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
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. It’s highly concentrated, so one big spoon of the stuff is enough for 4 portions (more it too spicy for me). It lasts a looooong time. I’m halfway through the yellow one and I think I made 10 to 15, 4 portion meals. It’s kinda spicy (for Dutch standards) and has a great taste, I love it.
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:
Source
And be hungry in an hour
Why? It’s a well balanced meal