Any dish that you prepare yourself will cost a lot less than buying it ready made in a shop or restaurant – so really all home cooking is relatively frugal. The frugal recipes listed below are exceptionally thrifty but still healthy (sacrificing your health is not frugal at all!) – no meal should be over £1 per person and most will be less. If you are using some of our shopping tips such as buying staples from clearance sellers like Low Price Foods and Approved Food, many of the main courses are under 50p per person and the soups and dips considerably less.
Also see our post The 25p Meal for super-frugal meal ideas.
The recipes listed all feed a family of four unless otherwise stated (you can of course, reduce or increase the quantities if needed). All recipes are suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Soups:
- Root Soup
- Tattie Soup
- Creamy Carrot and Wild Garlic Soup
- Lentil Soup
- Basic, versatile vegetable soup
- Tomato and Rice Soup
- Radish Top Soup
- Carrot and Butterbean Soup
- Nettle Soup
- Vegetable and Barley Soup
- Yellow Split Pea Soup
- Minted Noodle Soup
- Leek and Potato Soup
Main Courses:
- Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage
- Spicy Sweet Potato Fajitas
- Roast Pumpkin and Garlic Pasta
- Potato and Onion Pie
- Sausage and Bean Pie
- Chunky Purple Pasta
- Gluten-free Veggie Lasagne
- Aduki Bean and Amaranth Pie
- Basic Pasties
- BeanBurgers
- Chick Pea Curry
- Potato Bake
- Mixed Bean Casserole
- Mince and Dumplings
- Singapore Noodles
- Pasta with Tomato sauce
Side Dishes, Sauces, Dips and Basics:
- Sourdough Bread for pennies
- Apple Chutney with Ginger
- Beer Battered Onion Rings
- Roast Potatoes and Peppers
- Mushroom and Pea Rice
- Rice Salad
- Dandelion Fritters or Pancakes
- Wild Garlic Pesto
- Simple Herb and Garlic Bread
- Hummus
- Basic Baked Potatoes
- Mushroom Gravy
- Vegetable fritters
- Oatmeal Stuffing
Sweet Things:
- Blackcurrant and Lavender Jam
- A simple breakfast: porridge!
- 3 ingredient raw chocolate bites
- Bramble Chocolate Chip Cakes
- Apple, Banana & Raisin Cake
- Crumble!
- Banana Raisin Flapjacks with no refined sugar
- Rhubarb and Ginger Jam
- Apple Pie
- Cookies
- Chocolate Cake
- Basic Sponge cake
- Ice Lollies
- Gluten Free Apple Layer Cake
Everything5Pounds, exactly what it says.
Other frugal recipes:
Ailish Sinclair‘s debut novel, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR, set in a fictional castle in Aberdeenshire, and featuring the 1597 Aberdeen witchcraft panic, is out Autumn 2019. On Amazon and Waterstones or see Author website for more details.
Wow, what a great selection for us thrifty veggies! Just shows vegetarian food doesn’t have to be dull (although it can be!) and you don’t have to spend a small fortune to create something really tasty!
Brilliant recipes – yummy, affordable, healthy. What’s not to like?
Another great place for Frugal snacks is American fizz .com (clearance section) and facebook page twisted bargain hunter!
Can’t believe I’ve never seen this before. Frugal and vegan – sounds like we’d get on 🙂