Put together a thrifty meal

Lbreaks on 13/07/2014 - 14:56
Last edited 13/07/2014 - 20:34

After following the discussion here, I figured a sub-thread where OzBargainers could step up to the challenge of putting together a thrifty yet healthy meal would be interesting.

Your mission should you choose to accept it is to create a meal from readily available ingredients within these constraints:
- Around $3 or lower per adult serve (not strict).
- Prices should be readily available to a large population (weekly specials, local market are OK).
- All ingredients must be included in the cost (nothing like the "coles - feed a family for $10" nonsense).
- You have tried the recipe and it is edible ;)

Any other $$ saving tips or ideas on meals are welcome too.

Food & Grocery

Comments

    • [Deactivated] on 16/07/2014 - 02:20

      If it takes someone 3 hours to make a stir fry, laksa or bolognese… there's something very wrong. lol

      Ditto vegetable soups are quick. Chop up veggies into chunks, they don't have to be pretty. Whack in the pot and leave it to boil up while you relax. Then just blend it up when everything's softened up. Serve. lol

      Stir fries might be a bit more of a pain if you're chopping up a variety of veggies plus chopping up meat.

      Canned soups are handy and cheap ($1 though? Which ones?) but even the most interesting of flavours tend to taste the same… I end up adding stuff to them to jazz them up.

      • mrluke on 16/07/2014 - 08:24

        I'm including all preparation, cooking and clean up. Maybe not 3 hours but a long time!

        Coles/woolies often have soup on special for a dollar… chunky/cafe/country ladle.

        I don't know for me food is just a necessity, and I wolf it down as quickly as possible and keep going… same reason I drink diet shakes but not on diet.

        Generous salt and pepper makes everything taste alright… but I don't have fancy tastes…

        • mskeggs on 16/07/2014 - 20:24
          +1

          I'm with the turnip on this one. When I go with prepared food I always add some extra goodies to make it nice - an egg, some diced bacon, sliced mushroom or dried tomato. All good things that take a cheap frozen pizza or can of soup up to close to home made (well, maybe not close, but much tastier).

        • mskeggs on 16/07/2014 - 20:26
          +2

          Oh, and you might want to look into soylent:
          http://www.soylent.me/

          I think it is an abomination, but others seem to think it has its place.

        • mrluke on 18/07/2014 - 19:41

          @mskeggs:

          Thanks I'll probably do this! To me food is like putting petrol in the tank, an annoyance! :)

          It's my mission to achieve complete nutrition in the shortest and quickest time possible!

  • thedondraper on 15/07/2014 - 23:22

    By the way, anyone tried HelloFresh - keen to get thoughts on if it works out economical if you consider the excess you end up buying to make each meal + shopping time + fuel etc?

    • mskeggs on 16/07/2014 - 20:30

      I looked at it. Didn't come close for my family, but we will juggle a menu to make sure we use up fresh ingredients, so half a lettuce etc. doesn't go to waste.
      I lie of course, my spouse would happily let them turn to mush in the vegetable draw, but I juggle my cooking to use up the left over ingredients from when she cooks a landmark meal.
      I probably don't allow a lot for time costs either, as chopping veges while I chat to the kids doing homework is pretty much my mid week R&R!

  • Azn310 on 16/07/2014 - 09:53
    +2

    If you fancy curry. Try this $7 to feed 2:

    • A jar of premium curry from Aldi, $2.99 . The one with spice caps.
    • 300-400g of meat of choice cut into strips or bite size pieces (I've tried chicken thigh and beef before, approx $4)
    • Rice or naan bread

    It should take half an hour to cook (if you marinade in advance)

    • Marinade meat in the spices, best for half an hour
    • Set up the rice cooker to cook rice
    • Heat up frying pan and stir fry the meat
    • Dump the curry in there and simmer over low-medium heat to your liking

    That's it. Dinner served. Feeds 2. If more people, just double up the proportions. I was amazed at the quality of these curry jars. IMO they are comparable to restaurant. I do this every week in the house now, can't resist.

