Midweek meals: five quick dinners for families or students on a budget 

These dinners are low stress and low in cost, making them ideal for anyone being mindful of their money

Delicious dinners don't have to break the bank.

If you're following a budget, focus on healthy basic recipes and stock up on in season fruit and vegetables. Entire meals can be made from free-rance eggs, beans, nuts, and wholegrains, so go meat-free one or two nights a week 

Centre meal planning around dishes that can be made in bulk and stocked in the freezer for a busy day, like chilli and meatballs. 

Creamy sausage pasta 

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

This simple cabbage and pork sausage supper with grated cheese is comfort food at its finest

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 300g fusilli pasta

• 4 pork sausages

• ½ green cabbage, shredded (optional)

• sea salt  

• black pepper

• 50g of butter

• a little cream or crème fraîche

• 60g of good mature cheddar or farmhouse cheese, grated

Method

1. Bring a large pan of water to boil, add pasta and a good pinch of salt, simmering until the pasta is al dente. Reserve a little of the starchy pasta water.

2. As best you can, cut the sausages into bite-size pieces. You can of course cook them first and then cut them. Place in a large frying pan with a little oil over a medium high heat. Cook the sausages until brown all over before adding the shredded cabbage, if using. 

3. Season with salt and pepper, add the butter and cook down for around 5 or 6 minutes. Add some of the reserve pasta water and cook for a further 10 minutes. Stir in the crème fraîche or cream, check for seasoning and add the grated cheese. 

4. Stir everything together until well combined and the cheese is melted and forming strings. Serve in bowls and enjoy!

Meatballs and mash

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Lamb meatballs infused with garlic are a delicious compliment to creamy, buttery mashed potato

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 750g minced lamb

• 1 small onion, very finely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• small bunch of parsley, chopped

• 1 jar tomato passata sauce

• 1 tsp honey if necessary

• handful of green olives, stoned and chopped, optional

• 8 small potatoes, peeled

Method

1. Put your potatoes on to boil.

2. Mix the lamb, one finely chopped onion, crushed garlic, the egg and parsley in a bowl and season. Roll the mixture into balls, the size you would like and set them aside.

3. Fry your onion in a pan and when it is translucent add your garlic. Now add the passata and leave to bubble away for about 10 minutes. Taste and see if it needs honey and also season it, you can add some basil if you have some or oregano works well too. Stir through the olives.

4. Leave the sauce to bubble on a low heat as you start to fry your meatballs. Once they are cooked through add them to the sauce. Pull one of the meatballs apart to make sure it is cooked in the centre.

5. Mash your potato. Add cream or milk if you wish to make the mash richer. Season and you are ready to serve.

Vegan chocolate chilli with cornbread

This recipe is a tasty take on a chilli, with dark chocolate giving it a depth of flavour and adding an air of intrigue to the dish

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 50 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 10 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Mexican

Ingredients

• For the chocolate chilli:

• 4 garlic cloves

• 2 medium leeks

• 2 red peppers

• 1 whole fresh chilli or ½ tsp ground chilli

• 1 courgette

• 2 tbsp oil

• 1 tbsp cumin seeds

• 2½ tsp salt

• 1 tin of kidney beans

• 2  tins of chopped tomatoes

• 100g tomato purée

• 1 tbsp ground coriander

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• ½ tsp smoked paprika

• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

• small bunch of fresh coriander (20g)

• juice of ½ a lime

• 50g vegan dark chocolate

• For the cornbread:

• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds

• 3 tbsp water

• 130g fine polenta

• 85g buckwheat flour/rice flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• 80ml agave syrup

• 90ml rice milk

• 60ml rapeseed oil

• To assemble:

• 100g baby spinach

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

2. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Slice the leeks into rounds, including the green tops. Deseed the peppers and, if using fresh chilli, deseed and finely slice it lengthways. Chop the courgette into bite-size pieces.

