with soup you can put whatever veg you want in it very much trial and error but can turn out brilliant - and again a great one for making batches which can easily be frozen x

 

[Terrie]

thanks girls, some great ideas.. my two (aged 2 and 3) will eat pretty much anything

 

[MrsR]

Roasted vegetables with couscous! Choose any vegetables (I used red peppers, courgette and sweet potato), cut chosen vegetables up into bite size pieces and spread onto a baking sheet in a single layer, drizzle with olive oil and add garlic. Put in oven to roast for about 40 mins. Make up couscous according to packet instructions (I use veg stock instead of water). I also used peas so cook them in boiling water whilst veges are roasting. Chop up some basil or herb of your choice (or use dried). When vegetables have roasted mix into the couscous, add peas if using and herbs. I put chilli in the adults portion as DD doesn't like spicy food and serve. Went down an absolute treat and I found it really cheap. Vegetarian dishes are usually cheaper than meat dishes as meat is quite expensive compared to veg. Another recipe I did recently was pork and vegetable kebabs as pork is a cheaper meat-unfortunatly I don't eat pork but I had plain vegetable ones x I'm forever on the look out for cheap recipes as money is very tight!!!

 

[Terrie]

thanks Helen that couscous sounds yummy! have copied the recipe

 

[Princess81]

Mum always made corned beef has which is yummy and good nutrition, balance of proteins and carbs anyway, with crusty bread. I still love it now.

 

[Terrie]

that sounds nice!

 

[flexilexi394]

Mash potato, chicken breast and steamed veg top my chart! X

 

[JJ Mum]

We have a home made chinease on a cheep night , you can get cooking bacon (large pack for just over £1) and that would do us 3 family meals , (so chop into three peices and freeze the other two individually for another day). Chop the raw bacon with kitchen sissors into a frying pan to get the small peices -

Then use any left over veg, value carrots chopped into long thin strips, onions or leeks, or spinich or celery, or courgette cut small, or frozen green beans , and fry off in a frying pan. You can use rice or noodles or both. You can buy a family pack of noodles cheeply, (I use sharwoods red packet thin or medium, but you can get shop brand too) and it comes in slices, so you can use only what you want. (we use 5 slices if all of us, as my kids are much older, you could use just 3, and your tiny kids will share one). they cook in 4 mins (boil).

Meanwhile make your own sauce from cupboard stuff, (once you have them your sorted for ages)

Add into strifry pan - Bit brown suger, good sposh of white wine vinegar, squirt of runny honey, good splosh of soy , any pineapple ,you may have in a small can (optional if you have it left over!) and just mix in with the stirfry veg. add in small amounts at a time, taste it ater all have been addeed , you can alwasy add more, but can't take it out if too much!

Strain the noodles, return to pan, add a little soysauce, and a slash of sesame oil and stir
This coats the noodles in a lovely flavour!

Then plate up noodles with spoon of the bacon veg strifry mix! yummmmm

also look up homemade pizza online, as thats well cheep, and the only real cost is the cheese on top! use value mature cheese, grate it all and freeze in a bag loose. When you make you pizza , grab from freezer (no need to defrost) and spinkle, this way cheese does not stick together and you use far less cheese to cover the same space, custing fat and cost down (mature cheese being stronger will have the same taste!).

 

[Princess81]

For the corned beef hash you just need a can of corned beef, an onion, a tin of beans and an oxo cube. Bung it all in a pan and sit back. Mega easy

 

[Terrie]

aw thanks girls.. loads of great ideas that im def going to make great tip about freezing the cheese to make pizzas too! keep the ideas coming, im going to do my tesco.com tomorrow and im hoping *fingers crossed* to spend as little money as i can then im going to the grocers (cheap veg!) tomorrow too.

 

[Me, My Girls & I]

fish fingers, nuggets and cchips

 

[Terrie]

Those are on my list too alice LMAOOOO!!!

 

[vixforever]

fish fingers, nuggets and cchips

Nice and simple Alice lol

 

[clairebear22]

I make most of my dishes from fresh.

My fave 2 are:

Chicken Stew
2 chicken breasts (cooked and cut into pieces)
potato (cut into chunks, measurements depend how many you're feeding)
A couple of carrots diced
An onion diced
A tin of butter beans

Chuck the lot in a big sauce pan......

Then add 2 chicken oxo's, a big squirt of tomato puree and 2 big table spoons of mustard (trust me it's delicious )

Mix that in with a pint and a half of boiling water, stick the lid on and boil until the potatoes and carrots are cooked!!


The 2nd is chilli con carne

An onion diced
A pack of beef mince (size depends on how many you're feeding)
A tin of kidney beans (leave out if you don't like them)
A big squirt of tomato puree
2 beef oxo's
half a pint of boiling water
chilli powder

fry of the onion & mince and then chuck in the rest of the ingrediants. I always add a tiny bit of chilli powder for kids just to give it a bit of flavour and then get their portion out before adding more for me & my OH.

Serve it with rice

We're having chilli tonight!

I also do a mean sausage cassarole and my OH's fave is my homemade tuna fishcakes! Let me know if you want the recipe's! (can you tell I loooooove to cook?! Ha ha ha)

xxx

 

[louise280981]

I make most of my dishes from fresh.

My fave 2 are:

Chicken Stew
2 chicken breasts (cooked and cut into pieces)
potato (cut into chunks, measurements depend how many you're feeding)
A couple of carrots diced
An onion diced
A tin of butter beans

Chuck the lot in a big sauce pan......

Then add 2 chicken oxo's, a big squirt of tomato puree and 2 big table spoons of mustard (trust me it's delicious )

Mix that in with a pint and a half of boiling water, stick the lid on and boil until the potatoes and carrots are cooked!!


The 2nd is chilli con carne

An onion diced
A pack of beef mince (size depends on how many you're feeding)
A tin of kidney beans (leave out if you don't like them)
A big squirt of tomato puree
2 beef oxo's
half a pint of boiling water
chilli powder

fry of the onion & mince and then chuck in the rest of the ingrediants. I always add a tiny bit of chilli powder for kids just to give it a bit of flavour and then get their portion out before adding more for me & my OH.

Serve it with rice

We're having chilli tonight!

I also do a mean sausage cassarole and my OH's fave is my homemade tuna fishcakes! Let me know if you want the recipe's! (can you tell I loooooove to cook?! Ha ha ha)

xxx

just made chilli myself yummy
i add baked beans instead as kids not keen on kidney beans

 

[Me, My Girls & I]

get the mermaid bay fish fingers, theyre cheaper and yummier!!