    • mskeggs on 16/07/2014 - 20:33
      +2

      make your own roti/naan. It take 20 mins but the results are great and it saves $3 versus the packet ones, and I make some extra for the left overs the next day. I also like the plastic pouch indian called "street kitchen" in woolies. Full price is $5.50, but on sale at $4 it is quite good. One pack easily serves 4 adults.

      • [Deactivated] on 18/07/2014 - 07:55
        +1

        Great idea! I find the packet naans tasty but their long expiry dates scare me as to how much added preservatives there are. Definitely an advocate for making it fresh or paying $2.50 for a plain naan fresh at your local Indian store.

  • ezz88 on 16/07/2014 - 13:12
    +1

    A meal I make on a regular basis is this:
    1kg turkey mince $10
    500g diced tom tinned $1.50
    500g black Beans tinned 1.50
    500g corn tinned $1.50
    1 cup brown rice
    Spices to taste couple of sprinkles of cumin power, chilli flakes, salt & pepper, paprika

    All I do is put rice in rice cooker with two cups of water. Meanwhile brown the mince in a large pan and then combine the rest of the ingredients. Stir it all well and reduce the heat and let it simmer until the juices have reduced a bit. By the time the rice is done the mince and whatnot should be ready. Turn off the heat on both and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving. Makes a heap of food and is sooooo easy and healthy while still being edible and affordable.

    Hope someone gives this a go and enjoys it.

    • mskeggs on 16/07/2014 - 20:35
      +1

      I'll call it EE-Zee-88's turkey chllli when I serve it up to the family.

  • goosegog on 16/07/2014 - 13:14
    +2

    Whatever happened to having 5 servings of veg. + 2 of fruit each day ? Most of these meals seem to be based on quick & easy non nutricious meals which lack in the essentials. Cooking a good hearty meal doesn't have to be time consuming - especially if you have a slow cooker - bung in the meat,veg,herbs,spices - go to work & " voila " dinner is ready when you come home. O.K. I am of the older generation to most of you but still insist that a decent meal does not have to take up hours of time + does your body far more good than buying from fast food outlets ( although we enjoy these now & again). Also you'll know there are no bad ingredients to add towards obesity & carcenomas of your system. Even curries - buy the spices & make your own - not bottles etc. which contain preservatives. Lecture done from this one & no doubt will receive all sorts of negs.However it's your choice - we are what we eat - take the chance of a shorter life span with the quick & easy option of eating or take just a touch more effort to enhance your life expectancy.

    • StewBalls on 16/07/2014 - 13:21
      +1

      I'm not sure which recipes you're worried about, but a lot of the above appear to have more than adequate macro-nutrient content, as well as a healthy dollop of necessary micro-nutrients that you can also supplement with other meals/snacks throughout the day?

      I'm actually seeing a lot of great healthy ideas here, good show OzB, keep up the good work! :)

    • Azn310 on 17/07/2014 - 03:51

      Eating fresh (non preservative) gives us an extra year to live at the end of the road.
      Then realize we have spent an accumulated 2 years of our time getting fresh ingredients and preparing fresh food.
      Maybe the shorter road is not so bad after all :)

      Agreed on the fast food outlets connection to obesity and cancer. Must. Resist.

      • juventino on 17/07/2014 - 05:28

        That what I told myself whenever I got into the habit of smoking,drinking,eating junks and clubbing every week.

        I'll probably live 5 years less than others. But I live life to the fullest. At 75years old, the extra 5 years will probably be spent on wheelchair, going to bingo games or stay home all day

        • [Deactivated] on 18/07/2014 - 08:01

          Only once a week? I guess that should be fine for the junk food part. If I live life to the fullest and eat 50g chocolate, fried foods and slurpees 5 days per week, I can't foresee myself enjoying my health in the future with type 2 diabetes.

