With a little planning and a little extra time, you can learn to cook from scratch and save yourself a fortune. I have included 10 tips to get you started. Every Wednesday I’ll be bringing you a new Budget Recipe that’s quick, easy and nutritious.

1.    Have one vegetarian meal per week
Why not?  It’s healthy and it ensures that you use up your veg for that week, so as not to be wasteful. Every week Aldi have a ‘Super 6’, with 3 fruit and 3 vegetables for around 79c each. My top tip would be to go to www.bbc.co.uk/food to the recipe finder section. Type in 3 ingredients and it will give you a list of recipes with those ingredients in them.

2.    Stock up on meat..
..when it’s on special and freeze it. Local butchers have good deals too, so definitely check them out. My local butcher does 4 sizeable chicken breasts for €6. It’s good to support your local store when possible. (Dunnes have any 2 meats from a selected range for €6 at the moment- http://bit.ly/c75d6r, Superquinn have any 3 for €10- http://bit.ly/9zR0bW)

3.    Always have the basics in your cupboard
Always have a tin of tomatoes (recipes) and a tin of white beans (recipes) in your cupboard; you can do a lot with them.

4.    Get spices and herbs from an Asian market/speciality store
Go to your local Asian store to get soy sauce, ginger, chilli, sesame oil, curry paste, coconut milk and herbs and spices. They’re around 1/3 of the price of supermarkets.

5.    Have versatile staples in your cupboard
Have staples like brown rice and couscous  in your cupboard. They’re cheap, nutritious and very versatile (list of recipes).

6.    Learn to use leftovers.
There is a good site called www.leftoverchef.com where you can type in the leftover ingredients you have to work with and it will give you recipes., like casseroles, soups and vegetarian dishes etc.

7.    Avoid leftovers with kids (it’s not that easy admittedly!)
With kids only give them a little on their plate to begin and give them more as they eat it (especially when you’re cooking a meal they haven’t tried before). This will save you having lots of leftovers that you just have to throw away.

8.    Batch cook and freeze
Go to the €2 store and stock up on plastic containers for freezing and storing leftovers. Make extra when cooking soups or casseroles and batch freeze When you’re tired and hungry, you won’t need to go for convenience food, you can head to the freezer and you’ll have a homemade meal in minutes.

9.    Freeze fresh herbs
Fresh herbs taste lovely but they can be expensive. The good news is you can freeze some herbs and use as needed. The herbs (and ingredients) you can freeze are ginger, lemongrass, chilli, parsley, coriander, rosemary -wash them and dry them on a paper towel and stick them in a ziplock bag and stick them in the freezer. You can even freeze basil if you shred the leaves and coat them with olive oil to avoid them going brown.

10.    Stretch out the meat
When making Spaghetti Bolognese or Lasagne, use less meat and add a tin of white beans to stretch it out and use the rest of the meat another time. It’s healthier and cheaper.

Recipes

Quick, Easy & Nutritious
Thai Chicken Curry for 4 people (asparagus is often one of the Aldi ‘Super 6’, so make this when it’s on special.) – total cost €12.74 (Don’t forget to get your Fish Sauce and Green Curry paste in an Asian speciality store, it’s way cheaper).

Cooking with leftover chicken or Turkey
Enchilada Sauce
I tin tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp chilli powder (more to taste if you like)
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp or less salt (I used a bit less)
1/2 tsp cumin
Mix it all up and heat through.

Enchiladas
2-3 cups chopped turkey (or chicken)
12 corn tortillas
3 cups grated Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup diced onions (optional)
Put a bit of sauce in a baking dish. Dip corn tortillas in the sauce to soften them, lay some diced turkey and grated cheddar cheese on them (and onions, if using), roll them up, and lay in the baking dish. Cover with the rest of the sauce and some extra grated cheese. Cover the dish and bake at 180C for 30 minutes or so.

Ensure no leftovers (and eat veggie)
www.Allrecipes.com is a great site (if you have an iPhone check out the Recipe Spinner App). The site has an excellent vegetarian section with 20 ingredients and 20 recipes- so simply stock up on the 20 ingredients they list and you’ll be able to make the 20 vegetarian recipes. http://bit.ly/cDPwA1

If you have a recipe or a ‘Cooking On A Budget’ tip to share, please leave a comment below- ValueVera