Beat Jamie at his own game!

[invisiblepiper]

Hey - I don't believe it!
Saw an ad for SPAM FRITTERS on tv yesterday!
Sign of a recession or what?
(Still won't eat them Big Al ! )

[Milims]

I like doing a bacon hotpot:

Layers of thinnly sliced potato, onion and strips of streaky bacon. Cover with a basic white sauce (i like to add wholegrain mustard as well) then bake covered in the oven for about 2 hours, last half hour with the lid off gives a nice golden topping. I like it served with lots of shredded cabbage.

I made it last night - wow! Truly yummy! Thats another one added to my inexpensive recipe collection. Instead of streaky bacon I used the bacon mis-shapes - lots of meat for not lots of money!
I love recipes like this - not only are they inexpensive but they are also very adaptable - you can use pretty much what's left over in the fridge.
I'm also collecting them to put into a book for when my kids leave home so that they can have tasty, good and cheap food instead of take-aways when they are students! However there will be NO Spam recipes in the book!

[Elizabeth]

I'm also collecting them to put into a book for when my kids leave home so that they can have tasty, good and cheap food instead of take-aways when they are students!

Don't forget to take into account the amount of time the oven is on - especially for students. It may seem cheap due to ingredients but can be expensive if using hours of electric or gas oven!

Really looking forward to getting my wood burning oven.............

[Odsox]

Don't forget to take into account the amount of time the oven is on - especially for students. It may seem cheap due to ingredients but can be expensive if using hours of electric or gas oven!

Yes I agree, this can be a "hidden" cost if you're not careful.
I am using my slow cooker more these days, only 80 watts so relatively miserly to leave on all afternoon. (12 hours for 1 unit)

[Big Al]

Hey - I don't believe it!
Saw an ad for SPAM FRITTERS on tv yesterday!
Sign of a recession or what?
(Still won't eat them Big Al ! )

fritters have always been available in our chip shops for decades..... makes you feel all warm and fuzzy does a good spam fritter....

[jampot]

my mums sick of me saying this too
i regularly feed a family of 7 (4 adults 3 kids) for about 5 quid .veg soup and home made bread is my current fave! it all helps for (if)when i get to uni and have to exist on a student budget

[invisiblepiper]

fritters have always been available in our chip shops for decades..... makes you feel all warm and fuzzy does a good spam fritter....

Hmm ! that may be because of what's in them ......................

[Big Al]

fritters have always been available in our chip shops for decades..... makes you feel all warm and fuzzy does a good spam fritter....

Hmm ! that may be because of what's in them ......................

I went to work for years with a glow all around my body like that ready break advert in the 70's but for me it wasn't readybreak but the fact I worked at a nuclear power station,lol...

[invisiblepiper]

[janemiss]

Have you seen the price of the new spam fritters?????? £1.99 for 4, and they are small, (well the same size as a thin slice of spam from a tin). And that was in netto, dont know how much they are in the not so low cost supermarkets

[Flo]

I think that a good store cupboard full of spices, pulses and pasta can be the basis of endless cheap meals as you can just pick up vegetables in season, going cheap in supermarket, fresh if you grow them and run up your own recipes.

The secret seems to be a little investment over time and then keeping the supply built up.

Anyone got any of the old Marguerite Paton cook books? They were the basis of my experience - now I couldn't turn up a recipe but can run up an edible meal from force of habit.

£5 a meal? Hmm - don't we teach people to cook any more?

[Mal]

Anyone got any of the old Marguerite Paton cook books?

Oddly, just about to take her Everyday Cooking down to the charity shop - is it any good? I find that my main cooking concern is that we're quite 'time poor', and with Mal Jr II nearly with us, it's only going to get worse. We tend to rely on quick recipes or things that can be prepared at lunchtime for a long simmer until tea.

[Flo]

I found her recipes gave me the basics of being able to cook so that I could then adapt. Worth a read through for the ideas and her books are always reasonably easy to follow (or maybe it's coming down from a family that handed down a Mrs Beeton!!)

[Elizabeth]

My mum was a Delia cook Me I'm a Good House keeping cook!

[sleepyowl]

My OH is quite middle class & tends to be on the £5 mark for his dinners but I have got him eating bubble & squeak & having leftover meals for luch the next day, we also have 2 chicken carcasses in the freezer for soup, I'm hoping to make a chicken pie tonight but I think Rich is hoping for bubble & squeak, I may comprimise & do a pie with colcannon