  • Bystander on 16/07/2014 - 13:55
    +1

    Rice w Vegies & Salmon

    2 cups of rice & water in the rice cooker
    then throw in a decent amount of frozen mixed veg (I don't measure it)
    Turn the cooker on
    Walk away

    When the cooker clicks from cook to warm I get a can of salmon (preferably red salmon) and drain it then crumble it into the mix and stir
    Walk away

    After another 10 minutes it should all be good to go.
    A large dollop of homemade mayonnaise goes well. And sometimes I replace the water with some stock for a bit of a different flavour

    Minimum effort and only one cooking bowl to wash for something that tastes good and is reasonably healthy.

    • [Deactivated] on 16/07/2014 - 18:35

      Wow, you eat two cups of uncooked rice? Or is that for two people?

      • Azn310 on 17/07/2014 - 03:30

        Its the cup that came with rice cooker i think. Theres no standard size, a cup could be half a measuring cup

      • Bystander on 17/07/2014 - 20:32

        The only reason I use 2 cups is because that's the recommended minimum amount. I use the measuring cup that comes with the cooker and there's 3 mouths to feed. Any leftovers can go in the fridge or freezer.

        • [Deactivated] on 18/07/2014 - 08:03

          Oh, 2 cups is a good amount for three people. I just thought you were just cooking for yourself and ate two cups of uncooked rice, which is an insane amount. My bad. Great recipe! Will try it out

    • Azn310 on 17/07/2014 - 03:34

      When its dinner time, kids (or partner) come to rice cooker, open and have a look
      Walk away

      Jk I really like this recipe, its so simple. Have tried frozen veggie before but never salmon, and never cooked with stock. Thanks, my next week is sorted, for really quick and cheap. Mom would probably give me a speech if she sees me cooking like this lol

  • altomic on 16/07/2014 - 15:59
    +2

    Red Lentil curry-

    400grams red lentils.
    one finely chopped onion.
    tab of butter
    spices
    some vege stock
    hot water.

    with rice and pappadoms

    costs about $5.

  • rgr on 16/07/2014 - 20:10

    Red/Green/Yellow/Massaman Curry

    Curry paste: $2.60
    Coconut milk x 2: $3.20
    Meat (usually 2kg beef mince): $10
    Frozen vegetable mix: $2.80

    TOTAL: $19

    Servings: ~5, enough for 5 days of work lunch = $3.8 per serve. Damn I failed.

    Meat and veg are from aldi, the others are from asian grocers.

    No rice/cheap carbs cause I eat mostly Paleo/ketogenic

    • mskeggs on 16/07/2014 - 20:45

      No wonder you are failing, basic OzB rules ignored ! ;-)
      - fill up on carbs (ok, if you are aiming to lose weight via ketosis I will skip this).
      - coconut milk at $1.60 a can! Sacrilege! No name is 80c at the supermarket, asian brands $1
      - curry paste $2.60! A 400g tub of Mae Ploy is under $5. It lasts forever and works out at maybe 10c a meal.
      - 2kg of mince for 5 serves! My family of 6 gets 500g or maybe 600g per meal. If you drop the meat by half and double the veg, you'll save a bit more.

      • rgr on 16/07/2014 - 22:00
        +3

        The curry paste is Mae Ploy 400g, I get it from asian groceries. The coconut milk is the Chef's Choice one which is one of two brands that I know that don't contain thickeners or any other rubbish chemicals. I also forgot that I eat the curry for dinner too, so at best I get about 8 servings.

        Blah

        • mmd on 16/07/2014 - 22:04

          Just wondering which curry do u use the beef mince in?

        • rgr on 17/07/2014 - 08:20

          @mmd: The one I'm making. Sorry, I basically grab a few different tubs of paste and switch up the flavour each week, but the rest like meat etc are the same.

      • alex123711 on 20/07/2014 - 09:47

        Where to get this mae ploy paste? I couldn't find any at the supermarket.

        • [Deactivated] on 20/07/2014 - 11:50

          Most supermarkets will have it in the "asian" section but failing that any of the small asian grocery shops would have it.

  • gmatht on 16/07/2014 - 22:13

    The Hand-to-Mouth crew have preempted your command :D
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1oBv_Tg7EQ

    (Well some of them are kind of healthy :).

