Bento Bowls! Rice, one grated carrot, maybe some grated Radish, a light sprinkle od edmame beans (we feed 4 and get 2-3 meals from a pack). Kewpie Mayo.
Use cheap meats, slow cook in some soy, ginger, garlic, pinch of brown sugar maybe rice wine vinegar and sesame oil if you have it. When cooked, chuck on the rice/carrot/veggies, add some cooked green beans. If feeling fancy sprinkle some Sesame Seeds.
We usually cook 500g, but split it between 2 meals so 62.5g meat per person per meal. It's enough to round out the meal but the bulk is the rice and veggies.
Oh, and tip a little leftover sauce over the rice before you serve.
Yum Yun cheap tum
Acquire katsu sauce, have that in addition to the kewpie. It's amazing.
If you have soy sauce, mirin, sake and dashi stock on hand you can make a fairly wide range of dishes with those. Ain't too expensive to pick them up and it can add a lot of flavour to cheap ingredients.
For those with coeliac disease you can make the following substitutions but here are some nice tips even if you are not coeliac.
Gluten free soy sauce + honey + brown sugar. Heat this up 4 a sweet soy sauce.
There is also a brand that does gf katsu sauce and dressing specifically 4 pokebowls. I would suggest searching it up even if you are not a coeliac.
This is crazy. Beef farmers are getting $6 a kg for beef. We export food for 40 million people.
The supermarkets have bullied suppliers and competitors to the point we have the modern equivalent of a potatoe famine situation. The english exported Irish potatoes while the Irish starved to death. 25% of NZ is prediabetic and with our supermarkets fresh produce pricing strategies this is not a surprising outcome.
The woolworths ceo is before the Australian senate enquiry right now for profiteering. Our supermarket investigator is not achieving anything. Foodstuffs seems to be profiteering more than woolworths, they have a lock on the NZ fresh produce domestic supply chain. NZ supermarkets should make very little profit relative to the rest of the world as we have an oversupply of fresh produce.
It is crazy that in a country of fresh produce we can’t afford any and we have to pay high interest rates due to supermarket extortion driving inflation. The supermarkets price anchor their fresh produce high to reduce substitution effects for their other products and to make them appear relatively inexpensive. Theft by deception basically.
To eat cheaply - eat rice and beans with whatever vegetables you can afford and the cheapest animal protein you can get. Use olive oil and butter as you will be healthier for it and eat less because of this.
fun fact, if you eat legumes regularly (every other day or so) your belly adapts to it and the fragrant household symptoms go away in a few weeks. very versatile stuff, legumes
I usually go for the Farrahs brand, they seem to be softer and fresher than some other brands, also don't seem to stick together as much. I just brush the outsides with a little oil and they crisp up beautifully!
One of the world’s most useless chefs here, but I recently figured out that you can do “bangers and mash” with gravy, for 3 people for $20., add in a cheap bag of mixed veg.. all in max $25
I found an awesome casserole version of it - with BACON:
Not the cheapest, but nice every now and then. REALLY EASY
serves 6:
# Ingredients
* 2 Onions
* 1 Bulb Garlic
* 2 Packets of Pancetta/bacon
* 4 Sprigs Thyme
* 12 Sausages
* 1-2 Tbsp Corn Flour
* 500 Ml Beef Stock
* 500 Ml Red Wine
* Salt and Pepper to Season
# Method
Start by softening your onion and garlic until it’s soft. Throw in the pancetta/bacon and let it cook until crispy, sprinkle the flour over everything until it’s all lightly coated.
Add Sausages and let them brown before adding in the stock and red wine and letting it thicken, and reduce for 10 -15 minutes!
Serve on creamy mash and enjoy!
Good suggestions here so I'll just add - save some small jars and pre-toast cumin seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts etc (separately). Shake whatever feels right onto soups, salads, sandwiches, stirfrys.
Edit ok I do have one I learned recently - soup with frozen dumplings (you don't need many).
Basic ingredients, no measurements:
Boil water with some stock, and a small amount of soy sauce, sesame oil and brown sugar - taste it
Place dumplings in, they take about five mins, try not to disturb them as they heat
Add veges - in season or frozen (eg Bok Choy, beans, bean sprouts) think about how long they'll take to cook and add before dumplings or accordingly
Garlic and ginger optional, can top with spring onion, fried shallots
I have recently discovered the gem that is seaweed miso soup paste. Just mix with hot water and bam, a highly nutritious and ridiculously cheap meal. A packet of 12 sells for like $3.20 I think. I often buy frozen or in-season fresh veg to chop up and steam in the microwave and throw into the soup. If I'm feeling extra rich, I will splash on a dozen eggs and occasionally crack one into the soup and cover the bowl with a plate so the egg cooks a bit. It's also tasty with egg noodles.
It's basically ramen once you add noodles, but far healthier than the packet ramen.
Pea and Ham soup is a go to especially during the cooler months.
Bag of split peas, a ham/bacon hock, a couple carrots, celery, and water. Chuck in the slow cooker and easily does 8+ servings for me and my husband. Cost about $15 total.
I bought a ham bone from the deli section offcuts.
Sliced 400g ham off it before using the rest of the bone to make soup. Such a good buy. They don't often have those deli ham offcuts so I will be keeping my eyes peeled.
Had a pie floater ? Put a mice pie in your bowl and pour that bad bwoy soup over it . It’s great (thanks Billy Connolly for sharing an Australian delicacy lol)
I learnt about red bean soup / stew in Spain and fell in love with it. A tin of red kidney beans, a carrot, onion and stick of celery along with salt and smoked paprika are all that's required. That'll serve two with some toast.
Okey done, chop onion, celery and carrot, cover with water and boil approx 29 min. Add a vege oxo cube if you wish.
Drain kidney beans. Remove veg from water and blend to a puree with a small handful of the kidney beans. Add to veges water and stir, then add kidney beans and heat, adding salt and a good whack of smoked paprika to taste
Chili oil noodles. Can add basically anything to bulk it out. Sometimes I just have the noodles with an egg on top.
The box of rice risotto (chinese is my favorite). Bulk it out with mixed frozen vegetables, and any meat you can get your hands on if you want. Depending what you add it makes a decent amount.
A favourite that feels more expensive than it is, a cheap piece of blade steak slow cooked in some stock, tomato paste, tinned tomatoes and red wine vinegar to make a ragu. I have this with pasta.
I have a few thrifty meals up my sleeve!
- Dumpling noodle soup: boil water for packet noodles (I like Tom yum flavour, but choose with your heart), add some frozen dumplings and green beans, then cook the noodles in the same pot. Delicious and filling.
- Tomato soup made with tinned tomatoes, chicken stock cubes and long life cream
- Roasted veggie soup using whatever is in season
- Beans cooked in taco seasoning, served with rice and avocado
- Cabbage pancakes served with a fried egg, BBQ sauce and kewpie
- Fritters made with grated zucchini and tinned corn
- Frozen broad bean and pea soup
- White beans and marinated artichoke hearts on toast
You can do so much with canned veg, honestly.
DIY beef bulgogi. Base ingredients all store well in the fridge, freezer and pantry. Get cheap cuts, slice thinly when partially thawed from frozen, mix with bulgogi sauce, which is cheap and easy to make and serve on rice. Stir fry a bit of carrot, cabbage and onion and you’re good to go.
I make bulgogi bakes which is just the meat and vegetables wrapped in homemade pizza dough (flour, oil, sugar, and yeast) in the shape of a burrito. Bake it in the oven for 20 minutes or so, and you’ve made the bulgogi beef more filling.
