Now originally this 'review' was going to be about student cooking, but I figured cooking on a budget sounded better, and since some students are loaded (it's true!), I thought this title was more fitting.

I do warn you in advance that some (most) of the recipes are not especially difficult, original, or elaborate - BUT (don't stop reading yet!), I will give you, perhaps, ideas on how you can cook a decent meal on a budget (I hope!).

Ok, so beans on toast just aren't going to cut it after about a week and yes it may be cheap - but noooo it's not very nutritious! I have a friend, a very thin friend, who eats one pizza a day (or a curry if they're on offer), a bag of Doritos and an apple, washed down with two litres (or more) of Coke. I have tried telling him this is not healthy, but will he listen? No! He claims that he'd rather spend as little as possible on food. Now his pizzas cost £1.50 plus a bag of Doritos 99p totalling £2.49 - below are 4 meals which can be made for less than that and are healthier!

So, before we get into my simple recipes, here are my top tips for buying food cheaply:

1. Shop around. Duh, I hear you cry, but it's amazing how you can say this to people and they look at you funny, as if you're thick, but then you tell them about the 6 tins of John West's tuna you bought for £1 (approx 17p each!) from Poundland and then they go "Oh I hadn't thought about looking there! I just buy Tesco's own." - Well that's not shopping around is it!?

2. Shop about an hour or two before the shop shuts. Obviously this isn't a viable option for a lot of people, but if you can try and get to your local supermarket just before closing time. I always shop late(ish) at night as you can get some fantastic deals. The Sainsbury's near me shuts at about 10pm, so if you toddle off down at about 8pm you'll find some bargains. Things like bread, pastries etc, things that are made fresh each day are sold off at ridiculously small prices - 30p for 10 sausage rolls! Sometimes if you buy something from the counter, like slices of ham or pork pies, they will ask you if you want a samosa for free as they're only going to bin it. Also, anything which is about to pass its sell-by-date, like fresh meat, will also get sold off cheaply. Things like meat and bread can be frozen as soon as you get home so it will last for at least another month or so. I got I think it was a packet of chicken which should have been £3.99 for £1.49, which is quite a saving!


3. For things which you can't buy fresh, like tuna or toilet rolls, try shopping around in your local high street. Like I said before you can buy, when on offer, 6 tins of John West's tuna for £1. I always hunt around Poundland, Home Bargains, Farm Foods for canned goods/ toiletries etc.

4. Freeze what you can. You can make some savings by buying something like a large packet of salmon and freezing it. I bought a MASSIVE pack of salmon from Tesco (£5.49) and divided it up into about 10 single bags of salmon which I then froze. So it looks expensive initially, but that makes one meals worth of salmon 55p, which is decidedly less expensive than buying smaller packs of salmon which contain only one or two slices for £1.99. Also, I've found that sometimes packets of chicken breasts (2 packets of 6 for £5 - Sainsbury's) contain massive pieces of chicken. So, I halve the chicken breasts which give 24 pieces for £5 (approx 28p each).


So, onto recipes. Again, I warn you in advance that these are not meant to be for the most experienced cook. I've only recently started cooking proper food, so my recipes are simple, but hopefully they will demonstrate you can cook cheaply. The price worked out in these recipes is approximate but I've tried to be as accurate as possible. I do most of my shopping at Tesco's or Sainsbury's, so most of my pricing comes from there. All receipes serve approximately 1 hungry person.



/~ Melba toast and cheese ~ 6p ~/
Starting off very easy here!

-Ingredients

*One slice of bread - 3p
(I like Tesco's own wholemeal loaf 79p for approx 23 slices)

*A few thin slices of cheese - 3p
(Tesco's double Gloucester cheese £1.37 for 250g)

*A few splashes of soy sauce - hardly anything - less than 1p.
(I always buy Amoy Soy sauce, which, depending on where you buy it, ranges from about 50p - £1.50. 62p for 150ml from Tesco's. It has a strong taste though, so the bottle lasts quite a long time. I have it with most meals and a bottle lasts about 3 months.)


- How to make

* Preheat your grill until it's very hot

*Toast your slice of bread according to how you like it. Then get a very sharp knife and slice the bread through the side, until you've split your piece of bread in half - leaving you with essentially two pieces of wafer thin bread.

*Lay thin slices of cheese onto each half of the bread and splash soy sauce onto the top - but not too much or you'll make your toast soggy!

* Grill until the cheese bubbles. Voila! Melba toast with cheese.


/~ Creamy salmon pasta ~ £1.86 ~/

- Ingredients

* One slice of 'packet' salmon, preferably smoked - 55p

* Half a salmon fillet - 81p
(£3.23 for a packet of two fillets from Tesco.)

* Handful of pasta - 3p
(Big 3kg bag of pasta £2.49 from Tesco - it's heavy to carry, but my bag of pasta has lasted 6 months so far and two of us use it. Use a peg to close the packet after each use to stop crawlies getting in).

* Dollop of crème fraiche - 2p
(62p for 200ml from Tesco's own range)

* Few drops (to suit your taste, I use 10 drops for a mild-moderate taste) of lemon juice - hardly anything!
(You can buy 16p for 55ml of Jif lemon juice, or 72p for 500ml. It depends how often you'll use it).

