The Frugal Recipes Thread... a companion to the Frugality thread....

[Fab Foodie]

A companion to the 'Frugality Thread' for people to post cheap and cheerful, but wholesome and nutritious recipes.

Cost of food particularly feeding a family is rising steeply against a backdrop of other hikes in energy, travel costs etc.
So let's consider not just the cost of the ingredients, but also the energy involved in making it and any other kewl tips.
Am no expert, but know there are many out there with great experience and recipes to share....

FF.

 

[PapaZita]

Last week we enjoyed this Smoky vegetable jambalaya from the BBC Food website. It’s “back to uni” season, in addition to the general concerns about rising prices, so there seem to be many pages of easy frugal recipes around at the moment, for example: Budget vegetarian meal plan for one. We’re not students or vegetarians, but I often browse pages like these for ideas and inspiration, if not actually to follow the recipes precisely.

More veg and less meat seems to be the main way we keep costs and energy down. We get a locally sourced veg box (boxlocalfood.co.uk for anyone near St Albans), and pulses and grains bought in bulk (e.g. hodmedods.co.uk) seem to go a long way.

 

[dan_bo]

Can't beat a Dhal. Or indeed just a spicy lentil soup.....

 

[wiggydiggy]

I use websites like this one: https://www.supercook.com/#/desktop . There are others but you say what ingredients you have and it will give you recipes. Its very useful if I buy a mixed veg bargain box or other reduced price stuff and can be told what I can do with them. I always find if I try to follow a set recipe I end up missing something and having to change it anyway so I prefer to work with what I have.

An example is a slow cooker stew. I'll normally add a meat to it depending on what I have, mixed veg again of what I have, and 2 cans of chopped tomato. I'll add other things randomly like mixed herbs, stock cubes, tobassco sauce etc. One I've made recently is:

Sausage Stew
Large Sausages
Peppers
Large Mushrooms
Onions
Tinned chopped tomato
All veggies were chopped and added to pot, sausages were fried quickly to brown then added, tomato was added and I think I used 2 x veg stock cubes. The amount you cook can vary to your size of pot - mine is quite large so I freeze upto 75% of it to eat later. I've been eating this with either potatos or rice.

 

[MontyVeda]

anything, be it stew, soup, curry or chilli cooked in as large a quantity as your largest pan, freeze everything not eaten in the first sitting so you've got a stack of future ready meals

 

[Fab Foodie]

I use websites like this one: https://www.supercook.com/#/desktop . There are others but you say what ingredients you have and it will give you recipes. Its very useful if I buy a mixed veg bargain box or other reduced price stuff and can be told what I can do with them. I always find if I try to follow a set recipe I end up missing something and having to change it anyway so I prefer to work with what I have.

An example is a slow cooker stew. I'll normally add a meat to it depending on what I have, mixed veg again of what I have, and 2 cans of chopped tomato. I'll add other things randomly like mixed herbs, stock cubes, tobassco sauce etc. One I've made recently is:

Sausage Stew
Large Sausages
Peppers
Large Mushrooms
Onions
Tinned chopped tomato
All veggies were chopped and added to pot, sausages were fried quickly to brown then added, tomato was added and I think I used 2 x veg stock cubes. The amount you cook can vary to your size of pot - mine is quite large so I freeze upto 75% of it to eat later. I've been eating this with either potatos or rice.

Thanks! This is now going to be tomorrow's dinner :-)

 

[wiggydiggy]

Thanks! This is now going to be tomorrow's dinner :-)

This is tonights tea for me, if it has finished defrosting lol

Edit - Here's a picture of another one I did. Looks like Sasauges, Carrots, Peppers and Onions. Got a new slow cooker now as that one was getting grotty.