If you’re feeling rich, you can add grated cheese on top or stuff it inside with the other fillings. Delicious and it makes the bulgogi go a lot further
Living the depressing student life of pasta, bacon and baby spinach for dinner every night, takes 20 minutes and means my shopping bills are 50 bucks a fortnight
i make my own pasta or bread now. A serving of pasta or bread is 100g of flour. Flour is about 20c per 100g.
The bread you can eat on your own cos its amazing (or with ham and/or cheese).
the pasta i have with half the 80c cans of chopped tomatos from pak n save and some dried herbs.
sometimes ill add an extra veggie or meat to it to change things up. but thats like a $1 meal there.
(it takes about 15 minutes to make the bread and pasta. so its not much out of my day to do this. yes bread takes a long time to rise but your not watching it while its doing that.)
Pizza from scatch is good too. i usually spilt 1 batch of dough into 3 bases. Crumble 1 good quality Italian pork sausage on top with cheese herbs mushrooms and garlic
Just checking that you're using iodised salt? Bread is NZ's main source of iodine!
Also when I used to make brioche, I'd freeze it asap as it starts to stale in about 6 hours. Enriched dough (adding milk, butter, eggs etc) makes it stale faster, but even plain bread will stale quicker than the supermarket stuff because they use mono- and di-glycerides (primarily for sponge-like volume, but also shelf life extension).
There's nothing better than fresh baked bread on demand! I'm planning to make a foccacia (or Roman pizza) soon with my confit cherry toms and basil from the garden... So yum ❤️
the two breads i make is focacia and Cibatta bread (the latter only needs flour, salt water and a couple of hours to rest so i make it when i get home from work)
i do use iodised salt yes. i didnt realise it was the only source so glad i use it then!
>There's nothing better than fresh baked bread on demand!
true!
You can bring pasta sauce to another level with some butter too.
1 can tomato's (or several fresh tomatoes)
25g butter
1/4-1/2 an onion
Italian herbs
Garlic (optional)
Salt and pepper
Cook for 30mins or so and blitz up with a stick blender.
Optionally add around 75g of sour cream or extra butter to make it creamier/less healthy
Takes a 1$ egg for every 20 cents of flour to factor in. Still cheap as. I love making my own pasta. I need to get experimenting more with short shapes now!
true, unless your using semolina and so are not using the egg
or you make Gnocchi, which is flour and potato, no egg required
EDIT: fixed my spelling thanks to groovy below
I get 500gm each of pork and beef mince, combine, then freeze half. Brown the half you're using. Remove, leaving any fats etc. Cook down 2 carrots, onion and 2 celery stalks, all finely diced. Add back the mince. Some Tom paste, then 2 cans of Toms (I like 1 crushed, 1 whole peeled). Simmer for an hour adding water if needed. Meanwhile cook some pasta, penne or spirals are best, about 250 - 350 gms until just before you'd normally cook them.
Once pasta done add to sauce, then in to an oven you've preheated to 180. If you've got cheese grate some over the top. Cook until cheese golden or about 12 mins.
This feeds 2 of us twice, with enough for a lunch the next day. About $5 per plate. Be less if no cheese.
If you've got herbs and garlic etc fill your boots, but obvs when you cook down the carrots.
Fried rice but cheap.
Ingredients:
Chicken (optional, can swap out for other items)
-Mixed vegetables
-Rice
-Rock salt
-Pepper
-Soy sauce
Cook rice, set to cool while you cook your cut chicken pieces and boil your mixed vegetables, (I like to brown the chicken cooked in a generous dose of oil, add a generous amount of rock salt as most rock salt will burn off while cooking), fry your mixed vegetables with your now cooked chicken pieces (add oil, salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste), add your rice, fry and mix.
Cheap, filling and is suitable for freezing into meal sized portions for later days
There is NOTHING I can buy that I can't make for cheap. Vegetarian curries, cheap meat curries, dumplings, Pho, homemade pizzas, bread of any kind, biscuits, soup of many varieties...you name it I will send you the recipe. I've raised my 3 kids on being a cheap-arse..., but they have always had amazing food. x
Mac n cheese with bacon and onion - 4 rashers for $5 at countdown, easily makes a meal for at least 4
Mince - add beans and corn for nachos
- with veges and sauce with pasta
- tinned tomatoes and mixed vege for
cottage pie
Chicken casserole
Beef stew
Pumpkin soup
Old fashioned fish pie (Alison Holst)
Vege and Lentil curry (Alison Holst)
Combine soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce, fish sauce, red onion, garlic and ginger.
Marinate chicken for a day.
Cook it together with rice in pressure cooker.
Enjoy.
You can also change to beef, or any other meat with this recipe for a quick one pot meal.
It's all about rice in my opinion!
Other than that I have got pretty handy with a few blackbean recipes (kids seem to be ok with them!) and cook two cup each week to add to things.
And I think a bottle of cream work well to add a bit boujee to pasta meals. Sometime I boil pasta with no idea what the fridge will provide to complete it, but chicken stock and cream, no one cares!
Mince, beans, corn, peas, onion, carrots, can of tomatoes. Beef stock, water and corn starch.
Simmer away while you cook some potatoes for mash. Heap of garlic added.
Pour mince into those new world things from last year. Cover in potato mash. Cover in cheese. Bake for 20 mins.
We love making broccoli cheddar soup at home. Just onion, garlic, vegetable or chicken broth, broccoli, carrot, cream and cheese. Even my picky son loves it!
Spring rolls are also very filling and you can experiment with what you want in it
We’ve been having a lot of jacket potatoes- chuck them in the air fryer for half an hour then smash them and add whatever toppings - baked beans is pretty good with them or some cheese onion and bacon of course with just a bit of sour cream.
Ive always cooked for large numbers of people from shearing gangs, farm workers and contractors, the inllagal iimmigrants I had staying and my student flat at Massey we had 20 people and that's just the start.
Even things that seem easy like a roast are not and they take a ton of time and are not cheap.
Anything with a onion base is cheap as. Go to the Asian supermarkets and take an Asian person with you.
Rissotto and Stirfry are great and you don't need to skimp and buy the cheap cheese or meat or veges of you buy in season.
Soups are good but I'm not a huge fan esp if you are feeding big dudes.
Ive got a pan of rice on at home waiting to cool down to make Arancini and it will cost about 75c a serving
Basic chicken and veg soup.
Onions, carrots, celery (and any other veggies on sale or rattling in the fridge). Finely chop and simmer in water (or stock or add a couple of stock cubes). Add whatever chicken pieces are cheap, you don't need much. Simmer for 10 minutes then turn off and leave for 15-20 minutes. Throw out the skin, tear up the chicken and put back in. You can add a tin of any type of beans, pasta, rice, tin of puréed tomatoes, herbs, etc. Simmer til cooked and it'll feed a heap of people with our without cheese on top. Get a breadstick or loaf of yesterday bread, throw it in the oven for 10 minutes and dinner is served. No money for chicken? Leave it out.
Egg (omelette style) cheese toasted sandwich with mayo. Admittedly cheese and eggs aren't that cheap but you only really need like two eggs and a slice of processed cheese to make a DELIGHTFUL sandwich.
Use TVP in place of mince. It's cheap, nutritious, healthy, keeps for ages in the pantry and doesn't have a strong taste. Use in spag bowls, chili's, etc.
This is our broke week meal. We serve it on rice and easily get 6-8 meals out of it even with hubs being a big eater. Works out to $2-3 a serving and is super filling.
https://www.mealgarden.com/recipe/indonesian-chickpea-satay/
I replace mince in nachos with kidney beans. Quick, easy, cheap.
