Beat Jamie at his own game!

[Milims]

I've been driving my OH mad saying "see - I've fed us all for less than a fiver - eat your heart out Jamie Oliver!"

So I'd love to share some of your less than a fiver meals!

One of my faves is:
Line the bottom of a casserole with stale toasted bread that you've rubbed a clove of garlic over.
Sautee some green leaves - kale, cabbage etc (you can also add some lek if you like)
Put a layer of sauteed leaves on the bread and grate some cheese over.
Make as many layers of the above as the casserole can hold.
Pour over stock so that the whole thing is well soaked. Grate some more cheese on the top.
Bake in a moderate oven until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
For the non-vegies you can add some chopped up fried bacon.

There's also Grayes grannys wartime pudding: http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 28&t=12055
Which if you add a few more bread crumbs to make it thicker and some sauteed veg (leeks, sweet corn etc) and stuff into peppers and bake, it really yummy and cheap!
So what do you make for less than a fiver?

[red]

whats the game? meal for how many for less than a fiver?

[Milims]

According to the adverts for a certain supermarket, the claim is that the average family of 4 can be fed their main meal for a fiver. The supermarket supplies leaflets with the recipe on and a list of the ingredients you have to buy to make it. There are some quite nice and easy recipes, but I think we on here can do better!

[invisiblepiper]

We can - easily! Whe things are tight £1 per head per day is possible - and for non vegies.

[Big Al]

We can - easily! Whe things are tight £1 per head per day is possible - and for non vegies.

THAT MUCH... CAN I COME TO YOURS FOR DINNER

In the 21st century should we really be so poor that we need to spend this little on food? I know it's done and i frequently have to do it butit's a dire diet.

[invisiblepiper]

True - and not recommended long term. However - its fine for up to a month - but you need to be a reasonable cook - and able to make things from scratch. Yes - we've done it when times meant we had to.
And Yes - you guys would be welcome for dinner!
PS - I hate spam - except in Monty Python sketches!

[Big Al]

True - and not recommended long term. However - its fine for up to a month - but you need to be a reasonable cook - and able to make things from scratch. Yes - we've done it when times meant we had to.
And Yes - you guys would be welcome for dinner!
PS - I hate spam - except in Monty Python sketches!

Spam is only chopped pork... it says so on the tin!! My wife is with you but oh man , spam, spam, spam......

We went through a sustained period of about 9 months when we had £75 a month for food to feed two of us and occasionally 3 ( about 5 days a month) To some £75 is a good bottle of wine to others it's life itself but that works out at roughly 35 pence a meal..... As you say you have to a reasonable cook, for me it was easier as I like cooking but even that tested my skills. One thing it did prove was that it was none stop in the kitchen. If I wasn't thawing out a pre prepared meal I was making a new batch of something or cleaning up after a mamoth baking / cooking session. I was genuinly knackered after 8 hours in the kitchen and whilst this was going on the rest of the housework etc was getting neglected.

One thing I do now, religeously is keep a good stock cupboard of "essential" items such as spices, dried foods like rice, pasta and pulses, sauces such as woucester, tabasco and gravey bulions etc.
I also try to keep pre preped meals in the freezer so if I don't fancy cooking of am too ill to do it then Mrs Big Al can get something out of the freezer for her tea..... she knows how to follow the pictures for working the microwave...
These stock cupboard items and freezer meals get rotated as used but without them I fear I wouldn't be able to put much more than a gruel and water menu on most meals.

[invisiblepiper]

Ah yes - you've been there too! I recognise the tactics. Its much harder with teens about - but it does teach them not to be fussy - now they call home for tips on how to cook/substitute stuff.
My hubby is the one with the picture plan for the microwave -( but its a fair swap for loo cleaning duties).
Great thing for the fridge - if you don't already use it -sweet chilli dipping sauce - (I like blue dragon). It can bring life to many dishes and is a good base for sate marinades - mixed with some cheap peanut butter.
Better go cook now - I'm getting hungry posting this.............

