Caitriona Redmond: How to feed a family for €1 per portion

The first in a new series where I will be showcasing recipes that feed an adult for €1 or less

Meatballs and pasta are served up for under €5 for four adults.

Today is the first of a new series of recipes I have created, which cost €1 or less per portion. The cost of each meal is based upon making enough food for four adult-sized portions.

If you’ve less people in your home you can store the meals for use as leftovers or in the freezer for up to one month. If you’ve children in the home, then half the portion size per child.

Each recipe in this new series will cost €1 or less per adult. This week I spent €4.78 but had some leftover ingredients that I did not use for this meal. The portion cost works out at approximately 92c per adult.

The great thing about this new series is that these budget recipes can be replicated no matter where you shop.

Each of the main supermarkets has similar (if not the same) prices for these budget ingredients. You may even be able to pick them up for cheaper than I have this week.

There are some ingredients that you will need in your cupboards to follow this meal.

I’m going to assume that every household has salt, pepper, vegetable oil, and some herbs and spices. These are not included in the meal budget.

Each week I’ll vary the shopping list and buy my food from different supermarkets so you can see that, regardless of the retailer, you can still feed yourself on a budget.

As always, my recipes are based upon using your regular kitchen implements and devices; there is nothing complicated here.

For the first week, I went shopping in Dunnes Stores, where a pack of 12 Irish beef meatballs cost €2 at the moment.

That’s not enough protein per adult so I’ve bulked out the dish by adding a tin of chickpeas which will keep everyone in the household feeling fuller for longer and increase their fibre levels.

I used two onions; leaving me plenty in the net for the rest of the week. Then three carrots from the large bag with oodles of leftovers for other meals this week. A 75g serving of dried pasta is a portion per adult; leaving 125g for use another time.

Pasta & Meatballs

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

A simple, delicious and cost-effective meal

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Italian

Ingredients

• 360g Meatballs

• 2 onions, chopped

• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes

• 1 tin chickpeas

• 300g dried pasta

Method

1. Preheat your (fan) oven to 180°C. Put the meatballs into an oven-proof dish and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

2. In the meantime, put a large saucepan on medium heat. Pour in vegetable oil, then add the onion and cook until it begins to turn pale and soften, add the chopped and sliced carrots then stir.

3. Pour in the tinned tomatoes, add a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper, and then allow the sauce to come to a simmer. Cover and leave simmering while the meatballs continue to cook.

4. Once the meatballs have cooked, carefully spoon them into the sauce that is still bubbling. Pour in the drained chickpeas and stir.

5. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Once cooked, serve the pasta and meatballs.

Lovely Lemon Biscuits

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

There's no need for icing with these perfectly sweet and simple biscuits

Servings

15

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 11 mins

Total Time

 41 mins

Course

 Baking

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 125g butter (room temperature)

• 200g caster sugar

• 1 large free range egg

• 250g plain flour

• 1 level teaspoon baking powder

• 1 unwaxed lemon 

Method

1. You will need to make this dough in advance as it needs to chill before baking. I recommend you allow at least 1 hour chilling time so factor that into your preparations.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter and caster sugar until soft and pale. I do this using the back of a wooden spoon. Add the egg and beat again until you have a smooth batter. If it appears curdled just keep on beating until it comes together — it will I promise!

3. Pour in the flour and baking powder, stir slowly until the dry ingredients are combined. It might not look like it will all combine but just keep on going it won't take long.

4. Once combined, rinse the lemon, then grate the rind into the biscuit dough. Then slice the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl as well. Watch out for pips!

5. Mix the contents of the bowl until you have dough only. Cover the bowl and place it into the fridge to chill. If you don't have much space in the fridge, transfer the dough to a sandwich bag or cling film, shape into a sausage shape then seal and chill for at least an hour.

6. To Bake: Preheat your (fan) oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease, then dust a heavy baking tray with a little flour. I use leftover butter wrappers for this.

7. Roll small amounts of biscuit dough into marble shapes then press in the centre to get a thick round on the baking tray. The round will be about 1-2cm thick. I normally fit about 15-20 biscuits onto a baking tray.

8. Bake in the oven for 11 minutes, or until the biscuits turn slightly golden on the outside edge.

Special offers  

Lidl’s feature inflation buster deal this week includes hot dog buns, mustard, hot dogs, ketchup and cookie dough ice cream for €6.15, this is compared to a large premium brand pint of ice cream. It really puts the price difference between own-brand and brand names into stark contrast and as you’ll have seen from my taste test last month there’s little in the difference regardless of the label.

Hot dogs are part of Lidl's Inflation Buster deal this week

Despite the good weather, my local Tesco had cleared the gardening items from the specials aisle this week and added school uniforms and stationery to the shelves. There are real bargains to be had on their 3-for-the-price-of-2 offers so it’s worth adding some copybooks and pencils to the basket if they’re on your list for September.

SuperValu’s flash deals have the potential to be great value in the Summer months. Commencing every Thursday, this past week they’ve had a chilled bundle priced 3-for-€5 and a mix and match bundle for the same price which included items like tinned sweetcorn, peanut butter, and packages of biscuits.