Giant bag of the cheapest mixed veg you can find and some cheap beef, a small bag of brown rice and some beef stock cubes.

Make yourself a fucking massive pot of beef and vegetable soup. Freeze it off in batches. It has the benefit of being cheap AND nutritious.

Vegemite spaghetti. Stir Vegemite and parmesan cheese (if you have it) though cooked hot pasta. It’s sensational.

Pesto pasta is povo and you can make it a bit fancier if you want

Makes 1 serve

Required

• 100g pasta
• About 50g green pesto
• Cheese and pepper to taste

Optional

• 40g of frozen peas (baby peas are nicest)
• 10 to 15g of sundried tomato slivers

Method

1. Start pasta cooking as per packet instructions
2. Add pesto and optional sundried tomato to your serving bowl
3. 1 minute before the pasta is cooked to your liking, add frozen peas in with the pasta
4. Once pasta and peas are cooked, strain immediately and mix with the bowl of pesto
5. Season with cheese and pepper to taste

Note

• Pesto with added cheese (e.g. Barilla Pesto Genovese) is very salty, use less salt than normal in your pasta water. Or just choose a different pesto.

Eggs and a starch like grits or fried potatoes or toast. Spaghetti Oatmeal If you buy chili powder in bulk or, like I do, make it in bulk, then chili with beans is cheap and fast.

Cheap dessert for the kids - Golden Syrup Dumplings

Savoury dumplings can also go in soups, stews or casseroles

Few ingredient pastas like Olio de aglio or Cacio e pepi

(Also just adding a cheap jar of pesto)

1. Tortillas - bought on special. Cheese - literally any cheese: sliced, shredded, etc. Combine and microwave until cheese melted.

2. Boxed mac and cheese mixed with cut up hot dogs, brats, sausages.

3. Lunch idea: tuna, mayo, diced celery, bread of your choice - or serve open-faced with cheese on top; warmed/melted in the oven.

4. Ramen noodles with leftover chicken and broccoli mixed in.

Microwave rice with a can of chilli tuna.

Minimal effort recipes are also usually low cost.

Protein is normally the most expensive ingredient. For fish,my current bang for the buck/environment not so unkind choice is tinned mackerel which works out to about $10/kg. You can also get (uncooked) corned beef for $9-$11/kg, and other uncooked roasts at ~$10/kg. These will all last you multiple meals. That’s how you save money. Buy and cook multiple meals at once. For many pasta and rice dishes, I cook at least twice what I need. One goes in our belly, the other goes in the fridge or freezer and can be reheated or microwaved for next to nothing.

For dessert, I’d go for baby yoghurt pouch for $0.75c. Go wild and add an apple or banana for another $0.68-$0.72c. Total $1.47. Again, cheaper if you bought in bulk, eg 1kg vanilla yoghurt $4 and 410g canned fruit salad $2.50.

Hotdish (Tater tot casserole)

In Australia you’d buy potato gems as the equivalent. This isn’t the only recipe, it’s pretty adaptable. Get the frozen veg and gems generic and buy the cream of mushroom soup when it’s on sale half price.

You can also heat up the cream of mushroom soup to use as a gravy.

Tuna ‘casserole’

Make a large amount of mashed potatoes the way you like it. Drain a large can of tuna in oil and mix the flakes through the potatoes. Scrape it all into a big casserole dish and top it with grated cheese. (Block cheddar or tasty, whatever’s cheap.) Bake at 180 or 200 celsius until melted or golden.

Steam some frozen vegies to go with it while it’s baking and serve. Kids might like to add tomato sauce.

Povo Pantry Pizza:

NB: This is a variation of Grandma pizza, a homemade rectangular thin crust you can make on a cookie sheet. You also may choose to meal prep these as individual frozen pizzas, have them as prepped bases, or bake them into pizza scrolls for lunchboxes.

It may not be nutritious or convenient, and it’s not as cheap as a very low deal from Domino’s etc. You may hate or question the use of Spam (even though it tastes very similar to the processed shredded ham used on normal pizza). Strasburg or salami can be substituted.

HOWEVER. Almost all of the ingredients are shelf stable pantry staples, things you can get from food pantries or find forgotten in the back of the cupboard, or something you’d already just have on hand. This is an end of month meal made from flour, staples and leftover cans, something to keep in your back pocket when you’re broke or everything is closed. (I was making my own to accommodate food intolerances.)

The only special note I’d make is to buy the yeast and keep it in the freezer.

Dough: Yeast, water, sugar, salt, flour, oil.

Use the recipe from Taste with whatever cooking oil you have. (Bloom the yeast in warm water first if you’re not sure how old it is.) Halving this recipe made a thick crust on a single cookie sheet. If you prefer thin crust divide it over two sheets and increase the toppings. Or follow the original if you have enough appetite and toppings.

Toppings:

Hawaiian: Spread tomato sauce over the base, sprinkle with Italian herbs from a Hoyts sachet (plus dried or fresh garlic and onion if you prefer or have it). Top with matchsticked Spam or leftover ham, drained pineapple, and grated block cheese (or whatever you have).

BBQ chicken: Spread BBQ sauce over the base and top with shredded leftover cooked chicken. Add cheese, herbs, garlic, onion, whatever you have.

Pepperoni: If you have sliced salami that needs to be used or the ones you slice yourself are cheap - good option.

Margherita: If you have tomato sauce, paste, or tomatoes plus some cheese this is a classic. If you have garlic, onions and herbs so much the better.

Leftovers: Roast veg would go well with caramelised onions. If you had any leftover lamb you could just add that and drizzle with mint jelly or homemade tzatziki after baking.

Capsicums, mushrooms, random jars of olives and eggs you need to use up can all be thrown in there. Who knows, peanut butter and chicken could be passed off as Satay.

I usually baked in a prewarmed oven at 180 or 200 Celsius.

To freeze: Make the bases to a size and shape that will easily fit in your freezer. This can be on a cookie sheet but I used to make individual sized pizzas, stack them on a dinner plate with pieces of baking paper inbetween, and then wrap the plate in foil to go in the freezer. This works even with toppings, they do not stick together or to the paper.

When you want some pizza for yourself take one or two out and bake it still on its paper, reducing cleanup.

i have a stovetop pressure cooker, I eat a lot of beans and grains - not every day but at least 2 or 3 times a week

beans & rice/quinoa is a good one - easy to make. they’re cheap, easy to get, easy to buy in bulk, and have a shelf life of several years.

standard process, for me:

soak 1 1/2 cups of beans for 8 - 12 hours
add a bit of fat to the pressure cooker, then the beans, and just enough water to cover the beans. add pepper, dried chilies, bay leaves, etc - no salt though
cook for ~25 minutes at pressure, let the pressure reduce naturally
when done, add salt, if desired.

rice/quinoa - i prefer this to just rice by itself, the quinoa has a subtle nutty flavor.
same process for cooking as the beans, but you can add salt to the grains. ratio of grains to water is 1:2. i usually use 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup quinoa, and 2 cups water.
cook for 4 minutes at pressure, let the pressure reduce naturally

beans over rice or rice and beans all mixed up. doesnt really matter. this sort of meal is where sauces are really useful. I’m a big fan of hotsauce, but a soy-based teriyaki sauce or something similar works just as well. maybe just salsa? whatever you want really.

this usually makes 2 or 3 big portions.

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