3. Heat the oil in a big saucepan and fry the leeks and garlic on a medium heat for five minutes, stirring regularly to make sure they don’t burn. Add the courgette and peppers along with the chilli, whole cumin seeds and salt, and fry for a further five minutes.

4. Drain the kidney beans and rinse thoroughly. Add to the pan together with the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, ground coriander, ground cumin, paprika and black pepper. Turn the heat up to high and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, add the chocolate and leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes.

5. Finely chop the fresh coriander and mix it into the chilli with the lime juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

6. To make the cornbread, first mix the ground flax and water together in a small bowl to make ‘flax eggs’. Leave to sit for 10 minutes.

7. Mix the rest of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all the wet ingredients, then add the ‘flax eggs’ and stir in. Add the wet mix to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until they form a dough.

8. Put the chilli into a shallow pie dish (or an approximately 25cm quiche dish), spreading it evenly. Cover the chilli with the spinach leaves. Top it off with the cornbread dough, then put into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes.

9. Serve with a green salad and coconut yoghurt.

Nasi goreng

One of the best ways to use up leftover rice, there are lots of variations of nasi goreng but this is our favourite

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Indonesian

Ingredients

• spray oil

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 bundle of asparagus, woody ends removed, and chopped into thirds

• 1 shallot, finely chopped

• 2 chicken breasts, chopped

• 3 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp garlic granules

• salt

• pepper 

• 320g cooked rice

• 2 tbsp mirin

• To garnish:

• 2 fried eggs

• 1 scallion, sliced

• sesame seeds

Method

1. Spray a frying pan or wok with some oil and heat. Add in the garlic, asparagus and shallot and fry off, then add the chicken, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, garlic granules and salt and pepper and cook until the chicken is browned.

2. Next add in the cooked rice.

3. Mix the mirin with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce in a cup and add into the rice and chicken, stirring well until the rice is completely coated. Get your fried eggs cooking so they’re ready for the garnish.

4. Pop half of the mix into a little bowl, and tip it out onto a plate, to give you a nice little ‘sandcastle’ of rice.

5. Top with a fried egg and sprinkle over the scallion slices and sesame seeds. Repeat with the remaining mix.
   This recipe is from Gina and Karol Daly's The Daly Dish Rides Again, published by Gill Books.

Spinach, feta and sweet potato or pumpkin frittata

recipe by:Darina Allen

The basic frittata recipe can be used as a basis for any vegetables in season - filled with Gruyére, feta and a sprinkle of finely grated Parmesan, who could resist?

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 35 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 500g sweet potato or pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1cm dice

• 10 eggs

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper

• 2 tbsp marjoram, chopped

• 2 tbsp curly parsley, chopped

• 2 tsp thyme leaves, chopped

• 150g fresh spinach, shredded (weight 380g before de-stalking)

• 75g Gruyére cheese, grated

• 25g Parmesan cheese, finely grated

• 200g feta or fresh goat's cheese

• 25g butter

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Put the sweet potato or pumpkin dice onto a small oven tray, drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.

3. Season with half teaspoon flaky sea salt (the feta cheese will be salty so don’t overdo the salt), and lots of freshly cracked pepper. Stir and cook in the pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes or until cooked and tender.

4. Remove from the oven. Whisk the eggs in a bowl, add the salt, freshly ground pepper, fresh herbs, shredded spinach, and grated cheese into the eggs. Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan. When the butter starts to foam, tip in the eggs.

5. Sprinkle the roast pumpkin evenly over the surface, dot with feta or goat cheese, press in gently. Cook for 3-4 minutes over a low heat. Transfer to the middle shelf of the pre-heated oven and cook for 25-30 minutes.

6. Flash under the grill for a couple of minutes if colour is needed. Allow to sit for five minutes before serving. To Serve, slide a palette knife under the frittata to free it from the pan. Slide onto a warm plate.

7. Arrange some rocket leaves on top of the frittata, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and scatter with toasted pine kernels or coarsely chopped cashews, and a few flakes of sea salt.