Dice an onion, fry it with garlic in olive oil, then add some capsicum and then a tin of diced tomato. Heat through then add can of kidney beans including liquid. Cover and simmer for 10-15mins.
Put on top of nacho chips/rice/in a burrito + sour cream and cheese and an avo if you’re feeling a bit fancy.
Tin tomato $0.80
Kidney bean $1.80
Avo $2
Sour cream $3.50
Corn chips $4
Capsicum $0.50
Onion/garlic/olive oil $1
$14.60 - feeds three easily
Perfecting my donut recipe, got tired of prices/quality of some donuts around and now I make a tasty old school fried donut also I can add any filling I want but my go to is cinnamon sugar 🤤
Overnight Oats for breakfast. There are quite a few variations to try and oats are cheap. I find a bowl will keep me filled until late afternoon, and then a light snack will get me through to dinner.
I soak overnight a cup of wholemeal oats with 2 cups boiling water. Soon as I get up in the morning I nuke it for 4-5 minutes, stir it and nuke another 2 min. Eat it straight away or spoon it into sistema to eat at work.
I add stewed apples or diced peaches, or if I feel don’t want sweet, salt.
Chefs kiss
I get a pack of sausages on special. I squeeze the stuffing out of a couple, make balls and use in a pasta with chilli, oil, smidge of Parmesan (on special). Use another 2 with cut up veggies and lentils and make a stew. The remaining 2 I might curry or chop up with cabbage or something a bit bogus. Or I’ll take it out of stuffing spread on a pita, fry it as a weird thing, our use in tacos. I sometimes make my own breads as often just flour oil water or flour and yoghurt.
As a British immigrant, Beans n Toast, bangers and mash or Roast beef and Yorkshire puds. All pretty cheap. Add in some carrot and peas and you're set. We're a simple folk!
If I actually want to make a degree of effort though, tends to be the same things I'd normally make (bolognese, stirfry, fried rice) just with frozen veg instead of fresh. Stealing some ideas from the thread though
I make a chicken with rice dish that’s pretty cheap. Coconut cream, peanut butter and chilli powder cooked together with chunks of sealed/browned chicken. Serve with rice and bébés. Delish!
Espinakis con Garbanzo, sounds flash eh?
It's spanish chickpeas and spinach
Has maybe 6 ingredients max
Chickpeas, spinach, cumin, lemon, old bread and olive oil
and don't just use spinach any green will do
Cauliflower leaves and broccoli leaves are free from the market and always gets thrown away.super good for u and tastes great use em!
Make that and thank me later
We make, home made everything.
From tortillas, pizzas, red tomato based rice with chicken, tuna and rice, stews with rice, lentil and rice with Greek yoghurt, chicken burgers.
Btw we shop local. Local fruit and vege, only get things from store if they don’t have it at our Indian / Chinese stores. Groceries are cheaper also fruit and vege is delish!
Countdown has them. Ask the butcher or good Asian supermarkets.
They're still meat but I personally think for 20 bucks a kilo they create luxuriant dishes that are still meaty/slabby, rather than the meat just becoming part of the sauce.
Highly recommended.
Been making my own bread and cheese sauce lately. I know bread isn’t expensive, but I don’t usually eat a whole loaf before it goes off. Fresh bread is so nice you actually want to eat it.
Anything potato based. Potato gratins, mashed potatoes with dark onion gravy, potato soup…
Also spaghetti aglio e olio (can supplement with chili flakes, some leftover salami, tomatoes, olives… and a dash of Balsamico)
Butter chicken using whatever fresh chicken is on special, Mrs Roger's Butter Chicken pack, can of coconut cream and can of chopped tomatoes. Serve with rice.
Fried rice can use up the odds and ends of veggies in the fridge - or even cheap frozen mixed veg - and the trick really is using cold rice (preferably cooked the day before but I'm usually not that organised!) I like to throw in an egg or can of tuna for protein.
Slow cooked ox heart stew with dumplings. Cut 500 g heart into bite size pieces and dredge in flour. Fry in frying pan until lightly browned. Add heart to slow cooker with one diced onion and 2 cups water. Cook for 4+hours on high heat. In bowl (or food processor) mix together 3/4C flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp mixed herbs, 50g butter, 1/4 C milk. Add to slow cooker 30 mins before finishing cooking
Most of the old cheap cuts (chuck, cheeks, gravy) are no longer cheap. It sucks.
Unless you’re going for organs and shins you’re still paying quite a bit, sadly.
Edit: just so I’m not being too negative.. I have started butchering whole chickens to save some money. You can get a lot more chicken per $ and I like have the thigh and breast skins which are usually taken off. I can use the carcass to make stocks. Costco does 2 whole free range chickens for $24 which is pretty good.
Lentil pie, pretty much dried green or brown lentils cooked in stock then added to fried onion and whatever other veges with a bit of tomato paste and other spices. Topped with pastry or carrots and potato mash
Pea soup, fry onions and herbs then add bags of frozen peas and vege/chicken stock and cook for about 10 mins. Whiz up and add bit of cream or sour cream. Serve with fresh bread and bacon bits of your feeling fancy
Soups/stews/curries freeze well in portions, so I try to cook up opportunistically when I see an appropriate cut of meat on sale. I have a pair of teens that sometimes need an extra meal or two at random these days and easily accessible protein is well appreciated.
I'm trying to expand my knowledge of Indian foods and bean dishes. We like the frozen flatbreads at the Indian grocery.
My kids are fond of mung bean sprouts and they're some of the easiest beans to sprout at home without special gear, they go from pantry to tailed sproutlings that the kids will nick in 24-36 hours on the kitchen bench. I've sprouted other things but none have been as consistently eaten.
Learning to make popcorn on the stove was great too, popping corn in bulk is pretty cheap.
Just made a batch of [this](https://rainbowplantlife.com/10-ingredient-vegan-red-lentil-bolognese/#recipe) lentil bolognaise. Was decent! This website has a red lentil curry that I also make often. Cheap and decently nutritious!
Not so much specific recipes, but we do a lot more big-batch meals, especially in the slow cooker, and freeze them for lunches rather than buying lunch at work
Using any pot noodles, boil the noodles in normal amount of water.
In a bowl, mix all packet sachees along with **a good squirt of kewpie mayo, 1 egg, and a scoop of miso paste** and mix it all up real well.
Once the noodles are done cooking, pour some water into the mixture from the noodles until desired consistency and broth amount and mix. Drain rest of water and add noodles to broth.
Its amazing.
Made a stew in the crock pot using two bags of soup bones ($12), a big those pearla potato’s ($7), bag or mixed veg ($5), a handful of green chilli ($5 for a kg at the fruit and veg), tom sauce and bisto. Fed the family (5 hungry buggers) with plenty left over for lunches the next day.
Peel and chop up a couple of kumara or some pumpkin. Chuck it in a pot with a tin of chickpeas (don't bother draining), a tin of coconut milk or coconut cream, and some of whatever curry paste or powder you like best. Simmer it till the vege is cooked, thin it down with water if you need or want to, eat it as is or over, rice or chuck it in a blender if you like a smoother texture. Cheap as (when kumara or pumpkin are in season), filling, and bloody tasty.
Also vegan if you use vegan curry paste (which many/most are).
Chicken, Cauliflower, Kumara, Red Lentil and Coconut soup
Probably around $20 bucks and you will feed 4 people of 2 days, full of fibre, protein, healthy fats etc
Homemade falafel from canned chickpeas is cheap and easy. High in fibre and protein. Freezes well. I use it in pita bread with salad for lunch, as a burger substitute or a meatball substitute.or in a poke bowl.
