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Gents,

I share a three bedroom house with two other blokes situated in our barracks. We tend to be out at different times, therefore we all tend to eat separate meals. I mainly live on 'add boiling water and stir for 3 minutes' type meals as I usually go to the gym after my shift, then spend most of the evening painting/Xbox or sleeping before I go back to work.

I'm bored with my eating habits. What I would like are any ideas or receipes for easy to make meals that won't cost the earth (I have a budget of about £5 a day) and are also tasty.

The floor is yours.

Bash

Do you have rice cooker?

No I don't. I just chuck a couple of handfuls of rice into a pan of boiling water. We do have a cooker but to be honest, I'm not a great fan of oven ready meals. I just don't get full enough. I tend to eat 2-3 packets of instant noodles....bad I know.

Fry off some mince with a oxo or two, add in some chopped up veg (onions, mushrooms and peppers) then chuck in some tobasco and some lea and perrinns, chuck in an oven dish and stir in a can of baked beans, bake it in the oven for an hour. should be good for two or three meals with some spuds.

If your on barracks how come your not using the NAAFI?

Here is an example to get you interested in rice cooker >:'O
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2392567185712439475&h%20l=en#

You can make pasta , meat loaf , and a cake right away!

Go to farm shop.

Buy 25kg bag of Spuds for roughly £6 (that's the price I pay!).

Bake, mash, boil, chip whatever. Tasty, easy meals in absolute seconds. Because your main ingredient is dirt cheap, you can afford lots of stuff to go with them. Can of Stagg Chilli for example, is about £1.50.

Failing that, buy a big arse packet of mince, cook it all up, and dispense it into various different freezer boxes. Take out as and when, adding spices etc to create different dishes. Easy meals!

squilverine wrote:If your on barracks how come your not using the NAAFI?

We live in a dis-used married quarter. It's a mile from the front gate but because we are on an old USAF airfield we are still behind the wire. As for the NAAFI.....well, even a refugee would turn their nose up at PAYD.

@Lunahound. Noted and done. Will have to consider a house investment.

One of my Mumsies greatest kitchen allies when my brother and I were young. And no, it might be Delia, but I am not taking the piss.

Quickest meal I know.

you need.

1 box of stuffing mix (stove top)
1 13 oz can of chicken broth
1 12 oz can cooked chicken

Mix chicken & chicken broth in 1 and a half qaurt microwave safe container a nuke it for 3-4 min.
Add stuffing mix and seasoning pack,stir,and nuke for 60-90 seconds.
Fluff it up and eat.
You can always make some frozen vegetables to go with.

Bash the Bosh wrote:

squilverine wrote:If your on barracks how come your not using the NAAFI?

We live in a dis-used married quarter. It's a mile from the front gate but because we are on an old USAF airfield we are still behind the wire. As for the NAAFI.....well, even a refugee would turn their nose up at PAYD.

Fair point, the idea of walking to the phone to order a pizza can put me off! Sod walking a mile for scoff

Stir fry can also be a cheap and quick meal. Grab a pack of stir fry veg ready done for a quid, some noodles, chicken and a sauce, bang the chicken in a pan and fry off then chuck in the rest of the stuff for a couple of minutes, quick and healthy.

@Mad Doc,I'm from Norwich anyway...Delia is hailed as a hero alongside Duke of Wellington and Albert Einstein....God bless her...LETS BE HAVING YOU!!!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@Squilverine, You're preaching to the converted mate


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Guys,keep the ideas flowing...I've never written so much down before

If a meal have to be good yet cheap , there is only 1 alternative for me , though your location and experience might vary.

For me , we know a good asian restaurant.
And we would order for delivery 3 dishes ( really large )
for $27 CDN

I cook rice , $1 worth of rice is enough for 2 people for 1 day.
and the 3 dishes are good for 2 for 3 days.

So basically $30 for restaurant meals and rice for 2 people for 3 days = 12 meals for $30 , $2.50 per meal @_@

still cheaper than me buying grocery not to mention they cook better!

Roast a whole Chicken on Sunday.

Have some on Sunday for your Dinner. Use more on Monday for Sandwiches for Lunch, and a breast to make Curry for Dinner. On Tuesday, depending how much is left, rip into that carcass, getting all the meat out. Use this to make a Risotto, or having boiled the remaining Carcass to make a tasty chicken soup.

Snout to Tail eating. It's respect for your prey.

Home Made Wedges.

Clean your spud, slice into 8 wedges. Brush with Oil, chuck on some suitable spices, and bung in the Oven until done. Use two spuds for a full meal, or again add to a tinned Chilli etc.

