Easy and cheap foods this month

Many of us are feeling the pinch at the moment. Anyone working on a monthly salary will be counting their pennies at the moment. We’re all hoping wages come closer to the start of next week, rather than at the end of the week, so that we can buy more groceries.

If you are struggling, look to your cupboards for hearty staples and use pasta and rice to their fullest potential.

It may not be glamorous, it may be student-type food, but it will keep you going in these long winter nights.

Making a basic tomato sauce couldn’t be easier. Tinned tomatoes, an onion, a couple of garlic cloves, ½ stock cube (or 1 if you’re using 2 tins of tomatoes), small glug water and a squirt of puree. If you’re feeling adventurous, bung in a few dried herbs. Remember, with dried herbs, less is more. Most pack a punch. Oregano and basil work very well with tomato dishes. Fry off onions and cloves before adding rest of ingredients, simmer for as long as you can.

From this basis, you can add whatever you like. Carrots, peas, baby corn, meats, fish, pine nuts, you name it. Whatever you have, go for it. A cheap meal is a tin of tuna with this. Or you can have it as is, serve with pasta and grate some cheese over it. If you’re not a fan of tomato sauces, go for a basic white sauce, garlic or wine it up and add what you like!

Cook some rice and leave to side. In a pan, fry off some onion and garlic, and add whatever you have or like – bacon, fish, chicken, leeks, quorn, whatever. Add stock, with a very small amount liquid. Cook down – you want a bit of gravy but not a lot. Add rice to this and combine.

These aren’t champion meals but they’ll fill you when money is low. They’re not the healthiest but nor are they unhealthy and they taste pretty good.

Remember when buying, cheap cuts of meat, when cooked long enough, taste amazing. If you’re buying quorn, it’s cheaper from the frozen section that the chilled.
Roll on pay day!

Written a children's book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stone-Sword-ebook/dp/B006ZQIEPG/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327056598&sr=1-6