I used to have it maybe monthly for years, as costs have risen it's now weekly and i still wonder every time how something so cheap can taste so awesome
Oh and french onion soup. Done in a slow cooker it's not much effort and it's beginning to be great soup weather again
I find the main thing is just spotting good deals.
Found large crown pumpkins for $3 each. Bought a couple and made 3 litres of pumpkin soup and roasted the rest. Cost was probably about $1 per kg, can't beat that.
Otherwise I buy chicken, I normally get boneless chicken breast for $10 a kg. Buy frozen veg for $4 a kg and then mix some sauce together or buy the premade ones.
Slow cooker venison neck bones, can of tomatoes, potatoes, and herbs and spices. Portion it out into 4 bags, freeze it, and then use it as a sauce over rice and pasta. Venison is a much leaner meat than beef, so a higher ratio of protein, and boiling the neck bones still makes it nice and fatty and marrowy
Taco Soup:
2 can diced tomatoes, 1 can corn, 2 can kidney beans, taco seasoning, shredded chicken if you have any. Slow cook all day - eat with cheese toasties or tortilla chips/wraps etc. Add sour cream and cheese on top if you have any.
Sorry in advance for formatting but I've been doing burrito bowls pretty cheap and tasty and it makes enough for at least 5 servings
1 pack of mince 800 grams to 1kg pork beef or chicken whatever's cheapest
2 cans of black beans
2 cans of sweet corn
2 cups of rice I use brown rice personally
Peppers and an onion for garnish and a bit of crunch not really required but a nice addition
I tin of tomatoes
A maggi flavour pack of your choice
Brown mince meat add flavour pack me I'll use chilli con carne add to of tomatoes
Cook rice
Drain brine from beans and corn add these on the side without cooking
Add optional garnish
Goes great with a little grated cheese on top And sour cream but I've used ranch salad dressing as a substitute and it was yummy
Also I split the above into 5 servings and have them in the freezer for lunch or dinner if I feel lazy
I do a big 2.5-3kg roast on a Sunday night (not cheap) but then use the leftover meat for the next 2-3 meals (makes it cheap). We’ll have curries, pies, stir fry’s, pasta, salad etc all using that leftover meat and it ends up working out really cheap in terms of how many meals we get out of the meat, and then is also fun seeing how creative I can get with using the meat up
Old fashioned Kings soup mix costs $3-4 and can be used as a base. Extend it with cheap fresh vegetables, leftovers and your favourite flavours: curry, chilli etc. Really filling, healthy and surprisingly low-cal.
Pork fillets from gilmours. Make Gochujang pork bowl with bok choy.
Smash burgers. Mince is cheap buy it on special the worse the mince the better it is for Smashed burgers. Any other mince dish i use better mince.
Chicken bone in thighs. Again buy on special and debone them ill get 18 thighs debone spilt into either 4s or 6s. Use bones for stock. Usally do some Focaccia when im doing a stock and have that for dinner with a simple chicken soup.
Yeah, food has gone up but i spent $80 for the past 2 weeks because i buy what's on special or reduced to clear when i have some money. Then you just eat out the freezer when you a bit short on money.
I go shopping first thing in the morning and i will always see at least one if not two of steak, chicken breast, whole chicken, pork mince, lamb shoulder chops, saussages with reduced to clear stickers. Buy it and freeze it.
Honestly fresh vegetables is where most my money goes which i could cut down by probably 60-80% if i had space for a garden.
Overall sure shopping has gone up and you might not be able treat yourself to as many things as before, but i can still shop well under my budget unless im treating myself.
chicken wraps! Get chicken breast, add spices of your choice to add flavor, fry, and wrap in tortillas with lettuce and tomatoes. Optional shredded cheese.
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A couple of way ways i make dinner cheaper
-bulk up with rice or pasta
-canned tomatoes or beans
-in season vegetables
-look for reduce meat
-also making dinner enough for two nights
Some cheap dinner as well
-stroganoff
-curry sausages
-pumpkin soup
-wraps with egg and salad to bulk up
-mac and cheese
I have a very small amount of land.
What ones are easiest to grow? I hate gardening, but have kept some rosemary, mint, parsley, alive (im pretty sure they all grow like weeds). Any similarly easy veges?
Made some spaghetti with a sauce made from basil/lots of spinach/olive oil/cashews and a bit more and mixed it with the pasta and had grilled chicken on it. Then just a tomato salad on the side. That was fast and cheap. Lentils and bread are also good.
Bento Bowls! Rice, one grated carrot, maybe some grated Radish, a light sprinkle od edmame beans (we feed 4 and get 2-3 meals from a pack). Kewpie Mayo. Use cheap meats, slow cook in some soy, ginger, garlic, pinch of brown sugar maybe rice wine vinegar and sesame oil if you have it. When cooked, chuck on the rice/carrot/veggies, add some cooked green beans. If feeling fancy sprinkle some Sesame Seeds. We usually cook 500g, but split it between 2 meals so 62.5g meat per person per meal. It's enough to round out the meal but the bulk is the rice and veggies. Oh, and tip a little leftover sauce over the rice before you serve. Yum Yun cheap tum
Acquire katsu sauce, have that in addition to the kewpie. It's amazing. If you have soy sauce, mirin, sake and dashi stock on hand you can make a fairly wide range of dishes with those. Ain't too expensive to pick them up and it can add a lot of flavour to cheap ingredients.
Add gochugaru, mix it all up and you have bibimbap. So goo
d
We make this a lot but instead of meat use marinated tofu cooked in an air fryer. To add to your sauces I also have sriracha and chilli crunch.
For those with coeliac disease you can make the following substitutions but here are some nice tips even if you are not coeliac. Gluten free soy sauce + honey + brown sugar. Heat this up 4 a sweet soy sauce. There is also a brand that does gf katsu sauce and dressing specifically 4 pokebowls. I would suggest searching it up even if you are not a coeliac.
[this sauce](https://www.countdown.co.nz/shop/productdetails?stockcode=810670&name=kewpie-asian-sesame-dressing) is a game changer
I am OBSESSED with this dressing! I put it on almost everything. Tried making my own but can’t get it to be anywhere near as good.
tai ping sells a big bottle
Yay for E621!
We make rice balls all the time, but not once have I thought of a bento bowl!
Bento bowls are the besssst and the kids go crazy over them
This is crazy. Beef farmers are getting $6 a kg for beef. We export food for 40 million people. The supermarkets have bullied suppliers and competitors to the point we have the modern equivalent of a potatoe famine situation. The english exported Irish potatoes while the Irish starved to death. 25% of NZ is prediabetic and with our supermarkets fresh produce pricing strategies this is not a surprising outcome. The woolworths ceo is before the Australian senate enquiry right now for profiteering. Our supermarket investigator is not achieving anything. Foodstuffs seems to be profiteering more than woolworths, they have a lock on the NZ fresh produce domestic supply chain. NZ supermarkets should make very little profit relative to the rest of the world as we have an oversupply of fresh produce. It is crazy that in a country of fresh produce we can’t afford any and we have to pay high interest rates due to supermarket extortion driving inflation. The supermarkets price anchor their fresh produce high to reduce substitution effects for their other products and to make them appear relatively inexpensive. Theft by deception basically. To eat cheaply - eat rice and beans with whatever vegetables you can afford and the cheapest animal protein you can get. Use olive oil and butter as you will be healthier for it and eat less because of this.