  • Hotpotcorn on 16/07/2014 - 22:48

    plain rice

    step 1: boil rice
    step 2: eat

    enjoy a meal for like 10 cents

    • [Deactivated] on 16/07/2014 - 22:53
      +1

      Buy a jar of Japanese furikake and sprinkle some of that on each rice serving. Bit more nutrition, lot more flavour, not much more costly per serve :D

    • juventino on 17/07/2014 - 05:33
      +1

      half way through boiling,drop two spoon of Hainanese rice paste :)

  • msmhw on 17/07/2014 - 01:30

    white toast $1
    tomato $2 for bag (1kilo)
    mushroom ~$3
    olive slices ~$3
    capsicum ~$3 a bag
    Mozzarella cheese ~$5
    tomato past $1

    put some tomato past on the toast
    cut everything and put it above the toast
    put the cheese in top
    put everything in the oven for ~20 min… enjoy eating
    Photos
    http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/81226/24031/img_2014071…

    http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/81226/24032/img-2014071…

    total cost $18

    • Azn310 on 17/07/2014 - 03:41

      This looks really yummy! i reckon it should cost less if you just buy the right amount for the recipe? From the look of it you only use like 2 capsicums, 3-4 tomatoes, etc.. So for the amount you bought, you could possibly do 2 dinners! :D

      • msmhw on 17/07/2014 - 10:36

        yes you are right, you can do it twice with this amount or may be three times but you need more toast.
        it was cheaper to buy them as bags than buy exactly what I need.
        yeah it taste really good the best part you dont need to spend a lot of time to prepare it

    • [Deactivated] on 18/07/2014 - 08:05

      Your bread pizza looks amazing! Will try it out with wholemeal bread thanks.

  • sandsay on 17/07/2014 - 07:02

    What about tuna pasta bake?

    I made some a week ago, with pasta(cavatappi pasta $2) tuna in seasoned oil($2), Nuttelex $4, almond milk $2, nutritional yeast $3, breadcrumbs, pasta sauce $2 and some cheese I found in the fridge(Colby, Cheddar $4 each).

    I was in hungry-mode and it lasted for two meals. Not entirely sure of the prices but I had most of the items already(who doesn't have some butter/margarine in the fridge?).

    Damn I love fish. Except maybe the greasy deep fried fish from fish and chips shops. Those give me heartburn, and taste of oil. Yuck.

  • timohill on 17/07/2014 - 11:10

    Here's 2 very tasty and easy meals.
    The limited number of ingredients is sure to keep costs low.
    I would count the sauces and rice as staples you should probably have laying around already. If not using 2-5% of the total amount is low.

    Amounts should serve 4… I do half this for 2ppl

    Bacon, Pumpkin & Pesto Pasta ~$10
    -Penne 250g (4ppl) 70c
    -10 pieces of bacon (@$7.99kg from WW)
    -100g jar basil pesto ($2.48 barilla) (make my own with homegrown basil)
    -1/2 Butternut Pumpkin $3 (chopped and oven roasted)
    Mix and eat (add Parmesan ($1) to serve, seems expensive to buy as a chunk but it goes a long way)

    Thai flavoured Chicken Mince on Rice $9 + sauces and rice
    -Chicken Mince 500g $5
    -Red Onion (sliced) 80c & Coriander (tube or fresh) $2
    -Sweet chilli sauce, Fish sauce, Lemon juice, Brown Sugar
    Serve on Rice with beans ($1) on top.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 17/07/2014 - 12:32

    2 x packs of Migoreng noodles
    1 x egg
    Cheap and yum.

    In seriousness, making large meals (pasta, curry, soup, roast, bakes) and freezing 4-6 portions of leftovers is what I usually do. Always having meals ready to heat up saves money from resorting to expensive takeaway.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/07/2014 - 15:27
    +2

    EDIT Nutrition fixed. I think. The water weight of the TVP/Beans/Rice messed with my head a bit/EDIT

    Cheapest meal I know how to make. It has to be made in bulk and have buttloads of it frozen for maximum value. Can be made better value by removing the bacon, which is the most expensive component but tastes great.

