Midweek Meals: Five budget-friendly family dinner recipes to try this week

Fish cakes, pasta, ramen and more

Recipes from the experts.

Money-saving chilli con carne

This speedy meal for four uses storecupboard ingredients.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 50 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1tsp vegetable or olive oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 2 green chillies, finely chopped, plus 1 to serve

• 500g minced beef

• 41g packet of chilli con carne seasoning

• 400g tin chopped tomatoes

• 130g tin kidney beans, drained

• 300ml beef stock (made with a stock cube)

• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Put a pan on a medium heat and add the oil and the onion and soften for three to four minutes. Add the garlic and chillies and continue to cook for a further two minutes. If you’re not keen on a lot of spice just use one chilli and remove the seeds.

2. Add the mince and break it up with the back of a spoon, ensuring that there’s no big lumps. Cook the meat until it’s nice and brown. Be generous with the salt and pepper and then add the chilli con carne seasoning. Mix well.

3. Add the tomatoes and kidney beans and stir. Then pour in the beef stock and simmer for 30 minutes. The simmering is very important (it’s like a fine wine that gets better with age).

4. Serve with sliced chilli.

Money-saving goat’s cheese linguine

Using frozen spinach is a clever hack for reducing food waste and saving money.

Servings

5

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 11 mins

Total Time

 16 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1tbsp olive oil

• 1 onion, diced

• 500g linguine

• 3 garlic cloves, finely grated

• 160g frozen spinach

• 125g goat’s cheese

• 30g fresh basil

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Chilli flakes (optional)

Method

1. Set a non-stick pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper and gently fry for four minutes.

2. Meanwhile, set a large pan of salted water over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Add the linguine and cook for two minutes less than the packet cooking time.

3. While the pasta is cooking and once the onions have softened, add the garlic to fry for a minute before adding the frozen spinach to the pan, along with 400 millilitres of the starchy pasta water. Increase the heat and cook the spinach and onion mix until the pasta is ready.

4. Add the spinach and onion mix to a blender with half of the goat’s cheese and the basil and blitz until smooth.

5. Drain the linguine and transfer back to the pan. Pour over the blended sauce and continue to cook over a low\medium heat.

6. After about two minutes, the sauce should thicken and coat the linguine. Serve with a sprinkle of any remaining goat’s cheese and a pinch of salt and pepper. Optionally, top with chilli flakes if you love a little heat.

Money-saving pimped packet ramen recipe

You can easily customise this meal to your suit your preferences.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 7 mins

Total Time

 12 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the base:

• 2tbsp toasted sesame oil

• 1 spring onion (white bulb discarded), snipped

• 1tsp garlic purée

• 2 mugs of boiling water

• 2 packets of ramen noodles (or any other instant noodles)

• OR

• 300g ready cooked noodles and 1 chicken stock cube, crumbled

• OR

• 300g ready cooked noodles and 2 sachets of miso soup mix

• For the protein (choose from):

• 1 mug of frozen, fresh or cooked chicken strips

• 1 mug of frozen, fresh or cooked seafood

• 1 mug of frozen or fresh gyoza dumplings

• ½ block of firm tofu, broken into smaller pieces

• For the veg:

• 250g packet of pak choi, leaves separated

• ½ mug of frozen vegetables

• Toppers (choose as many as you like):

• Soft-boiled egg halves

• Drizzles of chilli oil

• 1tbsp sesame seeds

• Fresh coriander sprigs

• Fresh chillies

• Kimchi

• Drizzles of Sriracha

Method

1. Heat the oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat and cook the spring onion and garlic purée for a couple minutes, stirring often until aromatic.

2. Add the boiling water, along with the dried noodles and their flavour sachets, or the cooked noodles with the crumbled stock cube or the miso soup sachets. Stir together and cook for a minute or two until the liquid is mostly absorbed.

3. Add your chosen protein and the veg and cook until the protein is just cooked through, about five minutes or so. If you are using fresh chicken or seafood it will take less time. If using tofu, add in the last few minutes so it doesn’t disintegrate.

4. Serve into bowls and go crazy with the toppers.

Homemade Chicken Burrito

The secret to this burrito recipe is the spice rub for the chicken

Servings

5

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 1 hours 30 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 50 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 1 medium chicken

• 1 tsp each of salt, dried cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, white pepper 

• 400g cooked rice 

• Cherry vine tomatoes, chopped 

• 1 tin blackbeans, drained 

• 1 red pepper, sliced 

• 4 scallions, chopped 

• Sour cream 

• Baby leaf salad 

• Tortilla wraps 

• Fresh lime or lemon juice 

• Fresh coriander

Method

1. Preheat a fan oven to 170°C. Combine the dried herbs and spices in a small bowl. Place the chicken into a large oven proof dish. Press the spice mixture onto the chicken and rub well so that it coats all the skin. Cover the dish with tin foil (or a lid if you have one).

2. Bake the chicken in the oven for 90 minutes. Take off the tin foil lid for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

3. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the oven and serve with rice, tortilla and all the fresh ingredients. Squeeze a little lime or lemon juice on top before eating.

Just Keep Swimming Fish Cakes

In the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ the character Dory has a wonderful determination to just keep swimming no matter what life throws at her. That’s what I’m thinking about when I take out a tin of tuna.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 9 mins

Total Time

 29 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 200g stale breadcrumbs

• 70ml milk

• 200g tinned tuna (drained)

• 1 red pepper

• 3 spring onions/scallions

• 1 handful of coriander (stalks and all)

• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil

• Salt & pepper

Method

1. Put half the breadcrumbs into a large bowl and pour over the milk. Allow to soak for about 5 minutes.

2. Add the tuna to the breadcrumbs and mash with a fork.

3. If you have a mini-blender or stick blender, blend the pepper, onions and coriander into a loose paste, otherwise chop them as finely as you can. Mash this into the fish and breadcrumb mixture.

4. Heat the sunflower oil in a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat.

5. Take the remaining half of the dry breadcrumbs and put them on a flat plate.

6. Use your hands to shape the fish mixture into small rounds, then pat into the breadcrumbs on either side to get a crumb coating.

7. Fry in the hot oil until golden on each side.

8. Serve with as many fresh vegetables as you can muster from the fridge or garden. I like to fill a soft wrap with the fish cakes and a little bit of lemony mayonnaise then top with garden leaves and scallions. Yum!