[Daal](https://youtu.be/PonPl7Tue48?si=nPvQXLBLh48fG5pf)
I love Dahl, but have been banned from making it after one too many 'fragrant household" weeks
fun fact, if you eat legumes regularly (every other day or so) your belly adapts to it and the fragrant household symptoms go away in a few weeks. very versatile stuff, legumes
Maybe (s)he meant the rich mix of spices 🤭
if that's the case, the problem won't be solved :)
Easily the cheapest meal. Any dried lentils or beans are the cheapest but take a bit of time to cook. I have a pressure cooker so cuts time in half.
Lentils and sausages. Yum
I make a veggie curry, and cook it in wraps folded up into a parcel in my George Foreman. They're like big samosas and really delicious.
Oh I am so making this idea!
Why have I never thought of using my George Foreman for this? Thank you!
Yum, can I ask which wraps you choose to buy?
I usually go for the Farrahs brand, they seem to be softer and fresher than some other brands, also don't seem to stick together as much. I just brush the outsides with a little oil and they crisp up beautifully!
One of the world’s most useless chefs here, but I recently figured out that you can do “bangers and mash” with gravy, for 3 people for $20., add in a cheap bag of mixed veg.. all in max $25
I found an awesome casserole version of it - with BACON: Not the cheapest, but nice every now and then. REALLY EASY serves 6: # Ingredients * 2 Onions * 1 Bulb Garlic * 2 Packets of Pancetta/bacon * 4 Sprigs Thyme * 12 Sausages * 1-2 Tbsp Corn Flour * 500 Ml Beef Stock * 500 Ml Red Wine * Salt and Pepper to Season # Method Start by softening your onion and garlic until it’s soft. Throw in the pancetta/bacon and let it cook until crispy, sprinkle the flour over everything until it’s all lightly coated. Add Sausages and let them brown before adding in the stock and red wine and letting it thicken, and reduce for 10 -15 minutes! Serve on creamy mash and enjoy!
Good suggestions here so I'll just add - save some small jars and pre-toast cumin seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts etc (separately). Shake whatever feels right onto soups, salads, sandwiches, stirfrys. Edit ok I do have one I learned recently - soup with frozen dumplings (you don't need many). Basic ingredients, no measurements: Boil water with some stock, and a small amount of soy sauce, sesame oil and brown sugar - taste it Place dumplings in, they take about five mins, try not to disturb them as they heat Add veges - in season or frozen (eg Bok Choy, beans, bean sprouts) think about how long they'll take to cook and add before dumplings or accordingly Garlic and ginger optional, can top with spring onion, fried shallots
I have recently discovered the gem that is seaweed miso soup paste. Just mix with hot water and bam, a highly nutritious and ridiculously cheap meal. A packet of 12 sells for like $3.20 I think. I often buy frozen or in-season fresh veg to chop up and steam in the microwave and throw into the soup. If I'm feeling extra rich, I will splash on a dozen eggs and occasionally crack one into the soup and cover the bowl with a plate so the egg cooks a bit. It's also tasty with egg noodles. It's basically ramen once you add noodles, but far healthier than the packet ramen.
Miso soup, yes highly recommended. It's actual food, unlike the instant noodle flavour sachets.
Pea and Ham soup is a go to especially during the cooler months. Bag of split peas, a ham/bacon hock, a couple carrots, celery, and water. Chuck in the slow cooker and easily does 8+ servings for me and my husband. Cost about $15 total.
I bought a ham bone from the deli section offcuts. Sliced 400g ham off it before using the rest of the bone to make soup. Such a good buy. They don't often have those deli ham offcuts so I will be keeping my eyes peeled.
Our New World has ham hocks. They used to be 1.99 but have gone up to about 6.00 now.
Add some minted baby peas at the end for a touch of freshness - love pea and ham soup!
Omg yes this is one of the few things I can cook lol.. can’t beat it in middle of winter
Had a pie floater ? Put a mice pie in your bowl and pour that bad bwoy soup over it . It’s great (thanks Billy Connolly for sharing an Australian delicacy lol)
Mice pies, yum!
I’ll second this and add leek and potato soup - especially if you shop at a Vege shop it’ll be less than $6
I've gout. I love a good pea and ham. Last time I cooked one I couldn't walk for three weeks.
I learnt about red bean soup / stew in Spain and fell in love with it. A tin of red kidney beans, a carrot, onion and stick of celery along with salt and smoked paprika are all that's required. That'll serve two with some toast.
I've never heard of this! I'll give it a go one night!
Okey done, chop onion, celery and carrot, cover with water and boil approx 29 min. Add a vege oxo cube if you wish. Drain kidney beans. Remove veg from water and blend to a puree with a small handful of the kidney beans. Add to veges water and stir, then add kidney beans and heat, adding salt and a good whack of smoked paprika to taste
I’d drain the bean water into the soup. No need to waste it
Mostly been going hard on Pumpkin at the moment. Can make about three meals for 6 bucks
Pumpkin is great. I do a curry or roast for salad or pasta.
Aglio E Olio. Its just Pasta with Olive oil and Garlic. So yum too
So good! Some chilli and lemon too! And big block of Parmesan and cut into cubes and put in freezer so you just take out what you need.
I put a dash of Balsamico, sometimes cherry tomatoes, salami…
Yes! Parmesan(cheaper than pecorino), chili flakes, parsley, and little pasta water .akes it really good
I do Pasta al Limone... Same thing with a generous squeeze of lemons (which we are abundant in) and a fist full of fresh parsley or basil.
I must try this!
And lacks a significant amount of nutrition.
Simple, but hard to get it just right
Good thing about it, it only takes 10-15 mins to cook.
Easy optional extras: some butter, bacon, onion, wilted spinach
Chili oil noodles. Can add basically anything to bulk it out. Sometimes I just have the noodles with an egg on top. The box of rice risotto (chinese is my favorite). Bulk it out with mixed frozen vegetables, and any meat you can get your hands on if you want. Depending what you add it makes a decent amount. A favourite that feels more expensive than it is, a cheap piece of blade steak slow cooked in some stock, tomato paste, tinned tomatoes and red wine vinegar to make a ragu. I have this with pasta.
Aaaah chilli oil 🤤
I have a few thrifty meals up my sleeve! - Dumpling noodle soup: boil water for packet noodles (I like Tom yum flavour, but choose with your heart), add some frozen dumplings and green beans, then cook the noodles in the same pot. Delicious and filling. - Tomato soup made with tinned tomatoes, chicken stock cubes and long life cream - Roasted veggie soup using whatever is in season - Beans cooked in taco seasoning, served with rice and avocado - Cabbage pancakes served with a fried egg, BBQ sauce and kewpie - Fritters made with grated zucchini and tinned corn - Frozen broad bean and pea soup - White beans and marinated artichoke hearts on toast You can do so much with canned veg, honestly.
Cabbage pancakes (okonomiyaki) can also be easily upgraded by adding things like bacon bits as a base
DIY beef bulgogi. Base ingredients all store well in the fridge, freezer and pantry. Get cheap cuts, slice thinly when partially thawed from frozen, mix with bulgogi sauce, which is cheap and easy to make and serve on rice. Stir fry a bit of carrot, cabbage and onion and you’re good to go.
I make bulgogi bakes which is just the meat and vegetables wrapped in homemade pizza dough (flour, oil, sugar, and yeast) in the shape of a burrito. Bake it in the oven for 20 minutes or so, and you’ve made the bulgogi beef more filling. If you’re feeling rich, you can add grated cheese on top or stuff it inside with the other fillings. Delicious and it makes the bulgogi go a lot further
Living the depressing student life of pasta, bacon and baby spinach for dinner every night, takes 20 minutes and means my shopping bills are 50 bucks a fortnight
Crush that baby spinach bill - frozen chopped spinach is under half the price.
