came up with this cheap meal idea. our American/Canadian Friends and indeed any other represented nations need to go with the flow a bit on this one since its in english units. from tesco i got a bag with 2 onions 1 leek 1 swede and some carrots for 99p. from asda a ready roasted plain medium chicken for about 2.60 and a tin of new potatoes for 17p and about 20p on a clove of garlic

get a big sausepan. dice half of the swede and half of one onion. 1 whole carrot and the leek. boil them all down in the big sausepan. i added two sections of the garlic peeled and crushed. a pinch of mixed herbs and half of the chicken with the skin removed.and half the tin of potatoes drain off the water it was boiled in and add gravey powder. put in the fridge to settle down. i got 4 good portions out of this. p.s it tastes soooooo much better after its been left to settle in the fridge for a 24hours

using the other half of the veg and a cheap packet of mince for 63p. make mince stew. about another 4 portions.

8 portions of a main course for a bout 5 quid

Wow - that sounds delicious! and good for you! Thanks for this - I will definitely try it. I am always frustrated, as a grad student and a worker at a non-profit org, that I can't seem to make healthy meals without spending a lot of money. So this idea will definitely help out!

If you or anyone else has any to share, I'll take them!

Here's one I found when I was looking for an alternative to potato leek soup:

3 leeks, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large head cauliflower, chopped
3 cloves garlic cloves, finely chopped
8 cups vegetable broth

Basically, just saute the veggies all together with whatever meadium you use (olive oil, margarine, cooking spray, etc), add the broth and simmer for 45 min, add salt and pepper to taste, and then if you want to make it creamy - use an immersion hand blender to blend it - it's creamy, even without heavy cream!!

Veggie and Protein-Rich Stew

1 onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
4+ cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
4+ peices chard, chiffonade and with stems chopped
1 bag fresh baby spinach or 1 bag frozen chopped spinach
2 tomatoes, cut into small chunks (or 1 15 oz. can)
1 cup rinsed, dry lentils (red, green, brown) or split peas
6+ cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1-2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning/herbs



In a large pot, dry fry onion and leek for 3 minutes. Add garlic and dry fry for 1 more minute. Add carrot, celery and then tomatoes and continue stirring for 2 minutes. Add chopped chard stems and cook 1 more minute. Add rinsed lentils or split peas and the 6 cups vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove lid, stir and add in remaining chard, spinach, pepper and Italian spices. Cover and cook until lentils or split peas are tender and done, adding more water or vegetable broth as needed.

Had to look up a couple things, but it sounds really good!

swede = turnip
mince = hamburger

Thanks for that. I was just about to ask.

mince is not hamburger. its any kind of meat that has been minced up. i've used minced beef but you can also get minced pork lamb and just about anything else secondly turnips and swedes are not the same! a turnip is smaller than a swede ad whiter a swede is almost golden colour

Ah... when I looked up recipes that asked for those things, they usually said "mince" and then "minced steak" or "minced beef", so I assumed it was what we call "ground beef", i.e., hamburger.

And I found swedes at a UK gardening site, and compared them to veg at an American one. I was going by the pictures, and they looked almost exactly the same. If not precisely turnips, I would think they are at least in the same family.

Either way, to convert to US ingredients, you'd need some sort of ground meat for the "mince" and probably turnips for the "swede", since our grocery stores don't carry swede.

In america a swede (rutabaga) is referred to as a turnip. They don't get the cute white turnips with purple tops we get here in the UK, apparently. On the veggie forum is an intresting rutabaga thread.

Good one, Si!

Mince is ground beef, Synger. In the UK it's only referred to as hamburger when it's been formed into patties, hence the confusion.