    I haven't done this in ages so my numbers on the spices might be off 'cause I can't find where I had it written down.

    Buy for multiple batches:
    - 5kg of Textured Vegetable Protein for $16
    - 5kg Black Beans for $17
    - 250g Chilli Powder for $2.50
    - 250g Sea Salt for $2.50
    - 250g Cumin for $2.50
    - 250g Cayene Pepper for $2.50
    - 2kg White Sugar for $4.30
    - 5kg Basmati Rice for $13.99
    - Shipping to Perth for $3.50

    Use multiples/fractions of this recipe, depending on how much you can physically cook/freeze at once:
    - 500g TVP hydrated to ~1kg $1.60
    - 500g Black Beans hydrated to ~1kg $1.60
    - 500g of bacon ~$3 (just get the cheapest cut in the 2kg packs)
    - 1kg of onions ~$2
    - 3kg of tomatoes ~$3 (current $1/kg on special at Spud Shed but can be up to $9 I guess)
    - 20g of chilli powder $0.20
    - 15g of sea salt $0.15
    - 10g of cumin $0.10
    - 10g of sugar $0.10
    - 10g of cayene pepper $0.10
    - 1kg of Basmati hydrated/cooked to ~2.5kg $2.80

    Total $14.65

    Recipe (google for big things like preping the beans/TVP/tomatoes if you don't know how):
    - Hydrate/cook the black beans, TVP & rice.
    - Stew the tomatoes.
    - Cook bacon until hard and crumbly then crumble it. Save the fat.
    - Dice & cook the onion in the fat (you probably shouldn't use all the fat).
    - Add everything (but the rice) in a very big pot. Stew on low heat for half an hour.

    This should produce ~5kg of chili and should be served 50/50 by volume with the rice (rice should be much larger by volume, much lower density). Serving about 250g rice + 500g chilli makes for 10 serves.

    Nutritional info (250g rice + 500g chilli):
    3663kJ/875kCal | 56.8g protein | 15.1g fat | 135.1g Carbs

    That's $1.47 per serve. You can eat this twice a day and get just shy of an adults nutrition for $2.94… although you should technically be getting more fat in your diet than the ~30g this will give you, more like 50-70g. You can make up the extra calories/fat with a about half a litre of full cream milk (extra ~50c, daily total $3.44) or just by making smaller serves and more of them then having three serves.

    It can also be used as a bolognese for pasta or with bread or tacos or whatever but I'm going for value and rice is unbeatable there. You can add cheese and sour cream for flavour but obviously that impacts cost too.

    You can use the mince meat of your choice in place of TVP but like the rice TVP is the best value. Why any TVP at all? To get that protein quantity up, mostly. TVP tastes like cardboard mush - basically no flavour and a mushy texture. But soaked in sauce it's fine.

    (I have no affiliation with 2brothers they're just who I use for this stuff and they seem very cheap, even compared to local asian/indian markets, although you can definitely get the sugar and rice cheaper)

  • AFA on 17/07/2014 - 15:46
    +2

    This is all ozbargain gold, should press this into a cook book using a user submitted bargain from vistaprint

    • Last Seen on 29/07/2014 - 10:23

      That would be both awesome and hilarious. We'd need to produce and ship it for less than $1.42, though! :)

  • mafmouf on 18/07/2014 - 10:57
    +1

    It's funny this post came up. For the first time ever, this week I itemised a meal I made which was some Lebanese food I make once in a while:

    Liverpool NSW area.

    Grocery list:
    6 bunches parsley $3 (local grocer)
    1 onion $0.50
    1 lemon $0.50
    1kg mince meat $5 (Coles)
    2kg chicken wings $4 (local butcher)
    1 can chickpeas $1 (Coles/WW)
    2 bundles of garlic $1 (local grocer) <- bundles, not cloves lol
    1kg tomatoes $3 (local grocer)
    1 bundle shallots $3 <- can sub plain onions for it if you want to save a bit more
    1 pack Lebanese bread $1 (local grocer) <- thank goodness it's fresh!
    Total: $22
    Makes: A lot! Maybe serves 6. I have so far eaten half of this across 3 large meals. Maybe 8 for smaller appetites.