 

[presta]

Dhal is the cheapest meal on my menu:

Ingredients (4 portions)

• 850cc water
• 320g red lentils
• 400g tin of tomatoes
• 200g onion, finely chopped
• 20g oil
• 2 fresh chillies or 15cc dried flakes
• 10cc cumin seeds
• 10cc turmeric
• 2-3 cloves or 10cc dried garlic
• 5cc garam masala
• 5cc ground coriander
• 30g of fresh or 5cc dried ginger

• Dry-fry the cumin seeds over a medium heat until toasted and fragrant. Set aside.
• Place the lentils and water in a large pan and bring to the boil. Skim off any scum and stir in the remaining dry spices and tomatoes. Reduce to a simmer, cover and leave to cook gently.
• Gently fry the onion and fresh spices in the oil, and mix in the toasted cumin seeds once golden.
• Add the onion to the lentils once it is completely softened, and simmer until the rice is ready, stirring regularly.

 

[Reynard]

Not exactly a recipe per se, but anything that uses beef or lamb mince e.g. spag bol, pasta bakes cottage or shepherd's pie tends to get done with half meat and half cooked green lentils.

I really do like lentils and tbh, when everything is cooked, you don't really notice their sneaky presence in the dish.

 

[slowmotion]

What's the budget for a single adult portion in order for it to count as frugal?

 

[PaulSB]

I have many recipes which I cook in a single vessel, usually a slow cooker, which are energy efficient but the ingredients probably mean they are not frugal. One meal we often make because it is delicious, quick, easy is also frugal though that's never been a thought before:

Pasta with salmon (or virtually anything!!) :
Ingredients

• spaghetti 60g of dry pasta per serving (any pasta will do but spaghetti works best)
• salmon filet 40g per serving (that's half a pre-packed supermarket filet)
• soft cheese with garlic and herbs couple of tablespoons or to taste
• parsley (optional as it adds 75p cost for a potful)
• parmesan
• black pepper

Method

• cook the pasta as usual but stop just before it's ready, just al dente, as it will continue cooking
• skin the salmon and dice into 0.5cm cubes, important and definitely not more than 1cm
• drain the pasta leaving perhaps a cup of water in the pan
• add the soft cheese and mix thoroughly to coat the pasta (a carving fork works well)
• add the diced salmon and over a very low heat mix (carving fork) till the salmon is cooked
• scatter with parsley
• dress with black pepper and grated parmesan
• serve with green salad if desired

The beauty of the above is it is very adaptable; leave out the salmon or substitute with a vegetable such as broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, green beans, cherry tomatoes, loads of possibilities. If using a "hard" vegetable (e.g broccoli) break into larger pieces and blanch to crisp before adding to the pasta.

The Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer is a brilliant recipe book for +/- £10 with 74 "one dish dinners." There are four editions. Some are frugal but I haven't used it specifically for this. There are four versions including meat and vegetarian/vegan. I was given it for Christmas and have yet to have a failure. Great for tea, supper with friends or some for an informal dinner party. On a walking week each couple was responsible for an evening meal for ten. I chose two recipes from the book, huge success as each couple asked me for the recipes and not just out of politeness. I was very nervous and then very happy!!!

EDITED: correct a couple of daft errors

 

[PaulSB]

What's the budget for a single adult portion in order for it to count as frugal?

see my spaghetti recipe above!

spaghetti £0.69 for 500g (Lidl) = 8p per serving
soft cheese £0.85 for 200g (Aldi) = 10p per serving (based on 25g/serving)
parmesan say = 10p maximum
black pepper!!

30p maximum and then add the cost of anything you add like salmon, broccoli etc

 

[Fab Foodie]

This is tonights tea for me, if it has finished defrosting lol

Edit - Here's a picture of another one I did. Looks like Sasauges, Carrots, Peppers and Onions. Got a new slow cooker now as that one was getting grotty.



