Food bills can add up beyond all expectation. From overspending on takeaways or growing bored with what you are cooking at the moment, food fatigue can quickly set in. To prevent that, here are 10 favourite recipes from around the world that can be made for about £10 with ingredients from the local supermarket.
Most require kitchen essentials such as oil, salt and black pepper and can can be altered for vegetarians or vegans.
1. Homemade Pizza (Italy)
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 3-4 people
Ingredients:
- 1x Pre rolled sheet puff pastry £1.50 for Jus-Rol Puff Pastry Sheets
- 2x Mozzarella packs £0.43 -£0.60 per pack
- 4-5x tomato £1.50 – £2.00 (for 4-5 tomatoes in a pack)
- Fresh basil leaves £0.60
Total: £4.03 – £4.70
Recipe
You can add any of these toppings; chorizo, pepperoni, spinach, sweet peppers, mushrooms, pumpkin (this one is seasonal, so it’s a good time to try this as a pizza topping, it is surprisingly nice), pine nuts, parma ham, bacon and eggplant as they all taste great on pizza.
1. Roll out your pre rolled pastry into a baking tray and roll the edges of the pastry to create a wall around the pastry base.
2. Slice tomato, mozzarella and add basil, then layer it onto your pastry base.
3.Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. If desired add any of the toppings above or anything else you may want.
4. Finally cook for ten minutes or until pastry is golden brown on 170 degrees on a conventional oven.
2.Steak and Potato Hash
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 5x potatoes pre cooked for 10 minutes in the oven on 180 degrees (in the recipe it will say tri cut alexia, it just means potatoes) £0.69 – £2.00
- 3 tbsp parsley (fresh) or a few shakes of parsley from a bottle £0.74 – £1.00
- ¼ red bell pepper £0.74 – £1.20
- ¼ red onion (if you don’t like onion you can use onion salt or grate the onion on the small side of the grater so that you can’t feel the texture when you eat it) £0.30 – £1.00
- Steak £3.60 – £4.50
Total: £6.07 – £9.70
Recipe here.
Oven Fried Chicken Chimchangas (Mexico)
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup salsa (they suggest Pace Picante sauce but you could use a cheaper alternative) £0.88 – £2.00
- 1 teaspoon of ground cumin £0.48 – £1.00
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves £0.48 – £1.00
- Chicken £2.20 – £4.00
- Cheese £1.50 – £2.00
- 2 onions, chopped (about 1/4 cup) £0.25 – £1.00
- 6 flour tortillas (8-inch), warmed £1.25 – £1.40
- 2 tablespoons butter (melted) £1 – £1.50
Total: £8.04 – £13.90
Recipe here.
4. Black Bean Stew (Brazil)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon oil £1.00 – £2.00
- 1 medium onion, chopped £0.25 – £1.00
- 2 cloves garlic, minced £0.25 – £0.85
- 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced £0.90 – £1.50
- 1 large red bell pepper, diced) £0.74 – £1.25
- 2 cans diced tomatoes with juice £0.31 – £1.01
- 1 small hot green chile pepper, diced £0.60 – £1.00
- 1/2 cups water
- 2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained £0.70 – £1.00
- 1 mango – peeled, seeded and diced (can use frozen) £0.99 – £1.50
- Coriander (cilantro) £0.65 – £1.00
Total: £6.39 – £12.11
- If you want to add some meat to it chorizo sausage (chopped) £2.00 or cooked ham (gammon) £3.69 – £4.50 are your best options, but you can add just about anything.
Total: £10.08-£16.61
Recipe here.
5. Sweet Potato Pudding (Jamaica)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs £1.25 – £1.50
- 1/4 cup honey £1.18 – £1.50
- 1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk £1.00
- 1 slice whole wheat bread, crusts removed £0.50 – £1.00
- 2 cups mashed baked peeled sweet potato £0.70 – £1.00
- 1-teaspoon vanilla extract £1.35
- 1/2-teaspoon ground cinnamon £0.49 – £1.64
- 1/4-teaspoon ground allspice £1.00 – £1.64
- 2 tablespoons chopped pecans £2.47 – £3.00
- 2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger £0.54 – £0.80
- 1/4-cup plain low-fat Greek-style yogurt £0.50 – £1.00
Total: £10.98 – £15.43
(Olive oil can be used instead of cooking spray)
Recipe here.
