What are your best cheap & healthy recipes?

Japanese style chicken with rice:

To feed 4-

8oz chicken breast, sliced thin.

2 cups dried rice.

1 cup peas.

1 medium onion, sliced.

1 red or green pepper, sliced

1 piece of ginger the size of the end joint of your thumb, or a teaspoon of dried ginger.

1 chicken or vegetable stock cube dissolved in water

Put the chicken in the bottom of a deep pan. Place all the other ingredients on top of the chicken, ending with the rice on top of the rest.

Then pour in the stock until it is about 4cm above the rice.

Put the lid on the pan, place it on the heat, and bring to the boil.

Boil gently for about five minutes, then reduce to a simmer for ten. Then remove from the heat, leaving the lid on.

Leave, with the lid on, for about 20 minutes, then remove the lid, give it a good stir, and serve.

Depending on your taste, serve this with soy sauce, or hoisin, teryaki, whatever you fancy.

The basic recipe (without accompanying sauce) works out at around 70p-£1 per serving, depending on where you shop.

spaghetti n meat sauce is usually pretty cheap

Also fine whole chicken and roast potato with veg goes pretty far for cheap. You can season it all up, throw it in 1 pan to bake. Than you can use the chicken rack for soup

Curry chicken in the slow cooker. When the meat is off the bone it seems to stretch a bit more. Also good for one pot because you can put potato and carrots in it. Makes it more filling and nutritious.

Chilli is good because you can have it over rice than have left overs over jacket potato the next day. This is also good when done in the slow cooker. You can also add veggies

Sorry I couldn’t edit the post but I agree with previous poster with regards to where you shop makes a difference as well. In my area Aldi and Family Foods by Iceland are in the same shopping shopping centre so I get certain items from each shop. For example previously I used to buy all my chicken fresh from Aldi but since prices have gone up I now get 3 for £10 from Iceland. My family are a house of 4. 3 bags get us through the month. I also portion control. Usually with chicken it’s 2 pieces per person and maybe and extra 2 in case someone wants seconds. I find shopping at those 2 stores pretty good.

Hello.

Lentils and chickpeas are a great alternative to chicken or mince (we only eat chicken breast and not that often now its more expensive)

Lentil bolognese is a firm favourite of ours. Just soak the lentils for about 1hr before cooking. Drain. Then fry off some onions and garlic if your family like them (mine don't so I use garlic powder for a bit of flavour-and it lasts longer) add some diced carrots, then some passata/ cheap bolognese sauce. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 20mins. Meanwhile cook some pasta/spaghetti which ever you prefer. Mix together before serving.

Or chickpea curry-doesnt have to be too spicy. Fry off some onions and garlic (if using) add some curry powder then canned chickpeas (drained) mix well. Add about 500ml of veg stock and bring to a boil then simmer for about 10mins. Add more stock if needed. Then add some passata (about 200-250ml) and mix and simmer again for about 5-10mins. With about 5mins to go add about 100ml of coconut milk and mix. Serve with rice or sometimes I add couscous to the curry. You can also add sweetcorn, peppers etc whatever your family like.

Another 1 is cheesy mash. Make some mash, put a layer in a ovenproof dish then layer with baked beans, then mash then top with cheese (and onion if you like) then either grill or put in the oven to brown. Can serve with sausage, fish fingers or on its own. You can use thin slices of potato if your family don't like mash. Just part cook them and then layer in the same way.

Just a couple of ideas for you. I know how difficult it can be to try to make meals out of 'fresh air' that are reasonably healthy but cheap.

I find recipes that use similar ingredients are good as there is less waste or batch cook and freeze some portions for later.

Good luck.

I always grate red cabbage and carrot in with mince to bulk it out, this way a small packet of mince can make 2 meals, like a shepherd pie /lasagne /chili/Bolognese/tacos/ etc

With a shepherd's pie I also add peas, sweetcorn,(any veg really) and sometimes a can of beans etc

Slow cooker meals are good, cheaper cuts of meats/sausages/corned beef make lovely casseroles add more veg as they take on the flavours.

One pot meals great too, rice/pasta, tin tomatoes and cheese make a lovely meal. Cheap chicken cuts added too make a change.

Chicken legs in a 'bake in bag' bbq is lovely with a veggie rice, add a few sliced peppers in the bag along with chicken.

