Packed lunches on a budget (Cooking on a Budget!)

Member Name: TiredandTested

Product:	Cooking on a Budget!
Date:	11/01/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Saves a fortune a month against buying sandwiches

Disadvantages: A bit of initial effort

It's only too easy to learn to do 101 things with mince for your dinner and then go and blow £5 on lunch the next day at the office. If you need some ideas for frugal lunches then read on.

For all these recipes I've used the cheapest possible options such as value bread, but naturally once you've got an idea of the cost you can tweak here and there to fit your taste and your purse.

So let's start off by tackling the humble sandwich - did you know you can make a sandwich and then freeze it? Well in many cases you can and this means you can make them in bulk, wrap individually in cling-film, freeze and take one out to defrost for the next day which is time pinching as well as penny pinching.

Below are some frugal recipes which will ensure that a good packed lunch comes in at well under £1.

The 14.5p Ham n' Egg Pie

1 Egg (10p each if using a pack of 15 Tesco value eggs at £1.49 a pack)
2 slices of Tesco value ham (4.5p a slice/£1.38 pack of 30 slices)
Salt & Pepper

Method:
1. Grease a muffin tin or individual ramekin lightly and pre-heat oven to 180c
2. Line a muffin hole with 2 slices of ham, overlapping them to cover the sides.
3. In a bowl, beat an egg until well mixed and season . Pour mixture into ham-lined tin or ramekin and bake for approx 15 mins or until egg has set. Leave to cool and eat whole or sliced

(you can add almost anything to this recipe from a little chopped onion, to grated cheese, mushrooms etc. I put a splash of Tobasco on mine before cooking.

The 16p Chicken Liver Pate Sandwich

Chicken Liver Pate
1 x 400g packet of chicken livers (99p in Tesco or Sainsburys)
400g value butter (cost approx £1)
400g chopped value onions (approx 50p)
Salt & Pepper
(if you have some garlic laying around or a slosh of whisky, brandy or even red wine left over you can use it but these are options and not necessary)

Method:
1. Chop livers, removing any stringy bits.
2. Add chopped onions to a frying pan with a dab of the butter and cook for 2 minutes
3. Add the chopped livers and brown all over (if you use garlic, add it now)
4. Slosh a couple of tablespoons of water round in the packaging the livers came in (or add the booze if that's what you're using instead) and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Turn out contents of pan into a blender, season with salt & pepper and add the rest of the butter in chunks
6. Blitz the mixture until smooth and leave to cool

Once your pate is cool you can construct your sandwiches. The amount of pate you just made should make approximately 20 using 2 loaves of value sliced bread.
Cost per sandwich: approx 16p

The 8p Spicy Lentil Pate Sandwich

Spicy Lentil Pate
225g dried red lentils (approx 40p)
2 large value onions chopped (approx 20p)
3 cloves garlic minced (approx 10p)
2 slices value bread crumbed (approx 2p)
1 value vegetable stock cube (approx 2p)
Salt & Pepper
1 teaspoon chilli powder

Method:
1. Rinse lentils under cold water and add to saucepan with ¾ pint of water + the stock cube and simmer
2. Whilst simmering fry onions and garlic in a little oil until soft along with chilli powder
3. When lentils have gone into a puree, add to onion mix along with breadcrumbs
4. Season and leave to cool

This pate should make 20 sandwiches which, using 2 value loaves (currently 45p each)
Cost per sandwich: approx 8p

Summary: Don't waste money on expensive pre-packed sandwiches; make a budget packed lunch for under £1!