I love spuds me.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Roast a whole Chicken on Sunday.

Have some on Sunday for your Dinner. Use more on Monday for Sandwiches for Lunch, and a breast to make Curry for Dinner. On Tuesday, depending how much is left, rip into that carcass, getting all the meat out. Use this to make a Risotto, or having boiled the remaining Carcass to make a tasty chicken soup.

Snout to Tail eating. It's respect for your prey.

I never thought of doing that. I've been to Tescos and brought a whole cooked chicken from the spit-roast bit, but I end up getting too full and chuck what I dont eat

It's such a waste now I think of it. But I'll buy a BIG chicken and square myself away for half the week.

It's sadly part of our culture now skip. All too often we see leftovers as bin fodder.

Look up Bubble and Squeak for an example of how things used to be. Seriously, the wasteful diet of Britain is still an extremely modern phenomena, and one it seems we are rapidly abandoning. Stovies is a classic Scottish dish which whilst not really good for you, is tasty, filling and recycles left over Roast Beef, AND it's dripping (something which is typically chucked out) plus some spuds and onions left over as well.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This might help you as well

Mad Dok, you have definatly got me thinking about how much I do chuck. I'll have to think twice and no doubt save me some money

Hurrah! I'm something of a disciple of River Cottage. Mr Fearnley Whittingstall changed my life.

All I want to do is own a small holding and live a simple, pastoral existence. Can't be doing with this rat race bollocks.

Mad Dok, have a pint on me....you earnt it

I love a bit of Panaculty, me. It reminds me of home (the north-east) and is a piece of piss.


You will need:

1 Tin of Corned Beef

Beef Stock cubes

Some Carrots

Some Potatoes

Onions

1 Tin of El Cheapo Supermarket Own Brand Netto Vegetable Soup


As you can tell from the ingredients, it's not an exact science - it's basically comfort food designed to stick to your ribs, and apparently originated as a leftovers dish eaten by industrial workers in the north-east. You can add anything veggie to it (cabbage goes nicely) - I sometimes chuck in a tin of beans. Basically, boil your veg up in a pan, then gently fry some onions in a wok. You won't need much oil, and you only need to fry them until slightly golden. When the Veg is done, drain it and shot it into the wok along with the soup (some people omit the soup and just use the water from the veg, but I prefer it this way). Now bring the soup to the boil and crumble in the stock cubes, gently stirring as you do so. Once you've done this, crumble your corned beef into the wok (don't worry, it's meant to look like that!) the simmer gently till it reduces a bit. Season to taste, being aware that corned beef is pretty salty - some pepper goes nicely. Serve with a nice baguette. It keeps for ages, and is even nicer when left for a day or two. You can substitute corned beef for... pretty much anything! I've had a version that used sausages, fried, then chopped up and popped in. Don't expect anything posh, but DO expect to be full.

Enjoy Matey!

Beef stroganoff is one of my absolute favorites. Get some sirloin beef tips(usually pretty cheap) egg noodles and some cream of mushroom soup. For more mushroomy flavor add some chopped up mushrooms. Boil your water then throw in the egg noodles. Brown the beef tips. After browned throw in the cream of mushroom turn on medium heat and then throw in some sour cream on top of that. When noodles are done strain them and put on plate and throw the beef and gravy on top.

Here's another one thats really quick and pretty tasty.

1 tin of Corned Beef
1 small can of sweet corn
half a can of tomatoe sauce
1 tablespoon of Sofrito (mixed Spanish spices)
1 tablespoon of Recaito (more mixed Spanish spices)
1 packet of Sazon( even more spanish spices)
1 and a sprinkle of Adobo (yup even more spanish spices)

Put corned beef in cooking pot,heat on medium,add the tomatoe sauce,drain the corn and add,cont to heat on medium,add all the various spices and stir till blended.
When finished serve over rice,or you could just eat it with tortilla chips.

Desert:
1 bag of Butterscotch morsels
1 bag of Chow Mein noodles (the crunchy ones)

Melt Butterscotch chips (20 secs at a time until they are done). Make sure to not burn them by overcooking. Mix in enough Chow Mein noodles (generally 1/2 to 3/5 of a bag) so that the noodles are covered. Scoop out onto wax paper and let dry. Usually takes an hour to dry. Enjoy.

I think it costs maybe $4 (2ish Pounds maybe).

Edit: Oh yea this makes a bunch. If you have 2 guys living with you it should last you at least a few days.

Take a bowl and put saltine crackers into it. Mash the crackers with a spoon until all are broken up into bite size pieces. Pour in milk and add a generous portion of sugar and voila! Poor man's cereal.