Jackets, once cooked scoop out and mix with cheese or corned beef, refill and brown off

Always bulk it out with veg, if fussy great it, red cabbage is my saviour as my child doesn't realise its veg lol

Frozen veg are much cheaper than fresh, less waste and still all the goodness. Eggs are great for protein if meat is too expensive. Jacket potatoes are great. Bulk mince out with grated veggies and shop at the cheapest shops if possible.

Legumes in particular dried beans, lentils, chickpeas are a very healthy and cheap alternative.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 to 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 15- oz can diced tomato
• 2 cups water
• 1 dry bay leaf
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• black eyed peas
• lime or lemon
• fresh parsley

Method

1. In a large pot, heat extra virgin olive oil over medium heat till shimmering but not smoking. Add onions and garlic. Saute briefly until translucent and fragrant. Add bell peppers and carrots. Cook for 5 minutes, tossing regularly.
2. Now add diced tomatoes (with their juices), water, bay leaf, spices, salt and pepper. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Add in the cooked black eyed peas. Boil for 5 minutes, then lower heat. Cover part-way and let simmer for 25 to 30 minutes (occasionally check to stir. If the black eyed pea stew looks too dry, add a tiny bit of water.)
3. Finally, stir in lemon juice and parsley.
4. To serve, transfer to bowls. Add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy with a side of warm Greek pita or on top of orzo, rice, or your favourite grain.

Sausage casserole: pack sausages, onion, celery, carrot, stock, tin of tomatoes and a couple of potatoes.

Or liver, with onion gravy, mash and peas: if you learn to do it really well liver is fantastic.

My mum used to make soupy stew which was minestrone soup with cubes of corned beef in but corned beef a bit pricey now.

I also remember my mum had a paperback called the paupers cookbook which had loads of good stuff in.

https://groceries.asda.com/recipes/Creamy-chicken-&-pea-curry/384e6722-2aff-11e9-8802-7daf07a34f81

my lot love this so quick and simple. There's quiet a few different ones too worth a try xx

Here's a Swedish take on chili con carne:

500 g mincemeat

2 finely chopped onions

1 leek thinly sliced

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can baked beans

1 packet bacon (we use streaky bacon)

2 teaspoons salt

butter for frying

chili powder to taste

pepper to taste

Fry the mince and finely chopped onions in butter. 

Stir in the finely sliced leek, tomatoes, baked beans and spices

Simmer for 15 - 20 miuntes

Cut the bacon rashers into smaller pieces, fry and stir in with the other ingredients.

Serve with rice

I don't know if they do this in England but here in Sweden many supermarkets like Lidl (we don't have Aldi here) have discounts on produce with short expiry dates. For example if you buy a large pack of mince, divide it into smaller meal size portions ant put it in the deep freeze as soon as you get

home then you can use it as and when you need to.

This is a bit late in the day to start with now but you may consider it for next year. If you have a garden you can grow many different kinds of vegetables like tomatoes or cucumbers - the price per kilo today for both of these is astronomical, in large pots or raised beds. Packets of seeds are relatively cheap and the taste of home grown is far better than shop bought. Plus of course if you have kids they will love planting seeds, watching them grow and then finally picking the harvest themselves, I know my grandkids do.

Of course even tough it's traditional to eat them on Shrove Tuesday you can always do pancakes, cheap and filling. Top them with jam or sliced bananas or whatever you fancy.

Another traditional cheap Swedish dish:

Potato pancakes

¾ cup of flour

¾ pint of milk

2 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

2 lb potatoes

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

3 carrots

1 lb bacon

1 teaspoon butter or margarine

Whisk the flour with half the milk to a smooth batter. Wjisk in the remaining milk, eggs and salt.

Peel and grate the potatoes using the coarsest part of the grater. Squeeze excess liquid out of the grated potatoes and turn into the batter immediately so that the potatoes don’t go brown

Heat butter or margarine in a frying pan and place small amounts of the potato/batter mix in the pan forming small pancakes. Turn as you would do with ordinary pancakes.

Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. 

Fry bacon crispy.

Peel and cut carrots into thick sticks or grate

Serve the potato pancakes with the bacon and the carrot sticks .

In Sweden we traditionally also serve lingonberry jam with potato pancakes but I don’t think you can get that in England, or if you can it will be quite expensive.