[lsm1066]

Thanks to the current "economic climate", we're having to live on £45 a week to pay for electricity and food. Because we're running a big workshop, that's £20 on electricity and £20 on all the other housekeeping with a fiver left over to run my car. So I buy the same meat and veg every week (can't wait to be self-sufficient for veg this year) and other odds and ends and plan menus at the start of every week. Cheap cuts of meat, bones and so on can make a fantastic menu for a family of 4. Our absolute favourite, which we have once a week, is chicken and vegetable "soup". It goes like this:

Having polished off a chicken, scavenge it for all the meat you can get off it
In a big pot, fry up a roughly chopped onion in a little oil
Add the chicken meat
Add about 2-3 pints of vegetable stock and one clove of garlic per person (that last bit's optional)
Throw in whatever vegetables you've got around the place, roughly chopped up (we tend to use carrots, cauliflower, brocolli, butternut squash (a small one lasts about 3-4 meals), beans........leftover veg from when you ate the roast chicken are completely fine)
Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to as low as possible
Throw in a handful of pearl barley, put the lid on and leave it alone for about 40 minutes.

Serves 4 for 2 days or 6 hungry people and costs about 2 quid.

Lynne

[red]

should be easy enough - we do this fairly often.
pea soup
liver
eggs
i make an expensive 10 quid freerange chicken go for three meals...

[Elizabeth]

We're not veggie and my husband does at least an hour and a half of hill running a day.

When I buy meet I allow £1 - £1.50 per person. We don't always have meat every night, but we do have a big main meal each evening. I always buy free-range from the local butcher and always buy big joints or cheap cuts. We never have shop pre-pared food not even when I worked full time. When I make casseroles I make big portions and we have it 2 or 3 times and then it goes in the freezer. As I only have an electric oven I always cook other things in the oven when the oven is on.

When we have a roast chicken, it's only ever a medium size one, under £10 we eat it four times i.e. eight meals and the 2 dogs have it twice with their buscuits and then I make soup from the bones.

My mum could do amazing things with mince - always the butchers best mince. When money's short I always reach for the pasta.

Cheep day is Saturday - we love baked beans on toast with grated cheese on the top. Or Jacket potatoes is a Saturday favorite too

My favorite is lamb or pork belly slow roasted - unfortunately not healthy enough for hubbie. Roast lots of veggies and spuds in the oven alongside.

I did a great casserole the other weekend with beef shin. We had a load of friends round and it looked like steak, but really tender. I added a tin of chopped toms, fried onions, lots of carrots 'cause they are cheap, an orange quartered 'cause it gives the gravy a really rich flavour and a couple of sprigs of rosemary.

[StripyPixieSocks]

You mean people pay more than £5 anyway???

I have after paying bills £20 / week to pay for everything else you can think of for 2 people including food.

I don't think any of our meals come much above £1 per person ever except on special days like Birthdays etc

[Clara]

I'd agree that a fiver is quite a generous budget....

last night we had a pressure cooker risotto with pumpkin, sage and cheese. I reckon that cost us less than 2 euros (would have been around 80c if the pumpkin had been homegrown), it fed 4 of us.

What's more it's one of the simplest quickest things I cook but everyone always loves it and eats a ton of it (reckon its the melted cheese!).

I will post the recipe one day.....

[Annpan]

Tonight we have had our third night of Spaghetti Bolognese

400g organic beef, £3
2 big onions (homegrown) usually about 30p
3 sticks of celery about 30p
4 tins tomatoes 33p each
generous cupful red lentils 20p worth (we buy it in HUGE quantities)

So that is about £5 (head maths) not including the pasta, herbs or olive oil.

we still have enough left over for another night - I'll freeze it though 4 days in a row, even for a fave is a bit too much)
About 40p a serving, and we have BIG portions..... yummm.

This is one of our more extravagant dishes, usually it is the same but without the minc. We just can't afford to eat meat at every meal, I think I'd find it too heavy everyday anyway.

Lunch is a HUGE pot of root veg soup - free in autumn (or 20p worth of lentils, barley and/or rice added), but now we are having to buy in the veg, about £3 for a huge pot.... again about 12 big portions.

[invisiblepiper]

Stovies - two big onions, couple of pounds of tatties, oil/butter/ meat fat(best option) and meat scrapingd or leftovers. Also we add a bit of milk at the end - but that could just be us!

Fry chopped onions slowly in fat so that they go transparentish.
Add chopped, peeled tatties - 2 inch cubes approx and fry up too.
Add meat scraps - and clamp on a lid so the potatoes cook in the steam and moisture created.
Stir every so often - and keep the heat low.
Length of cooking time depends on potato type - 45 mins average.
Add a splash of milk at the end - or earlier if the potatoes start to stick.
Season to taste.
YUM.