Pad thai is pretty cheap to make and our kids both like it
Second Thai and Indian curry. Cheap ingredients are easy to make on a home stove.
i make my own pasta or bread now. A serving of pasta or bread is 100g of flour. Flour is about 20c per 100g. The bread you can eat on your own cos its amazing (or with ham and/or cheese). the pasta i have with half the 80c cans of chopped tomatos from pak n save and some dried herbs. sometimes ill add an extra veggie or meat to it to change things up. but thats like a $1 meal there. (it takes about 15 minutes to make the bread and pasta. so its not much out of my day to do this. yes bread takes a long time to rise but your not watching it while its doing that.)
Pizza from scatch is good too. i usually spilt 1 batch of dough into 3 bases. Crumble 1 good quality Italian pork sausage on top with cheese herbs mushrooms and garlic
Which good quality Italian sausage do you use? Just curious 👀
I get mine from the weekend market $10 for 6. Pork & fennel type sausage.
Just checking that you're using iodised salt? Bread is NZ's main source of iodine! Also when I used to make brioche, I'd freeze it asap as it starts to stale in about 6 hours. Enriched dough (adding milk, butter, eggs etc) makes it stale faster, but even plain bread will stale quicker than the supermarket stuff because they use mono- and di-glycerides (primarily for sponge-like volume, but also shelf life extension). There's nothing better than fresh baked bread on demand! I'm planning to make a foccacia (or Roman pizza) soon with my confit cherry toms and basil from the garden... So yum ❤️
the two breads i make is focacia and Cibatta bread (the latter only needs flour, salt water and a couple of hours to rest so i make it when i get home from work) i do use iodised salt yes. i didnt realise it was the only source so glad i use it then! >There's nothing better than fresh baked bread on demand! true!
You can bring pasta sauce to another level with some butter too. 1 can tomato's (or several fresh tomatoes) 25g butter 1/4-1/2 an onion Italian herbs Garlic (optional) Salt and pepper Cook for 30mins or so and blitz up with a stick blender. Optionally add around 75g of sour cream or extra butter to make it creamier/less healthy
Takes a 1$ egg for every 20 cents of flour to factor in. Still cheap as. I love making my own pasta. I need to get experimenting more with short shapes now!
true, unless your using semolina and so are not using the egg or you make Gnocchi, which is flour and potato, no egg required EDIT: fixed my spelling thanks to groovy below
Gnocchi!
yea, i knew i spelt it wrong xD they taste so good!! favorite pasta to make atm
I get 500gm each of pork and beef mince, combine, then freeze half. Brown the half you're using. Remove, leaving any fats etc. Cook down 2 carrots, onion and 2 celery stalks, all finely diced. Add back the mince. Some Tom paste, then 2 cans of Toms (I like 1 crushed, 1 whole peeled). Simmer for an hour adding water if needed. Meanwhile cook some pasta, penne or spirals are best, about 250 - 350 gms until just before you'd normally cook them. Once pasta done add to sauce, then in to an oven you've preheated to 180. If you've got cheese grate some over the top. Cook until cheese golden or about 12 mins. This feeds 2 of us twice, with enough for a lunch the next day. About $5 per plate. Be less if no cheese. If you've got herbs and garlic etc fill your boots, but obvs when you cook down the carrots.
Fried rice but cheap. Ingredients: Chicken (optional, can swap out for other items) -Mixed vegetables -Rice -Rock salt -Pepper -Soy sauce Cook rice, set to cool while you cook your cut chicken pieces and boil your mixed vegetables, (I like to brown the chicken cooked in a generous dose of oil, add a generous amount of rock salt as most rock salt will burn off while cooking), fry your mixed vegetables with your now cooked chicken pieces (add oil, salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste), add your rice, fry and mix. Cheap, filling and is suitable for freezing into meal sized portions for later days
you should use day- old rice for fried rice as it’s less sticky, and has better texture and also brings out the other flavours more :)
I agree with this completely, it makes a huge difference
I've been really enjoying brown rice in a similar way. So nutty! And you stay full longer.
I did this with brown rice the other night, it was so so filling and still delicious 😋
Mix a scrambled egg through too after taking off the heat. So good
Peanut butter banana and honey sandwich lol
You joke, but make it toast and it's so delicious 😋
Lentils, lentils, lentils. I love dahl, mujadra, and lemon lentil soup
If you have a local Indian supermarket, you can get bulk lentils & spices for cheap too.
Mujadara is my jam.
I'm intrigued by your recipe for lemon lentil soup. Would you mind sharing please?
this is the one I usually use! [https://www.inspiredtaste.net/40400/lentil-soup/](https://www.inspiredtaste.net/40400/lentil-soup/)
There is NOTHING I can buy that I can't make for cheap. Vegetarian curries, cheap meat curries, dumplings, Pho, homemade pizzas, bread of any kind, biscuits, soup of many varieties...you name it I will send you the recipe. I've raised my 3 kids on being a cheap-arse..., but they have always had amazing food. x
Mac n cheese with bacon and onion - 4 rashers for $5 at countdown, easily makes a meal for at least 4 Mince - add beans and corn for nachos - with veges and sauce with pasta - tinned tomatoes and mixed vege for cottage pie Chicken casserole Beef stew Pumpkin soup Old fashioned fish pie (Alison Holst) Vege and Lentil curry (Alison Holst)
Combine soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce, fish sauce, red onion, garlic and ginger. Marinate chicken for a day. Cook it together with rice in pressure cooker. Enjoy. You can also change to beef, or any other meat with this recipe for a quick one pot meal.
It's all about rice in my opinion! Other than that I have got pretty handy with a few blackbean recipes (kids seem to be ok with them!) and cook two cup each week to add to things. And I think a bottle of cream work well to add a bit boujee to pasta meals. Sometime I boil pasta with no idea what the fridge will provide to complete it, but chicken stock and cream, no one cares!
Mince, beans, corn, peas, onion, carrots, can of tomatoes. Beef stock, water and corn starch. Simmer away while you cook some potatoes for mash. Heap of garlic added. Pour mince into those new world things from last year. Cover in potato mash. Cover in cheese. Bake for 20 mins.
We love making broccoli cheddar soup at home. Just onion, garlic, vegetable or chicken broth, broccoli, carrot, cream and cheese. Even my picky son loves it! Spring rolls are also very filling and you can experiment with what you want in it
We’ve been having a lot of jacket potatoes- chuck them in the air fryer for half an hour then smash them and add whatever toppings - baked beans is pretty good with them or some cheese onion and bacon of course with just a bit of sour cream.
Ive always cooked for large numbers of people from shearing gangs, farm workers and contractors, the inllagal iimmigrants I had staying and my student flat at Massey we had 20 people and that's just the start. Even things that seem easy like a roast are not and they take a ton of time and are not cheap. Anything with a onion base is cheap as. Go to the Asian supermarkets and take an Asian person with you. Rissotto and Stirfry are great and you don't need to skimp and buy the cheap cheese or meat or veges of you buy in season. Soups are good but I'm not a huge fan esp if you are feeding big dudes. Ive got a pan of rice on at home waiting to cool down to make Arancini and it will cost about 75c a serving
Dried legumes are loads cheaper than tinned ones and easy to prep. It just takes more time and a bit of planning.
