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.
Curry.
- Any vegitables
- chickpeas or tofu
- rice
- curry paste or some spices
- coconut milk
Prep:
- cut and steam vegetables, rice
- bake tofu
- mix everything
- wait 20min
Lovely vegan curry. Could switch to meat if you want. Costs me roughly €2,50 per portion for a very tasty and healthy meal.
Yeah, I’ve cooked Chana Aloo recently, but I’m looking for things that aren’t just pulses and rice or beans and rice!
You can go wild with pasta sauce, ingredients and herbs wise. White sauce or red sauce for example. There’s loads of different kinds of pasta too. Or just go for the simple pasta pesto garlic spinach.
Also one of my favorite things to make during winter is pea soup, from split peas. It’s a traditional Dutch recipe, called erwtensoep or snert. Here’s a recipe. But I make it vegan. Also really cheap and fills you up like crazy.
+1 for curry! My favorite paste is Cock Brand Curry paste for 3€ per 200g, which is 4 portions. Absolutely worth it though, as it’s really the only seasoning you need and it turns out perfect every time. I usually throw in frozen Cauliflower and smoked Tofu.
If I’m feeling fancy, I also start the curry by searing a roughly chopped onion in a big scoop of vegan butter and mixing in a bit of flour, then slowly stirring in the coconut milk similar to how you make bechamel sauce. The flour thickens the curry up, which really improves the texture and shortens the cooking time, as you don’t have to wait for water to evaporate and thicken it up naturally.
I bought these 1kg buckets for €6 each at the local Asian supermarket.
I like baking the tofu with soy sauce and ketjap to a crispy state (takes a while) but it’s that extra bite in all the softness of the marinated vegitables.
Some cashews are also nice to add but they are expensive AF.
What is ketjap if I may ask?
I had to look it up. I thought it was a common product, but apparently it’s Indonesian, so that’s why it’s common in the Netherlands (our dark colonial history) but not internationally.
It’s an Indonesian soy sauce. I found a wiki page with 14 languages, including Dutch, but not English xD
Here’s the Deepl translation:
Ketjap (Indonesian: kecap) is an Indonesian soy sauce. It is made from a fermented mixture of soybean flour, coarsely ground wheat, spices, sugar, and salt.
There are many types of ketjap, including:
Ketjap manis: very sweet soy sauce Ketjap sedang: less sweet soy sauce Ketjap asin: salty soy sauce Ketjap kendal: dark, syrupy soy sauce; similar in taste to ketjap manis Ketjap medja: dark, syrupy soy sauce; sweet and salty. Its flavor is between manis and asin Ketjap asin is used in the kitchen when preparing dishes, while ketjap manis is used at the table as an addition to flavor a meal. Ketjap manis is the most commonly used type.
Indonesian ketjap is characterized by its dark brown color and syrupy consistency. This differs from Chinese and Japanese soy sauces, which are thinner and usually not sweet.
Interesting. I dont think I have ever seen it. Maybe in an asian market if I look for it.
And be hungry in an hour
Why? It’s a well balanced meal
A good stew. Most expensive ingredient will be the osso-buco, or any similar meat-on-the-bone.
You cook the meat, bone and all, till the marrow melts out. Vegetables can be… Anything. One pot can last you a week and it’s a real hearty meal.
two jars of salsa
chicken thighs
veggies
crock pot on low for 4 hours
serve with rice
Though to be honest I don’t usually use a recipe or cook anything. I cube a block of soft/silken tofu, dump on some chili oil, add some kind of vinegar (and maybe sesame oil if I have it), and eat it raw and cold.
You could probably do it with any kind of sauce you like and put it on rice if you’re feeling fancy
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.
Potatoes are good. Cut up potatoes (peeled or not, I like unpeeled because less work and more nutrients that way), season with olive oil (rapeseed oil will also work probably) and thyme (or other herbs of your choice), cook in a 225℃ oven for 20-25 minutes. (I recommend setting a timer for 20 minutes, then checking if they are done yet and setting a timer for 5 more minutes if not to prevent burnt potatoes.)
Potatoes and lardons
I do a tartiflette which is pretty similar to this.
I’d love to see it on the cooking sub °o°
Tater tot casserole.
We don’t really have tater tots here.
Mille feuille nabe. It’s cabbage and pork (sliced thin) layered together and cooked in dashi or whatever broth you have. Pack it with other veggies, mushrooms, whatever is on sale. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, serve with rice or noodles.
I like to put the whole pot on the table and have people take pieces like hot pot.
Also a good time to break out any sauces you have. Ponzu, chili oil, sriracha, whatever your taste. It’s very flexible.
Soup, easy to make, you just need a big pan and some water and some ingredients
Yeah, I’m doing leek and potato soup tonight, but the family will rebel if I serve them soup too often.
put anything you want into a rice cooker and that’s it
I tried this with dried beans and it didn’t turn out too well
didn’t make me shit myself though
im regularly cooking lentils with beef/chicken, eggs and vegetables
Kale chips! Take some kale, remove the stems, brush it with oil and seasonings, then throw it in the oven on some parchment paper
Those are a good snack but not even close to filling let alone a meal
Bulk cook the entré or protein on the weekend because it takes the most time. Make a side everyday, or every other day, so you can switch it up based on your mood.
Literally take 1-2 lbs of meat and make it last a week for a family of 4.
That Taco Ground Beef/Turkey can then be prepared 5-7 different ways for every day of the week. Feel like you want a Quesadilla? Or a Taco? Roll it up and pour enchilada sauce on it? Throw some chips in the Oven, Pour on whatever is left with cheese and you got nachos.
Make a steak on Saturday. On Monday, you chunk into some delicious rice pilaf. On Thursday you get a baguette and thinly slice the leftover for a Cheese Steak.
Way too many people think every meal has to start from scratch each time. Restaurants don’t even cook this way.
Cheese burger and tater tots. I can turn out a decent burger and tots in about 20 minutes. This is a simple cheese burger using frozen patties with pickles and onion. And the tots take about 14 minutes in the air fryer.
I dont mean to be rude but are frozen burger patties cheap where you are? Cause they aint cheap here in Canada.
Some people have wildly different definitions of cheap it would seem. Personally nothing involving hamburger meat at all is cheap to me.
Yes, I get them at Costco.
I did burgers last week, made from ground beef. We don’t really get tater tots 'round these parts, so I did oven baked potato wedges.
My student days:
Curry Super Noodles
After draining most of the water crack an egg in there and give it a small stir, also add small tin tuna and some frozen sweetcorn
Tip into a bowl and drown in Sweet Chili Sauce
Easy to make, only dirties one pan, has pretty much all the nutrients you need. Corresponds to no known world cuisine so name it whatever you want.
I’m not really looking for student-budget level recipes, more a step up from that.
Posting questions and then complaining that the answers aren’t good enough for you, is what I would, at my most diplomatic, call ungracious behaviour. You had the option of just scrolling past.
As part of the question I did say: “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?”
Now you’re doubling down and being a snobby cunt. Looks like I shouldn’t have bothered trying to phrase things diplomatically after all. Blocked
Ok. I mean, I asked a specific question and some of the answers weren’t relevant. I wasn’t complaining just clarifying.
