Saving on meals

A supermarket chain recently advertised $15 meals for four—and we reckon we can do better than that. Steve Cray has lived on a tight budget, and came up with these handy, nourishing and cheap-as meals.

Sausage and Beans: To make the bangers go further, slice 4–5 pre-cooked sausages into slices like coins, and fry with sliced onion. Add 1 tin baked beans, a packet of oxtail soup, and red beans. Serve with rice or mash. Cost: $6.*

Toad in the Hole: (Invented during the 1920s depression in Yorkshire, UK, using sausages and Yorkshire pudding.) Start by making a Yorkshire pud: mix together well 100 grams plain or self-raising flour, a pinch of salt, 1 egg, and 300 mls milk. Refrigerate for half an hour. Slice and dice sausages (which will make them go further) and partially cook in a baking tray at 180°C. Give pudding mixture a stir, and pour over sausages, with a little oil. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve with your choice of vege and gravy. Cost: $6.

Chicken and Apricot Casserole: (4–5 chicken drumsticks, chopped carrot and onion to taste, sachet of Maggi Chicken Apricot Mix, a can of apricots —using only half the juice.) Put all together in a slow cooker or a saucepan, and cook until chicken falls off the bone. Remove from heat, take out all bones. Take some of the juice and mix with a little cornflour or flour—add to the casserole to thicken. Serve on rice or with any other vege. Cost: $8.

Chilli Mince: (1 onion, 1 beef Oxo cube, 1 tin Mexican tomatoes, 1 tin red kidney beans, 500 grams mince.) Panfry together, adding a finely grated carrot and/or courgette to get more veg into the kids. Serve with rice. Cost: $8.

Mince Chow Mein: (1 onion, ¼ cabbage thinly sliced, 1 beef Oxo cube, 500 gram mince; add other veg if required, a dash of curry powder and/or a dash of soy sauce to taste.) Panfry together and serve on rice or mashed potato. Cost: $7.

*All costs are approximate, and feed four.