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

recipe by:Mitch Lane - Feed Your Family For Under A Fiver

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

recipe by:Mimi Harrison - Beat The Budget

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.