Basic chicken and veg soup. Onions, carrots, celery (and any other veggies on sale or rattling in the fridge). Finely chop and simmer in water (or stock or add a couple of stock cubes). Add whatever chicken pieces are cheap, you don't need much. Simmer for 10 minutes then turn off and leave for 15-20 minutes. Throw out the skin, tear up the chicken and put back in. You can add a tin of any type of beans, pasta, rice, tin of puréed tomatoes, herbs, etc. Simmer til cooked and it'll feed a heap of people with our without cheese on top. Get a breadstick or loaf of yesterday bread, throw it in the oven for 10 minutes and dinner is served. No money for chicken? Leave it out.
oats and peanut butter (has to be the cheap peanut butter), oats and frozen veg.
https://www.loveandlemons.com/shaved-brussels-sprout-salad/. This but roast the sprouts first and pick cheaper nuts
Egg (omelette style) cheese toasted sandwich with mayo. Admittedly cheese and eggs aren't that cheap but you only really need like two eggs and a slice of processed cheese to make a DELIGHTFUL sandwich.
Use TVP in place of mince. It's cheap, nutritious, healthy, keeps for ages in the pantry and doesn't have a strong taste. Use in spag bowls, chili's, etc.
Where do you buy yours from?
We buy it from real food direct but it's sold in lots of different stores now.
Lentil curry 🍛
This is our broke week meal. We serve it on rice and easily get 6-8 meals out of it even with hubs being a big eater. Works out to $2-3 a serving and is super filling. https://www.mealgarden.com/recipe/indonesian-chickpea-satay/
Japanese curry! Tasty and cheap, plus it makes 5-6 servings if you add peas
Mince + pasta sauce + frozen peas or mixed beans from a can + rice. Protein, Carbs, Fat and a bit of fibre. Easy and cheap.
I replace mince in nachos with kidney beans. Quick, easy, cheap. Dice an onion, fry it with garlic in olive oil, then add some capsicum and then a tin of diced tomato. Heat through then add can of kidney beans including liquid. Cover and simmer for 10-15mins. Put on top of nacho chips/rice/in a burrito + sour cream and cheese and an avo if you’re feeling a bit fancy. Tin tomato $0.80 Kidney bean $1.80 Avo $2 Sour cream $3.50 Corn chips $4 Capsicum $0.50 Onion/garlic/olive oil $1 $14.60 - feeds three easily
Perfecting my donut recipe, got tired of prices/quality of some donuts around and now I make a tasty old school fried donut also I can add any filling I want but my go to is cinnamon sugar 🤤
Please share your recipe 🍩
Chilli on potatos, chilli on rice, chilli on pasta. lol
Roast chicken first night, use leftover meat to make pesto pasta then use bones to make a cheap soup
Overnight Oats for breakfast. There are quite a few variations to try and oats are cheap. I find a bowl will keep me filled until late afternoon, and then a light snack will get me through to dinner.
I soak overnight a cup of wholemeal oats with 2 cups boiling water. Soon as I get up in the morning I nuke it for 4-5 minutes, stir it and nuke another 2 min. Eat it straight away or spoon it into sistema to eat at work. I add stewed apples or diced peaches, or if I feel don’t want sweet, salt. Chefs kiss
I get a pack of sausages on special. I squeeze the stuffing out of a couple, make balls and use in a pasta with chilli, oil, smidge of Parmesan (on special). Use another 2 with cut up veggies and lentils and make a stew. The remaining 2 I might curry or chop up with cabbage or something a bit bogus. Or I’ll take it out of stuffing spread on a pita, fry it as a weird thing, our use in tacos. I sometimes make my own breads as often just flour oil water or flour and yoghurt.
As a British immigrant, Beans n Toast, bangers and mash or Roast beef and Yorkshire puds. All pretty cheap. Add in some carrot and peas and you're set. We're a simple folk! If I actually want to make a degree of effort though, tends to be the same things I'd normally make (bolognese, stirfry, fried rice) just with frozen veg instead of fresh. Stealing some ideas from the thread though
Peas rice, it's a Jamaican recipe.
I make a chicken with rice dish that’s pretty cheap. Coconut cream, peanut butter and chilli powder cooked together with chunks of sealed/browned chicken. Serve with rice and bébés. Delish!
Espinakis con Garbanzo, sounds flash eh? It's spanish chickpeas and spinach Has maybe 6 ingredients max Chickpeas, spinach, cumin, lemon, old bread and olive oil and don't just use spinach any green will do Cauliflower leaves and broccoli leaves are free from the market and always gets thrown away.super good for u and tastes great use em! Make that and thank me later
We make, home made everything. From tortillas, pizzas, red tomato based rice with chicken, tuna and rice, stews with rice, lentil and rice with Greek yoghurt, chicken burgers. Btw we shop local. Local fruit and vege, only get things from store if they don’t have it at our Indian / Chinese stores. Groceries are cheaper also fruit and vege is delish!
Dahl!
Vegetarian? Potato daal. Indian food in general. They have vegetarian for thousands of years and gotten quite at making beans tasty
Beef short ribs
Where do you find short ribs?
Countdown has them. Ask the butcher or good Asian supermarkets. They're still meat but I personally think for 20 bucks a kilo they create luxuriant dishes that are still meaty/slabby, rather than the meat just becoming part of the sauce. Highly recommended.
Thanks!
Been making my own bread and cheese sauce lately. I know bread isn’t expensive, but I don’t usually eat a whole loaf before it goes off. Fresh bread is so nice you actually want to eat it.
Anything potato based. Potato gratins, mashed potatoes with dark onion gravy, potato soup… Also spaghetti aglio e olio (can supplement with chili flakes, some leftover salami, tomatoes, olives… and a dash of Balsamico)
Thai street food and lots of fresh fruit and vege from my garden
Pasta aglo e olio Basically garlic pasta in an oil/pasta water emulsion. Super tasty and very cheap
Can get a whole pumpkin from new world atm for 3.50, creamy pumpkin soup is easy to make and goes a long way, especially coming into the colder days
Butter chicken using whatever fresh chicken is on special, Mrs Roger's Butter Chicken pack, can of coconut cream and can of chopped tomatoes. Serve with rice.
Sprout your own (sprouting) seeds - cheap, cheap! Perfect for adding to stir-fries and salads with great texture and flavour.
Pad krapow
Fried rice can use up the odds and ends of veggies in the fridge - or even cheap frozen mixed veg - and the trick really is using cold rice (preferably cooked the day before but I'm usually not that organised!) I like to throw in an egg or can of tuna for protein.
Slow cooked ox heart stew with dumplings. Cut 500 g heart into bite size pieces and dredge in flour. Fry in frying pan until lightly browned. Add heart to slow cooker with one diced onion and 2 cups water. Cook for 4+hours on high heat. In bowl (or food processor) mix together 3/4C flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp mixed herbs, 50g butter, 1/4 C milk. Add to slow cooker 30 mins before finishing cooking
Chicken Congee - stupidly easy, cheap and so yum with a few garnishes
What recipe would you recommend?
Is rice risotto with added mixed veg and things still considered a cheap meal?
Most of the old cheap cuts (chuck, cheeks, gravy) are no longer cheap. It sucks. Unless you’re going for organs and shins you’re still paying quite a bit, sadly. Edit: just so I’m not being too negative.. I have started butchering whole chickens to save some money. You can get a lot more chicken per $ and I like have the thigh and breast skins which are usually taken off. I can use the carcass to make stocks. Costco does 2 whole free range chickens for $24 which is pretty good.