    Assumed I already had in pantry:
    Oil
    Salt
    Pepper
    Cumin
    Tahini (sesame paste) <-can be expensive for a jar
    Cracked wheat

    Garlic Sauce <- WARNING, don't eat if you plan to talk to people afterwards
    Garlic, salt, oil, lemon, water

    Kofta (kind of like sausages)
    Mince meat, onion, parsley, cumin, salt, pepper, egg

    Tabouleh
    Parsley, tomato, shallots, lemon, cracked wheat, salt

    Chicken
    Lemon, salt, garlic

    Hommus
    Chickpeas, tahini, lemon, salt, water

    Just note that it takes a while to make unless you have helpers! All quantities during the making process are to taste. I like things a little different to the conventional way so it depends on the people eating. You can also add pickled gherkins etc to make it a little extra special, or do more dips etc. Either way, cheap and filling meal!

  • superm86 on 18/07/2014 - 15:16

    Aloo/Potato stuffed Paratha with butter: (or any stuffed paratha for that matter)
    Am not sure how to explain it hence the video:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV3dYBaiVjg
    Preparation time might be more for first timers, but quite cheap seeing you can get potato for like 1kg per $ or less.
    Would use: a cup flour, a potato, spices (depending on taste: salt, chilli, corriander,etc), 2 cube of butter - guess not more than 1$ per person.

    Would require some time and new skills for who have not tried this earlier.

  • breaks on 30/07/2014 - 17:04

    Breaks Incredibly Meaty Mushroom Burgers [Vegetarian]

    Introduction

    I "cooked" this one up myself (pun intended) and am quite proud of it. The burgers have that gorgeous meaty bite minus the heaviness of traditional meat burgers. A good balance of sweet, salty and tangy.

    Ingredients

    • Wholemeal buns (6 for $3.60)
    • Cheese slices (6 slices taken from a 1KG Aldi block which cost $6)
    • Avocado (1 1/2)
    • 2 teaspoons butter
    • 6 large flat portabella mushrooms (or large barbecue mushrooms)($6-8 from coles)
    • 1 large tomato sliced into discs
    • 1 large barbecue onion sliced into discs
    • 1/2 baby cos lettuce
    • Ketchup, mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste.
    Marinade
    • 4-8 cloves worth of garlic paste
    • 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
    • 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
    • 1/4 cup soy sauce

    Please adjust the marinade to your tastes, these quantities are only estimates as I do not measure them when making them myself

    Technique

    Combine all marinade ingredients in a wide container that can hold the mushrooms and onion rings.
    Clean the mushrooms and pull out the stems to use elsewhere (soup?). Score the top with deep diagonals to form diamond shapes on the flesh being careful no to puncture through to the other side.
    Put the mushrooms in the marinade and pour some onto the gills with a spoon which will absorb the flavour quickly. Throw the onion rings in too and marinate for an hour or so.
    Pre-heat an oven to 180c and put the mushrooms and onions in on a grill for 15-25mins.
    Slice the buns in half and smear butter over the slices and put them into the oven (optional, best for white buns) in the last 5mins.
    Place a mushroom over each lower half of the buns, top with a cheese slice and put into the oven while it cools.
    Take them out once the cheese has melted to the consistency of warm pizza cheese. Top with the onions, tomato and lettuce.
    Spread a quarter of an avocado on the top half of the bun or alternatively, if the avocado is hard, squish all the avocado into a smooth paste in a bowl with a fork and then smear some onto bun.
    Add ketchup, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and cover with top half of bun. Serve warm.

  • poiuy1234 on 14/04/2015 - 10:15

    Bumping up!

  • alex123711 on 16/05/2015 - 13:09

    Bump as well

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join