Cheap and cheerful easy tea/dinner for dcs.

[CuriousMama]

My latest thing that dcs both like and is easy is Hotdog pasta.

Put pasta shapes on to cook. Meanwhile chop veg finely (carrot, pepper, onion, courgette or whatever you want) gently fry for few mins, you can blend hide for veg haters. Add carton or passatta and herbs and ground pepper (I use dried basil as it goes well with tomato) simmer whilst pasta's cooking. Then I cook a sausage or any hodogs for minute in microwave. Slice and add to pasta and sauce, then sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve with homemade bread. Dp is the breadmaker, sometime ds2? You could substitute hotdog with any cooked meat or tofu/quorn. Or just have veg. Or Even use tinned lentils in with veg. Or cook red lentils with veg?

I don't add salt as there's enough in sausage and cheese imo.

[CuriousMama]

Meant so say do you have a quick and cheap meal that dcs love?

[1stMrsFrugal]

Mama do you work for Mmmmmattersons?!

Pizza made with tortilla wraps as a base, with tinned tomatoes wizzed up with tomato puree as and cheese on top. Bake for a few minutes.

[CuriousMama]

I wish I did could do with a job

Good idea with the wrap.

[jojane]

Tuna pasta is cheap - if you use basics, pasta, tin tuna, tin chopped toms, time sweetcorn and some homemade cheese sauce. It's my cupboard meal for when I need to get shopping in!
Other cheap meals are ham egg and chips, chicken risotto (with leftover roast meat and veg.

[CuriousMama]

Yes jojane you can't go wrong with tuna pasta bake. My dcs like chicken and veg rice too, I usually flavour it with paprika and soy sauce (light).

[TerraNotSoFirma]

I have a cheap pudding.
Tin of value rice pudding, handful of sultanas and a wee bit of nutmeg.

[CuriousMama]

Thanks Terra will try that.

[SizzleSazz]

Cous cous with small amount of fried bacon/chorizo, garlic, onion, pepper, mushroom, sweetcorn, courgette, (or any wilting veg in the fridge) chopped tomato, smoked paprika

[CuriousMama]

Sounds lovely Sizzle. we always have those ingredients in.

[SizzleSazz]

It takes less than 5 mins and frozen veg works as well as fresh, hence chucking a handful of sweetcorn in along with other random veg. DH gets upset when i make it for the kids and not for him - to me it is a quick DC supper but DH loves it too!
If you have them, the roasted peppers in a jar from Lidl are a nice addition too

[CuriousMama]

Oh that sounds good I'll get some roasted peppers and need to stock up on frozen veg as about out of it.

[theindecisive]

I like to do a sausage pasta bake
you put a pan on to boil then add the pasta/
Cut up a sausage into approx inch long pieces and fry with garlic and onion.
stir in a tin of chopped tomatoes or a jar of pasta sauce.
Mix together then add to the pasta. put in a pyrex dish and break a ball of mozarella into small pieces and place all over the top, then grill.
Blooming lovely

[Jojobump1986]

Tuna crumble for 3-4: 1 tin of tuna, 1 tin of condensed mushroom soup. Mix together in a casserole dish. Crumb some bread & mix in a little oil. Sprinkle over the top of the tuna/soup & bake at about 170C for 45 minutes - serve with new potatoes & peas. To make it even cheaper, you can replace the soup by frying up some chopped mushrooms & throwing in a bit of flour & some milk to make a mushroomy white sauce.

[CuriousMama]

Sounds nice too, dp ds1 and I would eat it and do, with butcher's sausages or best. But ds2 will only eat hotdogs. I could make him a separate version with hotdogs though. I like the mozzarella idea hadn't thought of that.

[CuriousMama]

Mmmm Jojobump that sounds lush and really easy.

[racingheart]

1 pkt white bread mix
1 carton passata
2 value mozarella balls
squeeze of garlic paste, pinch of herbs and pepper.
handful of plain flour for rolling out the dough.

Mix dough and leave to rise.
Preheat oven/
Reduce passata in a pan with garlic and herbs until it is reduced by about 50%, slightly thick and sticky. Keep stirring so it doesn't burn. Leave to cool as it thickens more then.
Shred mozarella
prep veg to go with it.

Cut dough into 4-8 pieces (4 will make huge restaurant-size pizzas.)
Shape into rounds then roll out on floured surface. Spoon on some passata, top with mozarella or cheddar and add any other things you like on pizza (left over shredded chicken, olives etc)

total cost of basic pizzas: £2.40. With veg - £3.
This makes 4 huge pizzas or 6-8 medium to small ones (and only 8-10 mins in the oven, so cheap on fuel too.)

Serve with veg sticks, salad or steamed frozen veg.DC love to join in, and can cut/shred mozarella with a very blunt knife, so it's a really easy winner.

Only drawback is, although it's quick, you do need to remember to mix the dough an hour beforehand, as it needs time to rise.

[InMySpareTime]

Sunny rice:
Boil rice in water with stock cube and turmeric added, keep lid on and turn heat off when rice nearly cooked so rice absorbs all the stock.
Boil eggs (1 for every 2 diners)
When all the stock is absorbed into the rice, add frozen sweetcorn/peas and chop boiled eggs into the rice.
Comes out at pence per portion, and the DCs love it!

[TerraNotSoFirma]

Just made 'Chinese noodles' (as my DC call it) mostly out of tesco value products and it was very tasty.
Chicken thigh fillets (about £3) cooked in soy sauce and ginger in the slow cooker.
2 pkts of Value noodles (11p each) and half a bag of frozen stir fry mix (70p)

It was really nice.

[ByTheWay1]

We had stir fry tonight - half a big tray of turkey breast strips, cheap bag of noodles (40p), cheap bag of bean shoots( 40p), a carrot (8p), slice off the cabbage (nothing really would probably have chucked that leaf out..) , an onion (12p) and a slice of pepper shredded and some black bean sauce (80p) - less than £4 all together - served 4 of us, and cooked in about 6 minutes.

Tomorrow we will have the other half of the turkey strips stir fried quickly as a curry with onions and the rest of the red pepper and a stir in of some curry paste along with some boiled rice and probably the cabbage steamed then fried with onion and spices - again less than £1 each... but this one will take about 15min.. due to double work on the cabbage...