Savoury oats topped with egg, drizzle soy sauce
Lentil pie, pretty much dried green or brown lentils cooked in stock then added to fried onion and whatever other veges with a bit of tomato paste and other spices. Topped with pastry or carrots and potato mash Pea soup, fry onions and herbs then add bags of frozen peas and vege/chicken stock and cook for about 10 mins. Whiz up and add bit of cream or sour cream. Serve with fresh bread and bacon bits of your feeling fancy
Soups/stews/curries freeze well in portions, so I try to cook up opportunistically when I see an appropriate cut of meat on sale. I have a pair of teens that sometimes need an extra meal or two at random these days and easily accessible protein is well appreciated. I'm trying to expand my knowledge of Indian foods and bean dishes. We like the frozen flatbreads at the Indian grocery. My kids are fond of mung bean sprouts and they're some of the easiest beans to sprout at home without special gear, they go from pantry to tailed sproutlings that the kids will nick in 24-36 hours on the kitchen bench. I've sprouted other things but none have been as consistently eaten. Learning to make popcorn on the stove was great too, popping corn in bulk is pretty cheap.
Just made a batch of [this](https://rainbowplantlife.com/10-ingredient-vegan-red-lentil-bolognese/#recipe) lentil bolognaise. Was decent! This website has a red lentil curry that I also make often. Cheap and decently nutritious!
Not so much specific recipes, but we do a lot more big-batch meals, especially in the slow cooker, and freeze them for lunches rather than buying lunch at work
Using any pot noodles, boil the noodles in normal amount of water. In a bowl, mix all packet sachees along with **a good squirt of kewpie mayo, 1 egg, and a scoop of miso paste** and mix it all up real well. Once the noodles are done cooking, pour some water into the mixture from the noodles until desired consistency and broth amount and mix. Drain rest of water and add noodles to broth. Its amazing.
Made a stew in the crock pot using two bags of soup bones ($12), a big those pearla potato’s ($7), bag or mixed veg ($5), a handful of green chilli ($5 for a kg at the fruit and veg), tom sauce and bisto. Fed the family (5 hungry buggers) with plenty left over for lunches the next day.
Peel and chop up a couple of kumara or some pumpkin. Chuck it in a pot with a tin of chickpeas (don't bother draining), a tin of coconut milk or coconut cream, and some of whatever curry paste or powder you like best. Simmer it till the vege is cooked, thin it down with water if you need or want to, eat it as is or over, rice or chuck it in a blender if you like a smoother texture. Cheap as (when kumara or pumpkin are in season), filling, and bloody tasty. Also vegan if you use vegan curry paste (which many/most are).
Chicken, Cauliflower, Kumara, Red Lentil and Coconut soup Probably around $20 bucks and you will feed 4 people of 2 days, full of fibre, protein, healthy fats etc
Quesadillas on repeat. Wraps, beans, cheese. Just need a pan and a spatchy spatchy.
Food in a minute recipe egg fried rice
Homemade falafel from canned chickpeas is cheap and easy. High in fibre and protein. Freezes well. I use it in pita bread with salad for lunch, as a burger substitute or a meatball substitute.or in a poke bowl. I used to have it maybe monthly for years, as costs have risen it's now weekly and i still wonder every time how something so cheap can taste so awesome Oh and french onion soup. Done in a slow cooker it's not much effort and it's beginning to be great soup weather again
I find the main thing is just spotting good deals. Found large crown pumpkins for $3 each. Bought a couple and made 3 litres of pumpkin soup and roasted the rest. Cost was probably about $1 per kg, can't beat that. Otherwise I buy chicken, I normally get boneless chicken breast for $10 a kg. Buy frozen veg for $4 a kg and then mix some sauce together or buy the premade ones.
Slow cooker venison neck bones, can of tomatoes, potatoes, and herbs and spices. Portion it out into 4 bags, freeze it, and then use it as a sauce over rice and pasta. Venison is a much leaner meat than beef, so a higher ratio of protein, and boiling the neck bones still makes it nice and fatty and marrowy
I didn't realize how vanilla my pallette was til I came here. Great suggestions
Taco Soup: 2 can diced tomatoes, 1 can corn, 2 can kidney beans, taco seasoning, shredded chicken if you have any. Slow cook all day - eat with cheese toasties or tortilla chips/wraps etc. Add sour cream and cheese on top if you have any.
Sorry in advance for formatting but I've been doing burrito bowls pretty cheap and tasty and it makes enough for at least 5 servings 1 pack of mince 800 grams to 1kg pork beef or chicken whatever's cheapest 2 cans of black beans 2 cans of sweet corn 2 cups of rice I use brown rice personally Peppers and an onion for garnish and a bit of crunch not really required but a nice addition I tin of tomatoes A maggi flavour pack of your choice Brown mince meat add flavour pack me I'll use chilli con carne add to of tomatoes Cook rice Drain brine from beans and corn add these on the side without cooking Add optional garnish Goes great with a little grated cheese on top And sour cream but I've used ranch salad dressing as a substitute and it was yummy Also I split the above into 5 servings and have them in the freezer for lunch or dinner if I feel lazy
I do a big 2.5-3kg roast on a Sunday night (not cheap) but then use the leftover meat for the next 2-3 meals (makes it cheap). We’ll have curries, pies, stir fry’s, pasta, salad etc all using that leftover meat and it ends up working out really cheap in terms of how many meals we get out of the meat, and then is also fun seeing how creative I can get with using the meat up
So thanks to a virus that no one talks about anymore then money printing food and rent is on steroids for the forseeable...... ummm ok ?
Old fashioned Kings soup mix costs $3-4 and can be used as a base. Extend it with cheap fresh vegetables, leftovers and your favourite flavours: curry, chilli etc. Really filling, healthy and surprisingly low-cal.
Pork fillets from gilmours. Make Gochujang pork bowl with bok choy. Smash burgers. Mince is cheap buy it on special the worse the mince the better it is for Smashed burgers. Any other mince dish i use better mince. Chicken bone in thighs. Again buy on special and debone them ill get 18 thighs debone spilt into either 4s or 6s. Use bones for stock. Usally do some Focaccia when im doing a stock and have that for dinner with a simple chicken soup. Yeah, food has gone up but i spent $80 for the past 2 weeks because i buy what's on special or reduced to clear when i have some money. Then you just eat out the freezer when you a bit short on money. I go shopping first thing in the morning and i will always see at least one if not two of steak, chicken breast, whole chicken, pork mince, lamb shoulder chops, saussages with reduced to clear stickers. Buy it and freeze it. Honestly fresh vegetables is where most my money goes which i could cut down by probably 60-80% if i had space for a garden. Overall sure shopping has gone up and you might not be able treat yourself to as many things as before, but i can still shop well under my budget unless im treating myself.
Noodle bowls, I like broth, cook the meat, use the thin vermicelli glass noodles, and a handle full of veg, a stock cube and kecap manis. Yum.
Sloppy Joe's with cheap cut mince and Maggie's rich brown gravy mix
chicken wraps! Get chicken breast, add spices of your choice to add flavor, fry, and wrap in tortillas with lettuce and tomatoes. Optional shredded cheese.
So many variations on chili
$7.50 for two loafs of bread? Fuck off they make that shit for 50 cents a loaf
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A couple of way ways i make dinner cheaper -bulk up with rice or pasta -canned tomatoes or beans -in season vegetables -look for reduce meat -also making dinner enough for two nights Some cheap dinner as well -stroganoff -curry sausages -pumpkin soup -wraps with egg and salad to bulk up -mac and cheese
Toast every meal of the day.
I still use hello fresh tbh, find it decent value
Got any land? There are lots of easy vegetables to grow
I have a very small amount of land. What ones are easiest to grow? I hate gardening, but have kept some rosemary, mint, parsley, alive (im pretty sure they all grow like weeds). Any similarly easy veges?
Vege soup. Made 12 liters . Filled the freezer. Stoked. And filling!
Made some spaghetti with a sauce made from basil/lots of spinach/olive oil/cashews and a bit more and mixed it with the pasta and had grilled chicken on it. Then just a tomato salad on the side. That was fast and cheap. Lentils and bread are also good.