View attachment 663260

That looks like mine - except I went Carrot and Mushroom with Thyme leaves instead of peppers (it's what I had), and veg stock with a splash of Tomato puree instead of Tinned Toms. So essentially the same but different!
Served with boiled spuds, fed 3. Very nommy :-)

 

[Fab Foodie]

I have many recipes which I cook in a single vessel, usually a slow cooker, which are energy efficient but the ingredients probably mean they are not frugal. One meal we often make because it is delicious, quick, easy is also frugal though that's never been a thought before:

Pasta with salmon (or virtually anything!!) :
Ingredients

• spaghetti 60g of dry pasta per serving (any past will do but spaghetti works best)
• salmon filet 40g per serving (that's half a pre-packed supermarket filet)
• soft cheese with garlic and herbs couple of tablespoons or to taste
• parsley (optional as it adds 75p cost for a potful)
• parmesan
• black pepper

Method

• cook the pasta as usual but stop just before it's ready, just al dente, as it will continue cooking
• skin the salmon and dice into 0.5cm cubes, important and definitely not more than 1cm
• drain the pasta leaving perhaps a cup of water in the pan
• add the soft cheese and mix thoroughly to coat the pasta (a carving fork works well)
• add the diced salmon and over a very low heat mix (carving fork) till the pasta is cooked
• scatter with parsley
• dress with black pepper and grated parmesan
• serve with green salad if desired

The beauty of the above is it is very adaptable; leave out the salmon or substitute with a vegetable such as broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, green beans, cherry tomatoes, loads of possibilities. If using a "hard" vegetable (e.g broccoli) break into larger pieces and blanch to crisp before adding to the pasta.

The Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer is a brilliant recipe book for +/- £10 with 74 "one dish dinners." There are four. Some are frugal but I haven't used it specifically for this. There are four versions including meat and vegetarian/vegan. I was given it for Christmas and have yet to have a failure. Great for tea, supper with friends or some for an informal dinner party. On a walking week each couple was responsible for an evening meal for ten. I chose two recipes from the book, huge success as each couple asked me for the recipes and not just out of politeness. I was very nervous and then very happy!!!

Second the Roasting Tin books....

 

[CharlesF]

I have many recipes which I cook in a single vessel, usually a slow cooker, which are energy efficient but the ingredients probably mean they are not frugal. One meal we often make because it is delicious, quick, easy is also frugal though that's never been a thought before:

Pasta with salmon (or virtually anything!!) :
Ingredients

• spaghetti 60g of dry pasta per serving (any pasta will do but spaghetti works best)
• salmon filet 40g per serving (that's half a pre-packed supermarket filet)
• soft cheese with garlic and herbs couple of tablespoons or to taste
• parsley (optional as it adds 75p cost for a potful)
• parmesan
• black pepper

Method

• cook the pasta as usual but stop just before it's ready, just al dente, as it will continue cooking
• skin the salmon and dice into 0.5cm cubes, important and definitely not more than 1cm
• drain the pasta leaving perhaps a cup of water in the pan
• add the soft cheese and mix thoroughly to coat the pasta (a carving fork works well)
• add the diced salmon and over a very low heat mix (carving fork) till the salmon is cooked
• scatter with parsley
• dress with black pepper and grated parmesan
• serve with green salad if desired

The beauty of the above is it is very adaptable; leave out the salmon or substitute with a vegetable such as broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, green beans, cherry tomatoes, loads of possibilities. If using a "hard" vegetable (e.g broccoli) break into larger pieces and blanch to crisp before adding to the pasta.

The Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer is a brilliant recipe book for +/- £10 with 74 "one dish dinners." There are four editions. Some are frugal but I haven't used it specifically for this. There are four versions including meat and vegetarian/vegan. I was given it for Christmas and have yet to have a failure. Great for tea, supper with friends or some for an informal dinner party. On a walking week each couple was responsible for an evening meal for ten. I chose two recipes from the book, huge success as each couple asked me for the recipes and not just out of politeness. I was very nervous and then very happy!!!

EDITED: correct a couple of daft errors

I can second Rukmini’s recipes, never a failure and also very tasty.