6. Macaroni Pie (Trindad and Tobago)
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes or until brown whichever happens first
Ingredients:
- 1x bag of pasta (you can use any pasta you want but I normally use penne or fusilli) £0.50 – £1.00
- 3/4 of a block of cheese £1.50 – £2.50
- 4x tbsp. of butter £1.00 – £2.00
- 1x tin of sweetcorn £0.35 – £0.70
Total: £3.35 – £6.20
Recipe:
- Start with cooking the pasta.
- Once cooked add the grated cheese, butter, salt, black pepper and the sweetcorn and put it in a baking tray or something similar. Cook on 160 degrees until brown.
- You can also add meat such as bacon or chorizo but it is not necessary.
7. Filled to the max burgers (America)
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- Burger buns £0.85
- Beef burgers (vegetarian/vegan burgers are just as tasty and you can go to the butchers counter if there is one in your local supermarket and ask for individual burgers depending on how many you are buying. You can also make your own burgers with mince £3.00 – £4.00 with this recipe here ) £0.60 – £3.50
- Avocado £1.00
- Halloumi £2.50 or single cheese slices (you can get a pack with 10 for £1 in most supermarkets)
- Bacon £1.00 – £2.00
- Jalapenos £0.96 – £1.30
- Egg £1.25 – £1.50
- Onion £0.30 – £1.00
Total: £8.46 – £13.65
Recipe:
- Season your burgers with salt, pepper and onion.
- Cook burgers for 15 minutes – 20 minutes on 180 degrees on a conventional oven, or if you want to fry your burgers, cook them for 10 minutes in a frying pan (not from frozen).
- Cook bacon however you like it (or for 5 – 8 minutes in a frying pan or an oven on 180 degrees)
- Cook halloumi for 2 minutes each side (either fry or bake on 180 degrees), fry an egg and add all to your burger bun with some chopped avocado and jalapenos and you will end with a burger with all the trimmings.
8. Alloco (Cote d’Ivoire)
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients:
- 5 ripe plantain bananas you may have to look around a little for this but should be no more than £2.00
- 2 tablespoon oil (palm oil is recommended, but any other oil will do)
- Tomatoes £0.75- £2.00 (for a pack of 4/5)
- Onions £0.30-£1.00
- Chile peppers, some supermarkets stock chile peppers, but its not hard to find, should only cost around £0.50 – £2.00
Total: £3.55-£7.00
Recipe here.
9.Thai coconut pumpkin soup (Thailand)
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 25g butter £1.00 – £2.00
- 1 clove garlic, chopped £0.25-£0.85
- 4 shallots, chopped £1.32-£2
- 2 small fresh red chillies, chopped £0.44
- 1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass £0.67 – £1.37
- 500ml chicken stock £0.40-£1.25
- 350ml coconut milk £0.50-£1.00
- 475g peeled and diced pumpkin or squash £1.50
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves £0.48-£0.70
Total: £6.56 – £11.11
Recipe here.
10. Chicken kebabs (Middle East)
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
- 1 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt £1.00 – £1.50
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons paprika £0.48 – £1.64
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin £0.48- £1.00
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon £0.49-£1.60
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (reduce to 1/2 teaspoon if you don’t like heat) £1
- Zest from one lemon + 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, from one lemon £0.25-£0.92
- 1-3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 5 garlic cloves, minced £0.25-£0.85
- 2-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (or 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts), trimmed of any excess fat and cut into large bite-sized pieces £3.32
- 1 large red onion, cut into wedges £0.50-£1.00
Total: £7.77- £10.91
Recipe here.
Megan Kelly
Maurizio Kayonjo