* 3 shallots - 21p
(62p for 9 shallots from Tesco's)


* 1 clove of garlic - about 1p
(65p for a bag of 5 garlic things, and each one has about 6-10 cloves)


- How to make

*Heat some oil or water in a frying pan (if you use water you have to be careful that you keep moving the salmon about so it doesn't stick) and add the half salmon fillet. It will take about 10 - 15mins to cook. Make sure the salmon is flaky. Alternatively you can grill the salmon for the same amount of time.

* While the salmon is cooking put your pasta on to cook. Cooking times vary according to what pasta you're using.

* When the salmon is mainly cooked on the outside, but not quite cooked through the middle (after about 7- 12 minutes) add the garlic clove (crushed or finely chopped) and the shallots (diced) to the pan. If grilling the salmon, cook the garlic and shallots in a frying pan for about 5 minutes.

* When the pasta is cooked, add the crème fraiche and lemon and stir. Remove the pasta from the heat and then add the salmon fillet, garlic, shallots, and 'packet' salmon (chopped into strips). Stir well and then serve.
It's important to make sure you don't add the strips of salmon to the pasta whilst the pasta's on the heat or it'll start to cook.


/~ Sweet and Sour chicken with rice ~ 88p ~/

* 1 tbsp cornflour - less than 1p
(39p for 250g from Tesco's)

* 4tbsp vinegar (or approx two sachets) - free
(Now, you can get packets of vinegar from some fast food places and places like Weatherspoons. I always take an extra few sachets home with me, so vinegar is free - similarly with mint sauce. McDonald's also give you two BBQ sauce packets when you ask for one, so you have one with your meal and one free one to take home. Genius).

* 2 tbsp soy sauce - less than 1p.

* 1 tbsp tomato puree - 2p
(24p for a 200ml tube from Tesco's)

* 2 shallots - 14p

* 2 carrots - free or about 12p
(If you live near farms you can pick carrots which fall off the back of the trucks which transport them - they'd only get run over if you didn't pick them up! Or you can buy a carrot for about 6p).

* Half a chicken breast sliced and diced! - 28p

* Pineapple chunks - 23p
(You can buy a small tin, 227g, for 23p from Sainsbury's)

* 25g of brown sugar - free or 4p
(79p for 500g bag from Tesco's or you can take the packets you get in coffee shops, hotels, pubs...)

* A handful of rice - 5p
(I like wild rice - 73p for 500g from Tesco's. Ordinary white rice is slightly cheaper, but I prefer the taste of wild rice)


- How to make

*Drain the pineapple juice into a jug and whisk together with the cornflour, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, tomato puree. This is the sauce.

* Heat a small amount of oil, or water, in a wok/ frying pan until very hot.

* Fry the shallots (diced) and carrots (diced or sliced) for about three minutes. Add the chicken pieces and fry for 4 minutes. Make sure you keep the food moving, don't let it stick. Add the pineapple chunks and fry for 2 more minutes.

* Add the sauce and 100ml of water. Bring to the boil and keep stirring. The sauce should thicken and it will have a lighter look to it than 'take-away' sweet and sour sauce - but do not panic!

* Serve with a handful or rice (or whatever you prefer!)


/~ Lobby (Stokey stew) ~ 0p - £1.02 ~/
If you have potatoes, veg, meat which is about to go off or which is left over, then make a stew with it. Waste not want not. Call it what you like - stew, leftover cook, lobby, scouse... But it's still essentially the same - it's what people used to make all the time with their left overs. It costs virtually nothing as you'll have most things already.

Ingredients

* Any left over veg - diced. It's best to have some onions or shallots in there for flavour. You can also add a garlic clove or two if you like. Whatever you want to use up pretty much!

* Any left over potatoes diced into even size chunks

* Beef stock (2 - 4p or free if you made it from a previous meal) - enough to cover the vegetables and potatoes
(You can buy a packet of 10 stock cubes for 29p from Tesco's, or you can use stock from a previous meal - i.e. if you had a roast dinner the day before. This is an ideal meal to have on a Monday after a Sunday roast (presuming you had one) as you can just throw the left overs in a pot).

* 200g of stewing beef - £1 or nothing depending on how you make it
(Can be made with little or no meat if you want a free meal!)


- How to make (the timings on this are pretty vague, it's hard to get wrong really! This is the recipe my Dad's Mum used when make Lobby - the Stokey stew!)

* Put meat and onions/ shallots in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for about 40 - 70 minutes

* Add everything else to the pan and cover with beef stock so that everything is covered.

*Simmer for 1 - 3 hours. Yes that is vague - cook it on a higher heat for faster cooking, or cook it slowly if you don't want it just yet. It's ideal if you're cooking for a few at different times as people can just come in and take what they want as they please. Just make sure the meat is tender and that the potatoes are soft.


I was going to include more recipes but I'm up to 5 pages on Word so I think I'll leave it there for now. Hopefully these recipes have demonstrated that you can cook meals for very little money.
Enjoy and remember cooking can be done for little money!

Thank you for reading my review, if you got this far well done!


(All prices were from memory and www.mysupermarket.co.uk, prices correct at 25/03/08. All recipes are my own/ families.)