Righto.

1 Obtain a steamer to do your rice in, it's fething easy that way, 30mins and done.
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-1772.aspx

2 Obtain a good many of those plastic portion tubs with lids, the ones they sometimes send the meal out in from the Chinese takeaway, make sure they are microwavable (they usually are).
http://www.cater4you.co.uk/acatalog/plastic-take-away-tubs-and-containers.html

3 Obtain a bloody big stainless steel pot with a lid.
http://direct.asda.com/Stainless-Steel-Stockpot/001410221,default,pd.html

Use the bloody big pot to cook up a massive chilli or curry, use a couple of those stir in sauces, canned tomatoes and onions for bulk and then the meat of choice, turkey is cheap, a half decent mince for the chillis (often see '2 for 1' with the mince or chicken or prawns etc), bulk these further by using tins of kidney beans for the chilli and tins of chick peas for the curry. Add large amounts of fresh garlic and chillies and herbs to give it punch! (you know that fresh coriander you see in little pots in the supermarket, add that at the last minute before serving a curry and be amazed how much it adds to the flavour).

Then, once your enormous pot of curry/chilli/sauce is done, you do some rice in the steamer and eat the first lot for dinner, the rest... gets portioned off into the plastic tubs, left to cool for an hour or so on the kitchen counter... Then frozen down.

This means you can defrost a tub of curry/chilli/sauce to add to rice or pasta whenever you want it.

I use this method and it means you can always have a decent meal whenever you want, if your canny, you make 2 or three types so that you don't get bored by one type of meal, plus you can eat em as and when you want them.

I do a dark curry with chicken, a chilli with decent mince and a green curry with prawns, a pot like that will make 8 or so portions each time!

This means some effort in terms of food prep, but cooking all these things is minimum, washing up is minimum and once done, it's a matter of doing more rice or pasta and pushing the defrost button on the microwave...

Go on the Budweiser diet.

1. Get lots of beer, any type.

2. Drink lots of beer.

3. Don't eat anything else.

4. Lose 10 pounds in a week.

Happiest a man could ever be.

One favorite of mine is:
1 package Keilbasa or any type of smoked sausage.
2 24oz (larger type) cans of maple sugar beans.

Slice and dice sausage to desired size, I usually cut it into 1/2"-3/4" slices and then dice those up.
Fry sausage, add beans after sausage is done.
Stir in curry powder while the beans heat up. I use quite a bit.

That's it. I usually eat it with a sliced apple as the flavors complement each other nicely.

As others have said, a rice cooker is the way to go.
I use mine often. Usually just browning some cubed chicken in a pan, cook rice and pour sauce on. I think I usually have 5-8 types of sauce in the fridge.
Oh and if you need to, add some veggies to the chicken while it's cooking.

I guess this would be more of a side dish but you could always throw some chicken in or something, but...

get 3 bags of frozen cubed potatoes for hash browns (or cut your own, about 3 lbs worth)
1 pound of cheddar cheese (grated)
1 pound of pepper jack cheese (grated)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup

mix it all together, throw it in a big casarole baking dish kinda thing and bake it for an hour at 400 degrees (f)

let it cool a bit, and enjoy.

makes a lot, you can cut the recipe in half if ya like. If you want baked mac & cheese instead use the same recipe but use 1.5 pounds of cooked elbow pasta instead of taters.

I'm not sold on rice cookers, as why wait 30 when 12 on q hob with no effort- 1 rice:1.5 water; bit of oil, heat, add rice, stir, add water, bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cover, ignore for 12 mins, done. Just like my Pakistani godmother taught me!

However, for cheap easy and tasty equipment, I recommend a slow cooker. They use naff all power, and again require 0 effort (I'm an obsssive cook, love it, but job plus small kid equals limited time). Get any veg, stick cheap stewing meat (chicken thighs awesome for this) cover with liquid and you have infinite variety - stew, curry, chilli , soup - man I'm starting to sound like qvc. 2/3 person one will set you back 15 out of Argos; we've got a "6/8" person but brim full I've made stovies for wife's entire family: 10 adults & 4 kids. Honest mate, they rock.


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Sorry, further thought - you can roast in them, then cover leftovers in boiling water, leave to cook overnight and have soup/stock made by morning.

Slow cookers rock for cooking.

Chili, stews, soups, hams, roasts, even desserts such as cobblers and cakes can be made in a slow cooker and the internet has 1,000's of recipes to be found.

Gents, the response has been mega. Thanks alot for all of your help.

Bash